Being Thankful

I don't know about you, but there is one thing that really gets under my skin this time of year. I bet that if you turn on your television and watch for a few minutes you will figure out what I'm thinking of. Did you get it? I hope so, but if not, it's the amount of commercials dealing with Christmas offers for cars, jewelry, furniture, and electronics. It seems that every year as soon as Halloween is over, merchants begin shoving these products down our throats. Sadly we live in a society that's all about buy, buy, buy. We have to have the latest car, latest electronic device, and the latest jewelry. I think our society has lost the point of Thanksgiving and Christmas. What happened to being thankful? What happened to spending time with your families? I have never been Black Friday shopping and I hope I never will be subjected to that madness, but I often wonder, what if everyone that was lining up at the crack of dawn on the Friday after Thanksgiving, were that committed to going to church? All those people knocking other people down to get to the latest "hot item," why can't they all be that excited and determined to come through the doors of the church building? So in a world that tells us to be all about material wealth, how should we act?

1. Remember who you are and who's you are. We are all God's. We were created in His image and bought by the blood of His Son Jesus. How often do we really stop and thank God for the sacrifice of His Son? That sacrifice is greater than any material thing we can purchase. It is the gift that will never go out of style.

2. The Bible commands us to be thankful at all times. I often wonder, why we set aside just one day per year to be thankful for all of life's blessings? Shouldn't we be thankful year round? As part of this writing I searched the word "thanksgiving" in the Bible Gateway app and it returned forty results where the word thanksgiving is found in the scriptures. You still think we should only celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday one day per year? I don't think so. One of the verses that I liked the most is found in Psalm 100:4. It says "Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name."

3. Count Your Blessings. I love to sing, I'm horrible at it, but I still like to do it. It pained me to miss the Putnam County Thanksgiving Singing last night as I was dealing with seasonal allergies and was grateful just to get through my sermon at the Mayland church of Christ yesterday morning. One of my many favorite songs is entitled "Count Your Blessings." The song reminds us that "when upon life's billows you are tempest tossed, when you are discouraged thinking all is lost, count your many blessings names them one by one." What we should take from this song is that no matter what we are faced with in life, count your blessings to remind yourself that you are bigger than those problems. As a society today I wish we could get back to this. I challenge you to sit down and write out all the spiritual and material things you are thankful for. Sadly we might have more material things on our list than spiritual things. The joy from material blessings only lasts for a short time, but the spiritual blessings that God gives us will last forever.

Friends, this Thursday and everyday be thankful for the spiritual blessings that you have. We shouldn't just set aside one day in November to "count our blessings." I also challenge those of you that go Black Friday Shopping to ask yourselves, "I'm out here standing in line for this great deal, but would I stand in line to go to church?"

In Him,

Carver Moore

 We would be honored for you to join us for worship at the Chestnut Mound church of Christ.

Our service times are as follows:

Sunday Morning Bible study: 10 am

Sunday morning worship: 11 am

Sunday evening worship: 5 pm

Try a Little Kindness by Clarence Deloach

One of the greatest influences in my ministerial career is Brother Clarence Deloach. He is always there to offer an encouraging word and advice on sermon prep, evangelism strategies, and just ministering to people in general. I have been blessed to be able to preach a few of his sermons and I often use his sermon outlines as templates when making my own. One of my favorite sermons that he has preached and that I later preached was entitled "Try a Little Kindness." The title is taken from one of country music star Glen Campbell's hit songs. In today's article, I'm going to share some thoughts from that sermon.

1. What is kindness? The word "kindness" comes from the root word that means to be useful, good, helpful, or suitable. I Corinthians 3:4 tells us that "Love is kind." Kindness is love in practical and personal ways.

2. Why should we be kind? Because God has been kind to us. He saved us through His lovingkindness. Titus 3:4-5 tells us "But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared not by works of righteousness that we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us." Jesus' coming to this world is God's kindness. Ephesians 4:32 tells us that we should "Therefore be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you." Paul tells the church at Ephesus that we have received kindness from Jesus, so we should show kindness to Him and others in return. How else will the world see Christ in us?

