Historical Posts
Rivers of Waters Run Down Mine Eyes
Thanks to Al Parr, working with the Saline Church of Christ, for the content of this post.
Psalm 119:136 KJV – “Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law.”
Psalm 119 is about the Bible: the origin, nature and authority of it, and the attitude toward it – of believers, of unbelievers and of God Himself. When the penman looked at the people of the world, he was “grieved, because they kept not thy word” (Psalm 119:158 KJV).
When you and I consider the lost condition of the multitudes among whom we live, our reaction can take one of three courses. We can:
[1] ignore the situation as something we cannot change
[2] judge them guilty of ignoring their Maker and His love
[3] fear for their souls, and try to teach them eternal truth
Probably most of us take the first course. Sadly, some take the second. Our God-inspired example is to feel the “rivers of waters” and the third course.
The apostle Paul had “great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh” (Romans 9:1-3 KJV). When he thought of those who had set themselves as enemies of Christ and opponents of the gospel, he wept (Philippians 3:18).
What makes you weep and moves you to rivers of waters? Personal injury and loss? The suffering of a loved one? These things should bring upon us throes of compassion, but the Christian’s love should be broader than to include only those of his own company.
“For God so loved that He gave…” (John 3:16 KJV) “For the love of Christ constraineth us…” (2 Corinthians 5:14 KJV) How will the lost be saved if the saved don’t care?
Al Parr works Confirming the Churches and preaches at the Saline Church of Christ
7300 East Michigan Avenue
Saline, MI 48176
734-429-4319
Content by Zachary Van Tassel
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Moved with Compassion
Thanks to Al Parr, working with the Saline Church of Christ, for the content of this post.
God motivated saints are moved with compassion to care for the needy and help when they can. Every contact with the lost is an opportunity for evangelism.
Mark 6:34 KJV – “And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things.”
A world in need comes to the church for help in paying bills and buying groceries. Not always, but often, people need help from others because they are experiencing the result of their previous poor decisions. Usually our poor decisions result from not having an established plan for life that guides us to success.
Regardless of the cause of the need, God-motivated saints are moved with compassion to care for the needy and help when they can. Jesus, when He came out to the people and saw their lack of direction in life, “was moved with compassion toward them … and he began to teach them many things.”
Let us not forget the true purpose of the church. While the stomach is growling, the ears may not hear anything else, but in every contact with the lost there is an opportunity for evangelism. We may not find it, but as servants of the Master we should certainly be looking for it.
Al Parr works Confirming the Churches and preaches at the Saline Church of Christ
7300 East Michigan Avenue
Saline, MI 48176
734-429-4319
Content by Zachary Van Tassel
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The People Perish
Thanks to Al Parr, working with the Saline Church of Christ, for the content of this post.
Proverbs 29:18 KJV – “Where there is no vision the people perish.“
This verse is often referenced by those who would encourage us to think ahead, or to exercise wisdom in making our plans for the future, but that is not the message in the verse. The next portion of the same verse makes that clear when it says, “but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.”
The “vision” in the verse is not a clear understanding from experience, skill or wisdom. It is a revelation from the Lord. Ezekiel said, “then shall they seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the ancients.” (Ezekiel 7:26)
When people refuse to hear the word of God and heed it’s admonitions, they are doomed to perish. It was proven true of the Ammonites, the Hittites, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Sodomites and many others. They are gone because they did not heed the word of God.
How many of today’s nations will suffer the same fate? And how soon? Let us preach the gospel more urgently than ever before, lest our people perish.
Al Parr works Confirming the Churches and preaches at the Saline Church of Christ
7300 East Michigan Avenue
Saline, MI 48176
734-429-4319
Content by Zachary Van Tassel
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No Rule Changes
Thanks to Al Parr, working with the Saline Church of Christ, for the content of this post.
Expect No Rule Changes from God.
“And I besought the LORD at that time, saying, O Lord GOD, thou hast begun to shew thy servant thy greatness, and thy mighty hand: for what God is there in heaven or in earth, that can do according to thy works, and according to thy might? I pray thee, let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon. But the LORD was wroth with me for your sakes, and would not hear me: and the LORD said unto me, Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto me of this matter. Get thee up into the top of Pisgah, and lift up thine eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold it with thine eyes: for thou shalt not go over this Jordan.” – Deuteronomy 3:23-27
We know what is expected of us, as Moses had known when he struck the rock, and now in this life is the time to do it. Asking God to change the rules later did not work for Moses, and it will not work for us. No rule changes should be expected.
