Volume  III    Issue   XLIX   October 12th, 2003

A publication of the:
Butler church of Christ

Our meeting location is:
201 5th Ave.
Butler, PA 16001
724-287-0628 (building) / 724-282-9417 (home/office)

Assembling Times:
Sunday Bible Class - 9:30 AM
Sunday Worship – 10:30 AM
Wednesday Bible Class – 7:00 PM
 

Editor / Preacher –
Brian A. Yeager
 

Check out the web site:

http://www.wordsoftruth.net

    This five article series that will be in the bulletin over the next five weeks is going to deal with the need to find hope.  Before one can express a need for something that need must be proven.  The specific need we are addressing is easy to prove.  One without hope is hopeless, and no one wants to be in that condition.  What has to be established is why that hope must be found in spiritual matters.  More specifically, we will address in this first tract why the need of hope must be filled in God through Jesus Christ.

    It is a medical certainty that all men will die.  The Bible also states this fact.  Hebrews 9:27 “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”    There are only two times in the history of mankind that we find accounts of men who did not see physical death.  Those two men were Enoch (Hebrews 11:5) and Elijah (II Kings 2:1).  There is a view that a few take that wherein men die and they are like Rover dead all over.  In other words, the dirt that covers your physical remains is the final point on one’s life.

    The expectation of no life beyond the present is sad.  That belief is hopeless [having no expectation of good or success].  God, the creator and sustainer of life (Genesis 1-2, Isaiah 40:28, and Matthew 6:25-33), has provided mankind with something to look forward to.  He has provided the hope of eternal life: (Titus 1:2) “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.”  God’s gift of the opportunity for eternal life is one that cost even Him a great price.  It cost Him sending His son [Jesus Christ] to this earth in the form of a man to die a most horrible death (Romans 5:6-9).

    Hope is defined as: “confident trust that something will happen.”  The Bible shows that among six other “ones” there is one hope (Ephesians 4:4-6).  While many “religious men” have continued to search for all the answers, many have missed one simple truth that Jesus Christ made clear.  (John 14:6) “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”  Many beliefs, creeds, churches, etc. exist in our present world.  Many things are taught under the premise of religious truths.  However, there still exists only one Jesus Christ, His church, and one revealed message commonly referred to as the Bible.

    It is through patience and comfort of the scriptures that we have hope (Romans 15:4).  Jesus Christ sent the Holy Spirit in the 1st Century to reveal His message to men through the mouths and pens of a selection of men (John 16:13 and I Corinthians 2:9-13).  That message is a message that is unchanging (Matthew 24:35 and I Peter 1:23).  The inspired word of God (II Timothy 3:16-17) reveals all that mankind needs to know to and obey to have eternal life (II Peter 1:3).  The word of God can be understood as it is read (Ephesians 3:1-4).  Thus, God has fully equipped us with the information needed to have hope in Him through Jesus Christ our Lord.

    Just being dead is such a hopeless idea.  It is certainly not an idea that is supported throughout the word of God.  The Bible presents such a wonderful picture of eternal life and we cannot overlook those facts (Revelation 21:3-7).  Notice just a few more scriptures that we can have hope in:
 

John 14:1-3 “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.  In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”

II Corinthians 5:1 “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”

Hebrews 13:14 “For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.”

    Eternal life is possible through the Resurrection.  The Resurrection is a time in which all men will be raised up to meet the Lord and stand before Him in the Judgment Day (I Corinthians 15:50-54 and II Corinthians 5:10).  There are many false beliefs surrounding the day in which man will be resurrected, those beliefs are not being addressed in this tract.  One point of clarity is to be made, and that is that the Day of the Lord is a day in which no man has knowledge of (Matthew 24:36), it is not a time in which the kingdom will be established for it already has been (Colossians 1:13), and there will be no remaining earth from the day forward (II Peter 3:10).

    This article poses the question “why look for hope.”  The answer is great indeed.  First, you do not want to be hopeless.  Secondly, there are great things to hope for.  Thirdly, disobedient unbelievers will not be like rover, they too will have an eternal destiny.  That destiny will be a place called hell.  One verse summarizes all that needs to be said on that hopeless subject matter: Revelation 21:8 “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”  I hope that you will continue in your study and allow this series of tracts to lead you from the hopeless to Christ.  Please consider that today is here, but tomorrow is not promised (James 4:13-14).  Contact us today for help in obeying the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Matthew 7:21, Romans 10:17, John 8:24, Luke 13:3; 5, Romans 10:10, John 3:1-5, and Acts 2:38).

Those Serving Today:
Announcements – Brian Yeager
A.M. Song Leader – Terry Nannie
Lord’s Table – George Papp
Assisting – Bill Graham and Young Jay
First Prayer – Mike Lockwood
Closing Prayer – Serg. Imbarlina
 

Those In Need of Our Prayers:
Tony Sassano (test have come back good after chemotherapy), Joan Croyle, Marie Glunt (a friend of the Papp’s who is suffering from cancer), and Julie Rado (a friend of the Graham’s who has been diagnosed with breast cancer.

                       MOVING... 

 The Papp’s will be moving next month and the Lockwood’s will be moving the first of next year.  These fine Christians will be greatly missed, but they know they will always have a family in Butler to visit