3. When should we be kind? Paul tells us in Galatians 6:10 "As we have opportunity, let us do good." Opportunities will come for us to be kind, but oftentimes we let those opportunities slip away. Consider the story of the Good Samaritan from Luke 10:25-37. The man had his opportunity to be kind or not. He stopped, he helped that man. He offered no excuses. All around us today are opportunities to be like the Samaritan man. There are people that are bruised financially, emotionally, spiritually, and domestically. The chief enemy of kindness is business. We get so busy that we forget to or put off doing an act of kindness. You can't do an act of kindness too soon because you never know how soon it may be too late.

4. Where should we be kind? We should be kind in times of conflict and quarrels. Paul tells us in II Timothy 2:24 "The servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle." There are always going to be times of conflict, but we need to be careful when we get into an argument, lest we win the argument, but lose our respect. People both inside and outside the church are watching how we react in times of conflict. Kindness can be the most powerful sermon ever preached. When we are engaged in conversation with another person, we have to remember that our words can bless or burn or hurt or heal. But the area where we should be the most kind, is in our homes. Why is it that we are sometimes the most unkind to those we love the most? We can be so cutting to those who mean the most to us. Many marriages could be saved with a little kindness, and when it comes to raising children, Psalm 18:35 tells us "Thy gentleness has made me great."

In the society that we live in, especially with the rise of social media, it's harder and harder for us to be kind. Whether it's arguing about politics, sports, or religion, people just find it hard to be kind. What is the solution? The good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Yesterday, Vanderbilt University announced that head football coach Derek Mason will return for the 2020 season even though he currently holds a 2-8 record this season. In the past 24 hours social media has blown up with unkind words directed to Mason and athletics director Malcolm Turner. Sure people are frustrated, as am I, but unkind words will not solve the problem. Strive to live more like Jesus each day and be a good example by the way you treat others!!

In Him,

Carver Moore

 We would be honored for you to join us for worship at the Chestnut Mound church of Christ.

Our service times are as follows:

Sunday Morning Bible study: 10 am

Sunday morning worship: 11 am

Sunday evening worship: 5 pm

In Praise of Small Country Churches

For those of you that know me, know that small congregations of the Lord's church are near and dear to my heart. In my opinion those churches are the backbone of the church as we know it. Sadly we are losing them. I challenge you to drive through the countryside in the Upper Cumberland sometime and notice all the vacant church buildings. When I travel to my grandparents house in Jackson County I pass two such examples. One of which has since been converted into a residence. Other examples of small churches that have closed include the congregation in Granville, since converted into a museum, and a small congregation in Sparta that I visited with a historic preservation client of mine this summer. As we peered through the windows of that building, I couldn't help but notice that there were still Bible school decorations on the classroom doors, and toys, blankets, Bibles, and songbooks left in the pews. To say this spooked me, was an understatement. Being the curious type that I am, I reached out to a college buddy of mine from Sparta, and asked him what happened to that congregation. He said that there was only one or two men there to lead the services and from what he understood, the people there decided one Sunday to simply lock the building up and not come back. Sadly this is all too common among churches of Christ today. I offer you the following to consider:

