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Elders:
John Meyer & Joe Bunch
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Editor:
Dan Peters, June
19, 2005
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 A
man in the city of Colossae had a deep concern for the people,
his name was Epaphras. We are not told how Epaphras was
converted to Jesus Christ, but afterwards he shared the
gospel message to the people in this city.
"...just
as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond-servant,
who is a faithful servant of Christ..." (Col. 1:7).
But Epaphras' concern for these people didn't stop there.
Some of them were beginning to stray from the truth. So
Epaphras runs to Rome to someone who has the authority to
tell them the truth on some of these issues. He traveled
to see the apostle Paul, who was then a prisoner. Now Paul,
invested with the apostolic authority, wrote a letter to
this church setting them straight on these issues, (i.e.
the book of Colossians).
But Epaphras'
deep concern did not stop there. For while Paul and Epaphras
were together in Paul's prison house, they prayed together.
It was then that Paul knew the deep concern Epaphras had
for the church to whom he belonged. "Epaphras, who
is one of your number, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, sends
you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for you in
his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured
in all the will of God. For I bear him witness that he has
a deep concern for you..." (Col. 4:12-13).
How wonderful
it would be to have a congregation full of Epaphrases. They
would be busy teaching the lost, and praying for everyone.
And when problems would come up, they would not run to the
next congregation, but run to the apostles and prophets
to see how to correct the problems. Why did Epaphras do
all this? Paul said it, and in case you missed it the first
time, here it is again. "For I bear him witness that
he has a deep concern for you..." DP
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 Jabez
Is
God not answering your prayers? Let's consider Jabez for
a moment. In the long list of the genealogical names, we
find this statement about Jabez.
"And
Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother
named him Jabez saying, "Because I bore him with pain."
Now Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, "Oh
that Thou wouldst bless me indeed, and enlarge my border,
and that Thy hand might be with me, and that Thou wouldst
keep me from harm, that it may not pain me!" And God
granted him what he requested" (1 Chronicles 4:9-10).
HONORABLE:
Jabez being an honorable man, God was inclined to answer
his prayers. It is God who said, "Jabez was more honorable
than his brothers". Then God says to those who do not
honor him, "If you do not listen, and if you do not
take it to heart to give honor to My name," says the
LORD of hosts, "then I will send the curse upon you,
and I will curse your blessings; and indeed, I have cursed
them already, because you are not taking it to heart"
(Malachi 2:2).
Even if
we do not honor our earthly father, will he fulfill our
requests? If I have not done some of the household chores
like take out the trash or doing the dishes. Then when it
comes time to ask dad a favor, will he be inclined to follow
through with my request? Probably not. Also, if I suddenly
do all the dishes, take out the trash, run the sweeper,
then ask a favor, will not our earthly father see right
through us? How much more will God?
PAINFUL:
I don't know why his mother had such a painful labor with
Jabez, but I guess she was going to make sure that he would
never forget it. His mother named him "Painful"
or it can be translated "Sorrow", this is the
meaning of "Jabez". (Perhaps most of us have heard
of a doctor or dentist named "Dr. Hurt"). Jabez
took this to heart and prayed, "that Thou wouldst keep
me from harm, that it may not pain me!" And God granted
him what he requested" (1 Chronicles 4:10).
THY HAND
MIGHT BE WITH ME: Jabez prayed for this too, and the
hand of God was with him. God prospered him by enlarging
his borders. Perhaps some might think this is a selfish
prayer, but what do you think an honorable man does when
he has been blessed by God? Perhaps it is time to examine
our lives, are we "honorable" in God's eyes? If
not, God is now giving us time to change that, let us make
the most of it. DP
|
 The
Bible
The
Bible was written down by men who were being moved by
God what to write. Sometimes the men who were holding
the pen did not understand the meaning behind the words
they were writing.
Consider
the utterance of 1 Peter 1:10-11, where he speaks of those
who prophesied of the grace that should come, as "searching
what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ which
was in them did signify when He testified beforehand the
sufferings of Christ and the Glory that should follow,
to whom it was revealed, etc.
Should
we see a student who, having taken down the lecture of
a profound philosopher, was now studying diligently to
comprehend the sense of the discourse which he had written,
we should understand simply that he was a student and
not a master; that he had nothing to do with originating
either the thoughts or the words of the lecture, but was
rather a disciple whose province it was to understand
what he had transcribed, and so be able to communicate
it to others.
And who can
deny that this is the exact picture of what we have in
this passage from Peter? Here were inspired writers studying
the meaning of what they themselves had written. With
all possible allowance for the human peculiarities of
the writers, they must have been reporters of what they
heard, rather than formulators of that which they had
been made to understand (A.J. Gordon, "The Ministry
of the Spirit" pp. 173-4, as quoted in The Fundamentals,
Vol.2 pp. 26-7).
I
always imagine the prophet Isaiah finishing up a passage,
then putting his pen down and calling for one of his two
sons. After his son would arrive, Isaiah would ask him,
"What do you suppose God means by this statement".
Then his son would read it, "All of us like sheep
have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall
on Him" (Isa. 53:6). "I don't know Dad, you
wrote it", the son might say. Then Isaiah might say,
"I hope God doesn't mean that I will bear the iniquity
of us all".
Isaiah
wrote it down, but didn't understand it. Only after it
was fulfilled by Jesus was it understood what God had
been saying all along. This shows that the Bible is not
only accurate, but it is from God. DP
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Please
tell others about our website: www.jolietchurch.org
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We
are offering you a free Bible correspondence course.Perhaps
you would like to spend more time in studying the
Bible, but haven't managed to begin, or if you have
started and would like some help, this Bible course
is for you. Please send in your request to:
Open Bible Studies
23 Margaret St.
Joliet, IL 60436
Email: jolietchurch@juno.com
Elders: John Meyer & Joe Bunch
Deacons: Dave Bunch & Dan Peters
Schedule
of Services
Sundays
Bible Class.............9:30 AM
Morning Worship........10:30 PM
Evening Worship........5:30 PM
Wednesdays
Bible Class................7:30 PM
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