The Apostle John wrote: (John 13:34-35) “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.  By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”  A command that Christ has given us is to love one another.  We as members of His body (I Corinthians 12:27), have the ability to allow our love one for another to be a teaching tool.  By loving one another we show the world we are His disciples.  Have you ever thought about the flip side of that statement?  By not loving one another we show the world we are not His disciples.

Jesus tells us that if we love Him we will keep His commandments (John 14:15 and I John 5:3).  One of His commands is to love each other.  Are we following His word if we fail to do so?  Many brethren would not so much as spend one moment in consideration of another brother in Christ in need.  Consider what the Apostle John penned by inspiration.  (I John 3:14-17) “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.   Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.  Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.  But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?”

To follow Christ we must follow all of His word, not just what we want to abide by (James 2:10).  The Bible teaches that the faithful Christian will love His brethren (Hebrews 13:1, I John 4:20, Romans 12:10, and I Peter 2:17).  Wouldn’t it be great if Paul were able to write a letter to all congregations today saying what he said to the Thessalonians?  Here is what he said: (I Thessalonians 4:9) “But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.”

The Lord’s church today needs brethren who care for one another.  When visitors walk into congregations they should be able to see from our love one to another that we are the church you read about in the New Testament.  Our fellowship should be like that of faithful first century Saints (Acts 2:42-46).  When we fail to be Christ-like in this way we fail to truly be His disciples.  So, are we truly followers of Christ?  We are followers of Christ only if we are truly following Him in all ways, which includes loving each other.
 
 

Those In Need of Our Prayers:
Anne Holt, Deanna Papp, Joan Croyle, Gracie Cook, and John & Olive Anderson.

Gospel Meeting:
August 11th – 15th with David Hurst who is an elder and the local preacher for the church in Somerset, KY.

Discipline Practiced:
Last Sunday Patti Fleeger was brought before the church as one who has been forsaking the assembling of the saints (Hebrews 10:25).  The COMMANDED action was taken (II Thessalonians 3:6), and now it is time to avoid her to bring shame upon her, so that she will repent, with our ONLY conversations with her being admonishments to repent (II Thessalonians 3:14-15).  The letter notifying Patti of this action is on the bulletin board.