Schedule of Services
Sunday
Worship
9:30 AM
Bible Study
10:30 AM
Worship
6:00 PM
Wednesday
Bible Study
1:30 PM
7:00 PM
www.collinsvillecoc.org
For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth... in every place. (1 Thessalonians 1:8)
Vol. 44, No. 04
Collinsville Church of Christ
January 27, 2016
Do You Need More Data?
By Bill Brandstatter
recently saw the above question asked on a sign in
the window of a large department store. It, of
course, is referring to data on cell phones; but
when it comes to our Christian lives, are we ever in
need of more data? The answer to that question is “yes”.
A synonym for data is information, facts, or figures. We
need lots of these in Christianity. God wants all men to
come to the knowledge of the truth-1 Tim. 2:4. Data or
information and facts are the very essence of Christianity.
While some rely on experience and testimony, the Bible
teaches that facts and information are at the very
important to the Christian experience. I can’t be saved
without some very vital data. James wrote: “Receive with
meekness the implanted word which is able to save your
soul.” (James 1:21) Jesus stated that all that have “heard
and have learned of the Father comes to me.” (Jno. 6:45)
Faith is produced by the word of God. (Rom. 10:17) The
Bible contains facts and information that must be obeyed
and incorporated into our lives.
The amount of data never exceeds its limits. The
more a person knows biblically, the more a person needs
to know. There was a problem in the Old Testament with
people not knowing what they needed to know. Their limit
should have been increased. Hosea penned these words,
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” (Ho. 4:6)
There is, however, no limit to the spiritual data package
Christians have. The more we have the more we need. (2
Pet. 1:5-11)
The amount of data is determined by the package.
The wireless carrier I am with has certain packages of data
you can buy. The amount is unlimited within that package.
If you exceed the amount, an extra fee is charged. In
Christianity, we need an unlimited package. We do. God
gives us exceedingly abundantly above all that we think or
ask. (Eph. 3:20) We may forget at times. (Jer. 2:32) The
world is trying to distract us and pull us away. (Rom.
I
12:2; Col. 2:8) That is why our data needs to be renewed
frequently. (Rom. 12:2)
The amount of data is often shared with others.
Many cell phone plans have shared data. On my plan, my
wife and I share the data. In Christianity the data or
information we obtained should be shared with others. It
is designed to be done that way. The apostles were told by
our Lord to preach the gospel. (Mark 16:15) The early
Christians went everywhere preaching the word. (Acts
8:4) How are you with the data of the Bible? Keep in mind
that the Bible has everything we need to be all that we
need to be. (2 Tim. 3:16,17;2 Pet. 1:3) Make sure you have
enough data.
Via The Messenger
Marion, IL
*******
A pro-life billboard showed the picture of a baby and
proclaimed, “God’s finest creation. A baby.” The purpose of
that billboard, of course, was to show the value of life and the
preciousness of the life of an infant. How true that is.
Everyone, however, is God’s finest creation. Every
individual has been created in the image of God. Every
individual is a recipient of God’s wonderful love. Jesus, the
Son of God, gave Himself for every individual. Those who
have yielded to Him and have been baptized into His death
(Romans 6:3-4) are even more precious to God. You are
special.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy
nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim
the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light. 1 Peter 2:9 ESV
Stop and think about how special you are as God’s child.
Live like you are special today.
TLM
Page 2
The Correspondent
January 27, 2016
Bible Authority
By Jerry Brewer
The religious world largely ignores Biblical authority,
choosing to live by the philosophy of human reason
instead of what the Bible says. But what we do in religion
must be authorized by the Bible, or it is sin. “Whatsoever
ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ, giving thanks unto God and the Father by him”
(Colossians 3:17).
To do a thing “in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ”
means He has authorized us to do that thing. We cannot
simply pick out a practice that suits us and say, “this is in
the name of Christ.” Unless Christ has authorized what we
preach and practice, we are not acting in his name. Jesus
has all authority (Matthew 28:18), and for one’s religion to
be right, his preaching and practice must be ordered by
the word of Christ. To do otherwise brings God’s wrath
upon us. “But though we or an angel from heaven, preach
any other gospel unto you than that which we have
preached unto you, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:8).
The silence of the Scriptures do not constitute
religious authority. That philosophy says, “we can do
anything in religion, so long as God didn’t say not to do it.”
Two men in the Old Testament lost their lives because
they did something which God hadn’t specifically
forbidden. “Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took
either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and offered
strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them
not. And there went out a fire from the Lord, and devoured
them, and they died before the Lord” (Leviticus 10:1-5).
They were authorized to offer incense in the
tabernacle because they were the sons of Aaron, of the
tribe of Levi. Their offering had to be done “in the name of
God” or by His authority. But the scripture says they
offered strange fire which “God commanded them not.”
God had commanded the fire to be taken from the altar of
incense which stood before the veil in the tabernacle. They
reasoned that fire was fire, and its source was
unimportant. That is true according to human reasoning.
The fire they used would burn the incense as efficiently as
the fire from the altar. But the principle involved is one of
obedience to God’s expressed command.
As a result of following their own reasoning, they were
killed. They may have been honest, reasoning that “God
didn’t say not to use fire from another source.” The lesson
is that when God specifies a certain thing, that excludes all
else. These men are examples of modern thinkers who
believe they can do anything in religion, so long as it isn’t
specifically forbidden. That attitude violates Colossians
3:17 and 1 Peter 4:11.
While Nadab and Abihu lived by what God didn’t say,
we have an example of a man who lived by what God did
say and saved his family from destruction. In Genesis 6,
God instructed Noah to build the ark. Specific instructions
regarding its construction were given in Genesis 6:14-16.
God specified a certain kind of wood — “gopher wood” —
and gave the dimensions by which Noah was to construct
the ark, and verse 22 says, “Thus did Noah according to all
that God commanded him, so did he.” Noah could have
reasoned — and rightly so — that “God didn’t say not to
use pine or oak in the ark. But Noah understood a
fundamental principle that we need to learn today. When
God specifies a certain thing, that excludes everything else.
God didn’t have to say, “Don’t use oak or pine.” His
specification of gopher wood excluded all others. The
silence of the Bible authorizes nothing. Man must live by
what God has said, not by what He didn’t say.
Via the Oologah, OK, Informer
August 31, 2014
*******
A health center advertisement read: “The difference is
hope.” That is what doctors and medical experts can give.
They give hope to the injured and the diseased. Hope does
make a difference. It means there is purpose for
continuing. There is a reason for pressing on.
Certainly the difference in the lives of the Christian
and the non-Christian is that the Christian has hope. For
the non-Christian, there is nothing more to life than this
present world. Yet, for the Christian, there is reason to live
as God would have us live because we look to eternity.
Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be
has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears
we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And
everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is
pure. 1 John 3:2-3 ESV
Keep your eyes on heaven above. Press on to the prize.
Live holy before God. For we have hope!
Share your hope with others this week.
TLM
Collinsville Church of Christ
1400 Troy Road
Collinsville, IL 62234
Phone: (618) 667-6708
Email: collinsvillecoc@att.net