2 Kings 5:1- “Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valour, but he was a leper”.

I have only seen the depiction of leprosy through pictures.  The pictures were enough to convince me to pray that I will never be infected with this horrible disease.  Naaman was in quite a predicament.  He was a great man who was mighty in valour “but” he was a leper.  The fact that he was a leper certainly doesn’t disqualify him as being great “but” it certainly does bring a negative light to his life.  Leprosy was the most humiliating disease of that time.  It was nasty, ugly, awful, and many other things all describing a horrible condition.  There were laws in place to protect the “clean” people from those with leprosy.  Naaman was very blessed because God provided a way for him to be cleansed.  In verse 10 Naaman goes to see Elisha and the message is given for Naaman to go and wash himself in the Jordan seven times and his flesh would be restored.   Naaman went away angry because his “expectations” were not met concerning what he thought Elisha would do for him.  Thank goodness Naaman had some loyal servants who persuaded him to do what he was told.  Naaman went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan and his flesh was restored, he was cleansed.

Through this story I pray we will grow in our understanding that before we met God we were all like lepers.  We were infected with the disease of sin.  Our lives were ugly, nasty, awful and many other things all revealing the horrible condition of sin.  Like Naaman we were very blessed as God provided a way for us to be cleansed.  That way would come through the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Acts 22:16-“And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.”  We were cleansed completely and now it is our mission to persuade everyone who is suffering from the horrible disease of sin to believe God and do what He has told them to do to be cleansed.

Ah Yes!  The incredible time of Spring.  The trees are blooming, the birds are singing, the grass is turning green once again, people are getting out and walking around enjoying the outside, and weeds are growing out of control.  How frustrating it is to experience something so beautiful and incredible only to have something as awful and ugly as weeds pop up to destroy it.  So what do we do?  Most of us grab the chemicals created to battle the nasty nuisances and we go to spraying or digging to eliminate the threat to our beautiful scenery.  Most of us also go to great lengths and expense to remove the threat to our  otherwise perfect environment.  Money is no object, time and energy are no objects, we will do whatever it takes for as long as it takes to protect and secure our property.  Trish and I have recently gone to war with the weeds trying to invade and destroy our lawn and it has been through this process that another thought came to my mind.

I am preparing the material for multiple weddings that I will be officiating this summer.  I began to think about how beautiful and precious marriage is.  Then I began to think of how the weeds come out from time to time and threaten to destroy that perfect relationship.  The weeds appear in many different forms.  Financial worries, challenges with the kids,  stressed out schedules, needs and expectations not being met, etc. etc.   A couple of truths that immediately come to my mind are that weeds are going to pop up.  We don’t know where or when but we know they will come just like in our lawns.  The other truth is that if we don’t attack the weeds they will destroy everything good around them.  The best time to attack the weeds is before they even appear.  The final thought I have is an uncomfortable one.  Why do so many spend more time and energy and effort on destroying and controlling the weeds in their lawn than they do on destroying the weeds that are threatening the Godly blessing of their marriage?

Everybody knows that marriages require maintenance.  There are counselors and seminars and classes all around us to use as tools to attack and destroy the weeds that appear in our lives.   Our challenge is not to wait until we see the weeds appear before we take action. The most affective time to attack is before they appear.  Matthew 13:7- “Other seed fell among weeds, which grew up and choked the plants”. 

2 Peter 1:19-20- “And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”  This is a very powerful truth concerning God.  The Old Testament is filled with approximately 300 prophecies concerning Jesus Christ.  There are specific details given involving His birth, life, death, and resurrection.  All of these were spoken many hundreds of years before Christ was even born.  What I pray we will grow in our understanding of concerning this truth is how truly incredible it really is.  The statisticians have done their job in determining the odds for one man to fulfill so many prophecies.  The findings are astronomical.  And yet, we know that Jesus Christ in fact fulfilled every single prophecy given by God.  It is also important to note that God did not give man prophecies to simply impress them.  God had a very simple purpose concerning prophecies. Jesus reveals that purpose in Luke 24:25-27- “Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!  Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?  And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.”  God gave man all the prophecies in the Old Testament so they could be used as a foundation in proving that Christ is the Messiah.  This is made abundantly clear with the leaders in the early church.  Look at Apollos in Acts 18.  He needed some instruction himself from Aquila and Priscilla concerning baptism and then notice in verse 28 when he went to Achaia, he “vigorously refuted the Jews publicly, showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ.”  What an incredible part of history!  Those very same prophecies are just as valid today as they were hundreds of years ago in proving that Jesus is the Christ!

