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NAHUM –
THE ALMOST FORGOTTEN BOOK
One small, almost forgotten book in the Old Testament
is the book of Nahum. Nahum should be studied along with the book of Jonah.
Nahum gives the account of what happened to
GOD
IS A JEALOUS GOD: "God is jealous, and the Lord avenges; The Lord will
take vengeance on His adversaries, And He reserves wrath for His
enemies;" (Nahum 1:2.) God is pictured both as jealous and an avenger.
GOD
IS A PATIENT GOD BUT THERE IS A LIMIT TO HIS PATIENCE: "The Lord is slow
to anger and great in power, And will not at all acquit
the wicked. The Lord has His way in the whirlwind
and in the storm, And the clouds are the dust of His
feet." (Nahum 1:3.)
GOD IS SO POWERFUL THAT SINNERS CANNOT
STAND BEFORE HIM: "Who can stand before His indignation? And who can endure the fierceness of His
anger? His fury is poured out like fire,
And the rocks are thrown down by Him." (Nahum
1:6.) These words are much like those written by Isaiah. "What will you do
in the day of punishment, And in the desolation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help?..." (Isaiah 10:3.)
GOD
IS A GOD WHO EXPECTS US TO KEEP OUR PROMISES: "...O Judah, keep your
appointed feasts, Perform your vows. For the wicked
one shall no more pass through you; He is utterly cut off." (Nahum 1:15.)
During the days of Jonah the people of
Nahum
teaches us that God is the sovereign ruler of the universe and our only hope
for deliverance. Only our sin stands in the way of many blessings from the
hand of our benevolent Creator.
- - - - CHARLES BOX
"YOUR ADVERSARY
THE
DEVIL"
The Devil is the adversary of every godly
person. An adversary is "one who opposes or fights against another; an enemy." In
every sense of the word the Devil is the enemy of Christianity. "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the Devil walks
about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." (1 Peter 5:8)
Satan is opposed to all that is true, pure and decent.
THE DEVIL
RESISTS ALL THAT IS GOOD. God is for
"every good work" and the Devil is opposed to all that is good.
(Titus 3:1) The Devil also tries to destroy good names because, "A good
name is to be chosen rather than great riches, loving favor rather than silver
and gold." (Proverbs 22:1)
THE DEVIL PERVERTS ALL THAT IS TRUE. The
Devil will bring "savage wolves" in among God's people to pervert
God's truth. "For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will
come in among you, not sparing the flock, also from among yourselves men will
rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.
Therefore watch ... " (Acts
THE DEVIL DEFILES ALL THAT IS PURE.
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." (Matthew
5:8) The goal of Satan is to defile the hearts of those who would follow Jesus.
"But Peter said, 'Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the
Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself?"
(Acts 5:3) Satan constantly fills hearts with all kinds of evil. "For out
of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications,
thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man,..." (Matthew 15:19-20)
THE DEVIL SADDENS ALL THAT IS JOYFUL. Those who faithfully
serve Jesus have "joy inexpressible". "Whom
having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing,
you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory." (1 Peter 1:8) The
Devil does all he can to destroy that joy.
Remember, Peter describes the Devil as "a roaring lion, seeking
whom he may devour."
THE DEVIL CORRUPTS ALL THAT IS
DECENT. The Devil causes people to leave
God and turn to all kinds of corruption.
Read Romans 1:22-27 and see how corrupt man becomes when he follows
Satan.
THE DEVIL PROFANES ALL THAT IS HOLY. The Devil does all he can to pollute, defile
and profane holy things and holy lives.
God does what He can to produce holiness. God desires holiness because His nature is
holy. "But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your
conduct, because it is written, 'Be holy, for I am holy."' (1 Peter
1:15-16)
Both the work of the Devil and the end result
of His labor are heartbreaking. The state of being lost forever, with the
weeping and gnashing of teeth, is caused by the Devil, "the accuser of
our brethren." (Revelation 12:10) He will pay a terrible price for his
action as will all who follow him. "Then He will also say to those on the
left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for
the devil and his angels."' (Matthew 25:41)
You can avoid being with Satan in eternity
by gospel obedience and living the Christian life. Those who are under Christ's control will
live a faithful Christian life in His church. Those who are under Satan's
control will not. Who is the controller
of your life? It is either Christ or Satan. Your life cannot be controlled by
both. Whose side are you fighting on?
-
- - - CHARLES BOX
“The LORD bless
thee, and keep thee:
The LORD make his face
shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
The LORD lift
up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.”
