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Weekly Newsletter • Monday, January 3, 2022
ARTICLES
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We Need a Light!
Recent destructive tornadoes in our country have caused me to think about how dangerous such storms are when they come in the dark of night. You can’t look outside and see them coming!
When I was a kid, radar technology wasn’t anywhere near the quality we have today. White blobs on a black background may have told you rainclouds were present, but you didn’t know if there were dangerous storms in those blobs. Today, of course, we have Doppler radar which makes it much easier to see rotating storms, but there is still danger in the night when people are asleep or otherwise not paying attention.
Spiritually, there is great danger in the darkness, as well. In the obscurity of shadows, we might fall victim to many things:
Unseen Obstacles. “The way of the wicked is like darkness; They do not know what makes them stumble” (Prov. 4:19). To keep us from tripping, we need a light! The word of God is the floodlight to keep us safe (Psalm 119:105).
Predators. Vicious hunters roam about at night to give themselves an advantage over their prey. Satan is a predator (1 Peter 5:8), and he wants to keep you in the dark. We need a light to see predators for what they really are (John 3:20).
Sin. How many evil deeds take place at night? Adulterers, thieves, and murders do their work in cover of darkness (Job 24:13-17), as do drunkards (1 Thess. 5:7). We need a light to expose darkness and keep us from sin (Eph. 5:8-12).
Doubt and Confusion. The Philippian jailor made a snap judgment based on incomplete information, almost committing suicide because he feared he had lost all his prisoners (Acts 16:25-34). Having already drawn his sword to end his own life, he stopped when Paul told him that everyone was still there. It was only after this that the jailor “called for a light” (Acts 16:29) to see for himself the true state of affairs. We need a light to get rid of doubt and confusion!
We need a light, and that light is Jesus the Christ. “Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life’” (John 8:12). Are you walking in the light of the Lord?
Matt Clifton
BulletinDigest.com
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Living with Dragons
One day, in England, a “gentleman of the road” (we’d call him a hobo) stopped by a restaurant named “St. George and the Dragon.” He knocked at the back door and asked if he might have some leftovers to eat. A very stern lady looked the fellow in the eye and said: “I’ll not give you one crumb. You’re a fit fellow. Get yourself a job, you bum!” And then to punctuate her point, she slammed the door in the fellow’s face. The shabbily dressed fellow stood looking at the establishment’s sign for a moment and then knocked, again.
The door opened and the same stern lady asked in a hateful voice: “Well, what is it you want, now?”
“I was just wondering,” he said, “could I please talk to St. George, this time?”
Unfortunately, we all face “Dragons.” Sometimes we work for them. Sometimes they are relatives. But let’s face it, sometimes we are the dragons! (Not you, right?). So I look for a dragon slayer I can count on. It’s called love.
What makes the dragon in you appear? Petty problems, real or imagined slights, jealously, insults, someone cheats you? Do you really like yourself when the dragon appears? I know I don’t like it when it is me.
So let’s try this formula from the Bible:
“Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves” (Romans 12:10).
“… show perfect courtesy toward all people” (Titus 3:2).
Larry Fitzgerald
Woodlawn church of Christ
Abilene, TX
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What is the World Coming To?
These days, any number of issues that play across our television screens and newsfeeds may cause us to exclaim, “What is the world coming to!” Murders, violence, thefts, and perversions of all sorts are shocking, to say the least, but even more disgraceful is the lack of concern many in today’s world have for these sins. Such as in the days of Jeremiah the prophet, the people of today are not ashamed and seem to be unable to blush (Jer. 6:15).
Unfortunately, since the fall of Genesis 3, the world has always been filled with iniquity. From Adam and Eve’s transgression right up until this very day, the world has been steeped in sin. What is the world coming to? Ultimately it is coming to complete destruction (2 Peter 3:10) and the great day of judgment (Matt. 25:31-46).
In light of this, the most important question is not “What is the world coming to?,” but rather, “What has come into the world?” The answer to this question is “Jesus!”
As an answer to the sin problem, God sent His only begotten Son into this world to save us from sin. “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him” (1 John 4:9).
