Greg Tidwell

"Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, 'Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.' But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls" (Hebrews 10:35-39).

Life is filled with decisions. Most are trivial. A few matter. We agonize over a choice of restaurant or movie for an evening's entertainment, flipping from channel to channel on a remote to select a program – knowing that tomorrow we really won't care which choice we made.

The decisions which do matter are the ones we will care about tomorrow, and next week, and next year. Some decisions make a difference over a very long time. We realize the importance of buying a car or a house, of pursuing an education and choosing a career, of marriage and children. These decisions make a difference over a lifetime.

Beyond today, tomorrow, next year, or even a lifetime, one central decision makes a difference for eternity. The commitment to become a Christian is the most important decision anyone can make. It makes the difference between heaven and hell.

As important as becoming a Christian is, one must remain a Christian to receive the reward. There is, as the author of Hebrews reminds us, a need for endurance. Fidelity is a choice. Day by day we must rise to the challenge and keep our commitment of faith. The new birth in Christ begins with a decision which is embodied in baptism. Making this decision brings us into salvation. Living in Christ involves a continual commitment; it is this faith which keeps us saved. Choosing Christ, once for all, is the most important decision we can make.

by Mike Benson

Diana Ross McCain wrote an insightful article entitled, "The Hardships of Worship." In it she described what it was like to worship in a Connecticut church meetinghouse some two-hundred plus years ago. She observed:

"There was no fireplace, no stove, no significant heat source of any kind. Half-frozen men, women, and children, bundled up in their heaviest garments, hunched themselves to conserve precious body heat and peered through clouds of condensation formed by their breath. In the pulpit the minister himself might be preaching clad in a greatcoat and mittens. At times it got so cold the Lord's Supper froze..."

Comfort was not a primary consideration of those who constructed early Connecticut meeting houses. Here one came every Sunday to attend to the serious business of hearing the word of God and how it might be applied to daily life. And that solemn duty was to be carried out no matter what weather it pleased the Almighty to provide."

Wouldn't it be interesting to some day note the following in the local paper, "Come worship with us. Our building is cold in the winter; hot in the summer. We use neither heat nor air conditioning. Our pews are not padded. We meet not for physical comfort, but spiritual worship. You are cordially invited"...(John 4:24; cf. Acts 16:24,25)?

Now, what was it you were saying about the thermostat?

by Barry Newton

Although each Sunday Christians gather in worship to remember Jesus' death, it is at this time of the year that Jesus was actually nailed to a cross and raised up to die. As Paul wrote his letters to real congregations facing common problems, repeatedly his apostolic pastoral guidance rallied Christians to shape their lives by the way of the cross.

The way of the cross should be the molding force in a Christian husband's life. Although many ideas and models compete in the modern marketplace for how a husband might treat his wife, the model of Christ's selfless love for the sake of the church should be the driving force behind a disciple's behavior toward his wife (Ephesians 5:25,28,29). The way of the cross should determine how a Christian husband treats his wife.

Just as Jesus taught that being a disciple was contingent upon picking up one's own cross and following him (Luke 9:23;14:27), this message is also echoed through Paul's words: "those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires" (Galatians 5:24). When someone responds to Jesus crucified in order that he or she might belong to Him, the way of the cross is supposed to transform that person's life. Accordingly, the mindset of those in Christ should be the same as Paul's: "may I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world" (Galatians 6:14).

The message of the cross also addresses the fundamental issue behind the societal symptomatic problem of demanding my freedom and rights. Whereas the knowledge of my liberty might cause me to become puffed up in protecting what I deserve or what I understand that I should be able to do, the message of Christ crucified is intended to reverse such self-centered motivation. The way of the cross calls the Christian to be driven by the imitation of Christ's love for us whereby he served our genuine needs instead of insisting on His rights. Love makes sacrifices for the sake of building others up. In order to seek the well-being of others for whom Christ died, personal rights and privileges can be gladly given up (1 Corinthians 8-9).

