Woodland
Hills Church of Christ
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Sunday, July 22, 2007 Volume 51, Issue 28 HAVE YOU BEEN SIDETRACKED? There is an oft told tale which tells of three demons who were coming to earth to finish their apprenticeship. Before departing, they were telling Satan about their plans to tempt and ruin men. The first said, "I will tell them that there is no God." Satan said, "That will delude some but not many, for they know that there is a God." The second said, "I will tell men that Jesus was an imposter and that the Bible is a fraud." Again Satan replied, "You will deceive some but not the majority. There is too much evidence of the Deity of Jesus and the inspiration of the Scriptures." The third demon said, "I will tell men that there is a God, that Jesus is real and that the Bible is true. I will tell men that they are obligated to give their lives to God and Jesus and to follow the Bible." As the two other demons scorned such a plan, the third demon added, "And then I will tell them that there is no hurry. I will tell them to satisfy their desires now and serve God later." "Go." said Satan, "and you will ruin them by the thousands." Perhaps "billions" would be a more appropriate estimate. As already stated, the above story is just a fable. However, the central thrust of the story truly illustrates the modus operandi of Satan. The Scriptures clearly teach that our primary purpose upon this earth is to "fear God and keep his commandments" (Eccl. 12:13). What does the Lord require of us? "To fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, to keep the commandments of the Lord and his statutes" (Deut. 10:12). It is our task to let our lights so shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify the Father which is in heaven (Matt. 5:16). Our life’s aspiration should be to present ourselves before God in judgment "unblameable in holiness" (1 Thess. 3:13). We must be diligent in order that we may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless at the last day (2 Pet. 3:14). Of course, Satan’s task is to divert us from fulfilling the purpose for which we have been created. In order to do this, he seeks to convince us that we can never be fulfilled in the pursuit of righteousness and godliness. Satan’s message is that true fulfillment is found in worldliness rather than godliness. His servants in the media promote this message via the TV screen, movie screen, billboards, magazine and newspaper ads, songs, books, ad infinitum. Through these avenues Satan allures us to focus upon the earthly and to forget the heavenly. Gus Nichols once said, "We’re just pilgrims passing through this world, but many have fallen in love with the campground." Some years ago, brother Franklin Camp wrote that it was his considered judgment that worldliness was the greatest threat facing the church. Was he an alarmist in his assessment? I think not. Indeed, there is an obsession in our age with "things." Millions are possessed by the desire to possess more and more. Modern man isn’t satisfied with a big bank account. He wants the bank too. In our comfortable and affluent society man has become smug and arrogant. He has forgotten God. God warned the Israelites not to get sidetracked and forget Him (Duet. 8:7-20). Jesus admonished, "Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life" (John 6:27). Not everyone has followed the Lord’s advice. In the Parable of The Sower, Jesus spoke of the thorny ground hearers who, when they have heard, go forth and are choked with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life and bring no fruit to perfection (Luke 8:14). This evidently is what happened to Demas. Some of the saddest words in all of Scripture were penned by Paul when he wrote, "For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world...(2 Tim. 4:10). The rich young ruler allowed his love of money to sidetrack him from following Jesus. His attitude prompted Jesus to comment, "How hardly shall they that have riches to enter into the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into the the kingdom of God" (Luke 18:24-25). The rich fool of Luke chapter 12 aptly depicts the average American’s philosophy of life. Most people in America would look upon him as a glorious success, but in the eyes of God he was a foolish failure. When will we ever learn that "a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth" (Luke 12:15)? We brought nothing into the world and it is certain that we can carry nothing out (Ecc. 5:15; 1 Tim. 6:7). But it is not just the deceitfulness of riches that sidetracks us. The "lusts of other things entering in, choke the word and it becometh unfruitful" (Mark 4:19). Martha was cumbered about much serving and anxious and troubled about many things. The things she was preoccupied with were not in and of themselves immoral. However, her devotion to these tasks sidetracked her from the greater devotion of learning the word of God (Luke 10:40-42). The Parable of the Great Supper (Luke 14:16-24) pictures many being invited to a great supper. One excused himself on the grounds that he had bought a piece