Articles about Thanksgiving

Be Thankful

 

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever (Psalms 136:1)

 

This is Thanksgiving week, a time when it seems that people do pause, if only for a moment, and think about the ways in which their lives have been blessed. As I sit here thinking about this, there are so many thoughts that sweep down over my soul. There are so many things I would like to say, yet the words to adequately express those things just seem to fail me. Sometimes, even though I try and try to always walk in the ways of the Lord, my burdened heart just wants to scream out, "O wretched man that I am."  Have any of you ever felt this way?

 

I love the words of Psalm 112:1 that tell me to "Praise the Lord, blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commandments." And, O the comfort I get when I hear the Lord say. "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful"  (John 14:27)

 

Now I think about these words from one of our grand old songs, "When upon life's billows you are tempest tossed, When you are discouraged thinking all is lost, Count your many blessings, name them one by one, And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done." Over this short span of my life, God has been so good to me even in those times when I have been weak and failed to serve Him as I should have. I have a tremendous family. Blessed with a beautiful wife who stood faithfully by my side for almost 58 years before she departed this life, four wonderful children, seven marvelous grandchildren and five beautiful great-grandchildren, I have had the opportunity to preach/teach the gospel message from the pulpit and the classroom for many, many years as well as serve as an elder in the Lord's church. All of this, coupled with the abundant physical and material blessings over the years makes me realize that God has been so good to me and as that grand old song concludes, "blessed me with wealth untold."  Now, count your blessings and I am sure that you will come to the same conclusion about your life.

 

I believe that the greatest blessing of all is the privilege of being a part of the Lord's body, the church. "See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are" (1 John 3:1). My friends, let us stop looking at the thorns of life and start counting our blessings, not just once a year but every day of our life for the rest of our days on planet earth. Today, I just want to tell the world that the Lord God is so good, He's been so good to me. It is my prayer that as you reflect on your life, you will feel the same way. Forgive me for the personal nature of this week's message but this is how one old man feels in his heart on this day!

 

Charles Hicks

 

THINGS FOR WHICH I AM THANKFUL

THINGS FOR WHICH I AM THANKFUL

Next week, D.V., we will celebrate another day of Thanksgiving. I am glad that we will, because – without exception – we all have much for which to be thankful.

It is not surprising to learn that etymologically "think" and "thanks" are related, and therefore the person who thinks gives thanks.

I have been doing a lot of thinking recently about the things for which I am thankful. Here are a few of them.

1. For God Himself, the creator and sustainer of all things, and my Heavenly Father. I am grateful for His love, grace, and mercy, without which I could not be saved. I am thankful for His goodness, His holiness, His discipline, and His providential care.

2. For Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior: His co-eternal existence with the Father, His virgin birth, His sinless life, His wonderful works, His matchless teaching, His vicarious death, His noble burial, His victorious resurrection, His glorious ascension, His magnificent coronation, His majestic reign, His abiding intercession, and His promised second coming to receive those who are His. I am thankful that He has redeemed me from my sins and keeps me cleansed as I walk in the light of His word. I am thankful for His meekness and gentleness, His boldness and courage, and all of His other wonderful traits set forth in the Holy Scriptures.

3. For the Holy Spirit who dwells in me and produces His fruit in me, who seals/marks me as God's child, who serves as a deposit on my eternal inheritance, and who intercedes for me when I am so overwhelmed with the burdens and concerns of life that I cannot articulate my thoughts.

4. For the Bible, God's divinely inspired, inerrant, and all-sufficient word that instructs me, comforts me, guides me, and provides me with all things that pertain to life and godliness.

5. For the heaven-born church of my Lord, bought and paid for by His blood and established by Christ Himself, that undenominational body of blood-washed souls who have come to Him in trusting faith and genuine obedience to the gospel, the church that is of God and not man.

6. For my wonderful local church family, the Mt. Juliet (TN) Church of Christ: her elders, deacons, ministers, teachers, every family and every member, and her great program of work.

