Author: Stan Cox

Minister, West Side church of Christ since August of 1989 ........ Editor of Watchman Magazine (1999-2018 Archives available online @ http://watchmanmag.com) ........ Writer, The Patternists: https://www.facebook.com/ThePatternists

Will So Come!

clouds

 

In Acts 1, as Jesus’ disciples were looking up to the heavens having followed the ascension of their Lord into the clouds, two angels of God addressed them, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven” (vs. 11).

There are lessons to be learned from Jesus’ ascension:

  1. This was God’s exaltation of His Son. After He did the work of the Father, Jesus returned to God’s right hand. It is there where He presently reigns in His kingdom!
  2. Gazing upward is not truly preparing for Jesus’ second coming. The angels asked, “why do you stand gazing up.” This is a good question to ask today of those who seek to predict Jesus’ second coming. We know He will come “as a thief in the night.” There is no predicting the day. Preparation comes through faith and obedience!
  3. The promise of His second coming is sure and similar to His departure. This is God’s promise. Jesus will come again. When Jesus comes, those who are His, “shall be caught up together with them [the resurrected dead] in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:17).

We rejoice in the truth revealed in our text. When Jesus left, He promised to return! “I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:3).

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Sermon: A Shield About Me

A Shield About Me

A discussion of Psalm 3. When we are overwhelmed with troubles, cares, and the opposition of those opposed to righteousness, we can find solace in the fact that God is a shield about us. With his protection, we can overcome.

Sermon: The Truth Shall Make You Free

john23

Lesson 23 in our series of Jesus teaching in the gospel of John covers 8:31-47. Jesus affirms the power of truth to free men from the slavery of sin. Also, he contends that the religious leaders have Satan as their father, because they are like him.

Joyful Expectations

congregational singing 2

Back in the early spring, there was so much uncertainty about the future. I truly thought that the COVID virus would impact our lives for only a short period of time. When we as a congregation began to talk about how to handle the circumstances, that was the question I was asking myself. How long? Three months? Six months? Never did I think we would be looking at over a year of limited social interaction, and compromises to ensure safe assembly. Some other congregations in other states and other places have yet to return to any semblance of a normal worship schedule.

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The Patternists: Entrusted by God

Stewardship

The necessity, on every occasion, to respond to God’s authority in an appropriate manner is a central pattern found throughout scripture. While men feel that God is permissive and does not expect fealty from men, the Bible reveals otherwise, both explicitly, and implicitly.

As an example, consider Paul’s explanation of his God given stewardship in his first letter to the Thessalonians. “But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts” (1 Thessalonians 2:4).

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Beware of Dogs!

snarling dog

“Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation!” (Philippians 3:2).

Paul here refers to the Judaizing teachers, who sought to “spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage” (cf. Galatians 2:4).

Any departure from the gospel of Christ brings the condemnation of God upon them (cf. Galatians 1:9), and endangers the souls of those who might be influenced by them.

Paul’s words were strong. While our society holds a soft place in its collective heart for domesticated canines, the term “dog” meant something far different in the first century. Most were vicious and untrained, roaming streets, and feeding on garbage. Consider the words of the prophet Ahijah, “The dogs shall eat whoever belongs to Jeroboam and dies in the city, and the birds of the air shall eat whoever dies in the field; for the Lord has spoken!” (1 Kings 14:11).

As such, when the term is used to describe a person, it was always a term of strong derision, just as Paul used it here, (cf. 2 Samuel 16:9 for another example of this).

How do we feel about those who teach error? Do we note the danger they bring, and denounce without equivocation their efforts to bewitch the vulnerable? Or, do we tolerate or accept them as they spread their lies?

We must stand with Paul, denounce the false teacher, reject his error, keep the church pure!

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Sermon: Ugliness

Ugliness2

Just like in Roman times, our society is full of ugliness and sin. Violence, oppression, immorality, vitriol and corruption is everywhere. What is the proper Christian response?