of ground and needed to go see it. Another said, "I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused." Another man pointed to his new wife as his reason for not coming. In each of the above examples, the affairs of this life sidetracked and crowded out other more important obligations. Is it any different today? Recreation, vacations, vocation – all this and more, often preoccupies and sidetracks us from our God-given purpose. Satan doesn’t mind an occasional visit to the church pew provided that we sit in our easy chair the rest of the time. The plain truth of the matter is that we have all too reguarly put the Lord’s work on the back-burner while we selfishly pursue our own pleasures. The thrust of sin is captured by looking at the middle letter of the word. The middle letter of the word "sin" is the letter "I". And that is precisely where the problem lies. I will do what I want to do when I want to do it, but I will not inconvenience myself to walk across the street to talk to my neighbor about Jesus. Monkey trappers in North Africa have a clever method of catching their prey. A number of gourds are filled with nuts and firmly fastened to a branch of a tree. Each has a hole just large enough for the unwary monkey to stick his forepaw into it. When the hungry monkey discovers the nuts, he quickly grasps a handful, and attempts to eat them. However, the hole is too small for him to withdraw his clenched fist. This agitates the monkey and he begins to wail. The hunters simply follow these wailing sounds right to their prey. The monkey doesn’t have enough sense to open his hand and let go in order to escape, and is easily taken captive. Isn’t this a picture of many today? The devil with his crafty devises appeals to the appetites of our flesh. As long as we hold on to the worldly bait we cannot escape from Satan’s trap. But Satan keeps on urging, "Don’t let go! Enjoy the pleasure of your sin just a little bit longer!" So, listening to the tempter’s alluring voice we continue in our evil way. John’s inspired admonition will help us avoid getting sidetracked by Satan. He wrote: "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever" (1 John 2:15-17). B. J. Clarke - - Southaven Church of Christ
TAFT TALK UPDATE: It has been a great summer so far. We have been to so many different places and done so many different things. While it is hard to be away from home, it is neat to see the group from Woodland Hills doing so much work for the Lord in various cities and with different types of people. When you receive this, the group will be on their way to church camp. We are going again this year to Taylor Christian Camp. We are taking 26 from here and meeting up with several there. The theme for the camp this year is "He is the I AM.’ We will be doing a lot of studying and learning from the Gospel of John. We will be gone to church camp the 22nd-27th. MISSIONARY REPORT NEIL HILLIS is working with the Lebanon Road church of Christ in Nashville: This summer has flown by. We have been extremely busy and I have learned so much about the work of the church. I am happy to report that in the last 3 weeks, I have had the blessing to baptize 6 souls in to Christ. All praise be to our God for the great things He is doing. MATT MITCHELL is working with the Westside church of Christ in Brownsville: I just got back from Honduras and my leg is healing up well. Thank you for all of your prayers and concerns. I jumped right back into work once I got back to Brownsville. We are getting our group ready for church camp. They are very excited about it, and I must admit, I AM TOO! PRESTON PINSON is working with the Washington Avenue church of Christ in Evansville, Indiana: I can’t believe that I only have two more weeks here to work. I have really missed Woodland Hills and I have so many lessons that I have learned. I have been to several church camps where I worked as a teacher, counselor and even a camper. I have gotten to experience so many wonderful things. I cannot wait to see you all. I love and miss my family there. KEEP THESE FELLAS IN YOUR PRAYERS. THEY ARE DOING GREAT WORK.
Ross Rhapsody How much in our daily life do we use both fire and water? Most of us bathe regularly, cook on the warm stove a fire provides, and drink the sweet H2O. But nobody wants to be completely consumed in a ball of fire or immersed in water for longer than you can hold your breath. People die each year from drowning and death by fire, but under our control, fire and water become our best friends. I think we do this with Jesus too many times. I think we are too afraid to surrender our lives to Him, so we try and control the amount as much as possible. We love some "Jesus" on Sunday morning and we might throw in a little devotional time with him one morning during the week if we have some time. But our lives never become consumed and immersed with Jesus as our master. We cannot be afraid of Jesus the same way we are with fire and water. Brethren, it is time to trust and obey! Vego’s Verse 1 John 4:16-18 God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
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