7. For the wonderful privilege to worship my Lord privately on a daily basis, as well as in the assembly with my spiritual brothers and sisters every first day of the week.

8. For the great blessing of privately lifting up prayers, supplications, intercessions, and thanksgiving to the God of heaven and earth.

9. For the glorious hope of everlasting life in heaven.

10. For my wonderful earthly family who loves me, cares for me, and sees that all my earthly needs are met.

Perhaps you too are thankful for all of the above things...and more. If so, let God know that you are! Think! "And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which you were called in one body; and be thankful" (Colossians 3:15).

Hugh Fulford

Article on church attendance

 

SOME CHURCH ARITHMETIC

 

Church Arithmetic Problem # 1: Can one person anywhere in the world today hear, believe, and obey the gospel, and become just a Christian without joining any denomination? If one person can do that, can two people do that? Can ten? Can 100? Can 100 people in a given geographical area who have become Christians only without joining any denomination organize themselves into a congregation and begin reading and studying the Scriptures on their own, committing themselves to following the Scriptures in all things to the best of their ability, worshiping as the Scriptures instruct, governing themselves as the New Testament instructs, committing themselves to living and serving others as the Bible instructs, and disciplining themselves and correcting themselves wherein they fall short in anyway either personally or as a congregation?

 

If there could be one such congregation, could there be two? Could there be ten such congregations? 100? Could there be an indefinite number of such congregations, made up entirely of people who had only heard, believed, and obeyed the gospel, becoming Christians only without ever joining any denomination? What is your answer to this "church arithmetic problem"?

 

Church Arithmetic Problem # 2: According to sources such as the Center for the Study of Global Christianity, the World Christian Database, and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, there are an estimated 45,000 professing Christian denominations around the globe. The Protestant Reformation in the 16thcentury led to the establishment of many different denominations who challenged the authority of the Catholic Church. Professing Christian denominations in different parts of the world have adapted their beliefs and practices to the social and cultural context in which they exist, leading to further divisions. For example, there are twenty-four denominations within the Catholic Church.

 

The Lutheran Church was the first protestant denomination and was founded by the followers of Martin Luther in c. 1530. Think about that for a moment. Christianity had been in the world for 1500 years before the first protestant denomination was ever established! How did the world get along for so long without a single one of the protestant denominations that we have today? Today, there are over forty different Lutheran denominations in the United States alone.

 

The World Methodist Council represents eighty Methodist-related denominations, but there are additional Methodist denominations that are not a part of this Council. There are dozens of different kinds of Presbyterian Churches, especially in the United States. There are more than fifty different kinds of Baptist denominations. There are hundreds of Pentecostal denominations. Many of them are part of the World Pentecostal Fellowship. On and on we could go, talking about the many denominations that exist in the world today. (The above information is available online from the sources named in the first paragraph of this section).

 

Now, here is my question: What if we started with the last denomination that was established and removed it from the thousands of denominations in existence? Would we destroy Christianity by taking away that denomination? Remember, we had Christianity before that last denomination was ever established. Now, let us proceed back to the next one, then the next, then the next—all the way back to the first one. Would we destroy Christianity by doing away with all the protestant denominations? Again, remember that we had Christianity hundreds of years before we ever had even the first protestant church.

 

What if we then went about dismantling the Catholic Church with all its elaborate hierarchy, topped off by the pope? What if we removed every rite, ritual, doctrine, and practice in the Catholic Church that could not be substantiated by inspired scripture? What if we moved all the way back to the days of the New Testament and the church that existed then under the direction of the inspired apostles of Christ? What if we did only what people did in New Testament times to be Christians? What if we believed and taught only that for which we could find Bible authority?

