By
Shelby G. Floyd
Our Scripture reading is from Romans 12:1-2, where Paul says,
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
By
Shelby G. Floyd
There is plenty of work in the congregation for each one of us to do if we will do it. Solomon sagely advises people to work while we can: “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom” (Ecclesiastes 9:10). Life is short and we only live here once. Whatever we can accomplish for the Lord must be done now. We cannot come back and take care of lost opportunities. Continue reading “Enthusiastic Evangelism”
By
Shelby G. Floyd
When Paul wrote the first letter to the Corinthians in about A. D. 59, the observance of the Lord’s Supper was a well-established practice upon the first day of each week. The inspired apostle Paul had delivered unto the Corinthians the same teaching on the Lord’s Supper which he had received of the Lord:
“For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11: 23-26).
By
Shelby G. Floyd
Our lesson is entitled, Drink—Drank—Drunk! I have partially conjugated that verb. “Did you drink that beer?” “Who drank that wine?” “They have drunk strong drink from the Herculean cup like Alexander the Great of old.” Drink, drank, and drunk.
The Bible teaches that we all live and then we die. If there is no afterlife, the apostle Paul said, “then let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” (1 Corinthians 15:32). If all we have is this life, then according to the people who live that lifestyle, that is the best thing to do—eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die! But the evidence is overwhelming that there is an afterlife. As the Bible writer says, “it is appointed once for man to die and after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).
And we all have people in our families that have been overtaken by alcohol. My own grandfather abandoned my dad, my grandmother and the whole family because of alcohol. He was gone to California for 20 years and no one knew where he was. He returned back to Indiana when I was a young man, but I did not know him. He was like a stranger to me. Because of alcohol, my grandfather deprived his immediate family and his grandchildren of any family relationship. That is what happens when people give themselves over to strong drink.
Every day on the news we hear of someone who has been killed, maimed or destroyed for life because of alcohol and drunken driving. How should convicted drunken drivers be treated today in America? In 1986 the newsgroup in Chicago put out some interesting facts as to how drunk drivers are treated in other countries: Continue reading “Drink–Drank–Drunk”
