Jesus said, “Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest” (John 4:35). “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:38). Let us teach and pray and then teach and pray some more. There are souls who are ready to be added to the church (Acts 2:48). What are you doing to help them?
A seed will produce after its own kind. An Apple seed cannot bring forth a Peach tree. A Wheat seed cannot bring forth a Pecan tree. A Grape seed cannot bring forth a Watermelon. Now, “The seed is the word of God” (Luke 8:11b). When THAT seed is planted, what will come of it? They got Christians (Acts 11:26). And when the church teaches and practices what Christ and the apostles taught and practiced, you can only get ONE THING—GOD’S CHURCH— CHRIST’S CHURCH—THE CHURCH OF CHRIST! That is why I am a member of the church of Christ.
The church of Christ honors THE plan that Christ gave for salvation. By looking at the process of salvation as given by Jesus in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, one comes to the undeniable conclusion that there are five things that must occur before one can claim salvation.
Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:10-13 that ANY name that honors ANYONE other than the one who was crucified for your salvation is a name that is NOT worth keeping! Yet how many churches today are named after Paul, Peter, John or some man?
God does not want me to just take for granted that I am saved. He wants me to examine my life every day to make sure that I am doing what He wants. He said to the Corinthians, “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12).
Why does God forgive? God forgives because each person has eternal value worth more than the whole world (Matthew 16:26) and He wants them to be saved. God so valued each person that he offered His only begotten Son as sacrifice.
How does God forgive? God forgives generously. One of the greatest statements in the Bible concerning God’s forgiveness occurs in Psalm 103:10-14. "He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust."
Who does God forgive? God forgives all men potentially and the penitent actually. As indicated by the future tense, Jesus spoke about potential forgiveness in Mark 3:28 “All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme.” Actual forgiveness, however, comes when an individual repents and turns to God in obedience (Mark 4:12).
The perfect standard for behavior is God, and the gospel exhorts all to be perfect as God is perfect. This entails that one imitate God as much as is possible. “Be ye therefore imitators of God, as beloved children” (Ephesians 5:1 ASV). We would do well to imitate God when it comes to forgiveness. Second Peter 3:9 says that God “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”
The bottom line is that if we want to be pleasing to God, we can be pleasing to God! Why would one NOT want to please God? The only reason I can think of is so that he can please himself instead of God, and, this is what many choose to do. Remember Matthew 7:23? “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”
To be God’s people today, we must, as Paul said, undergo circumcision of the heart. Colossians 2:11-12 says, “In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.” When one is baptized, a person is forgiven of sin and his heart is circumcised.
God’s word teaches us how to partake of the Lord’s supper (1 Corinthians 11:23-29). When we follow this teaching by faith, we will please God. What does this entail?
The apostle Paul wrote, “Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences” (2 Corinthians 5:9-11).
We must approach God by faith. Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” How can we get faith? Romans 10:17 says, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” There’s the key! We must study and learn the word of God. It is when we know God’s word that we can apply it to our lives and be well pleasing to Him.
What does “pleasing God” mean? Hebrews 11:5 uses the same Greek word that the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) uses in Genesis 5:24. It is the Greek word εὐαρεστέω (euaresteo). It is a compound word from εὖ (eu) meaning good or well, and ἀρεστός (arestos) meaning agreeable or pleasing. When these two words join, they have the idea of “well pleasing” or “fully acceptable” or “entirely satisfying.”
Simply attaching God’s name to an activity does not make it holy. We cannot make something holy simply be declaring it such. Only God holds that prerogative. We must avoid turning worship into a circus, common spectacle, or entertainment forum. We should take care that we do not so treat God’s holy things! Remember Nadab and Abihu? They were lax with God’s holy things and they paid the price.
The name of God is holy and sacred. Yet, there are some who profane it by bringing it down to common use. We should only speak of God in a holy way. We profane God’s name when we use it in an unholy way. The church that Christ built and for which he died (Acts 20:38) is a holy and sacred institution. We must regard the church as holy.
God spells out some things that are holy— that are sanctified. In Romans 1:2 we see that the scriptures are holy; they are set apart by God for a special purpose (see also 2 Timothy 3:15). In Ephesians 5:27 we read that the church is holy. Hebrews 7:26 says that we have a holy High Priest. And in the epistles of Peter, Christians are to be holy; they are a holy nation (1 Peter 1:15, 16 and 1 Peter 2:9). Are we concerned about holiness?
In 1 Corinthians 11, the Lord's Supper is a solemn memorial, not a meal. If it loses meaning for you, do not blame the Lord or the elements. Change your thinking.
The Gospels show one moderate portion of bread and cup for each disciple. Paul forbids making the Lord's Supper a common meal (1 Corinthians 11:20-22).