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By David Watson

Benchley, April 8, 2012

• Acts 26:9-11 – Paul speaks about his former days of persecuting Christians.
• We don’t want to be in the category of people who are sincerely wrong!
• People become sincerely wrong by following false standards of authority:
• Conscience
• Proverbs 14:12; Acts 23:1; I Corinthians 4:3-4 – Paul lived with a good conscience even when persecuting Christians. God was the source of authority, not his conscience.
• Wisdom of people
• I Corinthians 2:4-5 – Our faith must rest on the power of God.
• I Corinthians 1:18-20 – God will destroy the wisdom of this world.
• Jeremiah 10:23
• The majority
• Matthew 7:13-14 – Many enter through the gate that leads to destruction.
• Family tradition
• Matthew 10:37
• Galatians 1:13-14 – Paul was zealous for his ancestral traditions even though they were wrong.
• People become sincerely right by following the Bible.
• Galatians 1:1,11-14 – Paul was clear about where his teaching came from.
• I Timothy 4:1-7 – Instructions for Timothy for sticking to sound doctrine.
• I Timothy 6:1-5 – More warnings about sticking to sound doctrine.
• II Timothy 2:15

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By David Watson

Benchley, April 1, 2012

• Psalms 37:1-9
• Godly people knew how to wait.
• Genesis 6:3; 7:23 – Noah worked and waited for the flood to come.
• Genesis 12:2-5; 15:4; 21:5 – Abraham waited 25 years for Isaac.
• I Samuel 16:1,12-13; II Samuel 5:4 – David waited many years to take the throne after he was anointed.
• Luke 2:25-32,36-38 – Simeon and Anna patiently waited to see Jesus come into the world.
• Physical relations (“waiting until marriage”)
• II Samuel 11 – David and Bathsheba
• I Corinthians 7:1-5 – Physical relations are to stay inside marriage.
• James 1:14-15 – Temptation and lust lead to sin.
• Material possessions
• I Timothy 6:6
• Hebrews 11:24-26 – Moses looked past the pleasures in Egypt to the greater reward.
• Philippians 3:17-20

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By Jesse Jenkins

Benchley, March 25, 2012

• Jude 10-11
• The way of:
• Human opinion substituted for the way of the faith (Romans 10:17; II John 9)
• Envy, hate, and intolerance toward those who adhere strictly to God’s Word
• Willful contempt for divine authority (I John 3:12)
• Divine condemnation (Genesis 4:11)
• Eternal regret
• It is a disastrous thing to walk in the way of Cain.
• The way of Abel
• Let us walk in the way of divine approval and eternal glory!

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By David Watson

Benchley, March 25, 2012

• Galatians 4:4 – Jesus came when the time was right for Him to come.
• The balanced truth about Jesus…
• He complimented, but He also condemned.
• Matthew 8:10; 15:28 – Jesus compliments people for their faith.
• John 2:13-17 – Jesus drives the moneychangers from the temple.
• Matthew 23:13-33 – Jesus calls out the religious leaders of the day for their unfaithfulness.
• He praised family life, but He also made severe regulations.
• Matthew 15:3; 19:4-6 – Jesus rebukes the traditions of the Pharisees.
• If Jesus spoke out about marriage like this today, would he be popular?
• Serving God must always come before family.
• He offered salvation, but He also demanded obedience.
• Matthew 11:28-30
• Matthew 7:21-27 – We can’t be acceptable to God with just lip service. We must obey!
• He spoke of heaven, but also of hell.
• Matthew 25:31-46 – Jesus describes the scene at judgment.
• Matthew 5:22; 10:15,28; 12:41; 13:40-51 – Jesus warns of punishment for those who do not obey.

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By Jesse Jenkins

Benchley, March 18, 2012

• Rmans 4:1-12 – If a man is saved, it will be because of his faith which reaches out to grab the grace and forgiveness that God offers.
• Lessons from aforetime:
• Abraham (Genesis 22:1-12)
• Job (Job 1:21; 2:10)
• Joseph (Genesis 39:7-10)
• Moses (Hebrews 11:24-26)
• The results of a positive faith:
• As relates to daily living: (I Timothy 5:22; Romans 12:1-2; Jude 3)
• As relates to the local church (I Corinthians 16:1-2; Galatians 6:1; I Corinthians 5:4-5)
• As relates to the sinner who has come to have a positive faith
• As relates to the newborn Christian
• As relates to the mature Christian (Hebrews 5:14)
• As relates to the negligent
• As relates to the apostate (Acts 8:22; Proverbs 8:13)