1. I don't believe we realize how good we really have it. Before I begin, you must understand that our buildings are just that, a building, the people inside those walls make up the church. The actions of the members and leaders of a specific congregation is what makes the church strong or weak. Large congregations have a plethora of resources available to them. How often do we take these resources for granted. For example, how often do you visit the library at your congregation? How often do you use the kitchen at your home congregation? How often do you complain about the temperature of the building? How often do you thank the elders, the deacons, and the ministers? I could go on, but I won't, but my point is that in a large congregation we tend to expect things to be there. What would you do if the preacher, or the elders decided not to show up? Would they be missed, of course. Now what if Mr. John Smith or Ms. Jane Doe was missing, would we notice? In a large church, I highly doubt it. Sadly when I'm at Willow Avenue, I can go weeks at a time and not see someone when they've been right there under the same roof as I have all along. Who's fault is that? It's mine. I'm too lazy to walk from one end of the building to the other, unless I have reason to and that's something I could improve upon. In a small church, this is not an issue, we see everyone, every week, and if someone is missing their void is felt. As the preacher I can make a mental note of that absence and make a phone call or send a message. Small churches can do more with less. The outdated Bible class curriculum from a large church is like gold to the small ones. If there's a light that needs to be replaced in a small church, we just power through, but in a large church it sometimes turns into a larger issue. We all like to have amenities in our buildings, but aren't we all working to get to the same place? Next time you see the preacher or one of the elders, thank them for what they do. Next time a light goes out in the building, don't make a big deal about it. Next time you notice someone missing from services, reach out to them. I also challenge you to venture over to the other side of the building and get to know the folks over there. We are all working to get to the same place, let's do it together. This leads into my next point.

2. Cliques are a crick in the neck to the church. Think back to your days in school. There were the jocks, the musically and artistically inclined, the loners, and I could probably keep going. How many churches have you attended where the members are all huddled in groups before and after worship? I'd say we all have. Everyone has people that they are closer to than others, but this can and will cause problems. Oftentimes we come in to the building and head straight to our seat and talk to "our people." By doing this we often miss opportunities to talk to visitors, and talk to other folks in the congregation that we don't know as well. I know in the years that I've been hanging out in the foyer I've met and gotten closer to people that sit on the far side of the building. It all comes down to getting out of your comfort zone and approaching people. You never know what you might have in common with people you don't know very well or at all. Along this same line is the rush to the exits as soon as the "last amen" is said. A few weeks ago I was coming back to the church building with the bus on a Wednesday night after dropping off my only rider. This lady lives just down the road from the building. As I came back up the road, there was this parade of headlights and taillights leaving the parking lot. I couldn't help but think, "what's the rush?" Isn't the relationships we have among our church family some of the greatest relationships of all? Now I know that we sometimes have places to be after worship, but that line of traffic that I saw was like traffic after an Atlanta Braves baseball game. Yesterday at Chestnut Mound, we all stood around and talked for a good thirty minutes after service was over. Yes we are smaller in number, but I could tell that we all were enjoying each other's company. There's no cliques. I challenge you this week to tear down the cliques and if you don't have anywhere pressing to go after services, stick around and get to know your fellow brothers and sisters, 1 John 1:5 tells us that this is a necessity as Christians.

As a member of a large church, and a preacher at a small church, I see the pros and cons of both. But why can't the two varieties of churches coexist? If not for the small churches, we wouldn't have the larger ones, and many of the smaller churches depend on the larger ones for support. Sadly I've heard it said that small churches should be closed because they add nothing to our brotherhood. Friends this is wrong, if there are still people to hear the message, and people around the building to evangelize, then you must keep pressing on. Every time a congregation (large or small) closes down, the devil wins. This can't happen, and as Christians we can prevent this from happening by following the points that I stated above. I often think about what could have been done to have prevented that church in Sparta from closing and use that as motivation in my ministry at Chestnut Mound. When searching for a photo to go at the top of this article, I chose one of the Old Philadelphia church of Christ in rural Warren County, Tennessee. The members of this church back in the 19th century were responsible for reestablishing New Testament Christianity, and without them and so many others there would be no Chestnut Mound or Willow Avenue church of Christ.

In Him,

Carver Moore

 We would be honored for you to join us for worship at the Chestnut Mound church of Christ.

Our service times are as follows:

Sunday Morning Bible study: 10 am

Sunday morning worship: 11 am

Sunday evening worship: 5 pm

Almost Perfect

A few weeks ago, I drove the college age group from Willow Avenue to their Fall Retreat at Fall Creek Falls State Park. If you know me, you know that the three church busses are like my babies. Myself and the deacon over the ministry split time making sure that each of them have gas, are clean, and are in proper working order. We also devote a lot of our time training and recruiting new drivers. Up to the Friday night around 7 o'clock of the retreat, I had never once had an issue with any of the busses. But before we get there, let's rewind to the earlier that day.

