Come With Us

Come with us and we will do you good for the Lord has promised! A Christian’s offer from 1700 BC? (Numbers 10:28-36)

Since we started a new congregation back in October… we have been going about the countryside and making this kind of an offer to various folks all around us.

“Come with us and help us start a new congregation. We offer you a once in a life time opportunity to step out of the shadows and do something, be someone special!”

Or perhaps, “You can go on doing what you have always done and when your life is done… you will have done what everyone else has… But you could choose to come out and do something special! You could help to place the name of Christ where it has never been!”

We have worded this offer in various ways but it has come down to a special opportunity to start a new work where you are important rather than just being a nameless number in a multitude.

If you worship God among hundreds or even thousands… what will your impact be? Where can you do the most good? Where will your children learn the greatest lessons on their need to take up the yoke of the Lord Jesus? Even your children have a chance to be on the front lines for Jesus!

We make this offer to you… Jesus knows you but we’d like to! 

Jesus will always do you good… Now we’d like to! 

Today’s article is based on very similar ancient offer given by Moses to his father in-law Hobab (a.k.a. Jethro) and some of Hobab’s extended family. It is the kind of offer that a Christian or a church should regularly give today. We’ll look at this virtually unknown offer… made long ago to a family outside of Judaism.

The Christian, The Bible, and the Practice of Abortion

I am certain virtually everyone has heard of the murder of Dr Tiller here in Wichita.  This one strikes close to home for us.  Our new congregation meets right around the corner from his infamous abortion clinic.
What a thing for a community to be known for!  We are the abortion capital of the world.  People literally come here from all over because you can get away with things here that you just cannot do elsewhere.  Dr. Tiller would do things that no man of conscience could do.

 Here is a link to an undercover video made of him bragging about his procedures and complaining about the born alive protection act.  You’ll have to sign in and confirm you are over 18 if you wish to watch it because of a couple of his photos he shows at the beginning of the video.  Dr. Tiller was giving a speech while being honored by the National Education Association as a hero.  After said speech he was interviewed by some that he perceived as friends and appears not to realize he is on tape.  He speaks rather freely of his monstrous trade. There are a couple of rather important quotes in that video:

“Let’s say you have 15 or 16 and you had one slip out with a heartbeat, that is not a viable fetus, but that is born alive or has a heart beat. Then you have to take that non-viable fetus and rush it to the hospital against the woman’s wishes.” 
“If the baby is born alive it is sloppy medicine and it shouldn’t be done.”
““I have done (them) up to the day before delivery.”

Should Churches Worship Money?

Wherefore Come out from among them, and be ye separate...

"For the love of money is the root of all evil; which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." (1 Timothy 6:10)

Did you ever begin wondering if “going to church” was about raising money?  In some churches there is a constant drive for the raising of money.  There's a collection for this project. There's a collection for the missionaries in some far away land.  There's a collection for the missionaries in some other far away land.

 Once in Florida I was studying with a neighbor who asked me about our attitude toward money.  It seemed like a strange question.  Well, come to find out, he had gone to church with his wife. . .   (the man considered himself an unbeliever).  During the service they had taken up a collection for the building fund.  To make a long story short, they didn’t get enough money.  The preacher ordered the doors to be locked, with the admonition that “no one is to leave the room!”  They passed the plate a total of three times.

Amongst so many of today’s churches, if you finally make it through all the contributions, then they start up with the fundraisers.  They have garage sales, auctions, cookies, donuts, chili feeds etc. A few years back a law office sent me a letter promising us a large contribution if our young people would be sent out to deliver neighborhood fliers promoting his law firm!

Marriage, Divorce & Re-Marriage

Since I started this email list I have gotten numerous questions surrounding the Bible's teaching on Marriage, divorce and remarriage. I sent this particular article out some three years ago but because of the flurry of questions recently I have decided to send it again. I try to give a straight answer, even to difficult questions, so here is a fairly comprehensive study on this matter. 
Marriage, divorce and remarriage is obviously a volatile subject. It is not difficult to determine the Bible's core teaching surrounding this subject. Our greatest obstacle is just accepting what God has spoken. The leadership of church after church have been forced of late to decide whether they will stay with God’s teaching or follow the way of the world.  Sadly because of the drive to “fit in” most will follow the way of the world.

A fairly normal response after comprehending what the Bible says is to journey down an endless path of "what ifs." I think that you will find most of the "what ifs" that you are likely to encounter are directed to some passage in the study that follows. The approach you'll find below is what I would label as "self help." I have given you the passages and then asked the appropriate questions. For the most part the broad questions aren’t hard to answer.  Some specifics get sticky, but that doesn’t change the fact that most questions are easy to answer.

What the Bible Says about Marriage, Divorce & Remarriage

(Click HERE to read my post and worksheet)

Hi I am glad you stopped by our blog. These articles are from an emailing that we did several years ago.   Today most of our work is on facebook

You can follow my personal page on Facebook by clicking on this link    ...  

  Jerry Blount 

You can follow the postings on the congregation's page by clicking on this link....   

Las Vegas church of Christ 

If you wish to worship with us....

Las Vegas church of Christ

709 Dora Celeste

Las Vegas, NM 87701

Our meeting times are

10am Sunday morning for Bible study.