What has come into the world? Salvation through Jesus the Christ, and He is so much greater than the sin that is in the world (1 John 4:4)!
Matt Clifton
BulletinDigest.com
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Are You Missing Ingredients?
Recently we had a lot of bananas get really ripe, so I started to make a big batch of banana muffins. I took them out of the oven, gave them a taste, and realized right away that something was wrong. I had forgotten to add the butter. I had put the amount of butter called for by the recipe in a bowl and melted it in the microwave. There it stayed, forgotten, until I discovered my error. The muffins tasted…alright, but they weren’t what they could’ve been if I had not failed to add this critical ingredient.
What is your missing ingredient? In Mark 10:17-22, a man, described as a “Jewish leader” in Luke 18, comes to Jesus with an important question: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” After telling him to follow the law, the man asserted that he has done so since his youth. Jesus was able to seize upon the missing ingredient that he lacked, and he wasn’t very happy about it.
What are we lacking? Are we even asking the question? Do we even want to know?
If you want eternal life then it is a question you must ask. Being a christian is a process that begins upon obedience to the Gospel.
Paul the apostle suffered a great deal for Christ. We would describe him as a person of great faith, and unashamed of the Gospel. Yet he described himself as someone with more to do. In Philippians 3:10-14 he says that he has not yet obtained eternal life and arrived at his goal. He says: “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” If Paul says this, then we cannot sit on our hands and say we have no more work to do.
Therefore, it is necessary that we ask the question: What yet must I do? We should follow the lead of the rich young ruler and ask God about it. We should consult God’s word, comparing ourselves to the recipe for life found there, and we should add whatever ingredients are missing to make ourselves all that we can be in service to our Lord.
Joshua Pettigrew
Monticello church of Christ
Monticello, AR
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A New Year: Time to Take Inventory
As we begin a new year, may we “take inventory” of our spiritual lives. Most businesses or organizations (the ones that are successful) will ask three questions in terms of their direction: “Where have we been? Where are we? Where are we going?” Our spiritual lives are of far greater importance than any business or organization. The church is paramount and is no comparison to some man made organization or institution. But, we can draw a few parallels when taking inventory of our spiritual lives. Second Corinthians 13:5 says, “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.”
Please consider the following questions as we plan our spiritual growth for 2022:
• Am I known as a Christian where I work?
• Is Christ more loved or respected because of the way I live?
• Do I criticize the church and Christians in front of my children?
• Do people know me as one who has Christ in the center of my life?
• Is it possible that I claim to be a Christian and nurse revenge on others?
• Do I find time every day for Bible study?
• Can I work with other people? Can other people work with me?
• Do I have a secret longing to be first? Or can I truly say I do not care who is second, third, or fourth as long as Jesus is first?
• How can I do a better job of leading others to Christ?
• Have I grown as a Christian in knowledge and service compared to three years ago?
As the days roll by this year, may we seek to truly walk with Christ as well as grow closer to Him.
Allen Jones
South Green Street church of Christ
Glasgow, KY
FILLERS
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When It Seems All Is Lost
When it seems all is lost…remember that the Creator sees us (Job 34:21; Psalm 33:13-15; Heb. 4:13).
When it seems all is lost…remember that this world is not all that there is (Job 1:6; 2:1; 16:19; Rev. 21:3-4; Matt. 25:46).
When it seems all is lost…remember that our Redeemer lives (Job 19:25; Heb. 7:25; Rev. 1:17-18)!
Bart Warren
South Green Street church of Christ
Glasgow, KY
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Contentment, Not Accomplishment
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). This has to do with our ability to be content in all things, regardless of circumstances, not about our ability to accomplish all the things we set out to do. The verse is about contentment, not about accomplishment.
Dwight Fuqua
Findlay church of Christ
Sparta, TN
POETRY
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You Have What It Takes!
Figure it out for yourself, my lad,
You’ve all that the greatest men have had;
Two arms, two hands, two legs, two eyes,
And a brain to use if you would be wise,
With this equipment they all began–
So start from the top and say, “I can!”
