Perry’s Scope: Christian sermons, lessons, and resources for teachers

May I confess one of my many flaws to you? I like to learn about things in the Bible. Sounds harmless, right? Here is the flaw – I often like to learn to the exclusion of DOING. You might say that I am “educated above my level of obedience.” I KNOW more than I PRACTICE.

We certainly need to study the words of God. These words can help us avoid difficulties. There are numerous passages that remind us of this. Ezra 7:10 reads, “For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.” Note the progression – learning – doing – teaching.

One of the traps we may fall into is thinking that if we just know enough we will avoid having to deal with the issues in real life. Whatever the temptation may be, whether it is the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, or the pride of life, it is not always handled with mere understanding. There are times when we must face the temptation head on, and with the knowledge we have gained from the biblical text, defeat it.

A football team prepares for a game by watching their opponents game films. They learn what they must do to defeat them. Then, they must go out on the field and DO what they know. They have to get into the game.

Are you tempted to know and not do? Join with me as we learn the words of God and seize the opportunities to do them.

“If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.” John 13.17

Keep The Light Burning!

Perry Greene

South Yukon Church of Christ

I am sure you have been there. You are at a party, in a restaurant, or at a sports event. You try to have a conversation with the person next to you but the noise level is too high. Maybe your hearing has been damaged. Maybe it’s just loud. In any event, you can’t hear what your friend is saying, or even what YOU are saying.

The Bible repeatedly reminds us to HEAR. Jesus often stated, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” The greatest commandment begins with the word “Hear” (see Deuteronomy 6.4 and Mark 12.28ff).

In the bible, “hearing” not only includes the reception of the sound waves in our ears, but comprehension of what is stated followed by action. Biblical hearing is actually obeying what is spoken. So, when God says to hear that we are to love him with all of our hearts, souls, and might, he means we are to put it into action.

It is no accident that we live in a world full of diversions. How many things each day divert you from the mission of loving God whole-heartedly? Think of the numerous distractions that come from television, just to name one avenue. There are shows we just “can’t miss” each week. Often we spend hours mindlessly viewing – what? Mostly nothing. Our lives are not really enriched by it; we have merely been sidetracked from a higher calling.

Today hear his voice (see Hebrews 3; Psalm 95). Comprehend God by listening to his word (taking the time to read it). Then put it into action in real life. That’s “hearing God.”

Keep The Light Burning!

Perry Greene

This Sunday (April 29) the South Yukon Church of Christ will participate in a “Million Dollar Sunday” with an organization called Eastern European Missions. The purpose of this contribution is for US congregations to  gather money to publish Bibles for – wait for it – the PUBLIC SCHOOLS in two states of Ukraine.

An amazing thing is happening in formerly Soviet-controlled countries. They want BIBLES to influence and improve the character of their children (and adults). They are doing this through their school systems.

EEM publishes and distributes Bibles in the languages of the people. It is having an amazing impact. Children are changing. They take their Bibles home from school; share it with their parents and the parents change. Faith is being produced by God’s word in places where atheistic Communism once thrived!

Paul declared:  ¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.¹⁷ For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”Romans 1:16-17

Please pray for this effort!

Keep The Light Burning!

Perry Greene

 When we lived in Alabama, the University hired a new football coach. Before the season began he was released from his contract. Not one game had been played, so it was not for a “losing season.” Instead, the man was released for his questionable actions OUTSIDE of the football field. As a result, the University of Alabama struggled through a rough season. In the long run, it paid off with their thirteenth and fourteenth National Championships.

Recently a similar circumstance impacted the University of Arkansas football team. Misconduct off of the field cost the coach his lucrative position. It was not the University’s win-loss record, rather a character issue.

Character is important. When course corrections are in order, they must be made. Leaders, such as coaches, impact the lives of many people. It becomes doubly hard for them. They must perform their jobs and do it with high ideals. One man I know said, “We should always do the right things and do things right.” This is sage advice that pays off in the long run.

James warns us in regard to teaching the Bible: “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness” (James 3:1). There is a principle of high expectations for those in leadership positions – doing the right things in the right ways.

Keep The Light Burning!

Perry Greene

In the villages of Northern India a missionary was preaching in a bazaar. As he closed, a Muslim gentleman came up and said, “You must admit we have one thing you have not, and it is better than anything you have.”

The missionary smiled and said, “I should be pleased to hear what it is.”

The Muslim said, “When we Muslims go to Mecca we at least find a coffin. But when you Christians go to Jerusalem, which is your Mecca, you find nothing but an empty grave.”

The missionary just smiled and said, “That is just the difference.

Muhammad is dead; he is in the coffin. All false systems of religion and philosophy are in their coffins, but Jesus Christ, whose kingdom is to include all nations and kindred and tribes, is not here; He is risen. And all power in heaven and on earth is given unto Him. That is our hope.

Annually the Christian world celebrates the empty tomb of Jesus. It was on the first day of the week following Jesus’ last supper that he overcame death itself. In so doing, he gives those who follow him hope.

Remember the words of the angel:

⁵ But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.⁶ He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.⁷ Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” Matthew 28:5-7

Keep The Light Burning!

