The Lower Lights - March 2006

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THE

LOWER

LIGHTS

Alan Jones, Editor

(734) 942-7956

"Brightly beams our Father's mercy

From the lighthouse evermore;

But to us He gives the keeping

Of the light along the shore."

Published monthly by the church of Christ, 35900 Palmer Road, P.O. Box 86-233, Westland, MI 48186

Volume 5 March 2006 No9

THE LOWER LIGHTS: THE BULLETIN ENDS, BUT THE WORK CONTINUES

For nearly five years, the church of Christ on Palmer Rd. in Westland has been publishing this bulletin of Bible teaching. We have distributed this paper to our neighbors who live near the church building, to those who have visited our services, and to our family, friends, and co-workers. The church has decided to end The Lower Lights, but not to stop being the lower lights. Let me explain this by restating the purpose for this bulletin and by restating the work we have committed ourselves from Vol. 1, No. 1 of this paper. Then I will tell you how the church plans to help you in the future, if the Lord wills. Jesus is the Lighthouse. He is the “Light of the world” (Jn 8:12). He dispels the darkness caused by ignorance with the knowledge of God (2 Cor 4:6). He shines through the fog of error that men may see the truth (2 Pet 1:19-2:3). He reveals the way of righteousness that men may come out of the shadows of sin (Jn 3:19-21). He has brought many safely to the heavenly shores who otherwise would have perished in hell (Acts 26:18). The light of Jesus shines through His gospel. This precious treasure has been placed in the earthen vessels of men so that the greatness of its power is from God, not men. The content (the message that Christ Jesus is Lord) is so much greater than the containers who carry it to men (who are merely bondservants for Jesus’ sake) (2 Cor 4:4-7).		Paul and Barnabas were truly honored when Isaiah’s prophecy about the Light was applied in a secondary sense to them in their assignment to preach the gospel to the Gentiles- “I have placed you as a light for the Gentiles, that you should bring salvation to the end of the earth” (Acts 13:47). In the same way the members of the Palmer Rd. church of Christ are humbled by the honor of serving as the light for the world through the preaching of Jesus, the Light. The hymn writer P.P. Bliss had this thought in mind when he referred to Christians who live and teach the gospel as “the lower lights”. Though Jesus is the Lighthouse, His disciples have an important role to play in rescuing men from sin and hell, in being “the lights along the shore.” Our intention in publishing The Lower Lights bulletin has been to “send a gleam across the wave”, with the hope that “eager eyes” have been “watching, longing for the lights along the shore”. Perhaps your eyes are among those who have been straining in the darkness of ignorance, error and sin. We pray that, as we have presented the gospel to you through this paper, we have pointed you to the Light who will bring you to the shores of salvation. We intend to continue the work of being “lower lights” to you and to others. Please read the back page, which explains our plans.

ARE YOU A CASUAL READER OR A SERIOUS STUDENT?
Bulletins such as The Lower Lights often find many casual readers, those who may read the Bible articles much like they read a newspaper or a magazine. The casual reader of The Lower Lights may judge whether they like or dislike an article and even form an opinion as to whether they agree or disagree with it, but its contents are soon forgotten. The casual reader does not get out a Bible to see for themselves if the article agrees with the Bible. There is no deeper personal study of the topic the bulletin addresses. And the reading of the paper does not change their thinking or move them to life changing action. We understand that as “lower lights” our responsibility is to shine forth the message of the gospel. We know that we succeed in God’s eyes even if every person throws The Lower Lights in the trash can. We feel even better about our work if we know that we at least have casual readers. We have received positive feedback from those who say that they read the bulletin regularly and enjoy it. We certainly appreciate such comments. But, it is our decision at this time to change our focus from finding many casual readers to finding what we know will be a few serious students. We are looking for people like Ezra who “set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to practice it, and to teach His statutes” (Ezra 7:10). We want to find people like David who said, “Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your statutes, And I shall observe it to the end.” (Ps 119:33) Our objective is to locate people like those at Berea		who examined the Scriptures daily looking to see if what they were being taught was true- and finding it so- received the word with great eagerness (Acts 17:11). We pray that the Lord will bless us to come into contact with people who want to go beyond learning about Jesus to living for Jesus. Jesus called for men to go beyond casual listening to His word when He said, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against the house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew against that house; and it fell- and great was its fall.” (Mt 7:24-27) It is with this in mind that we as “lower lights” are turning our attention to passing out correspondence study courses to serious students who want to go beyond casual reading. We will have several courses to choose from. We will offer them to the Westland community, as well as to our visitors, family, friends, and co-workers. Are you a casual reader or a serious student? We pray that we will see from the fact that you agree to take a Bible study course that you are a serious student who is sincerely interested in learning and obeying the word of the Lord.