There is much to consider when reading the letter God prepared for the church in Laodicea. We find the details in Revelation 3:14-22.  I can’t imagine how devastated I would feel if I received a letter from God telling me that I made Him sick.  That is exactly what the church in Laodicea was told, “because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth”.  The lesson for all churches today is to make certain they are not lukewarm.  How do we know?  Let’s begin with some details about Laodicea.  Six miles from the city was a town called Hierapolis.  Hierapolis was well known for the natural hot springs and multitudes of people would travel many miles to seek healing and comfort from many diseases by soaking in the hot waters.  Ten miles northeast  is the city of Colosse.  Colosse was known for its very cold and refreshing waters and people would also travel far to enjoy the wonderful water there.  The water in Laodicea was awful.  It was full of minerals and literally made people sick when they drank it.  Perhaps it was from these situations that God found His perfect illustration to make His point.  It wasn’t that God was saying the church needed to be for Him or against Him.  The point to consider is that God was saying hot water has a purpose which includes healing and comfort for people that are hurting.  Cold water has a purpose which includes refreshing and invigorating people that are needing relief.  Lukewarm has no purpose at all.   The only result of lukewarm water is making people sick.  I pray we all grow in our understanding of what lukewarm means as it applies to us.  Does the Tri-Lakes church of Christ serve a purpose?  Do people find healing and comfort from the pain of broken lives and unmet expectations?  Is there a refreshing which comes from encouragement for people who are discouraged with the journey they have been on so far in their lives?  Or would we be considered “lukewarm” meaning we serve no real purpose other than ourselves?  There is much to consider.    

As I prepare this article for the weekly bulletin there are lots of emotions attached.  It has been a complete year since my family and I moved here to Monument to begin ministry at the Tri-Lakes church of Christ.  It is good to take a moment to catch my breath and to reflect back on the journey over the past year.  I dug through the previous bulletin pile and found the one from August 10, 2008.  My official first Sunday was August 3^rd but August 10^th was my first bulletin article.  The focus of that article was all about change.  The change from our life in Burlington to our new life in Monument.  I talked of the excitement and joy I felt when I entered the Safeway store here and got to see all the items that were advertised in the weekly flyer.  We received the same flyers in Burlington but the Safeway in Burlington didn’t have a deli, or a bakery, or a flower shop.  What a change!  That was minor in comparison with all the other changes we have been adjusting to involving our move here.  There have been so many changes involving jobs, schools, people, banks, phone companies, cable companies, altitudes and attitudes.  I want to use the same scripture from my first bulletin one year ago for this article.  Hebrews 13:8 tells us Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.   My family and I continue to adjust to the change of our move here.  We still dearly miss our friends and our surroundings from Burlington.  But there is no change at all in who Jesus Christ is to us here.  He is the same here as He is in Burlington.  The love of God is the same here as it is in Burlington.  We thank God from the depths of our souls that He provided each of you as new friends and family  to welcome us in and help us to adjust to the change in our lives.  The love and the compassion that exists within the church at Tri-Lakes continues to floor us.  God is so very good.   It is my prayer that we have all experienced change in the last year.  Change for the good that has drawn us closer to God.

Have you ever taken a moment to stop everything you are doing and just think about how amazing Jesus really is?  I love the details God gives us about the life that Jesus lived here on earth.  I can picture Jesus walking down into the Jordan River and I can imagine the puzzled look on the face of John the Baptist with the request from Jesus to be baptized.  The scene comes to life with Jesus teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum when he commanded the evil spirit within a man to “Be quiet!”.  The evil spirit was terrified and had asked if Jesus had come to destroy them.  Another detail that is so vivid is the process of picking the disciples.  It’s a powerful image of Jesus walking along and meeting these men for the first time and then saying, “Follow me”.  The bible is overflowing with details of so many things that Jesus did.  Calming the storm on the Sea of Galilee, feeding the five thousand, talking with the woman at the well, staying at the house of Zacchaeus.  The details are there for a reason.  Jesus is truly amazing!  When you take into consideration every event that the bible reveals about Jesus it can leave you breathless.  Clearing the temple, admonishing the Pharisee’s, hugging the children, healing everybody, weeping over Jerusalem…….and dying on the cross.  

There is also an area that I pray we will all grow in our understanding of when it comes to the details of the life of Jesus.  John 21:25 tells us, “And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.  Amen.”

How about that for a thought to ponder?  I will use what Barclay states in his commentary to put it in perspective for us.  “Whatever we know of Christ, we have only grasped a fragment of him.  Whatever the wonders we have experienced, they are as nothing to the wonders which we may yet experience.  Human categories are powerless to describe Christ and human books are inadequate to hold him.” 

Well said.  Jesus truly is amazing!

Locusts and lions and dragons, Oh My!  Such would be a great opening statement from one about to enter into a study on Revelation.  To say it is a book filled with adventure and action would be an understatement.  And yet, Revelation is a book that doesn’t get visited that much.  Many stay away from it; believing it needs to be avoided because it is too difficult and confusing to understand.  Others dive in head first and dismantle the simple truth that lies within it.  They restructure it to support some fantasy idea of prophecy that they want to promote.  Regardless of where you and I might stand in relation to the message from Revelation, there is a very specific truth that God tells us concerning the need to study the book.  Revelation 1:3 says, “Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near”.  There is indeed a blessing to be experienced for all who read the book of Revelation.  It is one of the most powerful books that reveals the awesome power of the living God in the most dramatic ways.  It also contains some of the most descriptive images that reveal the struggle between good and evil.  Ultimately the most incredible message that overflows from the pages of this book is that of VICTORY!  Victory for God’s people and victory of good over evil.  One can’t help but imagine standing with all of heaven in Revelation 5:13 and singing with all our might, “To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!” Revelation is not a book to be afraid of.  At the same time it is not a book to approach with the idea that we will have the answer to every image being portrayed.  Revelation is a book that needs to be studied for the purpose of once again seeing our most wonderful God at work in the most amazing ways.  We will begin that adventure this coming Wednesday night as we start our study of the book of Revelation.  Everyone is invited!