Friday October 25th, 2019 was a rainy cold day. After I got off at 1 o'clock at the Cookeville History Museum I headed over to the church bus garage to check on the busses. Only one needed gas and I took it to the gas station down the road and filled up the tank. The bus in the middle bay, I took out and drove it into the lower parking lot so that it would be ready to go at 4:30 that afternoon. Keep in mind that all of this was being done in the pouring rain. The running joke around Willow Avenue is that it always rains when I drive the bus.

Fast forward to 4:30, I arrive at the church building and everyone is there minus one person. We load up the luggage and board the bus, and begin to wait. Finally, we are able to pull out at 5:30. By the time we got to Sparta, the rain showed no signs of letting up and darkness had set in. By the time we got to the top of Spencer Mountain, fog had rolled in. We got off at our exit and headed towards the park. Once we got into the park, that's where the trouble began. We got lost and the park signage was not the best. Between the driving rain beating on the windshield and the fog, I could barely see past the bus' hood. My sister and her good friend were sitting behind the driver's seat and were trying to get service to see where we were. They finally were able to call the college minister but he was cutting in and out due to the service. Finally after fifteen minutes of driving around the park we thought we had the right road. Problem is, we turned off the road too soon and pulled into what appeared to be a road, but ended up being a mud hole. As soon as I realized what we had done, I threw the bus in reverse and tried to get out of it. All the tires did was spin. We were officially stuck. After unloading the bus and making a few phone calls we were able to get a tow truck and the bus was pulled out. I recall saying to myself "Jesus, if there was ever a time for you to come back, now would be the perfect time." I was embarrassed, but after reflecting on this event, there are some spiritual applications that we can make out of this.

1. Don't be embarrassed about sharing your faith with others. In Romans 1:16, Paul tells the church at Rome, that he is "not ashamed of the gospel of Christ." Do we ever find ourselves so embarrassed by our faith, that we don't share it with others? We have the perfect opportunity to tell others the good news, but we let it pass by. Why do we do this? Are we afraid we might lose a relationship with said person? Are we afraid that said person will laugh at us? Let me tell you all right now that if that's the case we either 1. Don't truly care about that person, because we are ok with letting them losing their soul. and 2. They are not truly our friends if they will laugh at us for believing in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul endured torture and imprisonment for preaching the gospel, but regardless of all this, he was not ashamed or embarrassed by what he was preaching. Can we say that?

2. God has a plan for you, even though you don't understand it right now. After we got the bus pulled out of its mud hole, the college minister and I, with the advice of a park ranger, went and found a place to park the bus for the night. When the college minister and I drove down to the cabin in his truck, we both commented that it was probably a blessing in disguise that the bus got stuck, because it would not have made it down there. The road curved at one point and wound between two large trees. On Sunday, one of our elder's wives told me that they got lost trying to find the cabin and she said that it was a good thing that I got stuck where I did, instead of closer to the cabin. Oftentimes in life when bad things happen to us I believe that we look back on them and see the good that comes as a result. In Jeremiah 29:11, the prophet Jeremiah tells us "For I know the thoughts (some translations say plans) that I think toward you, says the Lord." Friends we might not understand now, but when things don't go our way, there is always good that comes from it. Getting lost and getting the bus stuck most likely saved me from not seeing that curve in that narrow road and getting the bus lodged between two trees and actually doing damage to the bus.

We all do things that embarrass us. We all let opportunities to do good works pass by, which in turn embarrasses us. The real question is, how do we respond in these times? I'm not going to sugarcoat it, I thought about just quitting the bus ministry completely, I was that embarrassed. But you know what, I didn't and come Sunday morning, I drove my regularly scheduled route and then went and picked up the college group. They say when the horse throws you off, the best medicine is to get back on it, and that's what I did. Our deacon over the bus ministry and our elders were not upset with me. They said it could have happened to anybody and proceeded to tell me stories about other times things had happened with the bus. One elder said "We're thankful to have you willing to step up and drive the bus." One elder gave me the nickname "mud hole." Most people wouldn't recall this embarrassing time, but my hope is by doing so, I will help people see the good in times like these. I also hope that this article will help people not to be ashamed of the gospel. When trying to choose a title for this article, I thought about the trip up to that point, it really was "almost perfect." Friends we are human, we can't hide the fact that we will mess up daily, and when we do it's best to embrace the bad and learn from it. I know I have and I hope you will too!!

