Grant County church Of Christ 

May 6, 2007

Worship Services

Sunday 9:30am & 6:00pm

Bible Study

Sunday 10:40am

Wednesday 7:00pm

"CRISIS" WORDS

They are an everyday part of our lives on Earth. They are the words no one wants to hear. However, everyone does hear them sometime in his/her life. They are "crisis words". These are words that when they are spoken they immediately inform us of the difficulty and tragedy to follow.

Words such as: cancer, accident, prison, bankruptcy, AIDS, addiction, and divorce, are but a few of the words that inform us of an impending crisis. These words alarm us. They cause us to get busy and take action to solve the crisis and to get on with productive lives. While going through the crisis we long for the time when the storm is over and we can enjoy peace once again.

In the spiritual realm there are certain "crisis words" as well. However, people don’t seem to be as alarmed at these words as they do the others. Words such as, "lost, sin, Hell", and the "wrath of God", are serious "crisis words." Yet we joke about them and seem to take them lightly.

The Christian’s duty is to convince the world that there are far more serious "crisis words" than "cancer or prison." While cancer often results in physical death, sin results in spiritual, eternal death! While prison in this life is indeed a crisis, the spiritual prison of sin has eternal consequences!

Thanks be to God, that the tragedies and crises of this life are only temporary. But even more so, we should thank God for giving us a way of escape from the spiritual crises in which we find ourselves. "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

Jerry Carmichael

Note: In our Wednesday evening class we talked about Hell. Here are some continuing thoughts on that subject.

HELL

In the Bible, Hell is the place of eternal punishment for the unrighteous. Hell as a place of punishment translates Gehenna, the Greek form of the Hebrew word that means "the vale of Hinnom"-- a valley just south of Jerusalem. In this valley the Canaanites worshiped Baal and the fire-god Molech by sacrificing their children in a fire that burned continuously. Even Ahaz and Manasseh, kings of Judah, were guilty of this terrible, idolatrous practice (2 Chronicles 28:3; 33:6).

The prophet Jeremiah predicted that God would visit such destruction upon Jerusalem that this valley would be known as the "Valley of Slaughter" (Jeremiah 7:31-34; 19:2, 6). In his religious reforms, King Josiah put an end to this practice of pagan worship. He defiled the valley in order to make it unfit even for pagan worship (2 Kings 23:10).

In the time of Jesus the Valley of Hinnom was used as the garbage dump of Jerusalem. Into it were thrown all the filth and garbage of the city, including the dead bodies of animals and executed criminals. To consume all this, fires burned constantly. Maggots worked in the filth. When the wind blew from that direction over the city, its awfulness was quite evident. At night wild dogs howled and gnashed their teeth as they fought over the garbage.

Jesus used this awful scene as a symbol of hell. In effect he said, "Do you want to know what hell is like? Look at the valley of Gehenna." So hell may be described as God's "cosmic garbage dump." All that is unfit for heaven will be thrown into Hell.

The word Gehenna occurs 12 times in the New Testament. Each time it is translated as "hell." With the exception of James 3:6, it is used only by Jesus (see: Matt. 5:22, 29-30; 10:28; 23:15, 33; Mark 9:43, 45, 47; Luke 12:5). In Matthew 5:22; 18:9; and Mark 9:47, it is used with "fire" as "hell fire." So the word hell (Gehenna) as a place of punishment is used in the New Testament.

In Mark 9:46 and 48, Hell is described as a place where "the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched." Repeatedly Jesus spoke of outer darkness and a furnace of fire, where there will be wailing, weeping, and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 8:12; 13:42, 50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30; Luke 13:28). Obviously this picture is drawn from the valley of Gehenna

The Book of Revelation describes hell as "a lake of fire burning with brimstone" (Revelation 19:20; 20:10, 14-15; 21:8). Into hell will be thrown the beast and the false prophet (Revelation 19:20). At the end of the age the devil himself will be thrown into it, along with death and Hades and all whose names are not in the Book of Life. "And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever" (Revelation 20:10b).

Because of the symbolic nature of the language, some people question whether hell consists of actual fire. Such reasoning should bring no comfort to the lost. When symbolic language is used, the reality is always greater than the symbol. The Bible exhausts human language in describing heaven and hell. Heaven is more glorious, and Hell more terrible, than language can express.

Because of the symbolic nature of the language, some people question whether hell consists of actual fire. Such reasoning should bring no comfort to the lost. When symbolic language is used, the reality is always greater than the symbol. The Bible exhausts human language in describing heaven and hell. Heaven is more glorious, and Hell more terrible, than language can express. 

FAMILY NEWS

Ì    Joyce Fehrman is slowly recovering from her fall on April 22. Please continue pray for her.

Ì    Sandy Mills has been ill; please continue to pray for her.

Ì    Frankie Fitzgerald (Deborah Fitzgerald’s father-in-law) has been diagnosed with cancer, please pray for him.

Word of thanks 
We would like to express our sincere thanks to Mary Lois Hughes and Lori Newcomb of the Leman Avenue church of Christ in Bowling Green, KY for providing the drapes throughout the building; they are beautiful!

UPCOMING EVENTS

Please begin to pray for the following events:

June 8-13, 2007          Door-knocking Campaign and Gospel Meeting with David Shannon from Mount Juliet, Tennessee.

July 15-18, 2007         Vacation Bible School with help from the Green Street church in Henderson, KY and the Seven Oaks church in Mayfield, KY.

Statistics

Sunday           Attendance             Contribution

AM      PM

April 1             211                              $2,062.00

April 8             26        22                    $315.00

April 15           34        24                    $302.00

April 22           23        22                    $262.00

April 29           25        10                    $375.00

Wednesday

April 11                       24

April 18                       23
April 25                       16

May   2                       16