church of Christ Christian Ekklesia Podcast

Who Would You Choose To Be

May 8, 2008 – 10:38 pm
Do you like to use your imagination? If you build things, you do. If you solve problems, you do. If you are creative, you do. If you provide leadership, you do. If you play competitive sports, you do. If you hunt or fish, you do. There are very few people who do not enjoy using their imagination. Most of us just took communion. That is a time when we should use our imaginations with gratitude. We are to focus our minds and hearts on Jesus' death. As we eat a piece of the bread, we are to think about the physical body that Jesus surrendered to death for us. As we drink the grape juice, we are to think about the blood he poured out in death for us. It is impossible to do what Jesus asked us to do when we take the Lord's supper unless we use our imagination. I ...

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Peter, Do You Feel Blessed?

May 5, 2008 – 9:28 pm
God gave you and me, as Christians, some incredible promises. Because we were baptized into Christ, God promised that He would forgive and forget all of our sins (Hebrews 8:12). God promised if we maintain faith in Christ, maintain our commitment to live in God's ways, and maintain a heart that readily repents, that God will continually forgive our sins (I John 1:5-9 ). God promised that He will use everything that happens in our lives to help us get to heaven (Romans 8:28). God promised that He has reserved a place in heaven for us, and that His power will protect us by working through our faith (1 Peter 1:4,5). God's most important objective in each of our lives is to bring us home to heaven with Him. God will use everything that evil does to us, everything evil does in our lives to move us closer to heaven. Evil ...

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Insights From Ephesians Part Four

May 2, 2008 – 9:58 pm
All of us tend to exaggerate our loveableness. First, we exaggerate our personal loveableness by asking what each of us considers a rhetorical question: "Why shouldn't anyone love a person like me?" We tend to think "everyone should love a person like me!" If I love me, why shouldn't you love me? Second, we exaggerate our personal loveableness by citing all our good qualities: "I am this, and I am that; I do this, and I do that; this person is blessed by me, and that person is blessed by me."  Most of us tend to have a very good opinion of ourselves! If I convince you to look at only my good qualities, deeds, and characteristics, I can make you see a pretty good person. Third, we exaggerate our personal loveableness by citing all the good things we do. "Look at all the good organizations I am a member of! Look ...

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Insights From Ephesians Part Three

April 30, 2008 – 9:32 pm
One of the most powerful negative forces that exist in our society today is discouragement. This force is even more powerful in the church. There are likely more people who worship no where, or have changed to a different kind of church, or who are a loud, negative voice in their congregation because they have been discouraged, than any other negative influence among Christians. If all the discouraged Christians assembled for worship on any given Sunday in their "home congregation" left their discouragement at home and praised God for His many blessings in Christ, attendance in most congregations would increase from one-third to over 100%. People are discouraged for many reasons. (1) For many, life is just plain hard. Circumstances they never once anticipated descended on them, consumed them, and created a personal crises for them. Unfortunately, these people are in congregations that are unaware--for whatever reason--of their struggle. Or their ...

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Insights From Ephesians Part Two

April 24, 2008 – 10:07 pm
Today I want to focus us on the concept of gifts. At first mention, you might not think that is a very important concept. I hope when you finish thinking with me, you will find your insights and thoughts truly helpful. I suspect all of us have received gifts. What concept do you think of when you think of the word "gift?" There are birthday gifts, Christmas gifts, welcome gifts, "thinking of you" gifts, various forms of appreciation gifts, various forms of accomplishment gifts like graduation gifts, various forms of event gifts like shower gifts, and various forms of need gifts like the gifts given in a disaster. There are all kinds of gifts people give. My Webster's Dictionary says a gift is a voluntary transfer of something from one person to another without compensation. That definition causes me to ask an interesting question: When does a gift cease to be a ...

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Are There Real Answers For Aloneness?

April 22, 2008 – 8:01 pm
Have you ever felt desperately alone and completely empty? You felt absolutely nothing inside. Your life was so empty that you could feel the hollowness. You were certain that no one really cared if you were alive or dead. The loneliness was so painful you knew it was obvious, but no one seemed to notice. There was no future because there was no now. You felt like the earth had been jerked from beneath your feet and you were falling, plunging endlessly downward, and no way to stop falling. If I had each of you tell me if you had ever felt this lonely and empty, I know that I would receive these three answers in some form. (1) Preacher, I don't know what in the world you are talking about. (2) David, I haven't had that experience, but I certainly know someone has had it--in fact he/she is having it ...

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When Knowledge Exceeds Understanding

April 8, 2008 – 10:44 pm
Spiritually, we create an enormous danger when we have sound knowledge of God's facts and truths, but have little or no knowledge of God's purposes. That danger has existed from the time of Adam and Eve's rebellion against God in the garden of Eden. That same danger intensified and rose to a new level when Jesus was born. That danger was clearly evident in Jesus' ministry. The Pharisees knew God's facts, but they did not know God's purposes. The twelve disciples understood new facts from God, but they did not understand God's purposes. This same danger intensified again and rose to still a higher level when Jesus died and was raised from the dead. That danger is as real and powerful today as it has ever been. I want you to understand that danger and consider how it exists for us personally and as a congregation by studying Matthew 16:13-23. I. In Matthew 16 ...