Of all the things that a church could be commended for I believe the greatest example comes from what Paul said about the church in Thessalonica.  There were certainly some issues the church faced especially in the area of the second coming of Christ.  The point is there was definitely enough “stuff” to cause the church to be divided and to be filled with tension and conflict.  What is so encouraging is to read what Paul had to say about the church in Thessalonica.  Along with the theological issues there was persecution and many trials they were experiencing.  In 2 Thessalonians 1:3 Paul says, “We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing.  Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.

Of all the things that could be said about us at Tri-Lakes as God’s church I would pray that we would be recognized for our growing faith and love.  God has blessed us in such an incredible way concerning our growth in numbers.  I pray we grow in our understanding of how important it is to continue to grow in our faith and love.  We acknowledge that there are areas in all of our lives in which we might disagree concerning the details.  We acknowledge that everybody is different in many ways in how they think and act.  But through the amazing uniting power of Jesus Christ we acknowledge that we are the same.  Ephesians 4:4-6- “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called—one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.”  This morning’s message will focus on our walk of faith.  The journey is not always smooth,  in fact sometimes it seems almost impossible to make and we might feel discouraged enough to sit down and quit.  It is in those times that we need to remember the true meaning of faith.  It is also in those times we need to remember the true meaning of love from our brothers and sisters in the church.  It is an ever growing faith and an ever-growing love that will see us through every journey and for that we praise God.

Proverbs 22:6 tells us, “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.”

This passage is often used to address parenting of young children.  My prayer through this article is that we will grow in our understanding of the importance of training our children for serving in God’s church. 

I look around each Sunday in our services and I am so encouraged by the presence of so many young boys and girls.  I am also encouraged by the parents who I know are training up their children in the way they should go.

We have a very important responsibility as God’s church to train our children for service.  For the boys it includes such areas as leading prayers, leading songs, and even preaching.  It is also just as important that we provide training for the girls in the areas of service they can be involved in.

I am a firm believer in the need for churches to make sure their children are being trained for service.  A good test for congregations in this area is to determine how many preachers or missionaries have been produced from their training.  I know that Tri-Lakes church of Christ is overflowing with potential in these areas as we are so richly blessed with such wonderful young people.

I have been involved with a training program for many years which is called Young Timothy’s.  It is a simple training program where I sit down with the young men of the congregation and teach them how to ………….

Through discussion with our elders and deacon of youth we have decided to implement this program for the church.  I am planning our first session on Sunday, Oct. 18^th immediately following Potluck.  If we could allow our young men to get through the food line at the first then our session could be going on while the parents are finishing eating and cleaning.  We would finish by the time the parents were ready to go home.  The first session will be about leading prayers.

There is also an immediate need for a woman or women to take the lead in presenting the same type of training for our young women of the congregation which will be known as the Tabitha program.

My family has a wonderful challenge we participate in from time to time.  It’s a little thing we call AIF’N.  Adventures In Food.  The entire process for this adventure begins by driving through a town and searching for food places with drive-thru’s that we have not tried.  When we spot the location we pull through and look at the menu and then ask the worker what their specialty is.  We then order that one specialty and drive to the next place we spot.  We all split the item we receive at each place and rate it on a scale of 1-10.  It truly is an adventure and as some adventures have proven it truly is dangerous at times to the digestive systems.  This past week I was able to expand the coverage area for AIF’N as Josh and Aric joined the challenge.  I experienced a new level of AIF’N with these experienced veterans as they drug me into a sushi place.  What an adventure!  Per their recommendations I dove headfirst into the unchartered waters of Tuna Sashimi.  It wasn’t as awful as I was expecting and it wasn’t good enough that I would add it to my list of things I like.  My big struggle was in fighting the urge to save a piece for fishing later because I am convinced it would be irresistible to catfish.  I was very proud to successfully complete another adventure.  I confess I was nervous, scared, and reluctant but in the end I was happy with another mission accomplished.  It came down to just closing my eyes and diving in.  I wonder about another type of challenge.  Perhaps we should develop a similar program for adventures in serving or ministering.  What’s holding us back?  Perhaps we should think more about the unchartered waters of ministry and identify new areas and then dive in.  Maybe it’s teaching a class for the first time.  Perhaps it’s visiting the sick or the shut-ins.  Perhaps it is in inviting your neighbor to church.  Adventures abound in the area of ministry.  We might be nervous, scared, or reluctant to begin but I guarantee you there is no greater feeling than that of successfully completing a mission for God.  I encourage you to be more daring in ministry.  Step out there in unchartered territory.  Eph. 4:11-13 tells us we were created and prepared for service.  I pray we are all participating in that adventure.