Congregations exist because people want to be together in their common faith.  They want to work together toward common goals.  They want to encourage each other in their spiritual walk.  They want to be an influence for good in their community pointing people to God.  They certainly want to teach the gospel and see people obey it.  Every congregation wants (or should want) to accomplish these things.  So, what kind of members do we need to do this?

When I was young, we had all kinds of animals.  I’m quite sure it was because my dad missed the farm where he grew up.  He said it was because he did not want us to miss the experience (at least as much as he could provide).  And provide, he did. 

 “I don’t care!”  Those were my exact words when Rebecca wanted us to look for a couch and she asked what I would like.  I was being honest and I thought I was being supportive and kind.  I learned at the end of the search that I was not being supportive, but she also learned that I did not care!

We start at a very young age teaching our children to say, “I’m sorry.”  We know that they will need to be able to say these words because they are going to fail and need to apologize.  It is a part of being human to fail and a part of being mature to apologize.  Two simple words; one powerful sentiment, that is, it is powerful if the person is honest and sincere.  Otherwise, these are just words on a page or in the air.

Almost a decade ago, I found the following story on the Internet. When I looked for it again today, I found it on several different websites, but none of them seem to know who authored the story. Sunday morning, we will use this story to serve as a platform for a discussion about our relationship with God and with one another in our church family. Think about that relationship as you read the story.

This is the message in Ephesians 5 starting with verse 25.  The Spirit led Paul to use the image of marriage to describe the relationship between Jesus and the Church that He established.  This is a relationship with which we have experience and therefore offers us opportunity to understand the concept better.

Consequence is a deterrent.  Parents believe this is true.  They threaten consequences for disobedience to certain rules because it works.  We know the consequences for breaking the laws of the land.  They serve as deterrents.  Even policemen sitting in their cars along the highways are a deterrent to speeding.

“So we, being many, are one body in Christ…” (Romans 12:5).  “…the church of the firstborn…” (Hebrews 12:23).  “…church of God…” (I Corinthians 1:2; Galatians 1:13).  And of course, “…the churches of Christ…” (Romans 16:16).  These are all identifiers in Scripture for the group of Christians who were assembling and working together at the time of the writing of the New Testament.  At first, however, they were known simply as “the Way” (Acts 22:4).

Tempted and tried, we’re oft made to wonder
Why it should be thus all the day long;
While there are others living about us,
Never molested, though in the wrong.

Who are you?  You are the product of your parents who were they products of their parents who were…so on and so on until we get all the way back to the first parents.  And, who were they?  They were the products of their Father, the Creator of the universe.  “And God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’” (Genesis 1:26).

Imagine…This is the theme for 2026.  Imagination is a powerful mental exercise.  I am not talking about dreaming things that you want to be true but can never be.  I am not talking about fantasy.  I am talking about imagining things that have been revealed, but not fully. 
Paul told Timothy, “Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all.” (I Timothy 4:15).  “Meditate” is from a Greek word that can also be translated “imagine.”  Paul wanted Timothy to “imagine” more in-depth the things about which he had already informed him.  They were things about which God had not fully revealed every detail.

A cross is a visible icon.  There are crosses on display all around us.  People wear them on a necklace or a bracelet.  They appear as stickers on car windows, store windows, and on church building windows.  It seems to be an appreciated image.

A welfare case-worker once told a story about a family she was assisting.  She declares that this family taught her one of the greatest lessons she ever learned.  It shows us that we really do live in luxury.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” (John 1:1-3).  John’s gospel opens with this statement about Jesus and claiming further that He is the “Word who became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14).

Do your feet stink?  Do you offend yourself when you take off your shoes at the end of the day?  Is there a special place that you are to put your socks so that their smell won’t affect the rest of the house and infect the rest of the dirty clothes?  I have known of some whose feet I have just described accurately.

Those of us who have been through the child-raising years remember many things about how little children are.  One of my memories from the early years is that our children wanted to be with us all the time.  They did not want to sleep in their own beds.  They did not want to go to their friends’ homes overnight.  They did not want someone else besides mom or me to hold them.  They just enjoyed our fellowship.  That desire grew out of an innate need in their lives.  They knew that our job was to care for them.  They knew that we would do that too.  Therefore, they enjoyed being around us.

Eat, drink, and be merry!  That is the life-slogan to which very many people subscribe.  It is pervasive throughout society.  There are no people, no matter their life circumstances, who are immune to its powerfully intoxicating lure. 

On February 15, 1921, Dr. Evan O'Neill Dane proved a very important point for the medical field.  This 62-year-old chief surgeon of Kane Summit Hospital in New York City operated on himself.  He was convinced that patients could have most major surgeries performed on them while they were under local anesthesia only. 

The tree of life first appears in Scripture at the very beginning.  “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1).  Later we read in Exodus 20:11, “For in six days the LORD made the  heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day…”  Therefore, the tree of life was part of the creation in that first week.

Our daughter Aubri and her family live in Mayfield, KY.  They were there when the tornado ripped through the downtown destroying everything in its path.  We have been there many times since that night of December 10, 2021.  It is still an eerie sight to see the lasting effects of that powerful force of nature.