THE GREENWOOD BULLETIN
A NEWSLETTER FOR THE MEMBERS OF THE GREENWOOD CHURCH OF CHRIST
VOLUME 2 NO. 10                                           APRIL 24, 2005

SEEING STRANGE THINGS

BY STEVE NIEMEIER

Remember the story Luke reveals in chapter 5 verses 17 through 26 of the Book of Life?  Jesus was teaching and a man that was paralyzed was brought to Him by his friends.  The crowd was so large that they ended up lowering him down from the roof into the midst of Jesus.

Jesus healed him in verse 20 and that started a major controversy as the Pharisees began to reason that Jesus was blaspheming God.

As Jesus taught them the man who had been paralyzed rose up before them and departed glorifying God.  Verse 26 tells us that they were all amazed and glorified God and were filled with fear.  Luke also tells us that they were saying “We have seen strange things today!”

The word of God being taught can do strange things.  It can make the unbeliever believe, the liar to tell the truth, the alcoholic to quit drinking, the drug addict to become non-dependent on drugs, the smoker to quit smoking, the murderer to stop killing, the thief to stop stealing, the envious to stop envying, the covetous to stop coveting, the spiritually dead to live again and many other strange things.

Sadly, we have forgotten what strange things the word of God---by itself---can do!  As a result many want to help the word of God by mixing it with “strange” things to entice people to come to a service.  When the people hear the word of God mixed with “strange” things many wonder why folks that are “converted” to this “strange” doctrine are “strange” to the Lord!

Let us leave the word of God alone as it will produce “strange” things according to I Pet. 2:1-10 but those obeying will not be “strange” to the Lord!

SOMETIMES

Anonymous

“If times are hard, and you feel blue,
Think of the others, worrying too:
Just because your trials are many,
Don't think the rest of us don't have any.

Life is made up of smiles and tears,
Joys and sorrows, mixed with fears;
And though to us it seems one-sided,
Trouble is pretty all divided.

If we could look into every heart
We'd find that each one has its part;
And those who travel Fortune's road
Sometimes carry the biggest load.”

THE CHRISTIAN AND HIS MONEY

FROM MINUTE MESSAGES VOLUME II

The average American enjoys a living stardard, which a century ago, would have been the envy of kings.  Never have so many families had so much more money than they actually need, and never have they more free time in which to spend it.  We are an affluent society that has begun to look upon some things as being necessities which really are just luxuries.

What is the Christian attitude about all of this?  Well, let me quickly say that poverty does not guarantee godliness; neither do riches indicate anything about a person's spiritual condition.  The important thing is not how much we have, but rather how we use what we have.

Remember the Bible says the covetous man shall not be saved (I Corinthians 6:6-10).  The Bible says the love of money is the root of all evil (I Timothy 6:10).



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