Eastwood Church of Christ

All my “Christian” life I have heard preachers and others talk about “feel good religion. ” It is described as a religion of shallow faith. The Bible certainly declares that we are to live by faith. 2 Corinthians 5:7

Living by faith is a life of allowing our trust in Jesus Christ as God’s unique Son to lead us and guide us into faithful service to the Master. We understand that it is through this faith that we please God. Hebrews 11:6

There is another way to look at “feel good religion.” We, as God’s children, should feel good about our walk with Him.

It is not “feel good religion” that hampers members of the churches of Christ today. Hopefully we do feel good about our zealous living for God through the person of Jesus Christ.

Our problem honestly speaking is “not feeling good religion.”

I don’t feel good this morning. I don’t think I’ll go to worship. Then, too often, the whole family stays home from meeting with the church or fellowshipping with the church. Yes, and even helping with the work of the church

I had to work late or work hard or I just don’t feel good or I got up to late and excuse after excuse leads us to having a faithless faith.

I wish we had a “feel good religion.” Regardless of how we feel we are excited to worship and work for the Lord Jesus Christ.

Hell or high water can’t stop one who walks by faith. Not feeling good is an excuse that comes from the bowels of hell.

It ain’t easy being a Doctor, Lawyer or Astronaut. You got to go to a lot of schoolin.

It ain’y easy being a rock star cause you got to let your hair grow real long and be able to play music real loud.

It ain’t easy being a movie star cause you got to be so good lookin and be able to member lines of words.

It ain’t easy being a pro athlete. You got to be big and strong and practice all the time.

Some say it ain’t easy being a Christian. I disagree cause you just got to be like Jesus and He made it easy. You just have to believe and do what He says do. I think it’s easy because when you get into Jesus you just have to be yourself.

You don’t have to have a lot of schoolin. You don’t have to be loud. You don’t have to be good lookin. You don’t even have to be big and strong cause Jesus did all the hard things, like die for you.

You just have to be yourself and of course take up your cross and follow Him.

April the 19 finally arrived and many (did not get a count but it was a great number) from Eastwood worship with our brethren at Smithsonia. The Smithsonia Church of Christ is an all black congregation and we (Eastwood) are all white.

What did God see? He saw, brethren worshiping together. I saw salt and pepper. God saw a wonderful blending of His children. It was as good as I imagined. The Eastwood congregation is a to be comended for opening doors and enjoying God’s church.

This article is copied from a blog that I read: Yesterday, I was at lunch with a good friend who told me about Susan Boyle.  Boyle recently auditioned on Britain’s Got Talent and this 47-year-old woman stunned the audience and the judges as she sang “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Miserables.

She is from the Glasgow, Scotland, area.  Notice her before she sings.  How easy it is for all of us to pre-judge someone based upon appearance.  For example, note these lines from WalesOnline:

“When Susan Boyle walked onto the stage at the Britain’s Got Talent auditions, she was the complete antithesis of our image-obsessed world.  Dressed in a dodgy gold dress, with bushy eyebrows and her greying hair longing to be styled and colored, first impressions meant we all expected her to fail miserably.”

Then she sang.  Everyone was shocked.  A refreshing reminder to us all in a culture that values the outward appearance above all else.  How refreshing in a culture where people often feel “less than” because they don’t wear the right jeans, don’t wear the right labels, don’t drive the right car, or in some way just don’t measure up.  What a refreshing wake-up call.

April 19 is going to be an exciting day. We (Eastwood) are going to visit the Smithsonia church of Christ on Sunday evening. I hope all that attends our evening worship at 5 PM will load up on the bus and van and go to Smithsonia. It will be a thrill to worship with our brethren there.

To God be the glory!

09-revelation

October 23, 2008, that was long time ago. Too long I know. No excuse but truth, ” I forgot and lost the password.”

Things I read lately:

• If Christianity is just your hobby, it’s a pretty lame hobby.  Take up golf or scrapbooking.
• How would your life be different if you were not a Christian?
• We have equated being a Christian with just being nice.
• We think Jesus is kind but we don’t believe he is smart.  We don’t think he knows what it is like to live in USA today.  He then quotes some teachings of Jesus such as: “Do not worry” “Don’t lay up treasures on earth” etc. The early church believed he was smart and lived radical lives.  We reject his teachings.
• If you’ve grown up in the churches of Christ you’ve probably heard, “Oh, aren’t you the ones that …” and you can fill in the blank with a lot of things.  Most of the things I used to hear when people filled in the blanks were on the negative side and not always very nice.

So when the lady caught me at Wal-Mart yesterday and said, “Oh, you go to the church of Christ? I’ve heard about you guys.  Aren’t you the ones….” I cringed thinking the worst. I quickly finished her sentence in my head with about 10 things that I thought she might say. Then she finished her sentence.  “Aren’t you the ones that are doing a lot of good things in the community to help people?”

WHAT?  That was NOT what I expected.  I’m sure my face showed some excitement as I had to force myself not to dance a little jig right there in the store (because you know… we don’t dance either (smile) ). Instead of hearing something negative I got something positive.

As I floated out of Wal-Mart, I couldn’t help but think to myself, “The church of Christ … a church that helps others … I like that!” It made me think of Jesus,  “and Jesus went around doing good…” (Acts 10:38) and that’s exactly the kind of church I want to be. “copied”

Things I Have Thought lately

• Baptism is not worth a dime if your life does not change
• Church is a social club at worst and a dis-functional family at best if  it is not Christ centered
• Worship time is useless if we do not worship
• Hearing the word of God is empty if we do not listen to it
• How can we hear if we do not listen?
• How can we listen if we do not intend to?
• There must be something said to listen to in order to want to listen

Do you ever get tired of saying, “I missed you Sunday/” I do. I get tired of hearing the excuses and sometimes the looks of, “I don’t care.” Sure, I will continue to express concern and will continue to let (suppose to be) Christians know that they are missed. I do not say, “I miss you” to just say it. I truly miss you when you are not in worship or Bible study. There will come a time when I will not have to say it. There will come a time when I will not miss you. You see, the Lord will hide your not being where I am. In this place there is no sorrows. Until then, “I miss you.”

Wow, 2008 has flown by! We started with a bang and we can still end with a bang. There is no question that in the middle of starting and ending of this year we slowed down. We haven’t quit but slowed down. There is time to pick up the pace.

We have done (through God’s grace and allowance) many good things in 2008. There have been many people to rise to the need of doing great ministry. We have fed as, many as would come and eat. We have visited and called and sent cards to many. One of the (I think) great things we have done is to provide many young men to preach the gospel. We have given our young ladies and young men the opportunity to sharpen their teaching skills. Our elders and deacons have been faithful in their calling to lead this congregation of God’s people.

What will we do in this last quarter? Hopefully and prayerfully we will finish with a bang. What do I mean using the word “bang?” It is very simple; by faith we go and do when God gives opportunity.

You know and I know that God will open many doors from now to 2009. When the door opens – Go through it.

Last Monday, September 22, 2008, we held another community meal at the Eastwood Church of Christ. It was good food, good fun, and great fellowship.

The main dish was soup beans and cornbread. We had several different types of beans and cornbread, and they were all very good.

We had a great turn out too. Altogether we had about 80 people, including memebers, guests, and visitors.

There isn’t another community meal planned yet, but keep checking the Calendar of Events for updates.

Thanks for all those who attened and a very special thanks to all those who prepared food and helped clean up.