Look them over, the wise and great,
They take their food from a common plate,
And similar knives and forks they use,
With similar laces they tie their shoes;
The world considers them brave and smart,
But you’ve all they had when they made their start.
You can triumph and come to skill,
You can become great if you only will;
You’re well equipped for the fight you choose,
You have arms and legs and a brain to use;
And the man who has risen great deeds to do,
Began his life with no more than you.
You are the handicap you must face,
You are the one who must choose your place.
You must say where you want to go,
How much you will study the truth to know;
God has equipped you for life, But He
Lets you decide what you want to be.
Courage must come from the soul within
The man must furnish the will to win.
So figure it out for yourself, my lad,
You were born with all that the great have had;
With your equipment they all began,
Get hold of yourself and say, “I can!”
Edgar A. Guest
American Poet, 1881-1959
BIBLE QUIZ
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Bible Quiz: Jude 1-4
1. This letter was written by Jude, a __ of Jesus Christ, and brother of __.
2. Jude is writing to “those who are __, __ by God the Father, and __ in Jesus Christ:”
3. “Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common __, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to __ earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.”
4. How many times was “the faith” delivered to all the saints?
5. “For certain men have crept in __, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into __ and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Solution: bondservant, James; called, sanctified, preserved; salvation, contend; once; unnoticed, lewdness
BulletinDigest.com
QUOTES
“To appreciate the beauty of a snowflake it is necessary to stand out in the cold.” — Aristotle
“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.” — John Steinbeck
“Advice is like the snow. The softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon and the deeper it sinks into the mind.” — Samuel Taylor Coleridge
“The open secret of many Bible believing Churches is that a vanishingly small percentage of those talking about prayer and Bible reading are actually doing what they are talking about.” — Dallas Willard
“Many who read their Bibles make the great mistake of confining all their reading to certain portions of the Bible which they enjoy. In this way they get no knowledge of the Bible as a whole. They miss altogether many of the most important phases of Bible truth.” — R.A. Torrey
A Weekly Newsletter by Bulletin Digest • Tuesday, January 11, 2022
Happy Tuesday to all our preachers and teachers out there! Welcome to the first weekly newsletter created especially for those who are engaged in communicating God’s word in the Lord’s church.
If you have been watching the website, then you know you are receiving this newsletter by email because you have a paid membership at BulletinDigest.com. If you do not wish to receive this portion of your paid content by email, follow the unsubscribe instructions at the bottom of the page. But please remember, the content in the Preaching Ideas newsletter will NOT be posted to the website, so you will be missing out! You will also miss out on weekly Bulletin Digest newsletters on Mondays, too!
The purpose of the Preaching Ideas newsletter is to help get our wheels spinning on sermon seeds, social and world issues that we can address using scriptures, interesting bullet points that may lead to pulpit or Bible class lessons, and to generally spark our creativity for sermon and lesson preparation.
If you are a preacher and have items you would like to contribute, please do so! Submit them for consideration to editor@bulletindigest.com.
With that said, on with the show! We hope you find it useful!
FIRST, A WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT
Christians have a great responsibility to uphold God’s truth, especially those who teach (James 3:1). Remember, if the people of God aren’t bringing truth to the world, who will? You are doing the work of the kingdom. Thank you for your steadfast commitment to the greatest endeavor of all! Keep fighting the good fight!
BENEFITS OF MEMORIZING SCRIPTURE
Now that the New Year has come, many Christians are still thinking about what they can do differently this year. One thing we are starting at Judsonia church of Christ is committing to memorizing a book of the Bible together in 2022. To kick things off, we had a lesson on the Benefit of Memorizing Scripture. You can use your own points, of course, but since we are memorizing James here are the four points we used in our lesson:
Benefits of Memorizing Scripture
1. Draw Near to God (James 4:8)
2. Do God’s Word (James 1:22; 2 Tim. 2:15)
3. Develop Our Faith (James 1:2-4; Rom. 10:17)
4. Defend Against Sin (James 1:21; Psalm 119:11)
No doubt many will believe they can’t memorize a whole book of the Bible! Do a quick search for scripture memorization techniques on the internet and find ways to encourage them to try it!