In Him,

Carver Moore

 We would be honored for you to join us for worship at the Chestnut Mound church of Christ.

Our service times are as follows:

Sunday Morning Bible study: 10 am

Sunday morning worship: 11 am

Sunday evening worship: 5 pm

Some Thoughts on Baptism

Last night at the Willow Avenue church of Christ, the congregation had the joy and honor of witnessing a young man's baptism. If you have ever witnessed a Baptism, then you know how joyous of an occasion it is. It got me to thinking about how, why, and when a person should be baptized.

1. A person should be baptized to have their sins washed away. In Mark 16:16 and Galatians 3:26-27, we are told that baptism is the only way to have our sins washed completely away. Baptism is the only way for us to get to Heaven. Do we still have to live faithfully, yes, but baptism gets us started in our Christian walk.

2. A person should be baptized by complete immersion in the watery grave. In Romans 6:4, the church at Rome is told that they "were to be buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." What does this mean? What happens to a person when they die? They are buried in a cemetery. When we become dead to our sins, we are buried in the "watery grave." Our sins are washed away and we put off the "old man" and instead put on the "new man" (Ephesians 4:22-23). Again, we still must remain faithful, but our old sins are forgiven, and we now can gain forgiveness directly from God in prayer for future sins (Mark 11:25).

3. A person should be baptized only after following the previous four steps of the plan of salvation. As a refresher they are: Hear (Romans 10:17), Believe (John 3:16/Romans 10:10), Repent (Luke 13:3/II Peter 3:9), and Confess (Matthew 10:32/Romans 10:8-10). Once an individual has followed these four steps, they are now ready to be baptized. One point that I want to drive home in this article is that baptism does not have to be performed as part of a church service. An individual can come to the building, a river, lake, etc, and be baptized. I believe that many people (including when I was finally baptized in high school), put off baptism because they are afraid of being immersed for the remission of their sins in front of everyone. I tell the saints at Chestnut Mound that if you are ready to be baptized and do not want to come and do it in front of everyone, then wait until everyone leaves and I will baptize you in an empty or close to empty building. Some people have the feeling to be baptized arise in the middle of the night. That's perfectly fine to do that. We might be a bit groggy, but I or any other gospel preacher will gladly accommodate you. Don't let the time of day, your fear of crowds, or any other factor be the reason you lose your soul.

Being baptized for the remission of your sins is the greatest decision that you will ever make. Baptism gives you hope of eternal life with God and Jesus in Heaven. When Jesus came down to this earth and put on a human body and was crucified for the remission of our sins, he gave us the greatest gift of all. We redeem that gift when we are baptized. Are you thinking about being baptized? We would be honored to study with you at the Chestnut Mound church of Christ!!

In Him,

Carver Moore

 We would be honored for you to join us for worship at the Chestnut Mound church of Christ.

Our service times are as follows:

Sunday Morning Bible study: 10 am

Sunday morning worship: 11 am

Sunday evening worship: 5 pm

Be Wary of "Wolves in Sheep's Clothing"

