C6 H0

Posted on October 5, 2021 by jesustrek

October 29, 2021 will mark the 100th anniversary of what is considered one of the greatest upsets in the history of college football. On that date in 1921, Centre College defeated Harvard University by a score of 6-0.

Harvard was a powerhouse in those days, having won four national championships over the previous ten seasons. Centre seemed to be greatly outmanned, but they prevailed in the end, giving the small school in Danville, Kentucky a win for the ages.

Many people in Danville painted or whitewashed C6 H0 on buildings to commemorate the victory. Time has erased most of those memorials. However, there is one building on Centre’s campus that still shows the score. Someone has kept repainting C6 H0 as a continuing reminder of that amazing victory.

The Lord’s Supper reminds us of the victory that Jesus won on the cross nearly 2,000 years ago, when he defeated sin once and for all for all of mankind. As long as we continue to celebrate communion together, time can never erase the memory of that victory!

“And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.’”—Luke 22:19-20.

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Preaching the Word

Posted on October 1, 2021 by jesustrek

This past September 29th marked the 30th anniversary of my first sermon. I was quite nervous as I delivered that sermon at the Clarksburg Church of Christ (now Clarksburg Christian Church). The text was from James 2 and the message was about not showing favoritism.

The congregation must not have been terribly disappointed with this brand new preacher, because they invited me back to preach the next Sunday. The church was looking for a preacher, and I was looking for a place to preach. I don’t remember the subject of that second sermon, but I must have done all right. After the worship service that Sunday, Bert Brown, one of the elders at the church, handed me a key to the church building and said, “I guess you’ll be needing this.” That’s how I learned that they wanted me to come and be their preacher.

In the 30 years that have elapsed since then I have delivered approximately 2,000 sermons. Most of them occurred at the 6 local congregations I have served, but there were a few revivals, homecomings and guest speaking opportunities along the way.

There have been many ups and downs over these three decades of preaching, which is to be expected. Someone once described preaching as “a joyful burden”. It is indeed frustrating when people reject the Word of God, sometimes maligning the messenger along with the message. However, I try to focus on the positives, the times when people believed the message and obeyed it. It is truly heart-warming to reflect on lives that have been forever changed by the Word of God.

The Bible contains the good news of salvation through Jesus. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” The Scriptures tell us how to accept Jesus as our Savior: through faith (Mark 16:16), repentance (Acts 2:38), confession (Romans 10:9-10) and baptism (Romans 6:3-4). God’s plan of salvation is so simple that a child can understand it, yet at the same time it is so deeply spiritual that scholars have written multitudes of books on the subject.

Besides telling us how to be saved, the Bible is our road map; it tells us how to live a life that pleases the God who created us for his pleasure. Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” The Scriptures keep us from stumbling around in the darkness. The Bible enables us to clearly see the paths of righteousness that the Lord has set out before us.

The greatest honor in my life is that Jesus died for me. The second greatest honor is that God called me to be a preacher. I have never taken that call lightly! I have always endeavored to be faithful to the text and deliver life-changing messages that were relevant, interesting and challenging. I have tried to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. I have preached in season and out of season. I still try to fan into flame this gift God has given me and do the very best at what he has called me to do.

One of the most important things that a preacher can do is to remind followers of Jesus that they too are preachers in a sense. Acts 8:4 says, “Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.” The early church grew in leaps and bounds because men, women and young people shared the good news about salvation through Jesus everywhere they went. The church of today has great opportunities to spread the light of the gospel in this dark, dark world. But it will only happen if we take seriously the commission we have received: to be witnesses for Jesus (Acts 1:8) and to make disciples by spreading his Word. Matthew 28:19-20 says, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have command you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Preach the Word!

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Talk to Him

Posted on September 30, 2021 by jesustrek

Charles Spurgeon shared the story of an old farmer who told about his encounter with the devil. The devil was tempting him and he finally said to the devil, “What do you want from me anyway?”

The devil answered, “Why, I want your soul!”

To this the man responded, “I have entrusted my soul to Christ. You will have to see him about this matter.”

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.”—1 Peter 1:3-5.