Perry Greene

This Sunday is referred to as “Palm Sunday.” It marks one week before the “Easter” celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. It also is the day we remember the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Here he fulfilled the prophecy of Zechariah 9.9, as he humbly rode into the city on a borrowed donkey to face his crucifixion.

There is another aspect to this day that becomes a key to the events surrounding Jesus’ death. A few days before the Passover meal, according to Exodus 12:1-6 and Leviticus 23:4-14, a family had to select a lamb to offer as their sacrifice. As Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem he not only came to conquer sin and death BUT also to be God’s selected lamb for his atoning sacrifice at the Jewish Passover.

At least twice John the Baptizer said of Jesus, “Behold the lamb” (John 1:29, 36). As Jesus enters Jerusalem God reiterates the declaration. He would visibly demonstrate the power of God in the Passover as God led his people out of the bondage of Egypt to freedom in the wilderness and eventually into the land of promise.

As our “Passover Lamb of God,” Jesus leads us out of the bondage of sin and into freedom. This freedom is in our journey through this world into eternity with God. It is the freedom to serve the living God rather than entanglements of the adversary.

This Sunday, “Behold the Lamb!”

Keep The Light Burning!

Perry Greene

I read that during the Second World War, the Jewish philosopher Walter Benjamin fled across Europe from the Nazis. For weeks he made his way through occupied France. Finally he reached his longed-for destination of Spain; from there it would have been possible to escape to America.

There came an unexpected problem. On the day that he arrived, the Spanish border, which had been open, was closed. Benjamin committed suicide in despair. Then one of the most bizarre of paradoxes occurred, the border re-opened the very next day. The closure had been only temporary.

After striving, and running, and hiding, Benjamin had lost hope. He had come to a closed border—there was no way out.

Have you ever “hit the wall”? You have tried everything you can think of – but to no avail. There is a temptation to throw in the towel and just give up. Deep inside we know better.

The apostle Paul had a powerful insight that he shared with us: ¹³ Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,¹⁴ I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3.13-14).

Things are not always easy in the Christian walk. We don’t always see clearly. We DO have a God who keeps hope alive within us through the gift of his Son. Don’t quit!

Keep The Light Burning!

Perry Greene

Communists know that education is important to a society. They found that it is the primary deterrent to the Communist takeover of a nation. So, when they target a country, they also target its educational system, especially in regard to religion and patriotism. They slip in and revise a nation’s history and remove God from their fabric.

There is an application for Christians. In our battle, our adversary wants to “dumb us down.” He knows the power of the gospel (Romans 1:16). He knows what the proclamation of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection can do for people (1 Corinthians 15). He knows the power of truth in our hands (John 8:32).

Jesus responded to each of Satan’s three tests with, “It is written.” He won the battle (see Matthew 4). Ezra was a great servant of God because . . . Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel” (Ezra 7:10).

We can’t do what God says until we know what he says. Once we know we can’t help but do – if we are living by faith.

How is your daily time with God? What new things are you discovering from his word? What are you doing for others because God has directed your steps?

Don’t get distracted from the call of God.

Keep The Light Burning!

Perry Greene

One of my favorite Americans was John Quincy Adams. He served America virtually his whole life. He is the only President who became a Congressman AFTER his presidency. In fact, he was so devoted to America that he actually died on duty in the House of Representatives. Note a couple of his quotes:

“The highest glory of the American Revolution was this; it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity.”

“From the day of the Declaration…they (the American people) were bound by the laws of God, which they all, and by the laws of The Gospel, which they nearly all, acknowledge as the rules of their conduct.”

Adams, as other Founders, saw Americans as a people to put the laws of God into practice on every level within the newly formed country. America was not just a land of opportunity or Liberty. It was a nation that based its existence on the Word of God. Its teachings were to be the standards of conduct within the land.

The Founders knew that “righteousness exalts a nation” (Proverbs 14:34). They knew that the Constitution was not suited for people with no standards for their behavior. They knew that the only “separation of church and state” was that of keeping the government out of the affairs of the churches.

We are seeing numerous erosions of the founding principles of our nation. As a nation, we have chosen economy over spirituality. If we choose spirituality, we would have both. Since we choose money over God, we have neither. Can we see the wisdom of our Founders?

Keep The Light Burning!

Perry Greene

In 1999, an insurance company rated the most dangerous intersections for accidents in the United States. The year’s winner (or better, loser) was the corner of Belt Line Road and Midway Road in Addison, Texas. There were 263 reported crashes at that intersection in the Dallas suburb.

Often when I come to an intersection, I think of the people who are meeting there. Some have come a long distance; some short. Yet, we have all arrived at the same time.

Arriving at the intersection, we all have decisions to make. Will we obey the laws or break them? Will we be courteous to other drivers or selfish?

As we travel on our journey through this world we often come to some serious intersections. We repeatedly come to intersections of the “broad” and “narrow” ways (Matthew 7:13-14). Each time we have an important decision to make. Do we choose the narrow way along with the “few” or do we choose the broad way with the “many”? Will we follow the instructions or refuse them? It is a serious choice that demands our attention and exercises our wisdom.

Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through me” (John 14:6). Today, with the rising of the sun, we have made it to yet another intersection. Which road will we take?

Keep The Light Burning!

Perry Greene