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 The Cornerstone 

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This is the Stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the Chief Conerstone." Acts 4:11

Pulbished to Support the Work of the West End Church of Christ, Richmond, Virginia

Volume 8 *   Number 1* January 6,  2008

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Change is Good if Change is Right

 Change is good but only if it is for the better. Many people have all kinds of new good ideas at the start of a new year. i.e. Lose weight, get a new job, stop this or that, go to church more. 

Better health is good, but not if our goal is to pick up more “chicks”.  A new job can be good for one, unless it is dishonest gain.  And going to church more is a great change, unless where you go is not at all the church that Christ built.   Change is good if change is right.

The honest person needs to change for the good.  Paul gives the Christian a noble pursuit.  “…be conformed to the image of His Son,…” Romans 8:29  Change but change your life to look like the Master Himself.  The word conform means to be “jointly formed”.  The one looks just like the other.   The changes we are making need to be changes that form us to look more and more like Jesus.   The more we look like Jesus the more we are lights within a very dark world.

“But I can’t be like Christ”!  Excuses will get us no where.  Change we must! Paul said “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me:…” Galatians 2:20.  If the “chiefest of sinners” can, so can I.                                                          Stacy Crim

Improve Your Life

1.   Turn off the TV and read your Bible. The Psalmist said of the blessed man, "His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night" (Ps. 1:2).

2.   Hang up the phone and pray. I never cease to be amazed at how much time some people spend on their cell phones. Is all that talking necessary or profitable? "Pray without ceasing" (1 Th. 5:17). "The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much" (Jas. 5:16)

3.   Get up out of bed an hour earlier and come to Bible study. "As the door turns on its hinges, so does the sluggard on his bed" (Prov. 26:14).

4.    Cut down your credit card purchases and give. Give to the poor. Increase your contribution at church. "One who is gracious to a poor man lends to the Lord, and He will repay him for his good deed" (Prov. 19:17). "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35).

5.   Change the conversation from sports, weather, and politics to spiritual things. Do that at home. "These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up" (Deut. 6:6-7). Do that at work, too. "He who wins souls is wise" (Prov. 11:30).

- via Manslick Road Speaker

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Do Emotions Determine Salvation?

David O. Lanius, Jr. 12/19/2007

We live in a generation that feeds on emotionalism and little thought is given to the authority of the word of God.  "We hear people say, I feel so good about who and what I am."  Whether we want to admit it or not, God's word still stands and claims to exercise authority over us.  Jesus the Christ, has been given all authority over all (Matt. 28:18; John 17:2).  He is the one to whom we must listen (Heb. 1:1-3).  We must allow Jesus to tell us if we are saved or not.

The Scriptures have been written to correct man and give him the means to know what God expects (2 Timothy 3:16-17; Eph. 3:1-7).  Man has not been instructed to set himself up as the authority and then decipher what God's word means to him.  The gospel is the power of God into Salvation (Romans 1:16-17) and when studied and applied it will save our souls (1 Cor. 15:1-4).

When one goes by his feelings as authority, rather than by faith, he places himself before God.  We need to understand that pardon takes place in the mind of God and not in the mind of man. Why would a man want to base his contentment, peace, joy and salvation upon feelings when he can know that he is right with God?  Reads thoroughly 2 Timothy 2:15; 1 Peter 3:15 and Romans 10:17.

How one feels (subjective feelings) has never been a way of determining if we are right before God.                                                   &

 

THE LURE OF THE EASY WAY

Dan S. Shipley

 "And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David: if this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah." (1 Kings 12:26,27)

Whether or not Jeroboam's fears were well founded is uncertain. However, of one thing we can be sure. He was more concerned about the people's loyalty to him than to God. To accomplish his aims, he shrewdly baits his trap with something that entices most all men — the lure of the easy way. He told them, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem...". Little did it matter, apparently, that he gave them idols, pretended priests and pagan worship. The important thing was that he provided them with an easy religion — and that overshadowed all else. They became victims of the easy way.

Many are the mortals who have succumbed to the lure of the easy way, both spiritually and otherwise. Our advertising agencies have learned the devil's sales pitch well. They tell you how to lose weight — the easy way. They offer easy ways to quit smoking, to achieve physical fitness or financial independence. People haven't changed much since Jeroboam's day. They still fall for the same old bait, "the easy way"; and in doing so have filled the prisons, swelled the welfare rolls and lengthened unemployment lines (Not to mention the irretrievable waste of time, talent and potential).

And, as in Jeroboam's day, the easy way is still a popular way in religion. The prospects of having to "go up to Jerusalem" (or even across town) is still too much for too many. They would take the denying self out of following Christ; the giving diligence out of seeking approval; and the striving out of entering in at the strait gate. Such would have the benefits without the bother. As Jesus says of others, "They have their reward."

As might be expected, even the Lord's church has been touched by the lure of the easy way. It is felt in our teaching program when preachers and teachers find it "too much" to make adequate preparation of their lessons and when Bible class students find it "too much" to study and prepare assigned work. It affects our visitation program when members find it "too much" to leave their comfortable homes and TV programs to call on the sick or unfaithful. It affects our personal evangelism program when brethren think it "too much" to try and teach others the way of salvation. It affects the purity of the church when we think it "too much" to finally discipline the unruly among us. Of all things that contribute to the weakening of the church, none is more influential than taking the easy way.

The narrow way can never be the easy way. Not only are the ways different, they lead to different destinations (Matt. 7:14). "Going up to Jerusalem" may require self-denial, sacrifice and hard work but it's the way of the cross — and that leads home.

Plain Talk March 1978

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