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Whitewashing the Black Sheep

Posted on September 30, 2021 by jesustrek

The children in a prominent family decided to give their father a book of the family’s history for a birthday present. They commissioned a professional biographer to do the work, carefully warning him about the family’s “black sheep” problem: Uncle George had been convicted of murder and was executed in the electric chair at the state penitentiary. The biographer assured the children that he could smooth over the situation to their satisfaction. Sure enough, when the book came out, it said that “Uncle George occupied a chair of applied electronics at an important government institution. He was attached to his position by the strongest of ties and his death came as a real shock.”

There is no need to whitewash our family history and pretend that we have it all together. The Bible says that we all sin and fall short of the glory of God (Rom.3:23). We all are sinners in need of a savior. And we thank God that he sent us a Savior—His one and only Son, Jesus!

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Our Motivation

Posted on September 28, 2021 by jesustrek

Mary Garden

Opera star Mary Garden, considered one of the greats of her profession, said there was one thing she always told herself before going on stage: “There’s one person in that vast audience who has made a sacrifice to come and hear me, and for that person I’m going to give my very best.”

There is a biblical principle that states that all of us—even those who are not famous opera stars—should strive for excellence in whatever it is that we try to do.

Eccl.9:10a says, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might…”. Col.3:23-24 says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”

Always remember that the Lord is in the audience, and the Lord deserves your very best.

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Jesus Our Advocate

Posted on September 23, 2021 by jesustrek

1 John begins with the apostle John affirming that he and the other apostles had indeed seen, heard and even touched Jesus when he walked the earth. This first-hand witness proclaimed what he had experienced so that others could have fellowship with Jesus also.

John goes on to urge his readers to walk in the light rather than in the darkness. Those who live in sin do not live in the truth. But if we walk in the light, the blood of Jesus purifies us from all sin.

This doesn’t mean that we can be perfect. As 1:8-10 says, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.”

Some people have mistakenly believed that God’s grace is essentially a license to sin. “If our sins are forgiven”, they might say, “then we must be able to live any way we choose.” Paul the apostle often had to deal with this dangerously wrong mindset in his letters. In Rom.6:1-2 he writes, “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means!…”

So that no one would seek to cheapen God’s grace in such a way, John continues in 1 John 2:1-2, “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”

Rather than use God’s amazing grace as a license to sin, we should strive to live holy lives. Christians aren’t sinless, but we should sin less and less as we mature in our faith. However, when we do sin, the blood of Jesus is our atoning sacrifice, and he is our advocate before God.

You might picture this as a criminal trial. One day you will stand before God to answer for your sins. Satan will be the prosecuting attorney, accusing you of every single thing you have ever done wrong. However, Jesus is our defense attorney. He not only defends us before God, Jesus has already paid the price for our sins by dying a sacrificial death on the cross. The following poem might correctly describe this event as it plays out on Judgment Day:

“I hear the accuser roar

Of sins that I have done.

I know them well, and thousands more

Jehovah findeth none.

Still the restless foe accuses

Sins recounting like a flood.

Every charge our God refuses!

Christ has answered with his blood!”—Unknown author

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Ears Properly Spaced

Posted on September 20, 2021 by jesustrek

A missionary was struggling to translate the Bible for a tribe that did not have the Word of God in their own native language. He found it particularly difficult to find a way to convey the concept of “pride”. He finally realized that there was an idea in that culture that some people’s ears were too far apart. So he used the concept of an inflated head to convey the idea of pride.

In the Bible, pride itself is considered a deadly sin, and it has the potential to lead us to commit many other sins. Therefore, we must constantly strive to humble ourselves so that we don’t go through life with our ears too far apart.

“Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”—Proverbs 16:18.

“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”—James 4:10.

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Feeling Ashamed

Posted on September 17, 2021 by jesustrek

A young girl was once asked how she was able to sell a record number of Girl Scout cookies. She answered, “You have to look people in the eye and make them feel guilty.”