I'm a huge fan of The Andy Griffith Show. I would rather watch reruns of this classic show, then any of the current sitcoms on TV. I have to many favorite episodes to count, but as I was looking back over my sermon notes from this past Sunday, one episode in particular stood out to me. The episode is entitled "Barney's First Car" and was aired during season three in 1963. The synopsis of the episode has Deputy Sheriff Barney Fife wanting to purchase a car so that he and Sheriff Andy Taylor do not have to share the patrol car. Barney takes all his money out of the bank and begins to scour the classified section of the newspaper for a suitable car and eventually finds an ad for a car that had been "garage kept," "low mileage" and "driven only to church on Sunday and grandma's house for Thanksgiving." Barney contacts the seller and a little old lady named Miss. Lesh shows up at Andy Taylor's house. Barney falls head over hills for the car at first sight and wants to make the transaction right then and there. Levelheaded Andy suggests Barney take the car for a drive and go over to the "filling station" and get the car checked over by Wally. Barney claims that doing so would be an insult to Miss. Lesh and he purchases the car on the spot for $300, telling Miss. Lesh to "keep the change." As we find out later in the episode, sweet Miss. Lesh is running a stolen car operation and the car that Barney purchased is a lemon. So what can we learn from Barney's decision?

1. When you are listening to a preacher, follow along, don't take what they say as gospel. Before you start saying "Carver, what do you mean," hear me out. As a preacher, the greatest thing that I ever hear during my sermons is the sound of pages of the Bible turning. It lets me know that people are engaged in what I have to say. I spend weeks preparing for sermons and Bible classes, but I'm not perfect and I know I make mistakes, and if I do, I want my listeners to catch it and correct me. In Matthew 7:15, Jesus is preaching the Sermon on the Mount. He warns the Jews to be "wary of false teachers." He says they come to us "in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves." I can't help but think about Barney and Miss. Lesh. To him she was like a harmless sheep, but inside her intentions were to rip him off. What about a preacher? Do we invite just any man off the street to come preach and teach us? Of course not. The men that stand up in our pulpits have been vetted throughly, they still make mistakes, but they do not do so unintentionally. But what about the ones that do so intentionally? They do not come into our pulpits physically looking like false teachers, no, they come to us looking like any preacher would. It's when we begin to hear their thoughts on the gospel that we begin to see who they really are. The question is, do we check what they say on our own in the scriptures? Or are we like Barney Fife and take their word for it? Think about it.

2. What about church leadership? In 1 Timothy 3:1-13, Paul lays out the qualifications of elders and deacons. Note what he says in verses 6 and 10. They are not to be a "novice," and are to first be "tested." Why is this? God does not want inexperienced, immature men leading his congregations. God also told Paul to write this, because he does not want false teachers leading his congregations. A man should spend years following and obeying the gospel, making themselves better Christians. What about a man that's been a Christian many years and is in a leadership position just to have the power of that position? He is no better than the false preacher or Miss. Lesh.

3. What about regular members? When a family or an individual decides to identify themselves with a local congregation, it's the job of the leaders of the church to meet them and really get to know them in depth. Why do we do this? To avoid being a Barney Fife and letting a Miss. Lesh in to our congregations. The old saying "one bad apple can ruin the whole bunch" applies here. We love our congregations and leaders of the church and have a responsibility to protect them. Elders as shepherds are in charge of this. In John 10:12, Jesus tells of a wolf that came in amongst the sheep and scattered them. Can't the same be said of false teachers, leaders, and members? 

I for one am happy and content in my role as a preacher. I have so much respect for elders, and I would not want their jobs. However as a preacher I must stay aware and make sure what I am preaching and teaching is the truth. Our congregations are God's. It is our responsibility to protect them. Once false teaching creeps in, then it is difficult to get them out. We should always guard our hearts. If I or any preacher says something in our sermon or Bible class that's not backed up by scripture, don't be afraid to call us out. We want you too!! Learn a lesson from Barney Fife. He should have listened to Andy and gone and got the car inspected by Wally before he bought it. Do we inspect cars and houses before we purchase them? Of course. Why? Because there's thousands of dollars involved. Did you date your spouse before you married them? Of course. Why? You want to find out if they are a suitable mate or not. Then why not do the same when it comes to matters of the church? There's much more at stake than a few thousand dollars or someone you are going to spend the rest of your life with. 

In Him,

Carver Moore

 We would be honored for you to join us for worship at the Chestnut Mound church of Christ.

