Greenfield MO Church of Christ

Join us this morning at 10:00 a.m. as we worship our Lord according to the pathway laid out in the New Testament. Evangelist Richard Bunner will be teaching today’s lesson.

Evangelist Richard Bunner, Springfield, Mo. will be speaking on Sunday, June 7. Morning service: 10:00 am Afternoon service: 2:00 pmEvangelist Richard Bunner, Springfield, Mo. will be speaking on Sunday, June 7. Morning service: 10:00 am Afternoon service: 2:00 pm

Sometimes Locusts are Just Locusts Greg Gay In his book, Decision Making and the Will of God, Garry Friesen warns about attempting to say that all calamities in... life are intentionally inflicted by God and must be interpreted as a direct message from God. He writes, An event cannot communicate a message apart from divine revelation. There are many instances in which such explanations are given in Scripture. Israel’s crop failures and plagues were often the result of God’s judgment judgment announced in advance by the Lord’s prophets (Deuteronomy 11:17; Amos 4:66-8). The prophet Joel declared that an invasion of locusts was not a tragedy of chance (Joel 2:1-10), but an act of discipline from the Lord designed to bring Israel to repentance (Joel 2:11-17). Without such divine commentary, locusts are just locusts. A famine is just a famine. Even in the New Testament, when the prophet Agabus predicted a coming famine, he did so, not to explain its meaning, but to warn the saints so they could adequately prepare (Acts 11:27-30) (pp 215). As the novel Coronavirus is sweeping the world and affecting all our lives, the temptation is to say, This is a judgment from God. Just like the locusts, however, without divine commentary, a virus is just a virus. There are no scriptures that contextually predict such happenings for our time. We must be very careful that we do not misapply scriptures that have a specific application for an Old Testament judgment or the New Testament’s predictions of the destruction of Jerusalem. Some would say it is a sign of the impending return of Christ and point to this as an end times, or last days event. In fact, according to the book of Hebrews, we have been in the last days, since the church began nearly 2,000 years ago. The Bible says, God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds (Hebrews 1:1-2). It is still true we do not and cannot know when the end of time will come (Matthew 24:36). If this virus is not a judgment or sign from God, then what is it? If it is from nature, then it is a natural disaster. If it is from men, even from evil men engineering a virus to be a weapon of mass destruction as I have heard suggested, then it is a man-made disaster. Either way, our reaction must be the same. We need to be who God wants us to be, doing our best to do what is right in good times and in bad. Consider this passage: Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14). While this can be easy in the best of times, it can also be a difficult tightrope, or even impossible in the worst of times. Of course, our greatest priority is holiness, always, even at the expense of peace with those around us. With that priority firmly in mind, we still desire the good will of authorities and our fellow citizens and have no desire to offend them in the practice of our faith (Rom 13:1-7). Such events as the surprise of the Coronavirus spreading around the world and in our communities can be very difficult to comprehend, especially when our lives and routines are personally disrupted. When our neighbors, family, and friends and our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world are sickened and die and when the rules of what is and is not allowed frequently change in our communities it is easy for our lives to be so filled with chaos we become confused in exactly what to do. As we struggle with knowing what is best in these difficult times for ourselves, our families, and congregations, let us remember to use God’s word first in all we do, do the best we can to do what is right, and to be as loving and forgiving of others in this present distress as we need them to be with us. Decisions that are being considered include: Do we assemble at all? Do we assemble openly as usual and just ignore the dangers of the virus and all the community rules? Do we assemble in secret? What do we do if we are asked by the authorities to leave after we have assembled? Is this a time to stand up and be arrested if necessary? If we assemble, do we practice social distancing? Are we OK if some choose not to hug or shake hands? Are we OK if some choose to wear masks? Are we OK if some choose to wipe the cup handles off and or wear gloves during worship, including communion and contribution? What about communion and contribution at home? What about dividing into multiple congregations till this is over or from now on? What if someone in our group is positive or has been exposed to someone who is positive can we tell them to stay home? What do we do if someone who tested positive refuses to self-quarantine themselves and wants to be at worship to hug and shake hands, sneeze and cough as usual? Each of these questions and many more, if raised, will need to be carefully studied so decisions can be made that are scriptural. I am deliberately not attempting to answer these questions in this writing even though I feel very strongly about some of these issues. Preachers and Leaders, we need to be very careful being critical of the decisions being made by congregations all over the brotherhood who have sat at our feet as we have taught them through the years. Perhaps our people are not better prepared for this crisis because we have not been diligent in our own studies and presentations. I’m certain we all will look back on this crisis and see ways we could have made better decisions. As we look for hope in coming days, let us remember to look ahead for how we are going to use this disaster to the glory of God and the spread of his Kingdom around the world. The early church used the persecution disaster as a reason to begin the spread of the gospel all over the Roman empire and the world. In so doing, the church grew wherever they went. At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostlesTherefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. (Acts 8:1,4). May the Lord bless us all as we do our best to do what is right during this difficult time. Greg Gay Don King

Good morning. Take advantage of this opportunity to hear a tremendous lesson entitled "By Many Infallible Proofs" as shown in historical evidence of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Evangelist Brad Shockley will be speaking on this topic today at 10 a.m.