How To Be Useless And Miserable

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R O A N R I D G E R O A D

Church of Christ
Publication of the Roanridge Church of Christ, Kansas City, Missouri
June 29, 2008 Volume 23, Issue 26

Gospel Meetings for 2008 Jesus Shall Reign Tough As A Tiger Sermons for Sunday
An article based on Can we learn Sunday Morning:
Psalm 72, a Messianic anything as
Fall Meeting Haggai: Build God’s House!
psalm about the Christians from a
September 21-26 with Max Dawson
coming kingdom. world-renown
Scripture Reading:
Page 2 golfer?
Vacation Bible School Page 3 Haggai 1:2-9
July 28-August 1
Sunday Evening:
5th Sunday Worship in Song

How To Be Useless And Miserable
by L.R. Hester

1. Be self-centered; bestow all of your affection and care upon yourself; seek
your own happiness and well-being to the point of unconcern for the needs
of others.

2. Be demanding of others; tell yourself that others are obligated to you -- that
it is their duty to be concerned about and look after your best interest, and
make no allowance for the least failure on their part to discharge this duty

3. Feel neglected and become absorbed in self-sympathy; convince yourself
completely that others do not fulﬁll their obligations to you, and never
allow the least doubt that you are a subject of misfortune and pity to enter
your thoughts.

4. See only good in yourself and faults in others; and every attitude and act of unrighteousness on your part ﬁnd
an excuse to salve your conscience while demanding absolute perfection on your part.

5. Observe these rules and you will attain to complete uselessness -- and perfect misery forever. If, however, your
aim is usefulness, and happiness (as I trust it is), then you must do the exact opposite. “It is more blessed to
give than to receive,” and selﬁshness is among man’s most soul-condemning blunders.

Bulletin of the Roanridge Church of Christ
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R O A N R I D G E R O A D C H U R C H O F C H R I S T

The Messiah came to establish a knee should bow, of those in
Jesus Shall Reign
kingdom, of which it was said, heaven, and of those on earth, and
by Wayne S. Walker
“...And all nations shall ﬂow to of those under the
“Yes, all kings shall fall down it” (Isaiah 2:2). The reason why earth” (Philippians 2:10).
before Him; all nations shall serve However, whether here to their
this is so is that even in the ﬁrst
Him” (Psalm 72:11). Psalm 72 is century “the gospel...was salvation, or later to their
identiﬁed as “A Psalm of preached to every creature under condemnation, the fact is that in
Solomon.” heaven” (Colossians 1:23). judgment “every knee shall bow to
Therefore, the Messiah is to be Me” says the Lord (Romans 14:11).
In verse 1, Solomon prays, “Give
praised as the one who has But then it will be too late.
the king Your judgments, O God,
“redeemed us to God by Your However, Jesus will continue to
and Your righteousness to the
blood out of every tribe and reign over the righteous in heaven
king’s Son.”
tongue and people and while those who refused His rule
This Psalm has long been nation” (Revelation 5:9). in life will suffer eternal
considered Messianic. In fact, the punishment in hell under the
Based on this Psalm, Isaac Watts
heading in the New King James devil’s reign. The choice is yours
wrote, “Jesus shall reign where’er the
Version says, “Glory and and mine to make now.
sun Does his successive journeys run;
Universality of the Messiah’s
His kingdom spread from shore to
Reign.” With this understanding,
shore, Till moons shall was and wane
we would naturally conclude that
no more.” Indeed, people out of
verse 1 has Solomon praying that
every nation throughout the
God would give him, as king, His
history of this earth since the ﬁrst
judgments, and would give his
century have accepted the reign of
Son -- not his immediate son,
the Messiah by obeying His will
Rehoboam, but his most illustrious
revealed in the Scriptures.
descendent, the Messiah -- His
righteousness. The succeeding Of course, it is true, that, literally
verses speak of how the Messiah speaking, not all kings have fallen
would then judge the people, down before Him nor all nations
bring blessings to all mankind, served Him. God gives people free
and have dominion from sea to choice whether or not to accept the
sea, so that all kings should fall reign of the Messiah in their hearts
down before Him and all nations and the law of His kingdom or
should serve Him. church in their lives. His desire is
“that at the name of Jesus every

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Bulletin of the Roanridge Road Church of Christ
R O A N R I D G E R O A D C H U R C H O F C H R I S T

