[Biblemat] Walking in the Light (5/20/07)

Wed May 23 01:48:05 CDT 2007

Walking in the Light

"For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light."
"The entrance of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the
simple." 

"But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with
one another...."
(Psalm 36:9; 119:130; 1 John 1:7a)

May 20, 2007

www.thetfordcountry.com <http://www.thetfordcountry.com/> 

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INFORMATION: My WEB Site  <http://www.thetfordcountry.com/>
www.thetfordcountry.com has just been updated to include the articles and
sermons listed below. All the sermons posted each week to my web site are in
.pdf format.  The PowerPoint charts are also included with ALL the sermons
that are posted to the web site. To access the sermons page, visit the site
and click on "Richard's Page" and then click on "sermons." Please visit the
"Reference Works" links page for updated links to various Bible study
resources. If you are a newcomer to the area or wanting information
concerning the San Juan church of Christ here in Montrose, Colorado, then
click on the San Juan church of Christ Web Site at
<http://www.sanjuanchurchofchrist.org/> www.sanjuanchurchofchrist.org. Thank
you for visiting my web site and as always, your comments are welcome. 

If you know of someone that would like to receive the "Walking in the Light"
electronic bulletin each week, please send an e-mail message to
<mailto:Richard at Thetfordcountry.com> Richard at Thetfordcountry.com  with their
name and e-mail address and I will add them to the list.

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CONTENTS:

"Planting Seeds for Christ" (Richard Thetford)

"Coddling Sinners" (Ron Daly)

"The Difference Between the Old Testament and the New Testament" (David M.
Bonner)

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PLANTING SEEDS FOR CHRIST

Richard Thetford

The Hebrew writer states: "Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord
Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of
the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His
will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus
Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever" (Hebrews 13:20-21). It is my hope
and prayer that each one of us will have the desire to be complete in
Christ, always striving to do His work diligently day by day. It is so good
to be here to be able to work together, planting seeds for Christ here in
the Montrose area!

I am looking forward to the work before me in the teaching and preaching of
the gospel to the lost in this community. I truly believe that the fields
are "white unto harvest" here in the greater Montrose area and I am very
excited to have the opportunity to help bring these souls to Christ. We are
given the responsibility to plant seeds and do the watering in order to
allow God to provide the increase (1 Corinthians 3:6). I am convinced that
if we will truly do our part, that God will certainly do His.

May we all strive to do the very best we can for and with each other as we
labor together in God's kingdom. If we will all diligently work together,
this congregation will grow numerically and most importantly, spiritually.
Let's all keep the following encouraging words of the apostle Paul close to
our heart during our time together: "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be
steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that
your labor is not in vain in the Lord" (1 Corinthians 15:58).

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CODDLING SINNERS

Ron Daly

To "coddle" is to treat indulgently. Coddling sinners not only can be, but
it is disastrous to an individual or congregation. God does not give us any
authority to provide an "escape hatch" for sinners, that is, people who sin
and do not repent. Obviously, if a person repents of his sins and turns to
God, he or she is not in the classification of a sinner. But, when a person
persists in sin, any sin, and shows no evidence of repentance, the matter
must be confronted!

Some of the Lord's people are more understanding toward sin and sinners than
God is. Surely, God is merciful, understanding, and longsuffering with his
children (Luke 6:36; Hebrews 4:14-16; 2 Peter 3:9). Yet, even our God
eventually says, "Enough is enough!" (Hosea 4:17; Acts 17:30). It is never
right to encourage wrong. It is never right to finance wrong. It is never
right to cover up wrong. It is never right to just look the other way.
According to God's word, sin has to be dealt with.

Sinners may fit several categories. There are transgressors in the area of
morals (adulterers, homosexuals, pedophiles, rapists, and pornographers);
speech (gossipers, liars, slanderers, blasphemers, and vulgar talkers);
doctrine (false teachers, compromisers, and those who refrain from declaring
God's whole counsel) are examples.