 

What if the people who had been members of all the various protestant denominations and the two billion plus Catholics decided they would just be Christians only without denominational affiliation? Would we not then have "one body (not multiplied thousands), one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith (not hundreds of thousands), one baptism (not many), one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all"? (Ephesians 4:4-6). Does not this passage affirm that there is but one body (which is the church, Ephesians 1:22-23), one faith, and one baptism, just as it affirms that there is one but Lord, one Spirit, one hope, and one God? Based on this passage, would it not make just as much sense to ask which God do you believe in, which Lord do you serve, which Holy Spirit dwells in you, which hope do you have as to ask which church are you a member of, of what faith are you, or of which "mode" were you baptized? Biblically, is there not just one of each of these? Why can we not all be one in Christ just as He prayed in John 17:20-21? Why can we not just be the church of which we read in the New Testament? What is your answer to this "church arithmetic problem"?

 

Note: I am not so naive as to think that all denominational churches [Catholic or Protestant] will ever go out of existence. What is possible, however, is for those who are members of such man-originated churches to leave them and determine to be Christians only without denominational affiliation and without the doctrines, traditions, beliefs, and ceremonies not sanctioned by the Bible.

 

Church Arithmetic Problem # 3: Suppose an evangelist comes to a town somewhere in America and preaches only the gospel of Christ and what it requires of one to be saved from sin and become a Christian. Suppose that 400 people respond to the gospel, doing exactly what people did in the Book of Acts to be saved and made Christians. At the end of the meeting/revival, 100 join denomination A, 100 join denomination B, and 100 hundred join denomination C. However, the remaining 100 join no denomination, but resolve to meet together on the Lord's Day (Sunday) to study the Scriptures and to follow them in all things pertaining to Christian living, the worship of God, and the structure to which they should adhere as a congregation devoted to Christ and His will. Can that be done in today's world? What is your answer to this "church arithmetic problem"? Note: The last group, the ones who joined no denomination but chose to remain an autonomous congregation of Christians only, is a microcosm of what all faithful churches of Christ are today. We have no denominational hierarchy or headquarters. We have no human creed or catechism. We wear no denominational name. Our worship is in accordance with the way Christians worshiped in New Testament times. We seek to live as Christ has taught us to live. To the casual and uninformed observer, conditioned by a denominational mindset, this last group, on the surface, may look very much like those in Denominations A, B, and C. But to those acquainted with the Scriptures, it would be known that these people were not a denomination but just simply Christians, members of the one spiritual body of Christ, the church of which we read in the New Testament.

 

Hugh Fulford

Asset or Liability

Asset or Liability

 

For as he thinketh in his heart. so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee (Proverbs 23:7)

 

As I think about the message springing from this passage there are a number of thoughts that come to mind but there are two that stand out to me, the first of which is that the attitude of our heart, our frame of mind, is either our greatest asset or our greatest liability. Now, when you really think about this, our attitude has the power to control our life because it is our frame of mind that governs our actions or reactions to whatever is taking place in our life.

 

Actually, our attitude, frame of mind, is the key that determines how we conduct ourselves in the present time as well as being a huge factor in determining our eternal destiny. How we think, what we think has a tremendous bearing on our happiness, contentment and peacefulness on our daily walk each day. Success or failure often hinges on our frame of mind. In light of this passage from Proverbs 23:7, it just seems to me that all this is summed up in a statement I came across not long ago, "What a man thinks is really what he is." Just one man's opinion.

 

The second compelling message has to do with the truth that our attitude (frame of mind) springs from our heart. The things we say. the things we do, the choices we make are actually the result of what we have stored away in our heart. In our hearts, our minds, are found thoughts, intents, purposes all of which are the emotions that control our actions and reactions (Hebrews 4:12).

 

What comes out of our heart depends on what we put into it. Hence the great need to heed the advice of Solomon found in Prov.4:23, "Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life".  Luke 6:45 is a powerful, thought-provoking passage worthy of consideration, "The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks."

 

Always remember that whatever springs forth from our heart under any given circumstance will be based on what we have put into it to start with.  I can think of no better way to close this week's Thought than with the message found in Philippians 4:8, "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things."

 

Charles Hicks