Hiawatha church of Christ

  The land promise had been fulfilled. The conquest of Canaan had come to an end. Joshua now stood before the people to deliver them a message. He said, “And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15) This battle of the gods boils down to the question, “Who will you serve?” On one hand you have the one true Living God. The Israelites acknowledged Him and His great power. Note what they said. So the people answered and said: “Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods; 17 for the LORD our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way that we went and among all the people th...

  One of the devil’s tactics that he uses effectively against Christians is discouragement. He knows that if he can discourage a Christian, he can paralyze him both emotionally and spiritually. The devil has used this tactic against some of God’s strongest people. We remember the famous story of Elijah who became greatly discouraged. He had just won a mighty victory on Mt. Carmel. Soon after, Jezebel sought his life, and he became discouraged. He prayed to God, “It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!” (1 Kings 19:4) God gave Elijah a new job task. He assigned his successor. Then, He reminded Elijah that He was still in control (1 Kings 19:17) and that he was not alone. He said, “Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.” (vs. 18) Think of Jeremiah. He too was ready to quit. His ministry was not popular. No one seemed to listen to the word of God. He was con...

  Not all persecution comes in the form of physical abuse. Sometimes, it is from those who want to silence the message. Amos encountered such during his day. Amaziah, the priest of Bethel said to him, “Go, you seer! Flee to the land of Judah, there eat bread, and there prophesy. But never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is the royal residence.” (Amos 7:12-13) This is the type of persecution we see coming against the church today. Not so much beating or imprisonment, but that of silencing Christians. Some try and intimidate us into silence. Others believe that because we are Christians that we will be cooperative and just flow along with the whims of society no matter how crazy those whims become. Even a casual study of the life of Christ will reveal that He did not come into this world to be silent, nor did He come into this world to get along with everyone. He once healed a woman in the synagogue on the Sabbath. She had an infirmity for eightee...

  Anyone who has ever stood their ground against God did not stand for long. It begs the question, “Why would anyone fight against God?” There are some who fight against God knowing full well what they are doing. However, there are examples of those who fight against Him not realizing it is His hand they are against. An example of such is found in the early history of the church. The high priest, the scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees were fighting against the mighty hand of God. They wanted the preaching of Jesus to stop. They did everything within their power to hinder the spread of the gospel. In Acts chapter 5, we read of the apostles being thrown into prison for their refusal to stop preaching Jesus and Him crucified (Acts 5:17-21). However, while they were in prison Luke records, “But at night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, ‘Go stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life.” (Acts 5:19-20) The next mo...

  The land of Egypt was once a place of refuge. There was a significant famine in the land. God had sent Joseph ahead to prepare a way for His people to survive this great disaster. For a while, everything was good. After the death of Joseph, another king arose to power that did not know Joseph (Exodus 1:8). He became fearful of the Jews and made them work with rigor. All male babies were thrown into the river. The people of God cried out to Him and He responded by sending them a deliverer. When Moses was born, his parents Amram and Jochebed hid him. When he could no longer be hidden, they put him in a basket that would float in the Nile. Pharoh’s daughter found the Hebrew child and named him Moses for she drew him out of the water (Exodus 2:10). She found Moses’ mother and paid her wages to nurse the child until he was weaned. While this story is very familiar to us, we learn from this a great lesson about the power and providence of our Almighty God. The Pharoah of the land...