Flatwoods church of Christ

You are here: Home / Archives for Media

We Can Know That God Keeps His Promises

by Leave a Comment

One sad reality of this world is that few people keep their word. A person may promise you great things, but seldom keeps the promise. We live in a world full of broken promises! A parent, wife, or child may not keep their end of a bargain and it leaves us devastated! What is truly sad is when we are honest with ourselves; we recognize that we are no different than they are. Each of us have broken our word; each of us have devastated someone that we love through broken promises. When we look to God, He has a perfect track-record of keeping His promises. If He speaks, it happens as He says it will (Ezek. 12:24-28). In this article, I would like to examine three promises God has spoken and we can know that He has/will keep them.

Photo by Lauren Lulu Taylor

When sin entered the world, God promised a Seed from woman (Offspring) who would defeat the seed of Satan (Gen. 3:15). Do not think the seed of Satan is a person, for His seed (offspring) is the world. When Jesus spoke to the Pharisees and told them their father was the devil, it was because they were of the world and not of God (John 8:42-46). The temptations that Satan uses against mankind are the same the world offers (1 Jn. 2:15-16). The world and Satan are connected because the world serves Satan (Eph. 2:1-3; 2 Cor. 4:4). In Jesus’ day, the Pharisees and Sadducees who put Christ on the cross were from the seed of Satan. Since the days after Christ’s death there have been others of the world who have also been from Satan’s seed (1 Jn. 2:18). Anyone against God and Christ is from the devil’s seed (1 Jn. 2:22-23). Satan’s seed (the world) thought they had ended Christ by placing Him on the cross, but they had only bruised His heel (Gen. 3:15). The Seed (Christ) bruised Satan’s head by raising from the dead; giving hope to those who obeyed Jesus Christ (Heb. 2:14-18). God promised a Seed and Jesus was the fulfillment of that promise (Is. 7:14; Matt. 1:18-25). Thanks be to God for keeping His promise!

As the Jews looked for a King, God promised them one (1 Sam. 8). Saul was the first king of Israel, but he was not worthy of the honor (1 Sam. 15:26-35). David was the next king. Though he was a man after God’s own heart; he was not able to live forever and the kingship passed on to his sons (Acts 13:22). During the life of David, God promised a King who would establish a kingdom forever (2 Sam. 7:12-16). Some will claim that this passage was fulfilled by Solomon, who became king of Israel after David’s death. Did the kingdom Solomon reigned over last forever? Did Solomon ever receive discipline from the rod of men or stripes of the sons of men for iniquities (2 Sam. 7:14)? Christ never sinned; but He bore the iniquities of the world and received stripes from men so we could be healed (Is. 53:4-5). Furthermore, Paul tells us who the King was that God had in mind to come from the line of David (Acts 13:22-38). Christ is the King of His kingdom (the Church); thanks be to God and Christ that our King reigns and we are a part of His kingdom (Eph. 1:22-23)!

Man has always desired to know what will happen after our lives are over. “The great unknown” as many have described the hereafter. Those who are God’s know what will happen when their lives come to an end. He has promised His children a life after death if they have made Christ their Lord (1 Cor. 15:12-28). There is no other means of obtaining salvation except through Jesus (John 14:6).  If one wishes to live after death, they must live for Christ in this life; which is a simple concept to grasp (a life for life)! The promise of eternal life is there for the taking, will you abide in the Son and the Father or spurn God’s promise? (1 Jn. 2:24-25)

 

-Brandon Foresha

Lesson Audio – Mark Day – Knowing God by the Numbers

by Leave a Comment

02.12.20 WED – Mark Day – Knowing God by the Numbers

God of the 2nd Chance
Jeremiah 18:3-4
Luke 15:11-32

The God of the 4th Generation
Genesis 15:13-16

The God of the 5th Sparrow
Matthew 10:29
Luke 12:6

The God of the 11th Hour
Matthew 20:1-16
2 Peter 3:9
1 Timothy 2:4

The God of 1000 Hills
Psalm 50:10

Salvation to the Nations

by Leave a Comment

Centuries before Christ came into the world, the Lord foretold of the universal mission of His Servant, “And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6). Jehovah’s servant would not only raise and restore the faithful remnant of Israel, but would be a light to all the nations of the earth, bringing salvation to all people. The scope of Jesus’ mission is universal. When He arose from the dead, He explained this universal scope to His disciples: “Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24:45-47).

Photo by Brett Zeck

Isaiah identified Jerusalem as the starting point, and perhaps from the figurative language one could think that all people would travel to Jerusalem, “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem” (Isaiah 2:2-3). While certainly Jews from all nations were gathered at Pentecost to hear the first proclamation of the Gospel (Acts 2:5), the Lord’s intention was not for His disciples to stay in Jerusalem so the Gentiles could come and get the good news. No, He wanted His followers to go out into every nation and bring the good news to them. Echoing the sentiments of the prophecy in Isaiah 49:6, Jesus told the apostles, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Jesus’ commission to preach to all nations is not only recorded in the aforementioned Luke 24:47, but also in Matthew 28:19 where—after Jesus proclaimed His universal authority—He commanded, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” The Gentiles, here translated “nations,” are included in those whom Jesus came to save. Mark’s account includes “all the world” and “every creature” (Mark 16:15).

The Gospel went into all the world in the first century; it was preached to every creature (Colossians 1:6, 23). Today the commission is still required of Christians. The final part of Jesus’ commission regards what must be done with those who have been made disciples through baptism, “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you…” (Matthew 28:20). A disciple is to follow all things Jesus has commanded. The command to go teach all nations that Jesus had just given in verse 19 is no doubt included in “all things” that disciples are to observe. Are you, as a disciple of Jesus, trying to teach others about him? To teach and baptize to make more disciples is part of what being a disciple of Jesus is all about. Will you help the world to know about the salvation Jesus Christ provides?

-Mark Day