In This Issue

• THE PROPHET WHOSE COMING WAS PROPHESIED
• ABOUNDING IN EVERYTHING
• McDONALD’S OPENS INSIDE CHURCH CENTER IN HOUSTON
• TO LOVE A FRIEND
• UPCOMING GOSPEL MEETING SCHEDULE
• MORE INFORMATION...

THE PROPHET WHOSE COMING WAS PROPHESIED

“As it is written in the Prophets: ‘Behold I send My messenger before Your face, who will prepare You way before You.’ ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.”’ John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. And all the land of Judea, and those from Jerusalem, went out to him and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.” (Mark 1:2-6).

Mark tells us that John came to fulfill what had been written in the prophets. It is interesting to note that two different Old Testament prophets had foretold the work of John the Baptist. Isaiah, over 700 years before John’s birth, had written, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord: make straight in the desert a highway for our God” (Isa. 40:3). Malachi had written about 430 years before John’s time, “Behold, I send My messenger and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple” (Mal. 3:1). Again, Malachi had written: “Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse” (Mal. 4:4—6).

Mark, in our text, quotes from both Isa. 40:3 and Mal. 3:1. In Matt. 11:13-14; 17:10-13, Jesus identifies John the Baptist as the ‘Elijah” who was to come. The Jews had made a literal application of Malachi’s prophecy, and were looking for the ancient prophet himself to return to earth. Jesus shows that the Elijah God had in mind was not the literal prophet of old, but one who would come in his likeness, and serve in a similar capacity. As Luke quotes from the Elijah passage in Malachi, he writes of John: “And he will turn many of the children of Israel to their God. He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luke 1:16-17).

John not only came in the spirit and power of Elijah. With his rugged appearance and wilderness lifestyle, he must have looked much like the ancient prophet, who was described in 2 Kings 1:8 as “a hairy man” who “wore a leather belt around his waist.” Hebrew scholar William Gesenius says the words translated “hairy man” signifies that Elijah was rough in appearance and wore a hairy mantle, or garment.

--CRJ

ABOUNDING IN EVERYTHING

Many who say they are Christians seem to try to give what they believe to be the minimum service to God. They try to obtain “just enough knowledge,” do “just enough teaching of others,” have “just enough love,” etc. to get by. This attitude is not taught nor approved in the New Testament.

The New Testament stresses and enjoins us doing the maximum, our sincere best. As Christians we’re to be spiritually ambitious, and abounding in our service to God. The word "abound" means “to exist in abundance” or “to overflow.” Paul exhorted the Corinthians, “But as you abound in everything; in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us; see that you abound in this grace also.” (2 Corinthian 8:7). In Romans 15:13, Paul wrote, “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

We should abound in love. Paul wrote in Philippians 1:9, “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment...” By thus abounding in love, love will be the control and motivation of our lives.

We need to abound in knowledge. The Scriptures teach that we are to add knowledge, increase in knowledge, and grow in knowledge according to 2 Peter 1:5, Colossians 1:10, and 2 Peter 3:18. Without knowledge of God’s word, we are blind and cannot see afar off, according to 2 Peter 1:5 and 9. Without knowledge of God, we are unable to walk pleasingly to Him according to Colossians 1:9-10. Without knowledge, we are unable to approve the things that are excellent according to Philippians 1:9 and 10. We’re to strive to possess knowledge to the degree of it being in abundance and overflowing.

Are you abounding in your service to the Lord, or are you trying to do the bare minimum?

--Tom Sutherland

McDONALD’S OPENS INSIDE CHURCH CENTER IN HOUSTON

 “The Associated Press.  Houston -- You want prayers with that Big Mac?

“Parishioners at Brentwood Baptist Church won’t have to venture far for a burger, once a McDonald’s opens for business in the church’s new community center.

“‘A lot of us have children,’ said Derrick Cyprian, chairman of the deacon board at Brentwood Baptist, which averages 7,000 parishioners every Sunday.  ‘When we have different meetings and functions at the church, a lot of times you don’t get to stop and get something to eat.  This will make it more convenient.’

“McDonald’s spokesman Rick Nance said the new franchise is the first he knows of to be attached to a church.

“The fast-food restaurant, complete with drive-through window, will be co-owned by the church and one of its members, Ernest Redmond.  It is scheduled to open in July.  The hours and menu haven’t been set.

“‘It is definitely a new territory,” he said.’”

It was bound to happen!  A restaurant inside a church [facility].  What will our fellowship hall, church kitchen, gymnasium social gospel brethren say about that?  Well, it may just give them another idea to do the same thing.  Why not?  What they are already doing is no more scriptural than that Baptist McDonald’s.  If the churches are going to do this, we suggest Burger King because their slogan, “Have It Your Way” is more in harmony with the attitude of most religious people these days.  They are not too concerned about God’s way on anything.  They need to read Matthew 7:21-23 again.

--Eugene Britnell, The Sower, Athens, Alabama

TO LOVE A FRIEND

A time to live, a time to die,
                A time to work and play;
So quickly time will pass you by -
                And then you'll fade away.

In death you have no time to do
                The things you should have done,
The casket closed, your life then through:
                All chances then are gone.

The gentle words you wished to say,
                The love you wished to show,
The help to others on the way
                Must come before you go...

The time to show love for a friend
                Is now - while still you may;
For, 'tis too late when comes the end:
                Make haste, do not delay!

Oh! That you could this lesson learn,
                And love those you hold dear;
Death marks the point of no return,
                So be a friend while here.

To lift a load, to share a thought,
                To love a hurting friend;
Take time to do the things you ought...
                'Twill bless you in the end.

Be nice as you press on the way,
                Always faithful and true,
The Lord your efforts will repay
                He'll be a friend to you.

A time to live, a time to die,
                A time to work and play;
So quickly time will pass you by -
                And then you'll fade away.

--H. L. Gradowith

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