In the 29th Psalm, David wrote, “1 Give[a] unto the Lord, O you mighty ones, give unto the Lord glory and strength. 2 [b]Give unto the Lord the glory [c]due to His name; Worship the Lord in the [d]beauty of holiness.”
And in verse 9, “The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth, and strips the forests bare; and in His temple everyone says, “Glory!” (Psa. 29:1-2, 9)
“Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen” (1 Tim. 1:17).

Give unto the Lord glory and strength for good reason too when you consider all the the Lord our God has done…

Often we are accused of teaching and believing things we don’t teach or believe. This is yet another example of something we don’t believe. We don’t believe in a plurality of gods. 

We do teach and believe, as the Bible clearly states, in the Godhead, or the individuality of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Three separate persons of God who all are One God. 

That is what the scripture teaches. In this lesson we will examine the terms related, and the scripture that explains what exactly the Godhead is.

Listen in as we examine the scripture

“…but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits” (Daniel 11:32).

People who know their God are people who are: Strong and Take a Stand.

God always required His People to be Strong (Joshua 1:6-9; Ephesians 6:10-14)

Stand for Truth
Stand Against the Wiles of the Devil
1 John 4:17, “Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.”

Let’s examine in this lesson the character and activity of people who know God…

Once again we find ourselves addressing a claim that is false, made by other churches. The accusation is that the members of the church of Christ believe that Social Activities are Sinful.

Yes, Jesus did say, “for as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark” (Matt. 24:38).

But the real sin was not their social activities, rather it was their refusal to listen to God, through the preaching of Noah.  Genesis 6:5 states, “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” 

That is why they perished!! How is your heart? Is it filled with the righteousness of God? John wrote in the New Testament, “Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son” (2 John 1:9).

All who transgress the law of will be judged, it’s that simple. But let’s study this together and reach a conclusion by the scripture.

The question is not are social activities sinful? Rather, is the Lord’s church to be involved in social activities?  

I know what it is like to invite friends, family and brethren to a supper and have no one show up.

The one’s that want to be gracious will make excuses for why they can’t come.
The one’s who could care less—just don’t come.

But—there are the one’s who really care—and they do come and we enjoy one another’s company.

Jesus tells us a parable of a Great Supper from which we can glean many spiritual lessons. In this message I would like to share just 5 observations from this teaching of our Lord.

Let’s begin studying the account of the Great Supper together –  (Luke 14:15-24)

QUESTION: WHY DID JESUS LEAVE THE COMFORT OF HEAVEN? Why leave a place where sin, sorrow, pain, death and such does not exist and come to this place where it does exist? Why leave the Glory of the Father—to be with all the hate, murder, perversion, the anti-God world? Why come here—and walk among man—knowing that man would hate Him—reject Him, and put Him to death on a cross? What possible reason could Jesus of had for such an apparently bad choice?
TO SERVE YOU! You, are the reason God’s Son came to earth.
Because He loves you—He came to serve you—to show you how much He loves you by dying for you. Did I deserve this, did you deserve this? Not a chance! And that is what makes it such a powerful and amazing message.
Our lesson today has to do with the command to “Serve One Another”…

WISDOM FROM DAVID TO HIS SON SOLOMON

“9 “As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever. 10 Consider now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary; be strong, and do it””  (1 Chronicles 28:9-10).

KNOW GOD – SERVE GOD – KNOW THE LORD SEARCHES ALL HEARTS – SEEK HIM

IF YOU FORESAKE HIM — HE WILL CAST YOU OFF FOREVER!

You all know the old pass it around illustration. Whisper a message into the ear of the person next to you, this continues down the line and when it comes out the last person is asked, what was the message you received? Not to anyone’s surprise, it is different than when it was first spoken. 
The church of Christ is accused of “Not believing in the Old Testament”. Not believing that it is inspired by God.
If you were to just ask, the answer would be, of course we believe in the Old Testament, and we believe it is just as God breathed, inspired, as the New Testament. Paul said of this, “For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope”  (Romans 15:4).
So, of course we believe both the old and the new testaments are inspired. But there has been a change from the old to the new covenant (Hebrews 8:13: 9:11, 15).
Listen as this lesson expounds on the truth concerning the differences…

WE DON’T BELIEVE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS ARE SINFUL

It is being taught that the church of Christ teaches that musical instruments are sinful. As a gospel preacher in the church of Christ I can tell you that notion is as far from the truth as can be. What we do believe is outlined in this message. In summary, we believe the use of the instrument in worship is sinful, not the instrument itself. We know that there was a change from the old Law to the new Law of Christ. “For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. ” (Heb. 8:7). “In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete… ” (Heb. 8:13). “But Christ came as High Priest of the good things [c]to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.” (Heb. 9:11). Jesus, “having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” (Col. 2:14).

I would note that the fact that scriptures like Psalm 150 exist, that God commanded them to use instruments proves that the instrument itself is not sinful. Think about it. Would God command the use of them if they were? Of course not. 

So, what is the truth about the instrument and worship? In this lesson we will look at why some say you can’t worship God without them. Please listen in and understand that God is not silent on the subject of Instruments–for He has clearly stated what instruments are approved by Him…

Spiritual Success

The world today has an enormous resource for how to be a success. There seems to be no end to the sayings that focus on “self”. Fact is, there are all kinds of seminars that tell people how to succeed at life. They are available in books, videos, on CD’s and in conventions, but I would tell you that the worldly kind of success lacks one thing that would make it true success, that one thing is eternal life with God in Heaven, to see the face of God—and to spend eternity with Christ.

All other types of success are just a futile waste of time and energy, if in the end you lose everything including your soul. Jesus said, “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). All the quick quotes and all the self-help books and seminars in the world will never guide you to a place in Heaven with Christ. 

When it comes to spiritual success we must turn to the wisdom of the Creator God. In Him and only in Him will you find true success. Thus our lesson tonight is simply called “Spiritual Success”…