The message of the cross provided the appropriate corrective to the divisive, sectarian spirit at Corinth. Whereas the Corinthian Christians had become enamored by human wisdom and eloquence which drove them to elevate and rally around certain personalities, Paul replaced these false values by placing God's wisdom center stage. Where is God's wisdom displayed? It is found in the proclamation of a hill overshadowed by the uplifted form of the Savior exposed on the stark exposed beams of a cross, dying for humanity. The way of the cross points down the path of what matters. Accordingly, Paul had spent his time among the Corinthians resolved to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2).

This list is not exhaustive. Let's learn the lessons of the way of the cross and allow it to shape our lives as we pick up our crosses to follow our Master and Savior.

by Steve Preston

"In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes" (Judges 17:6, 21:25).

Generally speaking, a people left to themselves will become corrupt. Without accepting divine guidance, a society falls into moral decay. Sometimes even with leadership a civilization can become rebellious and turn against the Father of us all.

One would think then that a man especially chosen by God to lead the nation of Israel would be a source of spiritual strength to the people he leads. As it turns out, the first man chosen to be king over Israel "did that which was right in his own eyes" and caused Jehovah God to say, "It repenteth me that I have set [him] to be king; for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments" (1 Samuel 15:11).

Saul, the son of Kish, was made the first king over Israel (1 Samuel 11:15). After the prophet Samuel anointed him, Saul was told to "go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass" (1 Samuel 15:3).

Because Amalek fought against Israel as they left Egypt (Exodus 17:8-13), God decreed that nation should be destroyed, hence the instructions to Saul. Everyone and everything pertaining to Amalek was to be destroyed.

The instructions were simple and specific. For someone to misinterpret what God wanted done to the Amalekites is hard to fathom. Saul, however, apparently did not understand. For instead of destroying everything pertaining to the Amalekites as God instructed, Saul "spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them" (1 Samuel 15:9).

What was Saul thinking? Did he not think that God actually meant for him to destroy everything? Even when he was confronted later by Samuel, Saul still claimed he had "obeyed the voice of Jehovah, and have gone the way which Jehovah sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites" (1 Samuel 15:19,20).

Notice that Saul claimed to have done what Jehovah had asked of him while at the same time declaring that the Amalekite king Agag had been spared. What was he thinking?

What are we thinking when we sin? God has given us specific instructions to "put to death therefore your members which are upon the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry" (Colossians 3:5).

More than once, God has told us to do only what we have been commanded to do (Deuteronomy 5:32, 17:20, 28:14; Colossians 3:17; Galatians 1:5-9). What are we thinking when we presume that something we like in worship will be acceptable to God? What are we thinking when we compromise our faith in order to "fit in" (Galatians 2:11-14). God's children need to think as Paul did and "have the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16).

Only when we do that, conform to Christ, will we be thinking the right thing.

Steve moderates the Bible Talk list, from which this article was taken, with his permission. www.topica.com/lists/list_BibleTalk

by Phil Sanders

1. Makes us disciples (Matthew 28:19)
2. Causes us to be born again (John 3:5)
3. Remits our sins (Acts 2:38)
4. Gives us Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38)
5. Adds us to the church (Acts 2:41,47; 1 Corinthians 12:13)
6. Washes us from sin (Acts 22:16; Ephesians 5:26)
7. Makes us a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17; John 3:5)
8. Buries us with Christ (Romans 6:4; Colosians 2:12)
9. Raises us up with Christ (Romans 6:4; Colosians 2:12)
10. Unites us with Christ (Romans 6:5)
11. Gives us newness of life (Romans 6:4)
12. Old self crucified with him (Romans 6:6)
13. Our body of sin is done away with (Romans 6:6)
14. Frees from sin (Romans 6:7, 17-18)
15. Makes us His child (Galatians 3:26-27)
16. By His mercy He regenerates by washing (Titus 3:5; John 3:5)
17. Justifies us by his grace (Titus 3:5-7)
18. Gives us the hope of eternal life (Titus 3:5-7)
19. Saves us (1 Peter 3:21; Mark 16:16)
20. Answers the appeal for a good conscience (1 Peter 3:21)