It is not mercy that changes the rules with respect to persons, but anarchy; God will respect His word, and so, therefore, must we.
Al Parr works Confirming the Churches and preaches at the Saline Church of Christ
7300 East Michigan Avenue
Saline, MI 48176
734-429-4319
Content by Zachary Van Tassel
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It Can Not be Part True and Part Myth
Thanks to Al Parr, working with the Saline Church of Christ, for the content of this post.
“For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark.” – Matthew 24:38
Jesus said that Noah lived and the flood happened as it is recorded in Genesis. If the flood story is false, as many affirm, then Jesus is a liar.
You either take the whole Bible, or you reject the whole Bible; it can’t be part true and part myth, because it is all one complete revelation.
It is often said that “the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed, and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed.” Just so, every page of the Bible is inextricably linked to every other page, the entire account depending upon every word.
The Old Testament was written as God moved men to write (2 Peter 1:21), and the New Testament was preached and written in the words of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:12-13). Not part true and part myth – all of it true.
Al Parr works Confirming the Churches and preaches at the Saline Church of Christ
7300 East Michigan Avenue
Saline, MI 48176
734-429-4319
Content by Zachary Van Tassel
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Such Were Some of You
Thanks to Al Parr, working with the Saline Church of Christ, for the content of this post.
Such WERE some of you… means there was a change.
“And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” – 1 Corinthians 6:11
The “such” to which Paul refers is the list of ten sins in the two preceding verses (1 Corinthians 6:9-10): fornication, idolatry, adultery, effeminacy, homosexuality, thievery, covetousness, drunkenness, revilement, and extortion. Some were involved in those sins, but no more. Such were some of you.
The doctrine has recently reappeared (did it ever completely disappear?) that baptism makes an adulterous marriage suddenly sanctified. It has been oft-repeated, though wrongly, “You can make the Bible say anything you want it to say.” It has also been said that “a text out of context is a pretext.” Those who want to believe their own ways delude themselves in thinking that the Bible supports them.
Paul does not say here that sin is no longer sin because sinners became Christians. They were cleansed from sin, not in sin (compare 1 Corinthians 3:17; 6:18-20). The context of these verses is that Christians no longer think, speak and behave according to the philosophy and morality of the world (1 Corinthians 5:1; 9-11; 6:7; 15-17).
Sin is not cleaned up by obedience to the gospel; it is cleaned out. If you are still in the same sin to which you were bound before your baptism, where is the obedience to the gospel? Where is the change? How can it be said, such were some of you?
Al Parr works Confirming the Churches and preaches at the Saline Church of Christ
7300 East Michigan Avenue
Saline, MI 48176
734-429-4319
Content by Zachary Van Tassel
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In The Likeness
Thanks to Al Parr, working with the Saline Church of Christ, for the content of this post.
Romans 6:5 – “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection“
Therefore, those baptized for another reason – in another likeness – are not in the likeness of His resurrection – are not walking in newness of life (Romans 6:4), and have not crucified the old man (Romans 6:6), and are neither dead unto sin, nor alive unto God (Romans 6:11). The likeness of the death and the likeness of the resurrection are linked.
Sincere people often ask, and several have asked on FaceBook pages, “even though I was immersed in that other church, do I need to be immersed again?” Think on this, and then answer the question. Salvation is not based on immersion; it is the result of transforming conversion:
- When one is baptized because he believes (Mark 16:16)
- When he is baptized because he knows that is what God requires for his salvation (1 Peter 3:21)
- When he is baptized as a willing and submissive response to the authority of Jesus (Matthew 28:19)
When baptism is based on these things, one is saved by the grace of God, and not by his own choices and actions (Ephesians 2:8-9). Think on these things and determine your answer about being immersed again.
“IF we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, (THEN) we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.” Did you only give your body to the water, or did you give your heart to Jesus Christ?
Al Parr works Confirming the Churches and preaches at the Saline Church of Christ
7300 East Michigan Avenue
Saline, MI 48176
734-429-4319
Content by Zachary Van Tassel
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An Effective Preacher
Thanks to Al Parr, working with the Saline Church of Christ, for the content of this post.
What makes an effective preacher?
Acts 18:24-28 – “And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus…”
In describing Apollos and his work, Luke, by the inspiration of God, lists six qualifications of an effective preacher:
[1] an eloquent man;
[2] mighty in the scriptures;
[3] instructed in the way of the Lord;
[4] fervent in the spirit;
[5] he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord;
[6] (is easily taught when in error, as) they took him unto them and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.
The effect of such work by such an effective preacher: He helped them much which had believed through grace, and this he did publickly, shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ.
