VOLUME XXII                                                         APRIL 11, 1999                                  NUMBER 14

HOSPITAL NEWS:  Among those recently hospitalized are TAMMY MOSS (dismissed) and ALBERTA RONEY (dismissed).  JOHNNIE B. MENDHEIM remained in SAMC 387 as of printing time.  We continue to remember others also in our daily prayers.

SPECIAL THANKS:  We appreciate the efforts of the GLENN RUSSELL family with our young people last Sunday afternoon, and so do the ones they visited!!!

SPECIAL THANKS:  We thank MR. AND MRS. GILBERT KILGORE for their generous contribution to assist in the Cemetery upkeep and mailing expenses for the ENON ENDEAVOR.

SPECIAL THANKS to KEITH AND ANGELA KILLINGSWORTH for hosting the monthly meal in March!

SPECIAL THANKS:  Our appreciation is expressed to ANN KNIGHT for having the congregation out to her pond for a special day for the children last Saturday!!!

INVITE A FRIEND:  Invite your friends and neighbors to attend Bible Class and Worship Services with you!  It is a wonderful opportunity to teach them the Gospel of Jesus Christ!!!

WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?  Hear the Gospel (Romans 10:17), Believe the Gospel (Hebrews 11:6), Repent of Sins (Acts 2:38), Confess Faith in Christ (Acts 8:37), be baptized (Acts 22:16), and remain faithful, even to the point of death (Revelation 2:10).  May we assist you in becoming a faithful Christian?

THE GRACIOUSNESS OF BLESSINGS

PSALM 119:65, 68  "Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word...Thou art good, and doest good..."

     The blessings we enjoy in life, we enjoy because God sent them our way.  It is true that we are to work for our daily bread, but it is equally true that we are to give thanks to God for it; this implies that, whereas we contribute to the procurement of the bread, it is no less a gift from God!  It shall be our purpose in this brief treatise on blessings to set forth the fact that we are truly the recipients of the grace of God in the form of blessings.

     All men receive the basic blessings of God, including life and sustenance.  In the great sermon on the mount Jesus said: "Behold the fowls of the air:  for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them.  Are ye not much better than they?  Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?  And why take ye thought for raiment?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:  And yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?  Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?  (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:)  for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you"  (Matthew 6:24-33).  Can we not all enjoy alike the blessings of nature?  Yet who among us has earned or merited such things?  Who among us can present his/her credentials to God and demand the blessings of nature?  That God is aware of and concerned for even the 'little things' of our world is seen in another saying of the Lord as well:  "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father"  (Matthew 10:29).  To this great wisdom the Lord's brother, James, adds:  "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning"  (James 1:17).  In this sense, then, all men are blessed from the Lord.

     There is another sense in which men receive blessings from God, and that concerns not the physical, but the spiritual.  When John said, "And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace" (John 1:16), he was making reference to the necessities of spiritual life that are provided through the Son of God.  All who have life in Christ have it because of what Jesus did for them, (i.e. His death on the Cross).  It is true that we must obey Him to procure these blessings for our benefit (c.f., Philippians 2:12, I Peter 3:21, Romans 6:16-18, &etc.), but even "...when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants:  we have done that which was our duty to do"  (Luke 17:10).  We recall verses 8 and 9 of Ephesians 2, wherein Paul spoke of salvation by grace as opposed to salvation which is earned or merited, but we mustn't forget the tenth verse of the passage, nor the lesson of the context:  "For by grace are ye saved through faith:  and that not of yourselves:  it is the gift of God:  Not of works, lest any man should boast.  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them"  (Ephesians 2:8-10).  Salvation is a blessing from God that is ours when we have done 'that which is our duty to do', but even then we have not earned it, it remains a blessing offered by the grace of God.  We work the works of God, but in so doing -- "...it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13).  What we have spiritually in Christ: life, liberty, hope, etc., we have as a blessing from the Father, a blessing we could never earn, a blessing by grace, but a blessing in the procurement of which we have played a part.

     This graciousness of blessing is an extremely personal matter, as is demonstrated by the words of Paul to the brethren at Corinth: "By the grace of God I am what I am; and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all:  yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me"  (I Corinthians 15:10).  We herein see both God working and Paul working.  God's working (i.e. the bestowal of the blessing by grace) did not preclude Paul's participation; nor did Paul's working preclude the gift being by grace.  Paul later indicated that the receipt of this great blessing was impossible apart from God's working:  "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God" (II Corinthians 3:5).  God must do His part or all of our efforts are in vain.  Man must do his part, or all of God's efforts are to no avail to him personally:  "Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling"  (Philippians 2:12).  There is no question of strength where God is concerned, for He is abundantly able to perform that which He has agreed to perform:  "And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work"  (II Corinthians 9:8); and again, God is described as:  "...him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think..." (Ephesians 3:20).  His power is sufficient to see us through with respect to His part.  He is willing to save us:  "The Lord is ...not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (II Peter 3:9).  That He is trustworthy to perform well His part is also taught in the New Testament:  "Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it"  (I Thessalonians 5:24).

     True blessings are contingent upon true obedience.  This principle may be illustrated with far too numerous passages for our brief consideration, but a few are offered of the vast pool available to make the point.  Recall Psalm 81:10, wherein God said, "I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt:  open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it".  What had to be done before God would 'fill' their mouth?  They had to open it.  One could hardly argue that by opening their mouth and receiving food that God put therein somehow was earning the food, but one could hardly argue that by opening one's mouth one was doing nothing at all.  The people were to do their part (i.e., open their mouth), and God was to do His part (i.e., fill it).  When Jesus gave instruction to His disciples about just how salvation might be finally and eternally realized, He promised eternal redemption to the ones who would endure all to the very end:  "And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake:  but he that endureth to the end shall be saved"  (Matthew 10:22).  It was not all who would receive the gracious blessing of eternal life, but only the ones who did their part in enduring faithfully.  Paul said that God is able "...to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:  If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven..." (Colossians 1:22-23).  God would bless them with salvation if they were faithful.  A blessing, indeed; but a blessing in the procurement of which we participate.  It is as God told the Israelites of old, "If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land" (Isaiah 1:19).
 
     Are you a recipient of the truly gracious blessings of God?  Have you heard and believed (Romans 10:17, Hebrews 11:6), repented (Luke 13:3), confessed faith in Christ (Romans 10:10), and been properly baptized (Acts 22:16)?  Are you being faithful (Revelation 2:10)? Call on us!Tim Smith  1272 Enon Road  Webb, AL 36376