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You Are To Be A Blessing

April 7, 2008 – 9:22 pm
In the summer that I was eighteen, I preached for the Mount Della Church of Christ, a small, rural congregation in the hills of east Tennessee. Among the families that were a part of that congregation was a family named Wallace. Load Wallace, the father, had served in the Second World War. He had been a part of the liberation force that occupied Paris, France. Each summer on July a weekend, the congregation had a huge dinner-on-the- ground at a nearby wilderness area. It combined family reunions, church fellowship, and neighborly get-together into one occasion. Two, perhaps three times, more people attended this get-together than attended the congregation. These were good hearted country people, so there would be all kinds of country food and country cooking. Even though there were virtually no prosperous people in that little country community or the congregation, there would be lots and lots of food. The Wallace family ...

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Followers, Why Do You Follow??

April 4, 2008 – 8:39 am
When the topic of discussion is follower, how would you describe yourself as a follower? Do you know how to follow? What is your concept of following? To you is following keep your mouth shut, try to stay out of the way, and don't create a problem? Is your concept of following stand quietly on the side, occasionally offer your opinion, try not to criticize, and occasionally share a word of encouragement? Does your concept of following involve understanding the objective, learning the reasons for the objective, and helping make the objective a reality? Do you consider yourself a good follower, an average follower, a poor follower, or an awful follower? Do you work well in a group because you are a cooperative team player who follows leadership well? Do you work poorly in a group because you rarely agree with the group's leadership? Do you work well in a group only ...

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Insights From Ephesians

April 3, 2008 – 3:42 pm
There are people in life we choose to be with or not to be with. When we are young, parents commonly choose for us and force their decisions on us. Often children wonder why they can or cannot be around the people their parents approve of or reject. Often children are told (upon their inquiry), "They are not good for you," or, "They are the 'right kind of people' for you." Yet, the fact our parents chose or reject them does not determine if children "like" those people or not. Even if our parents choices are forced on us as children, that commonly still does not determine who we "like." As teenagers, the choice is no longer the parents in most cases. In fact, for a parent to seek to tell an older teen whom he or she can be friends with usually results in a declaration of war or in alienation. ...

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Christianity and Relationships Part Four

April 1, 2008 – 9:09 pm
Sacrificing animals, animal blood, the first fruits of a crop, and crop products to God was a way of showing dependence on and appreciation for God. For generations, people who sought God and depended on God sacrificed. Abel sacrificed. Abraham sacrificed. Sacrificial acts were a part of worship for Isaac, Jacob, the nation of Israel, and devout Jews early in New Testament history. The core of Passover involved sacrifice. Deuteronomy 16:16 instructed all the men of Israel to gather in the place God chose three times a year with gifts (sacrifices). Leviticus 1-7 states sacrifice was involved in burnt offerings, in peace offerings, and in sin and guilt offerings. When God solved our problems produced by alienation through sin, He sacrificed. We have forgiveness available to us because God offered an enduring sacrifice. We can escape the eternal consequences of our sins because God sacrificed. We can become God's people because ...

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Christianity and Relationships Part Three

March 27, 2008 – 7:58 pm
How long has it been since you focused on or gave serious attention to the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20) when God spoke those commandments to Israel? Then God spoke all these words, saying, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. You shall not take the name of ...

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A Common Cause Of Great Joy And Great Suffering

March 21, 2008 – 2:31 pm
I want you to consider a powerful, common factor that dramatically affects every person's life. No one escapes the impact of this common factor. Everyone is affected by it. The power and influence of this factor are astounding to the point of disbelief. This specific factor causes more joy in the lives of the people of this congregation than any other single factor. It also causes more sorrow in the lives of the people in this congregation than any other single factor. It creates more happiness than any other specific factor, and it generates more heartache than any other specific factor. It brings more peace than any other specific factor, and it causes more anger than any other specific factor. It nurtures spiritual development as nothing else does, and it opposes spiritual development as nothing else does. By now you doubt me--seriously doubt me. You are thinking, "David, that is preposterous. It is ridiculous to ...

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Decisions, A Whole Congregation Affair

March 20, 2008 – 8:15 pm
In the past few weeks, I have shared four lessons on Sunday mornings: A New Me in a New World A New People New People Leadership Decisions: New People Ownership In these four lessons, we have noted that Christ died to produce a new people, a people who are unlike any people who existed. Each person who chooses to let Jesus Christ possess his or her life becomes a new person. All persons belonging to Christ make God's new people. We saw that these new people were given a new type of leadership. In Acts chapter one, the first of these new people participated in the leadership process in a way that had never occurred before. In Acts 6 these new people were given the responsibility of making a very difficult decision for the entire congregation. They were given the responsibility to resolve a very serious problem that threatened the whole congregation. The apostles themselves ...

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And Then They Died

March 17, 2008 – 3:51 pm
Recently I watched part of a news documentary that had a segment on kidney transplants. It specifically focused on a business in China that specializes in kidney transplants. China has built a modern, well equipped hospital that utilizes western technology and is specifically designed for transplant surgery. The primary purpose of this hospital is to perform kidney transplants for foreign patients who purchase a kidney and the procedure. The principal recipients of this service are Americans. I found what happens to be both believable and unbelievable at the same time. The hospital is located near a prison. The prison schedules monthly executions. Quickly, after executions, the kidneys of the executed prisoners are removed by persons trained for that purpose. The kidneys are transported to the hospital and transplanted into waiting recipients. This documentary showed a film of an execution. A number of men were lined up in a row side by side, on their ...

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