Considering that all Christians are to be effective preachers with their lives, could all of the same be said of you?
Al Parr works Confirming the Churches and preaches at the Saline Church of Christ
7300 East Michigan Avenue
Saline, MI 48176
734-429-4319
Content by Zachary Van Tassel
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Other Sheep
Thanks to Al Parr, working with the Saline Church of Christ, for the content of this post.
John 10:16 – “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.”
It is sad that some people still, as they did in the days of Peter (2 Peter 3:15-16), pervert the scriptures. One religious group, very active in television advertising and door-to-door work all over the world, teaches that the “other sheep” of which Jesus spoke are Jewish descendants in North America. Don’t let such people lead you into their deception.
Writing what the Spirit told him to write (1 Corinthians 2:13), Paul explained to the Ephesian church that Jesus, in talking of the other sheep, was talking about the Gentiles (compare Ephesians 2:11-18). In speaking to the elders of that church (Acts 20:28-29) he referred to the mixed assembly of Jews and Gentiles as “the flock of God,” singular in number and equivalent to the “one fold” (the one church) under the “one shepherd” (Jesus).
God’s plan to unite Jew and Gentile (in the church) is not a mystery; it has now been made known (Colossians 1:27), and does not require the fanciful interpretation of uninspired men. Neither does it require even another book from God (Galatians 1:8-9).
Those who are wrongly “dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15) are doing so “to their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:16).
Al Parr works Confirming the Churches and preaches at the Saline Church of Christ
7300 East Michigan Avenue
Saline, MI 48176
734-429-4319
Content by Zachary Van Tassel
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Before whom will you confess Jesus today?
Thanks to Al Parr, working with the Saline Church of Christ, for the content of this post.John 9:21-22 – “But by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his eyes, we know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself. These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue.”
The parents of the man born blind, now healed by Jesus, were afraid to speak the truth about Jesus because they feared what the judges would do to them otherwise. Many continue in the same sin today. “He that sat upon the throne” (Revelation 21:5) said that “the fearful … shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone” (Revelation 21:5).
“God hath not given us a spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). Trust the power. Exhibit the love. Use the sound mind.
Read again Matthew 10:32-33, then answer the question – Before whom will you confess Jesus today?
Al Parr works Confirming the Churches and preaches at the Saline Church of Christ
7300 East Michigan Avenue
Saline, MI 48176
734-429-4319
Content by Zachary Van Tassel
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Are You Running?
Thanks to Al Parr, working with the Saline Church of Christ, for the content of this post.Habakkuk 2:2 – “And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.”
Habakkuk lived in a time of violence, iniquity, grievance, spoiling, strife and contention (Habakkuk 1:3-4). God revealed to him that He was about to do something that the people wouldn’t believe if they heard it (Habakkuk 1:5). But hear it, they must.
Write it, Habakkuk! Write it upon tablets. Make it plain. God wants people to know His word. More than that, He wants people to act upon His word. They can’t do what they don’t know (Romans 10:14).
It’s still true. You can’t please God if you don’t read His word. The good news is, His word is plain. When you read you can understand (Ephesians 3:4), and when you understand you will be motivated to run for Him (Isaiah 55:11; Romans 10:17).
Are you running?
Al Parr works Confirming the Churches and preaches at the Saline Church of Christ
7300 East Michigan Avenue
Saline, MI 48176
734-429-4319
Content by Zachary Van Tassel
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Is the Bible the Rule Book for the Church?
Thanks to Al Parr, working with the Saline Church of Christ, for the content of this post.2 Thessalonians 3:6 – “Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition that he received of us.”
Is the Bible the rule book for the church, or isn’t it?
We see everywhere today the results of the hijacking of churches by agents of change. It’s not entirely the fault of the hijackers! When people begin to teach in the church what was not taught by the apostles and recorded in the Bible, they must be stopped (Titus 1:11). When we make excuses against confronting them, we ourselves become contributors to the apostasy (1 John 1:11) that will surely result from all false teaching and practice.
How much plainer could the rule be?
The sentence includes the words “command,” “you,” “in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,” “ye” and “every.” It’s not an option; it’s a direct order from your Master, and your response to it will be weighed in the final judgment day.
And how many other souls will be affected by your words and actions?
Al Parr works Confirming the Churches and preaches at the Saline Church of Christ
7300 East Michigan Avenue
Saline, MI 48176
734-429-4319
Salvation: Hear - Believe - Repent - Confess - Be Baptized - Live Faithfully
Content by Zachary Van Tassel
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