First Baptist Church of North Channel

Good Morning,

   Hello world, and how are we this morning? You are looking good! It's another great day to take an old record off the shelf and listen to it by myself, as Bob would say. Have a super Tuesday.

   Freedom is something that only comes from knowing Christ personally. We began a series on Sunday morning about things that dilute that freedom - we don't lose the freedom we just lose the daily impact it can have in our lives. We started with forgiveness. When we don't claim the forgiveness that Christ has for us we miss freedom. When we don't forgive ourselves we chain ourselves to guilt. When we don't forgive others we put ourselves in pride prison. We claim Jesus' forgiveness easily and we forgive ourselves eventually but forgiving others seems to be the biggest fence to climb over to get free. We tend to forgive others but then tell other people what they did to us- negating the forgiveness. Or we forgive and then we ignore and stay away from those people that we just forgave. What enables Jesus to forgive us? His love for us! If we claim to be Christians we are to love Jesus with everything about us and love others as ourselves. When we don't we fall back down the hill - when we forgive we exemplify Christ, but when we bring it back up for any reason we exemplify satan. Jesus never throws anything back in your face, but satan always does as he attempts to gain control, snuff out your freedom and control you through your guilt. When we forgive and then tell others about the "forgiven" situation we are acting just like satan by throwing the issue back into two faces, ours and the previously forgiven. The forgiveness either wasn't really given in the first place or was negated by the issue being spread to others. We lose any ground that we gain toward daily freedom from unforgivenss when we do that. Waylon Jennings, that great philosopher, says it like this: Why did it take me so long to get back to where I started from?  Forgiveness - GIVE is the root word - let it grow in your life starting today.

   This coming Sunday we will look into another freedom stealer as we head toward the pinnacle of freedom - the empty tomb on Easter.

   Bible Study Time!

ECCLESIASTES

Author: Not stated but probably Solomon. The author is identified as the "son of David"(1:1) and "king over Israel in Jerusalem"(1:12) and says he had "more wisdom that all they that have been before me"(1:16).

Date: 900s BC

In Ten Words or Less: Apart from God, life is empty and unsatisfying.

Details, Please: A king pursues the things of this world, only to find them unfulfilling. Learning, pleasure, work, laughter - "all is vanity"(1:2). The king also laments the inequities of life: People live, work hard, and die, only to leave their belongings to someone else; the wicked prosper over the righteous; the poor are oppressed. Nevertheless, the king realizes "the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man"(12:13).

Quotable: To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the Heaven.(3:1) Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth.(12:1)

Unique and Unusual: The book's generally negative tone makes some readers wonder if Solomon wrote it late in life, after his hundreds of wives led him to stray from God.

So What?: Life doesn't always make sense...but there's still a God who understands.

 

See you later, love, ken