Sermon: Preaching and Persecution (Acts 5)

Preaching and Persecution

Peter and the rest of the apostles were persecuted by the angry High Priest and council in Jerusalem (Acts 5). Their response to the persecution give us wonderful lessons we can apply to our own efforts to share the gospel.

The Patternists: Behave Like a Christian

behave

One of the paragraph headings the translators add to the book of Romans is found in the context of Romans 12:9-21. It reads “Behave Like a Christian.”

Though supplied by uninspired men, the paragraph heading is well chosen. There are certain behaviors that should be characteristic of Christians. We are servants and disciples of Jesus. Our lives must reflect that in order to please Him. So, what are these behaviors, as listed by Paul in this passage?

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It Pleased the Father

love of God

“For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross” (Colossians 1:19-20).

“It pleased the Father.” This is Paul’s assessment of God’s plan for redeeming man. This meaning of this passage is disputed, because “the Father that” is not in the Greek. Rather it is supplied by the translators. A good argument is made by Walton Weaver in his commentary regarding the meaning. He states it as follows: God was pleased to, in all His fullness, dwell in His Son. This principle is set forth clearly in 2:9, “For in Him [Christ] dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.”

Likewise it pleased God to reconcile man to Himself through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. This is the central message of the Bible. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).

God was pleased. Despite the ultimate nature of that sacrifice in offering His only begotten Son, it pleased Him to do so. Why? Why was He so willing to do such a thing? Why did it please Him? Because He loves us! “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

There are lessons here for us. First, to rejoice in His love. Second, to recognize the greatness of the debt we owe due to His marvelous grace (cf. Romans 1:14-15). Finally, this: “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:11).

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Sermon: Charitable Giving

Giving

A discussion of the importance of individual benevolence as an expression of the love we have for men and God.

Sermon: Where I Go You Can Not Come

22

Lesson 22 in series

In John 8:21-30 Jesus informs the unbelieving Jews that their unwillingness to believe in Him would keep them from heaven. Faith in Jesus (cf. John 14:6) is the only way to the Father. Without belief in Jesus, sin separates man from God.

The “I Am” Statements of Jesus

I AM WHO I AM

Interestingly, Jehovah revealed Himself with the use of the phrase, “I am” to Israel in Exodus 3. “Then Moses said to God, ‘Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you,” and they say to me, “What is His name?” what shall I say to them?’ And God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ And He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, “I AM has sent me to you”’” (3:13-14).

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The Patternists: Responding to God’s Chastisement

drought

In the book of Amos, the prophet recorded God’s disappointment with Israel. God had chastised His people in myriad ways, and yet they refused to come to repentance. Consider the ways that God chastised His people.

POVERTY: “‘I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities. And lack of bread in all your places; yet you have not returned to Me’, says the Lord” (4:8).

DROUGHT: “‘I also withheld rain from you, when there were still three months to the harvest… Yet you have not returned to Me’, says the Lord” (4:7,8).

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Wisdom in Living

police

“The law of the wise is a fountain of life, to turn one away from the snares of death. Good understanding gains favor, but the way of the unfaithful is hard” (Proverbs 13:14-15).

So many today chafe against the rule of law. The idea of freedom (a legitimate aspect of our democracy) has been abused by those who seek to be libertines. Where once our society understood that our freedoms require constant restraint and voluntary cooperation, now many believe that freedom equates to a selfish lifestyle. I can do whatever I want, regardless of how it might impact others.

The Christian has always understood that freedom requires personal restraint. In order to be free in Christ, we must accept His Lordship! In other words, become “a bondservant of Christ” (Colossians 4:12).

Our text indicates that law (whether the physical laws of man, or the spiritual law of Christ) “is a fountain of life.” And, “the way of the unfaithful is hard!”

The promise of lawlessness is never fulfilled. “While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage” (2 Peter 2:19). Sin entangles, ensnares. Truly the way of the unfaithful is both hard and foolish.

If you want to live a peaceful life, obey the civil authorities (cf. Romans 13:1-7). If you want to go to heaven, obey God! (cf. 2 Thessalonians 1:3-10).

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