Sometimes we can manipulate people by making them feel guilty or ashamed. This, of course, is unethical. However, there are times when making people feel ashamed is actually a good thing. 2 Thess.3:14 says, “Take special note of anyone who does not obey our instruction in this letter. Do not associate with them, in order that they may feel ashamed.” When someone is caught up in a serious sin, sometimes the first step in restoring them is to make them understand that they are guilty. Their feelings of shame lead them to repentance. Think about some of the times in your life when you have had to make a change in your behavior. Did it not come after you experienced some shame about things that you had said or done?

We live in some dangerous times, times in which we are told that shame is always a bad thing and that people should never be made to feel ashamed for any reason. This goes against common sense and Scripture.

Let’s be extremely cautious about how we use this biblical principle! But let’s not underestimate the way that God uses shame to bring people back to Him.

“Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.”—2 Cor.7:10-11.  

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Devoted

Posted on September 15, 2021 by jesustrek

Acts 2 records that the Holy Spirit filled the apostles on the day of Pentecost and enabled them to speak the word of God in such a way that everyone could understand in their own native language. Peter explained to the crowd why this had happened and preached the gospel message, exhorting whoever believed in the death and resurrection of Jesus to repent and be baptized so that their sins would be forgiven and so that they would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (v.38). V.41 says, “Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.”

Thus the church was born, and those who were added to it continued to meet together on a regular basis for fellowship and worship. Acts 2:42 is a key verse for understanding life in the early church—“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” Let’s take a closer look at the devotion of these believers.

First, they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching. They paid close attention to the words of the men who had been chosen by Jesus to be his closest disciples. The apostles taught the word of God. They explained how the Old Testament had pointed to Jesus, and that Jesus had perfectly fulfilled the prophecies of the Messiah who was to come into the world. In addition to this, they no doubt shared the teachings that Jesus had uttered during his ministry on earth.

Secondly, they devoted themselves to fellowship. They shared their lives together. They met in each other’s homes. They took care of one another’s needs to the extent that they gave generously so that the poor among them would have all of life’s necessities. They leaned on each other for support and encouraged one another in times of trouble.

Third, they devoted themselves to the breaking of bread. Most scholars agree that this is a term Luke used for communion, also called the Lord’s Supper. Jesus had instituted this ceremony to help his followers remember the sacrifice that he made on the cross to pay for the sins of the world. Every time they ate the broken bread and drank from the cup, it reminded them of the broken body of Jesus on the cross and the precious blood that he shed for the forgiveness of our sins. According to Luke, the historian of the early church, Christians came together every Sunday to devote themselves to taking communion together (Acts 20:7).

Finally, they devoted themselves to prayer. Someone once said that the early church did not think that prayer was a good thing; they thought that prayer was the only thing! Prayer was the passion of believers in the first century. They took seriously the admonition to “pray continually” (1 Thess.5:17). They had some moving prayer meetings. Acts 4:31 says, “After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken…” As they devoted themselves to prayer, the God of heaven moved, and his kingdom grew in leaps and bounds.

Now it’s time to consider our own level of devotion. Do you spend significant time reading the word of God and then doing what it says? Are you really involved in the lives of your brothers and sisters in Christ? Do you faithfully participate in the Lord’s Supper on a regular basis? How important is it to you to pray? These are serious questions for us to consider. Let’s strive to deepen the level of our own devotion to Jesus Christ and the church that he purchased with his precious blood!

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Improvement

Posted on September 14, 2021 by jesustrek
Jack Katz

In the early 1960s the University of Florida football team was running wind sprints for conditioning. One of the large linemen, Jack Katz, who played tackle, had proven himself to be the fastest lineman on the team. Katz walked up to coach Ray Graves and asked if he might run sprints with the faster backs. Permission was granted.

For the next several days Katz managed to finish last in every race with the backfield runners. Nobody was surprised. The coach asked if he wouldn’t rather be a winner with the linemen than a loser in the competition with the backs.

Katz responded, ”I’m not out here to outrun the linemen. I already know I can do that. I’m here to learn how to run faster; and if you’ve noticed, I’m losing by a little less every day.”

We all should be so diligent in trying to improve ourselves.

“Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress.”   —1 Timothy 4:15.

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