(Numbers 6:24-26)
News & Notes
1. Prayer List: In Need Of Prayers:
Jody Barr, Linda Bender, Peri Chapman, Tim Croley, Roy
Goodwin, Montine Hardin, Latrelle Harrell, Evan Hartsell, Billy Heartsill, Jerry
Johnson, Darrell Jones, Wanda Kyser, Mary Lawrence, Steve Osborne, Barbara
Parker, Mary Powell, Jack Queener (brother of Becky
McCreary), Shirley Schofield, Ottey Simno, Ralph Sims, Doris Taylor, and Melissa Woodruff. Crowne
Health Care: Kathy Johnson, Myrtle Perdue, and Iva Lou Wright.
2. Requesting Prayers: Kenyan Maxwell
and Terry Reeves responded to the Lord’s invitation. Please remember these two
brothers in your personal, private prayers.
3. Sympathy Expressed: Our love and
sympathy is expressed to Willie Herring and his family in the death of his aunt,
Thelma Lowe.
4. Please Pray For: The following
people are serving in
5. Graduates To Be
Honored: Our graduates for this year are Tyler Ray and Morgan Till.
They will be honored on May 27th following the evening services.
Please bring finger foods and honor these special people.
6. Wedding Invitation: Mr. and Mrs.
James Thomas Gaston request the honour of your presence at the marriage of
their daughter Erica Dawn to Jeremy Brett Thomas son of Mr. and Mrs. Jeffery
Sidney Thomas on Friday, the first of June Two thousand and seven at seven
o’clock in the evening, Ashville Road Church of Christ, Leeds, Alabama –
Reception following the ceremony.
7. Birthdays: Celebrating birthdays
this week are: May 28th Tyler Ray and Jeff Thomas, May
29th Tiffany Till, May 30th Lori Woodard, June
1st Erin Klash, and June 2nd Jean Harrell.
8. Graduation Invitation: The Board of
Regents, Administration, and Faculty of Regions University Montgomery, Alabama
join President and Mrs. Rex A Turner, Jr. in requesting the honor of your
presence at the Davis Theater for the Performing Arts 251 Montgomery Street
Montgomery, Alabama for the Commencement Exercise Saturday the second of June
two thousand seven at
9. Open House: You are cordially
invited to attend the Grand Opening ceremony for our new Intermediate Care Facility
for mentally retarded adults, Friday, June 1st at 2:00 p.m. Rainbow
Omega.
10.
11. Congratulations: Christopher and
Dusty Bagents were married in a beautiful ceremony on May 18th. God
bless you in your life together.
12. Honored: Bruce and Ann Cauthen were
honored with a reception for their 25th wedding anniversary. God
bless you for your good life together and all the work you do in the kingdom.
13. Backwoods Christian Camp: Our week at Backwoods will be July
8-13. Camp fees will again be paid from the Carl Sessions Camp Fund for all
etchurchofchrist.org/backwoods/backwoods_christian_camp_2007.htm.
Rejoicing For The Right
Reasons
The seventy rejoiced about the
wrong things. They rejoiced that the spirits were subject to them. (Luke
10:17-20) Jesus said they were to rejoice because their "names are
written in heaven." Let us rejoice:
Rejoice because you have
been made new in Christ. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is
a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become
new." (II Corinthians 5:17) The obedient believer has a new relationship.
He is "in Christ." A Christian is someone new because being in
Christ gives us a reflection of Divine Glory.
Rejoice
because your sins are forgiven.
"In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins,
according to the riches of His grace." (Ephesians 1:7) God's love moved
Him to send Jesus as a sacrifice for sins to make forgiveness possible. To
become a child of God or to be restored to Christ sins must be forgiven. (Acts
2:36-41, Acts 8:18-24) Forgiveness of sins in Christ is our greatest blessing.
Rejoice because you have
future hope. "For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is
seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees?" (Romans
8:24) Christians are saved now, but there is salvation in a much larger sense
when this earthly tabernacle or body is put off. Our eternal inheritance
provides hope through the worst times of life. The Christian's true possession
is not what he sees, but what he hopes for.
Rejoice because of God's
promise of eternal life. "And this is the testimony: that God has
given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has
life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life." (I John
5:11-12) Eternal life is a life exempt from every kind and degree of evil,
trouble or misery. Eternal life is only granted by God and eternal life is only
to those that are in Christ.
Christians have reason to rejoice. Are you faithful in God's service? If not get right with God today and you can rejoice for the right reason.
- - -
- Charles Box
People cannot
change truth, but truth can change people.
Don’t just own a Bible; read it!
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