Jesus encouraged us, "Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life" (Rev. 2:10).  The "crown of life" signifies eternal life in Heaven, eternal salvation.  Eternal life is a gift offered to us by God through grace.  Our responsibility in receiving this gift is to "be faithful until death."  We are not just to become faithful, we are to live in faithfulness until the day we die.  We must even be willing to die for our faith, if necessary.

This is a good time to think about your soul.  When? Right now!  Well, many people would think this probably has something to do with the holiday season.  After all, we just celebrated a few weeks ago the Thanksgiving holiday, a day that certainly has spiritual overtones.  In a few days, many people will be celebrating the physical birthday of Jesus, even though virtually all Bible scholars agree that He almost certainly was not boron that day.  In fact, the Bible does not say when He was born, nor does it give any instruction as to having a special day of celebration on that day, whenever it was.  Just a week later we will celebrate New years Day, a day that marks new beginnings.  Al kinds of spiritual applications can be made based on that concept.

It has been said, "Like sand through an hourglass, so are the days of our lives." Time waits for no one.  The Rolling Stones put that truth to music in 1974.  Second by second, minute by minute, time's passing is inexorable, relentless.  As each second ticks away, it is gone forever.  It will never come our way again; we have it but once.

I remember a friend relating a story many years ago about a relative of his who was, I believe, stopped by a policeman on Thanksgiving day for some kind of traffic violation.  After some discussion the policeman asked the man if he had anything to be thankful for.  The man said he did.  The policeman responded that the man had better be thankful that he wasn't going to give him a traffic ticket.  Being stopped by a policeman is not something that would ordinarily conjure up feelings of thanksgiving in your heart.  But if you were guilty of some traffic violation, you surely would be thankful if the policeman let you go with just a warning.

Just about every day these days the news is filled with reports on the supposed federal economic bailout plan for our national economy. First, the news emphasized how dire was the economic situation in our country. Next, the news said things were so bad that the federal government needed to immediately inject into the economy an extraordinary amount of capital to check the downturn and get things moving in a positive direction again. Then, the news was all about which financial institutions were critical enough to warrant receiving federal funds, how much they would receive and in what ways they would receive them. That was followed by news of possibly expanding the focus of the bailout to include other industries that wanted a piece of the pie. Now the news is alive with discussion of whether or not the funds that have already been spent were spent properly.

The church is distinctive by its design and very nature.  In order to live up to its identity, the church must maintain its distinctiveness.

Jesus told Peter, "I will build My church" (Matthew 16:18).  There was distinctiveness in that statement.  Jesus declared that He would do the building and that it would be His church.  If anyone else builds (establishes) a church, it is not the Lord's church.  The Lord established His church on the first Pentecost following His death, burial, and resurrection almost two thousand years ago.  Any church established since that day cannot be His church.

The prophet wrote, "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter" (Isaiah 5:20).  These are actually God's words.  He is talking specifically about the nation of Israel.  Earlier in the chapter He refers to them as a vineyard that He planted and cultivated, only to have it produce "wild grapes" instead of "good grapes" (verses 1-7).  The allusion is clear.  God raised up Israel to be His own people, the people through whom the Savior would come into the world.  He gave them His law, taught them, guided them, fought their battles for them, blessed them richly, made them a great nation.  Instead of Israel remaining the righteous, faithful people of God, they turned away from God and worshiped idols.  They rejected His law and made up their own, followed their own will instead of submitting to His.  Ultimately, God allowed their enemies to conquer them and take them into captivity.  They suffered disgrace as a nation as a result of their sin.

Does doctrine matter?  Many people would say, basically, that doctrine does not matter.  Really?  The word doctrine simply means teaching.  Does teaching matter?  Consider what the scriptures say on the matter.

As He was ready to ascend back to Heaven, following His resurrection from the tomb, Jesus told the apostles, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:19-20).  How were the apostles to "make disciples of all the nations"?

What does a preacher at a local congregation preach following a dynamic Gospel Meeting at that congregation?  The simple answer is, he preaches the gospel!  But how does he follow up on the preaching done during that Gospel Meeting?  How does he complement it, reinforce it in the preaching that he does over the next few weeks?  This is always a challenging situation.

Information is power!  But only if the information is listened to and heeded.  Many people receive valuable information that can help them in a variety of ways, but instead of paying attention to it and implementing it into their lives, they ignore it.  As a result, they do not benefit from its value at all.  Endless examples could be cited.