A NEWSLETTER FOR THE MEMBERS OF THE GREENWOOD CHURCH OF CHRIST

VOLUME 4 NO. 50                                       February 10, 2008

An Amazing Two Days!

By Steve Niemeier

Imagine that you were there (John chapter 6)---following a multitude that was following after this one they called Jesus the Christ.  He had just crossed over the Sea of Tiberias and had gone up into the mountain with His disciples. You were there because you saw what He had performed on those that were diseased.  Never before had you experienced anything like that and you wanted to know more about Him.

On that mountain you see thousands of people who had all gathered for the same reason you had---to see more amazing things and hear this One speak.  What you would see next was something that you never expected.

This One they call Jesus took five barley loaves and two small fishes and fed about five thousand men all they wanted of the barley loaves and the fish.  Not only that, but there were left-overs” that filled twelve baskets.  What an amazing day!  Many were stating that Jesus was truly the Prophet who is to come into the world (John 6:14).

When you awakened the next morning He is gone.  You find out that He has crossed over to the other side.  You did not know that He had walked on the water while His disciples took a boat.  Yet, like the others you caught one of those boats that came from Tiberias and sailed over to where He was.  What would He do today to astonish us might have been on your mind.

Little did you know that what you were going to hear from Him would be a life changing speech that would be hard for many to accept.  Jesus the Christ began to answer questions posed to Him by those of this great multitude.  As He answered those questions He spoke in ways that you had never heard before.  He spoke of the bread which we all thought Moses gave our fathers.  He stated it had come from God.  He went further to explain that God gives the bread of life and that He was that bread.

As He spoke His words were words that many found hard to comprehend.  Maybe they were not listening I do not know but this Jesus was telling us of the benefits of being a disciple of His.  He was telling us that we had to partake of Him, His body and His blood to have eternal life.  He spoke of how our fathers had eaten the manna from God in the wilderness yet they died.  Why?  Because it was a physical food and it seems that He was concerned that we were going to go the same way as our fathers --- relying on physical things and being impressed with physical things --- and those things would cause us to die.

Yet this death He was speaking of was something other than the physical death we all fear.  It was a “spiritual” death that was the focus of His teaching.  He was teaching that we should find the benefit of serving God through Him and be rewarded eternally for doing so.

When He was concluding His words a large number turned away and would never walk with Him again.  However, several stayed with Him, including those twelve that seemed to be the closest to Him.  Then we heard an amazing question from Him as He asked them if they wanted to go away also.  Would His closest friends leave Him?

Then the one they called Simon Peter stated “Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.”  (John 6:68-69).  That is when we realized there was the benefit of staying and following this Jesus the Christ---eternal life with God through this Jesus.  This is the benefit of all benefits---peace and hope to guide us through this troubled world found in Him and then eternal life as the benefit of our obedience to Him.  An amazing two days!!!

Adding Temperance To Our Knowledge

By Steve Niemeier

As Peter stated in his exhortation on fruitful growth in our service to the Lord we are to add temperance to our knowledge just as we are to add knowledge to our virtue and virtue to our faith (II Peter 1:5).

Temperance is the art of being under self-control.  Adding self-control to our knowledge results in putting into practice what we have learned from God’s word.  This will obviously make us more God-like in our thoughts and actions.

Brother Bobby K. Thompson listed the following thoughts in a sermon outline on adding temperance to our knowledge.

1. Temperance is mentioned in other scriptures --- Acts 24:25; Gal. 5:23; I Cor. 9:25; Titus 1:8; 2:2.
2. Temperance is self-control --- I Cor. 9:27; Matt. 16:24; I Thess. 4:3-5; 5:22.
3. A person can develop temperance/self-control --- Prov. 16:32; 25:28; James 1:19-20; I Peter 2:11.
4. We must control our appetites --- Prov. 23:1-2; 21; 25:26; Col. 3:5; I Peter 4:3-4.
5. The faithful to God manifest such control --- Gen. 39:9; Daniel 1:8; Heb. 11:24-25; I Cor. 9:27.
6. To add temperance we must battle against our biggest enemy which is ourself --- Matt. 16:24; Gal. 6:3-4; Phil. 2:3-5; Prov. 4:23.

Our lack of temperance (self-control) can keep us from building ourselves up in our faith and can result in a spiritual and eternal tragedy.
Jude 20-21