Mt. Vernon Church of Christ Newsletter 09-15-2019: Help us spread the word--Subscribe Today!; Newsletter archives; Last Weeks Issue; Social Media; Contents; Invitation; Daddy, Take Me To Church; Mystery Reaveled - ELP; Digital Library; Church of Christ - ELP; Golden Thought; The Heaviest Cross Of All - Conway; Bible Question of the Week; Weekly Bible Reading Schedule; Weekly Memory Verse; Featured Video - Weeping For That Which Is Lost - Larry Albritton; Featured Audio - Difficult Passages in Romans - Gary Colley....If you like it, please share it. Thank you!
Visi us at our 2019 Gospel Meeting
Bring the whole family and join us for Bible study and worship this Lord's Day!
When we speak of the church it is important to understand that we are not merely speaking about a group of people or a building. When we speak about the church we are talking about a plan God purposed before the foundation of the world and executed in the fulness of time to bring about the salvation of man. Sometimes we talk about the plan of salvation. Or, we talk about the church being part of God’s plan of salvation. Actually, the church is God’s plan for saving man.
In his epistle to the Ephesians, the apostle Paul described the “mystery of Christ” (Eph. 3:3,4). This mystery is not something that cannot be understood or known for Paul wrote “how that by revelation He made known unto me the mystery, whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ” (Eph. 3:4). The word for mystery here meant something that was unknown to an individual until that individual was initiated into the mystery, then they were given knowledge of it. Think of it as a military plan which was not known by the troops until it was ready to be executed. . . .
The Mt. Vernon Church of Christ is building a digital library to aid serious Bible students in their study. When possible, we will be adding new volumes. We are grateful to the many sources from which we draw these volumes for making these available. We take no credit for them ourselves. We do not necesarrily endorse everything in every volume. We simply provide them as aids to Bible study. This week:
Inspired Old Testament prophets from Samuel (II Sam. 7:11-16) to Isaiah (Isaiah 2:1-4) having foretold of it's establishment (Acts 3:24), the church of Christ (Rom. 16:16) was founded on the first Pentecost after the Lord's resurrection (Matt. 16:13-20; Acts 2:1-47). Thus, the Lord's church was not an afterthought but was in God's plan from the beginning of time (Eph. 3:9-11). In the Lord's church, His body, ({i.e, in Him} Eph. 1:22,23; Col. 1:18) are all spiritual blessings (Eph. 1:3). Salvation is found only in Christ (Acts 4:12); thus, salvation is found only in His church (Acts 2:47). The New Testament provides a pattern for the organization, nomenclature, worship, and terms of entrance into the church of Christ (I Pet. 4:11; Heb. 8:5; Col. 3:17; Eph. 4:5, et. al.).
Organization
Christ is the head of His church (Col. 1:18). Thus, the church of Christ has no earthly headquarters. Each local congregation of the Lord's people is completely autonomous, being governed by a plurality of elders (Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5) also styled bishops (cf. I Tim. 3:1-7), overseers (Acts 20:17, 28), shepherds (I Pet. 5:1-4), pastors (Eph. 4:11), and presbyters (I Tim. 4:14). These men must meet certain qualifications (I Tim. 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-16), as do the men who become deacons ("servants"-I Tim. 3:8-13). The eldership governs the congregation (Heb. 13:17; I Tim. 3:4,5) but does not "lord it over" the flock of God's heritage (I Pet. 5:1-4). . . . .
Everything precious is covered! A person modestly dressed is like a pearl in its shell.
THE HEAVIEST CROSS OF ALL
I’ve borne full many a sorrow, I’ve suffered many a loss —
But now, with a strange, new anguish, I carry this last dread cross;
For of this be sure, my dearest, whatever thy life befall,
The cross that our own hands fashion is the heaviest cross of all.
Heavy and hard I made it in the days of my fair strong youth,
Veiling mine eyes from the blessed light, and closing my heart to truth.
Pity me, Lord, whose mercy passeth my wildest thought,
For I never dreamed of the bitter end the work my hands had wrought!
In the sweet morn’s flush and fragrance I wandered o’er dewy meadows,
And I hid from the fervid noontide glow in the cool green woodland shadows;
And I never recked, as I sang aloud in my wilful, selfish glee,
Of the mighty woe that was drawing nigh to darken the world for me.
But it came at last, my dearest, — what need to tell thee how?
Mayst never know of the wild, wild woe that my heart is bearing now!
Over my summer’s glory crept a damp and chilling shade,
And I staggered under the heavy cross that my sinful hands had made.
I go where the shadows deepen, and the end seems far off yet —
God keep thee safe from the sharing of this woeful late regret!
For of this be sure, my dearest, whatever thy life befall,
The crosses we make for ourselves, alas! are the heaviest ones of all.
Katherine Eleanor Conway
Bible Question of the Week
(All questions come from the Scripture readings.) Who does the Bible compare to a jewel of gold in a swine's snout?
LAST WEEK'S QUESTION AND ANSWER What did the Lord require of Israel?
ANSWER: Deuteronomy 10:12 - And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but 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,
WEEKLY BIBLE READING SCHEDULE (Theme: Dress) Monday, September 16 - Gen. 3:6-8,21; Ex. 28:1-40; Rev. 1:13; II Tim. 2:22 Tuesday, September 17 - Prov. 15:3; I Tim. 2:8-10; Deut. 22:5; Dan. 3:21; I Sam. 16:7; Prov. 22:6 Wednesday, September 18 - Prov. 11:22; Is. 3:16-23; II Sam. 13:14-19; Prov. 7:8-12 Thursday, September 19 - I Pet. 3:3,4; I Sam. 2:19; I Cor. 6:19,20; Matt. 5:28; John 19:23; Friday, September 20 - Acts 9:39; Mark 7:21-23; Matt. 5:16; 22:11,12; Rom. 12:1,2; 13:14, 14:13
Weekly Memory Verses
Deuteronomy 22:5 - The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God.