stress fracture in his left leg, ligament Furthermore, the apostle Paul likens
Tough As A Tiger damage to his left knee, and he the Christian “race” to an earthly
by Wayne Goff underwent surgery to repair the contest in 1 Corinthians 9:24-25:
damage and will not be able to play
A couple of weeks ago Tiger Woods “Do you not know that those
for the remainder of this year. who run in a race all run, but
defeated Rocco Mediate after 91-holes
one receives the prize? Run in
of golf to win the 2008 U.S. Open, A Lesson for Us? such a way that you may obtain
Tiger’s fourteenth major tournament. Absolutely there is a lesson for us. it. And everyone who competes
If you’re not a golfer, you could Christians are seeking a for the prize is temperate in
probably care less. If you are a sports “crown” (trophy) and are all things. Now they do it to
fan, like me, you are quite impressed. admonished to do everything in our obtain a perishable crown, but
power to obtain it. It takes mental we for an imperishable
Of course, what made this major crown.”
toughness -- grit, determination,
victory so impressive and even inspiring
perseverance, overcoming trial, etc.,
Christians, run the race for eternal life
is the fact that Mr. Woods did this on
in order to win that prize. The kind of
in such a way that you may obtain it.
a severely injured left knee. Doctors
mental toughness and determination
Those in the world, like Tiger Woods,
had told him to rest for several
that characterized Tiger Woods’
compete to obtain a “perishable
months or he would risk greater
attempt at winning another major
crown,” and we admire them. How
injury. However, this year’s U.S.
tournament illustrates to you and me
much more should we hold in high
Open was a very special challenge to
that it can be done if we set our minds
esteem those, like the apostle Paul,
Tiger because it was being played on
to it, with God’s help. who ran with even greater
Torrey Pines golf course, the place
where Tiger played golf as a child and determination to obtain the
For example, James 1:12 says “Blessed
spent so many hours with his father. “imperishable crown”?
is the man who remains steadfast
He was determined to play. He would under trial, for when he has stood Paul competed for his entire life that
try his best to win, regardless of the the test he will receive the crown of he might “ﬁnish (his) race with
dangers. life, which God has promised to those joy” (Acts 20:24). At the end of his
who love him” (ESV). Tiger remained life, he afﬁrmed that he had “ﬁnished
Tiger Woods played the usual four
steadfast under severe pain, and won the race” (2 Tim. 4:7). The Hebrew
straight days injured, ended the
the contest. writer admonishes us to “run with
tournament tied with Rocco Mediate,
and only in the U.S. Open was required The gospel preacher, like all endurance the race that is set before
to play a ﬁfth day to determine the us, looking to Jesus, the Author and
Christians, is admonished to “endure
outcome. After ﬁve straight days of Finisher of our faith...” (Heb. 12:1-2).
afﬂictions” (2 Tim. 4:5). Life isn’t a
golf, the two were still tied. Finally, bowl of peaches, and everything So the questions we should ask
Tiger defeated his opponent on the doesn’t go as planned, predicted, or ourselves include: (1) Are we serious
91st hole, a “sudden death” format, hoped. One has to ﬁght, endure, and about running our race? (2) Are we
on Monday. overcome. competing in a way to win? (3) Do we
By Wednesday, doctors had realize the value of the prize? (4) Can
determined that Tiger had a double we summon up the mental toughness
to endure to the end?

Bulletin of the Roanridge Road Church of Christ
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R O A N R I D G E R O A D C H U R C H O F C H R I S T

Back Page Thoughts
Summer Vacations Continue

Many of our members are traveling again this weekend, and we pray for their safe travel, and that they might ﬁnd
rest, relaxation, and peace from their weary, work-worn ways. Even Jesus had to take some time alone with His
disciples in an isolated place from time to time, Mark 6:31, Luke 9:10. The Old Testament “Sabbath” was a day of rest,
Ex. 23:12. God deserves to be respected and He knew that man needed time away from work.

However, let us never take a vacation from the Lord. Always plan ahead and locate a congregation of God’s people
with which to worship. There are many good churches scattered throughout the country, and it is rare to ﬁnd a place
where God’s people are not located. Not only will it do you good, but it will build up the brethren where you go.

Greetings are sent from Anthony and Agnes Prosceno. Their son, Anthony, was married last week and several
pictures were sent along with well wishes for the church here. Everyone remembers them fondly, I’m sure, and we
miss having them here but know they are doing well where they worship the Lord.

This evening we will worship God in song since it is the ﬁfth Sunday night of the month. These singings occur four
times during the year, ordinarily. Let’s come and worship God in song, in the beauty of holiness.

Eldership
Voices from the Past Ray Harris
While we remain true to the Kenneth Young
Dan Kleinlein
principles on which we started out, Larry Osborn
there is no earthly power that can
impede our progress. But the day we Deacons
leave these walls and go out to take Shawn Gillispie, Brad Harris, Wendell McCarter, Steve Meirose,
counsel with the world will mark the Jay Morris, Tim Young, Jon Gorham, Ky Hascall, David
McWilliams, John Schneider
day of our decline. We have nothing
to fear from without. Our only danger lies in the direction Editor & Evangelist
of indifference and compromise. While we are true to God
Wayne Goff @ 816-746-6937 or mail at:
in the maintenance of those principles, the divine blessing
will be upon our work. But should they ever be Roanridge Church of Christ
6403 N.W. Roanridge Road
surrendered, ruin will as certainly follow as that the Bible Kansas City, Missouri 64151
is true. 816-587-6818
www.roanridge.org
F.G. Allen
Gospel Advocate
January 23, 1896

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Bulletin of the Roanridge Road Church of Christ