Do you like to read?  I do and I know you probably like to also, most people do.  Also do you occasionally overhear a conversation about the latest best selling author’s current work?  Notice the adjective, current.  An author as well as anyone else’s fame is fleeting and only a few great names such as Shakespeare or Milton are generally known.The Greatest Author wrote the Greatest Book ever written. Sadly many have never read His book or even picked it up for a cursory examination.  In that book lie the secrets to mankind’s beginning, present and future. It describes the path from here to eternity.  Isn’t that exciting?  The Bible is the “code” from the Master of the Universe for a better life here and a far better one to come.

Can you imagine stumbling upon a great treasure of an ancient king?  And yet, here at our fingertips is a priceless gem, far more valuable than the riches of any king who ever lived. And it can be bought for a small price.  My favorite Bible is one I bought at a garage sale for twenty-five cents. Think of that! The priceless Word of God for twenty-five cents! You may have a favorite copy of the road map to Paradise, I pray so, and perhaps you paid more than twenty five cents for it. Whatever you paid, read it, love it, live it.

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

Lou David Allen graduated from Abilene Christian University with a BS in Physics in 1962 and a MBA in 1976.  He worked for NASA on the Apollo Moon Project in Houston, TX.  His area of expertise is heat transfer especially related to space simulation systems.  He was a junior college administrator and teacher for 21 years and was the mayor of Merkel, TX for eight.  He now works as a salesman for a company he and his wife Rhoda own.  Rhoda and David have been married forty-seven years.  They are happy.

The book of Acts presents a beautiful picture of early Christian believers and their natural desire to be together.  The model then was clearly not just a Sunday morning assembly but a model of assembly together, focusing on each others needs and praising God as one.

All the believers were together and had everything in common.  Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.  Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2:44-47 NIV)

I attended a small town congregation on Sunday and there was a good 20 feet between groupings of family and friends during worship, not as I imagine when reading Acts.  If you are a new Christian, seek out a church family who love one another and worship as one every chance they get.  If you are part of a congregation that on Sunday mornings resembles a doctor’s office waiting room during flu season, don’t leave – be the one to bring people together.   A healthy Christian community focuses on assembling together not just on the assembly.

I recently had a discussion with a congregational leader who was bemoaning the prevalence of sports in the lives of our church youth.  The leader believed our youth should spend more time in church than on the field.  It’s almost as if we must choose to be a Christian in the confines of an assembly building or not at all.  My response is a close look at the scriptures.  The truth is, Christ intended for his follower to be disciples and spread the gospel everywhere at all times.  A practical Christian will:

1.  Go into the world. To spread the gospel we must go.

2.  Serve as Christ’s ambassador.  Ambassadors serve in foreign lands

3.  Go where our gift influences the most.  Don’t compartmentalize your faith into church and world.

4.  Use every gift from God. What ’s your gift?  Use it to spread the gospel.

Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”  Matthew 22:37-40 (NLT)

I love this video and you’ve probably seen it many times.  As you watch it again consider if our culture has changed our self-image and devalued the love we have for ourselves.  If we don’t love ourselves how can we love our neighbor?

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Practical Christian application:

1.  We have confidence in an eternal reward through Christ
2.  It’s impossible for us to fully understand God’s will
3.  God wants us to have patience, know that evil will not prevail, and to fully place our trust in Him

Last week we lost a 15 year old family member after a lengthy battle with cancer.  Her struggle was featured in a post by her grandfather last month.   As I prepared to officiate over her funeral I thought it was appropriate to share on this blog the comfort our family found through God.

Over and over family members and friends in the community asked how God could let something so terrible happen to someone so young.  A close friend who had lost his wife in a tragic car accident years earlier had great counsel to me.  Part of his word he took from a message Billy Graham delivered on the National Day of Prayer, September 14, 2001

I’ve been asked hundreds of times in my life why God allows tragedy and suffering. I have to confess that I really do not know the answer totally, even to my own satisfaction. I have to accept by faith that God is sovereign, and He’s a God of love and mercy and compassion in the midst of suffering. Full message here

Our family found great comfort in suffering knowing that God is a loving God even though we may not know why such tragic things happen.  We choose to trust God.