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By David Watson

Benchley, March 18, 2012

• Luke 19:1-10
• What a short story about a short man teaches me about serving God today
• Jesus loves the small guy
• Luke 3:12-13 – Many tax collectors of that day abused their power and collected more taxes than necessary.
• James 2:2-4 – warning about being prejudiced for or against those with wealth
• Romans 12:16 – Do not be wise in your own estimation.
• The grumblers missed the point
• Luke 15:1-2 – More grumbling about Jesus associating with tax collectors.
• Luke 7:36-39 – the Pharisee grumbling about the woman anointing Jesus
• We need to be careful not to miss the point. Religion is not about pomp or entertainment or elevating your status – it’s about serving God and saving souls.
• Zaccheus was ready to repent, not brag.
• Luke 18:18-23 – The rich young ruler.
• We must not rest on our laurels!

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By Jesse Jenkins

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By David Watson

Benchley, March 11, 2012

• How useless the earthly body is
• John 19:38-42 – Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus tend to the body of Jesus
• I Corinthians 15:35-50
• What really mattered in a person’s life
• Acts 9:36-39 – the people showing all the things that Tabitha had done and made
• You have to do things you’re not ready to do
• Luke 12:19-21 – The rich man was not prepared to die.
• The value of hope through Christ
• II Samuel 12:16-23 – David’s grief and hope for seeing his son in heaven.
• I Thessalonians 4:13
• I Timothy 4:13 – Read the word of God!
• II Timothy 1:5; 3:15
• I Corinthians 15:20-26

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By Larry Dickens

Benchley, March 9, 2012

• Faith is not the only thing involved in being a Christian, but the element of faith is a most significant thing.
• When you obeyed the gospel, you responded to the faith (Jude 3).
• When you were baptized, you became faithful to the Lord (Acts 16:15).
• Local churches can be called “faithful” (Colossians 1:2).
• All who are Christians are “of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10).
• It is by faith that we live (Romans 1:16-17; Galatians 2:20; II Corinthians 5:7).
• The meaning of faith involves the idea of belief
• Our believing is in things concerning Jesus and His Kingdom (Acts 8:12).
• That faith comes always from the word of God (Romans 10:17).
• Believing was the purpose of what the Bible says about Jesus Christ (John 20:30-31).
• Faith involves personal confidence in the truthfulness of the gospel message.
• The idea of faith involves the willingness to place one’s trust and reliance on someone else (God).
• Faith means that I am totally willing to rely on God in all things (Romans 4:3).
• Abraham was fully assured that God was able to perform what he had promised (Romans 4:20-21).
• If I have faith personally, I have a similar trust in God (I Peter 4:19)!
• Faith involves the idea of fidelity.
• The Bible steward was faithful because he was loyal, committed, and trustworthy (I Corinthians 4:2).
• Our faithfulness (commitment and trustworthiness) is to last even tot he point of death (Revelation 2:10,13).
• Living by faith involves confessing our faith
• This is a condition of our salvation (Romans 10:8-11).
• Confessing Christ is a condition of the Christian’s daily life. Living by faith is always confessing Him (Matthew 10:32-39).
• The daily confession of Christ is my tie to the fellowship of God (I John 4:15).
• So if by faith we live, we conduct our lives with trust in Jesus Christ (Galatians 2:20).
• The life of faith trusts in the works of Jesus, especially His death, burial, and resurrection (I Corinthians 15:1-4).
• Living by faith always involves “holding fast” the word of God (Titus 3:5-7).
• I may say I believe in God, but if my life does not demonstrate that truth, my actions prove my words to be false.
• So then, living by faith exercises good works (Titus 3:8).
• A faith which is without good works is an unsaving, non-justifying, dead faith (James 2:14-26).
• The life of faith involves trusting in the words of Jesus, and living accordingly (Matthew 6:33-34; Luke 6:46-48).
• Living by faith involves benefitting from faith
• Faith brings blessings like joy and peace, hope, and power (Romans 15:13).
• Through faith we receive our spiritual blessings. We are blessed because we believe that He hears our prayers (Ephesians 3:12; Philippians 4:6-7).
• Again, the blessing of personal confidence in ourselves coming through faith in Christ (Philippians 4:13).
• The life of faith does not go unrewarded in this life, even though its primary concern is the life to come.
• Living by faith involves maintaining our faith.
• There is a need to stand fast, for faith, if left alone, will die (I Corinthians 15:1-2).
• We must take care to hold fast so that unbelief will not replace faith and we fall away (Hebrews 3:12-14).
• Otherwise, we might not get to enter into the promised land because of unbelief (Hebrews 3:15-19).
• If we should come short of entering His rest, it will be because the gospel was not united by faith in us (Hebrews 4:1-2).
• Faith comes by the word, but the word must also be united with personal faith in those who hear it!
• We live by faith when we add virtues of Christian character to it (II Peter 1:5-7).
• How can one say that he has faith or is faithful, when year after year he continues to woefully lack in these virtues of Christian character? Living by faith means the addition of these virtuous traits. For that reason we need to be all the more diligent in the increasing of those qualities (II Peter 1:8-11).
• To be sure we do not fall from our own steadfastness, we need to “grow in the frace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (II Peter 3:17-18).
• To summarize:
• A “faithful” Christian is one who takes his faith very seriously.
• Because it is essential to his salvation.
• Because it is essential to receive God’s blessings now and ultimately eternal life!
• A “faithful” Christian is one who lives by faith. Are you “living by faith?”