11am Sunday morning for the worship service.

6pm Wednesday evening for Midweek Bible study.

If you wish to contact me...

yakipreacher@gmail.com

Be well 

Jerry Blount

The Church of the Less Noble

The Three Month Old Church at Thessalonica...

"Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily {to see} whether these things were so."  (Acts 17:11)

The church at Thessalonica was founded in an uproar. 

After only three weeks of teaching, Paul had flee for his life leaving this group of new Christians behind to fend for themselves.  Not only that, but the people from the community of Thessalonica pursued Paul some 60 miles to Berea and tried their dead level best to destroy Paul’s efforts in Berea.

The establishment of the church at Thessalonica so upset the status quo, that Thessalonian community was outraged that anyone would buy into this new thing called "Christianity"… They found it to be an incredible inconvenience that the gospel was all true.  The Jewish community didn’t want to hear it, and was angry at those “less enlightened” Greeks who were loyal to the truth. Here is the text...

How do Churches Become Liberal?

I suppose that everyone recognizes that there are liberal churches and there are conservative churches.  Most liberal churches have arisen out of more conservative churches.  i.e.  Most churches have begun as conservative churches then over time became more and more liberal.

Today I look around at the shallow, noisy conglomerations that many call churches and wonder how in the world people are deceived into believing that these are what Jesus founded.  They generally operate using Jesus' name, but are not anywhere close to anything described in the New Testament.  How do people go from one day believing the Bible to be the Word of God and the next day just jump into a Rock concert while calling this “noisy gong and clanging cymbals” mentality  worship? (See I Corinthians 13:1)

Answer… generally they don't!  Based on Jesus' parable of the Sower we learn that it is a more gradual “choking out” of respect for the Word of God.  Most of all, Satan fears your comprehension.  He would prefer that you just not understand (Matthew 13:19) so he can snatch it away.  When that fails, the devil tries to offend you away from respect for scripture before you can become long term and stable (Matthew 13:20-21).

The Nature of God

"Now Mount Sinai {was} all in smoke because the LORD descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently. When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him with thunder."  (Exodus 19:18-19) 

Have you ever contemplated this question?  It is a legitimate question.  “Who is He” is often interspersed with “What is He?” For example, “God is love.” (I John 4:8).  Is this an attempt to answer “who” or “what?”  I guess I would almost have to respond by saying, “both.”

 "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."  (John 4:24) “What” He is obviously affects “who” He is.  Who and what He is also obviously affects what He wants from us.   Today I wish to approach this from an evidences standpoint… and look a little deeper into what the Bible actually reveals to us about “what” God is.

I also wish to compare this insight with the laws that drive the universe.   What the Bible reveals about God is exactly what the universe demands for God to be… in order for God to be its creator.

So They Call This Worship?

Wherefore Come out from among them, and be ye separate...

Text for today’s article:

"And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you." (II Corinthians 6:15-17)

It has been sometime since I have written, owing to the distractions of building onto my house.  However, I have had opportunity to research the modern homogenization of the church into worldly entertainment that is sweeping our country.  I will share this research with you.  As with the threat of Islam, most people among the older generation have no idea what is afoot, or at least how far it goes.  Today, I’d like to take a peek into this subject.

Three specific contemporary trends come to mind:
1.  The community church movement and contemporary worship services.
2.  The loss of discipline and godliness as a cornerstone of faithful religion.
3.  The final act: setting aside Jesus as insignificant and unimportant.  (Oprah’s version of church)

Not every church moving in this direction involves all three trends, but any one of the three is a movement away from the established truths of scripture.

The Day Our Church Fired Jesus!

Could Jesus preach for “your” church?

Is “your” church, “His” church?

Today’s article will be intended to fill in an oversight in my preaching and teaching.  Over the last few years I have found myself reacting to some of the ever changing attitudes of the society in which I live.  

I have come to believe that the “feel good” religion now sweeping our churches in the name of Christianity is to the church what drug addiction is to society at large.  Once these churches are infected, they rapidly become addicted.  I.E.  filled with a very shallow people wanting ever more dramatic events to make us “feel” fulfilled.  Once addicted, hype replaces substance. Sounds like somewhat of a reversed substance abuse? Churches abuse their members  from a lack of substance.  Drug addicts abuse their bodies by the invasion of harmful substance.  These churches are always looking for the innovative method of church growth.  “Children’s church” replaces training your children to worship and respect their creator.  As the youth move into teenage, entertainment replaces serious Bible study and effective spiritual growth. In other words, the original call of the gospel is often replaced with an offer of entertainment or treats.

Most of the religious leaders involved in these changes know that what they are presenting is different than what Jesus presented.  Their justification (once called on the issue) will remind you of all the “medical”marijuana arguments raging in the secular world.  The bottom line is really the same. 

Sermons Recorded in Matthew

Sermon on the mount 5:1 - 7:29  He sent them home with….

22.  "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?'

 23.  "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'

 (Note this was followed by the parable of the wise and foolish man to drive it home).The 12 commissioned 10:1-42  He sent them home with….

33.  "But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.

 34.  "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

 35.  "For I came to SET A MAN AGAINST HIS FATHER, AND A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND A DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW;

 36.  and A MAN'S ENEMIES WILL BE THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD.

 37.  "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.