Bulletin Articles
Such As I Am
The apostle Paul, after making his defense before the Roman governor, Festus and Jewish King Agrippa, and in response to Agrippa's statement about "almost" being persuaded tells Agrippa" I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me today, might become both almost and altogether such as I am, except for these chains" Acts 26:29.
If we could superimpose our own names for Paul and wish that all could become as we currently are, what would be the consequences?
Would anyone visit or communicate with the sick? James tells us that "pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble" James 1:27. Do we fulfill that obligation?
Would anyone teach class? We have a duty to teach | Tim 4:13, 2 Tim 2:2. The children of Israel fell into idolatry because "another generation arose who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel" Judges 2:10. We each we taught by parents and teachers, do we teach others? Teaching is not exclusively the preacher's job or the elder's job. That responsibility belongs to each Christian.
Would there be funds to support the spreading of the gospel? Paul tells the Christians in Corinth to "lay something aside" on the first day of the week I Cor
16:1-2. He had given that same instruction to the churches in Galatia. Do we purpose in our hearts and make our contribution a priority each week?
Would there be any spiritual growth? We start out as babies in the Word. We are admonished to" desire the pure milk of the word", why? "that you may grow thereby" | Peter 2:2. Then we progress to "solid food" Heb 5:13, so we are no loner children, "tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine" Eph 4:14.
Would there be any Sunday night or midweek service? The Psalmist said "I was glad when they said to me, Let us go into the house of the Lord" Ps 122:1.
Do we look forward to the opportunity to worship our Maker, to learn more about His will for us, to be strengthened and to strengthen others? In a week of 168 hours, we are in an assembly for about 4 hours a week. Add in prep time and travel and you are devoting about 8 hours a week. That is less than 5% of our week. Too much? Hebrews tells us not to forsake our assembling together.
There are several more examples that will be saved for a lesson or another article.
However let's examine ourselves and see how we measure up. Can we truly say we want others to be like us? Paul did.