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By Larry Dickens

Benchley, Marck 8, 2012

• II Corinthians 4:18 – things which are not seen are eternal
• The Word of God
• The message is an eternal message (I Peter 1:22-25; Matthew 24:35; John 12:48; II John 1:2)
• Jesus Christ, the Son of God
• Men once saw Him (John 1:14), but we are more blessed to believe in Him without seeing Him (John 20:29).
• He has and always will be in existence (John 1:1-2; Revelation 1:8; I John 1:1; I Timothy 1:17; 6:15).
• Today we see Him by faith as He is the author of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).
• The Church of Christ
• The church in the sense of the kingdom of heaven is an eternal kingdom, as seen in prophecy (Isaiah 9:7; Daniel 7:14).
• God translates the saved into Christ’s kingdom (Colossians 1:13).
• On the last day, Christ will deliver the kingdom to the Father (I Corinthians 15:24).
• As Christians, we must live faithfully so that we might not fall because the kingdom is an eternal kingdom (II Peter 1:10-11).
• The inward soul of man
• There is a spiritual body (I Corinthians 15:42).
• We are warned against losing our soul (Matthew 10:28).
• The soul of man is held accountable before God (Luke 12:20).
• The inherently infinite value of the soul is based upon its eternal nature (Matthew 16:26-27).
• When everything is destroyed on the last day, the eternal soul of man will live on.
• The spiritual eternal body
• To be alive in eternity, a body and a spirit must be united. This is why there will be a general resurrection. The body of eternity will be imperishable, glorious, powerful, spiritual, and bearing the image of the heavenly (I Corinthians 15:42-49).
• The resurrection of Christ is our proof (II Corinthians 4:14).
• Our temporal, temporary, and mortal tent will be replaced by an eternally permanent house called “life” (II Corinthians 5:1-4).
• Weight of glory (or) the crown of life
• II Corinthians 4:16-17; James 1:12
• There is laid up for me the crown of righteousness (II Timothy 4:7-8) or the unfading crown of glory (I Peter 5:4).
• Jesus taught us to lay up treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:19-20).
• Heaven – eternal life
• The eternal soul of man has an anchor in the hope of heaven (Hebrews 6:18-19). Jesus called it eternal life (Matthew 19:29; 25:46). It constitutes “the eternal dwellings” (Luke 16:9).
• Eternal life is promised as having a water which, having been given, one will never thirst again (John 4:14).
• It is the will of God that you have eternal life by way of the eternal word of God (John 6:40,68).
• In heaven, there will be no possibility of being lost (John 10:28).
• If you cannot see the yet unseen – yourself in eternity with God – they you will not see the need to be obedient to the gospel of Christ (Acts 13:46).
• What will motivate a person to obey the Lord? Seeing the unseen. Seeing Jesus the author and finisher of faith and seeing themselves in the yet unseen “eternal life” (Acts 13:48).
• What is it that motivates the Christian to persevere? Seeking “for glory, honor and immortality, eternal life” (Romans 2:7).
• Do you see the outcome of your life as a faithful Christian (Romans 6:22)?
• Are you then sowing spiritual things (Galatians 6:8)?
• May we all be admonished with a view of eternal life (I Timothy 6:12).
• Obeying Christ is the means to obtaining eternal life (Hebrews 5:9).
• In Christ, we have been called to His eternal glory (I Peter 5:10).
• Eternal life is our promise (I John 2:25; 5:11; Jude 21).
• The gospel of Christ is not temporal, temporary, or carnal. It is an eternal gospel with eternal consequences (Revelation 14:6).