What books can you envision your congregation memorizing?
GOOD TIME FOR GROWTH SERMONS
Since congregations are more willing at this time of year to thing about growth projects, it may also be a good time to remind everyone of the type of attitude it takes for congregations to grow. Tom Moore preached a sermon once that included these main points. Flesh them out for your own localized version. Can you think of other attitudes to include?
Attitude for Growth
1. A positive attitude toward God (Mark 12:30)
2. A positive attitude toward the church (2 Corinthians 11:28)
3. A positive attitude toward worship assemblies (Hebrews 10:25)
4. A positive attitude about being different from the world (2 Corinthians 6:14-18)
5. A positive attitude toward life (Romans 8:28)
DO YOU HAVE NEED OF PERSEVERANCE?
Has the topic of “perseverance” been on your mind during these pandemic years? You can bet it has been on the mind of your local Christians, as well! Here is a quick outline you can develop on the qualities we need for “keep on keeping on.”
Things We Need for Perseverance
• Faith (Heb. 11:8-19; 2 Cor. 5:7; Rom. 4:16-22)
• Courage (Rev. 21:8; Num. 13:30-33; Acts 4:13, 29, 31)
• Will Power (Acts 20:22-24; 21:12-14)
• One-Day-At-A-Time Attitude (Phil 4:6-7; Matt. 6:34; James 4:14)
• Self-Discipline (Ecc. 5:1-5; 2 Timothy 4:7)
James 5:11 would also be a good passage to shape a perseverance sermon around.
A GOOD READ FOR PREACHERS…AND OTHER CHRISTIANS
Any Christian would get great benefit from reading—and re-reading—this article by Jon Mitchell.
ANOTHER ‘GROWTH’ SERMON SEED
In a recent article, Dwight Fuqua wrote that the church should be in the “increasing and growing business,” and an amen to that! His article used Colossians 2:19 as the starting point, but then gives three points that could be expanded into a sermon:
Increasing with the Increase of God (Col. 2:19)
1. We are to increase in love (1 Thess. 3:12-13)
2. We are to increase in knowledge (Col. 1:9-12)
3. We are to increase in faith (2 Thess. 1:3)
DEVOTION WORTHY
Cyrpian of Carthage, North Africa wrote this during persecutions around 265-285 AD:
“It is a bad world, Donatus, an incredibly bad world. But I have discovered in the midst of it a quiet and good people who have learned the great secret of life. They have found a joy and wisdom which is a thousand times better than any of the pleasures of our sinful life. They are despised and persecuted, but they care not. They are masters of their souls. They have overcome the world. These people, Donatus, are Christians. . . and I am one of them.”
How is it that Christians can persevere? Because of the love of Christ!
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: ‘For Your sake we are killed all day long; ‘Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:35-37).
IN THE NEWS
The efforts to promote theistic evolution are ramping up again. Check out this article:
There are many refutations of the past that will still meet this challenge. Here are a couple of links with reviews of the doctrine:
https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/1043-are-genesis-and-evolution-compatible
BITS AND PIECES
— Alexandre Dumas is the man who wrote The Three Musketeers. He wrote many other plays and books, with the assistance of a staff of ghostwriters. Dumas once asked his son, “Have you read my new book yet?” His son replied, “No. Have you?”
— Many people know Alan Alda from his role in the television series M*A*S*H. But did you know that he didn’t sign on to play the character of Hawkeye Pierce until, six hours before filming began on the pilot episode? Would we have known Alan Alda if not for M*A*S*H?
A FEW QUOTES
“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.” ― C.S. Lewis
“Your talent determines what you can do. Your motivation determines how much you’re willing to do. Your attitude determines how well you do it.” —Lou Holtz
“I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” —Henry David Thoreau
“Someday is not a day of the week.” —Janet Dailey
“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal. Nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong attitude.” —Thomas Jefferson
ALRIGHT, GO GET ‘EM!
That’s it for this week, but we are just getting started! If you have contributions, just email me at editor@bulletindigest.com and make sure and mention Preaching Ideas!
Until next week…May God bless you in your work for Him!
Matt Clifton
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