Our service times are as follows:

Sunday Morning Bible study: 10 am

Sunday morning worship: 11 am

Sunday evening worship: 5 pm

Loving the Brotherhood

You all knew that it was a matter of time before I did a blog article with an illustration based on my beloved VandyBoys baseball team. Since Vanderbilt first started playing baseball in 1904, the program has an overall record of 1,933-1,611. 411 of those victories are owned by current head coach Tim Corbin. Corbin has led the VandyBoys to five Southeastern Conference championships and two College World Series championships. Under Corbin's guidance, Vanderbilt has had 25 players play in Major League Baseball. In essence the program is the 31st MLB team. But with all this success, Corbin is quick to say that it's not his doing, instead he always praises the players, assistant coaches, and parents for the program's success. At the 2019 National Championship celebration Corbin talked about what it means to be a VandyBoy. He said that once you play here, you will always be a member of this program, no matter what else you do in life. He said it's a brotherhood. This led me to think about our relationships with the brotherhood in the church.

In the book of Ephesians, Paul tells the church at Ephesus in chapter 2, verses 4-10 that God has mercy on us and loves us no matter what we do. He doesn't love our sins, but He always loves us. We are all created in His image. No matter how deep into sin we get, God is always there for us and Christ's death on the cross is always available as a way of escape. Consider these three points as we look for ways that we can pay God's love for us forward and show those who are lost or are going through tough times that they always have refuge in the church.

1. Encourage your brothers and sisters in Christ. With the rise in social media this has become easier than ever. It's not that hard to log into Facebook and send someone a quick note through Messenger. Oftentimes we never know what folks are going through. We attend church on Sundays and then we leave. We have no idea what people are going through Monday through Saturday. We are all one big family and just like Coach Corbin said in regard to the VandyBoys, we are all going to be a part of God's family for the long term. God loves us, even though he doesn't always love what we do.

2. Don't let new Christians fall through the cracks. On Sunday's for Bible Class here at Chestnut Mound, we are going through the book of Matthew and really taking our time to study each chapter in depth. Yesterday, we studied Matthew 13 and Jesus's parable of the sower. In verses 20-21, Jesus talks about the new Christians who have "received the good news with joy, but after a while he stumbles." This is all too common in the Church today. Men and women obey the gospel and are "on fire" for a short time, but eventually they leave the brotherhood and fall back into their old lives. It is our responsibility as Christians to not let this happen.

3. Remember that people are free moral agents. Everyone has the right to choose. Throughout Matthew 13, Jesus repeats the phrase "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!" Jesus says, "I'm putting the word out there for you, but it's your decision, and only your decision, whether or not to accept what I am saying." Think about that person in your life that has never known God, or once did but has since fallen away. I bet you would do almost anything to get them to make their lives right? Unfortunately all you and I can do is put the word out there. We can't make anyone follow the plan of salvation. For a preacher, this is hard, but that's just the way God wired people. Believe it or not, we are already showing our love for those people just by putting the gospel out there for them.

Just like Vandy baseball players will always be VandyBoys, so will all of us always be loved by God and created in His image. Again, He won't always like what we do, but He will always love us and have mercy on us. Will it be easy to live as Christ did? Of course not. We live in an evil society. Temptations and other roadblocks come at us from every direction. When freshman pitcher Donny Everett tragically passed away in June 2016, Tim Corbin said that he thought about quitting. He said he had a hard time dealing with the grief. But he stuck it out and in 2019 went on to win his second National Championship with what would have been Donny's senior class. Are there things in our lives that just make us want to quit? Do we see our fellow brothers and sisters wanting to quit? How do we respond to them? Think about that this week and love your brother and sisters and remember that God will always love you, no matter how deep in sin you might be, there's hope!! I and the Chestnut Mound church of Christ love you!!

In Him,

Carver Moore

We would be honored for you to join us for worship at the Chestnut Mound church of Christ.

Our service times are as follows:

Sunday Morning Bible study: 10 am

Sunday morning worship: 11 am

Sunday evening worship: 5 pm

Photo at top courtesy of VUCommodores.com