Most knowledgeable people wouldn't knowingly "coddle" sinners in the realm
of morality. Those who commit adultery, homosexuality, pedophilia, rape, and
read/publish pornography are obviously wrong and most people would say "We
must not indulge their sins!" On the other hand individuals and
congregations are increasingly "coddling" those who persistently sin by
speech and doctrine. God wants us to be consistently right in our treatment
of those who sin. We don't do ourselves or the sinner any good when we are
passive and do little or nothing about his sin. We anger God, grieve the
Spirit, trample the Christ, and hurt the cause when we, out of fear or
favor, or the desire not to make people mad, overlook the obvious, and
"coddle" the sinner when we should correct the sinner (2 Timothy 4:1-5;
Matthew 18:15-17).

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THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE OLD TESTAMENT AND NEW TESTAMENT

David M. Bonner

The Old Testament has 39 books and is divided into 3 sections:  History-17
books, Poetry-5 books, and Prophecy-17 books.  If you read the first 17
books of the Old Testament, you will read the history of Gods people from
creation to within 400 years before Christ.  The 5 books of Poetry and 17
books of Prophecy fit into this history.

The New Testament has 27 books and is divided into 4 sections: Gospels-4
books, History-1, Letters-21, and Revelation-1.  The Gospels cover the life
of Christ, the History covers the establishment of the church and its spread
all over the world, the 21 Letters are all written to Christians (groups of
Christians, local churches, individual Christians), and the Revelation
describes the great spiritual war going on between the DEVIL and his people
versus GOD and His people.  If you want to be on the winning side, be on
Gods side!  The purpose of Revelation is to ENCOURAGE Christians so they
will be faithful and be in heaven some day.

One of the BIGGEST reasons people who read the Bible don't understand it, is
they DO NOT know the difference between the Old Testament and New Testament.
I've always wondered WHY people who think we are still under the Old
Testament as a spiritual law today, don't have animal sacrifices (Lev.16),
stone disobedient children (Dt.21:18-21), refuse to work on Saturday
(Num.15), or refuse to eat pork, catfish, and a host of other things
(Lev.11), etc.  If they think we are supposed to be under the Old Testament
today, then these are things that are a part of that law and would have to
be done.

The Old Testament was given, as a law, only to the ISRAELITES (DT.5:1-5) and
was  designed to get them ready for Christ (Gal.3:24) and to prepare a
people through whom CHRIST would come (Gal.4:4).  It was NEVER designed to
be a permanent law, even for the Israelites (Jer.31:31-34).  Today, ALL MEN
are under the New Testament (Col.3:17), and will be JUDGED by it (Jn.12:48).

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SERMON

NEW TESTAMENT GREETINGS (with PowerPoint Charts)

Sermons can viewed at my web site:  <http://www.thetfordcountry.com/>
www.thetfordcountry.com

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Meets at:

2740 Commercial Way
Montrose, CO   81401
(970) 249-8116

www.sanjuanchurchofchrist.org <http://www.sanjuanchurchofchrist.org/> 

ASSEMBLY SCHEDULE

SUNDAY
Bible Study...................10:00 A.M.
Worship.........................11:00 A.M.
WEDNESDAY
Bible Study......................6:30 P.M.

Evangelist
Richard Thetford

(970) 626-5558

E-Mail:  <mailto:Richard at Thetfordcountry.com> Richard at Thetfordcountry.com

Web Site:  <http://www.thetfordcountry.com/> www.thetfordcountry.com

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Richard Thetford

E-Mail:  <mailto:Richard at Thetfordcountry.com> Richard at Thetfordcountry.com

1491 Canyon Drive, Ridgway, CO  81432

Home: (970) 626-5558

Please visit my web site:  <http://www.thetfordcountry.com>
www.thetfordcountry.com

Evangelist, San Juan church of Christ

 <http://www.sanjuanchurchofchrist.org> www.sanjuanchurchofchrist.org

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