Somerset Church of Christ

August 28, 2025

Knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others

Paul made a profound statement to the Corinthian church when he said, “Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience” (2 Cor. 5:11). Paul made it his mission to persuade others to repent and follow Christ. Luke gives us a glimpse into Paul’s work in Corinth long before Paul wrote this second letter to them: “And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks” (Acts 18:4).

Persuasion is a vital part of being a Christian. Many times the Christians asked for boldness. Why? So that they could persuade more people to follow Christ. When the apostles were arrested in Jerusalem and warned not to preach, they did it anyway. They were beaten and charged not to speak in the name of Jesus again. “Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus” (Acts 5:41-42).

Persuasion may be one of the areas that Christians struggle with the most, yet it’s the one area that we need to be good at in order to lead people to Christ. Many churches are struggling, not because they don’t love God, but because they are not persuaders. If a family stops having children, eventually that family line dies out. We need to be churches that persuade others to repent and come to Christ. This is how we become the hands and feet of Jesus!

July 31, 2025

God knows His plans for you

Some of us are planners. Others are not. But, regardless of where we are on that spectrum, when our world comes crashing down, we all begin to lose hope. Morale declines quickly when we don’t see any viable solutions to bad predicaments. This was certainly the case for the southern tribes of Israel when the Babylonians ransacked the capital of Judah by destroying Jerusalem. Not only did they destroy the city, including the temple, but they also exiled most of the people.

Jeremiah, who was one of the most hated prophets, never stopped preaching. Even though the people wouldn’t listen and repent, he kept preaching. Jeremiah warned the Israelites to repent. Instead of listening, they mocked Jeremiah. His scrolls were read, torn, and thrown into a fire at the orders of King Zedekiah. He was imprisoned and then thrown into a cistern and left for dead. Yet Jeremiah still encouraged the Israelites. He told the faithful remnant to remain faithful.

Jeremiah wrote a letter that said, “For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you” (Jeremiah 29:10-12). God went on to say, “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart” (vs. 13). Unfortunately, Jeremiah never lived to see that day. Seventy years later Cyrus allowed the Jews to come back to Jerusalem to rebuild. This is recorded in the scriptures. We have to trust that God has plans for us. His way and his will are perfect! No matter what comes our way, God’s plans will prevail.

July 22, 2025

Jesus gave gratitude and we should too

silhouette of a man in meditative pose with dramatic lighting

The feeding of the 5,000 is one of the few stories that are recorded in all 4 of the Gospels. Usually there is a slight variation of the same stories, and this one is no different. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke’s accounts, Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up to heaven, and said a blessing. In John’s account, “Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated” (John 6:11). Blessing and thanks are very similar. Blessing literally means “good word” and means to speak well of, to bless, or praise. The word for thanks literally means “good grace,” and is an appreciation for the grace given us by God. It can be translated “thanks” or “gratitude.”

The word that John uses is the same word that Jesus used when he gave thanks “good grace” at the Last Supper. God’s good grace reflects His kindness, goodwill, and favor towards His people. Jesus often gave gratitude. When he raised Lazarus from the dead, he said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me” (John 11:41-42). Jesus’ gratitude was evident throughout his ministry, and he even gave it so that people would believe he was sent by the Father.

Gratitude changes everything–from our position towards God to our position towards each other. When we give thanks to God in all things, we acknowledge that our faith is in Him and Him alone. Let’s begin and end each day with gratitude.

July 15, 2025

Bringing healing to the sick

crop psychologist supporting patient during counseling indoors

The story of Paul’s shipwreck on Malta is quite incredible. It’s one of those stories that sounds exaggerated because so many bad things happened all at once, but the story is very much real. Paul was on a ship with hundreds of other men, some of which were other prisoners. There were bad winds and storms and Paul urged the centurion not to continue on or else there would be loss of life. The centurion instead listened to the pilot and owner of the ship and continued on. A very bad northeaster storm hit and they began dumping cargo and tying the ship together so it wouldn’t break apart.

Paul told them that they should have listened to him but also urged them to eat because they had been fourteen days without food. He also said that he had a vision from God that everyone would be safe and that they would land on an island. After striking a reef, the boat began to fall apart and they were about to kill the prisoners, but because the centurion wanted to save Paul he kept them from carrying out the plan. Had Paul not been likable and vocal about God’s plan, this would have turned out very differently.

The people of the island were unusually kind to them and Paul ended up healing the chief of the island’s father: “It happened that the father of Publius lay sick with fever and dysentery. And Paul visited him and prayed, and putting his hands on him healed him” (Acts 28:8). After that, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases came and were healed by Paul. This story is a reminder that we need to be the hands and feet of Jesus wherever we go. In the most extreme and bizarre circumstances, Paul remained faithful to God and he blessed many people in the process!

July 8, 2025

Why laziness is a sin

Proverbs 6:6 says, “Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!” Paul says, when serving, to serve as if we are serving the Lord himself (Colossians 3:23-24). Christian apologist Cliffe Knechtle says that laziness is a sin because “laziness is essentially saying, ‘God, you have given me nothing of significance and importance. Therefore, I can fritter my life away being lazy, not developing my physical talents, or my intellectual talents, or my my spiritual talents because guess what? It really doesn’t matter.'”

Proverbs has lots to say about laziness. For example, it says that “whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys” (Proverbs 18:9. Proverbs 26:13 says that lazy people make up excuses: “The sluggard says, ‘There is a lion in the road! There is a lion in the streets!'” They refuse to work: “The desire of the sluggard kills him, for his hands refuse to labor” (21:25). And they are wise in their own eyes: “The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly” (26:16).

Finally, we know that laziness leads to poverty, but “whoever gathers little by little will increase it (wealth)” (13:11). So Cliffe is exactly right–laziness is a sin. It’s a sin because we take the talents God has given us and we refuse to put them to use. When we put the talents to use, we increase little-by-little, piece-by-piece, and we are able to help many, many people in need.

July 3, 2025

Be the Salt and Light

One of the first things Jesus told his disciples during his sermon on the mount was, “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet” (Matthew 5:13). The next thing he said is, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house” (vs. 14-15).

Both salt and light are important. They didn’t have refrigerators in the first century. The only way to preserve meat was to heavily salt it. Salt has been used since the beginning of time to preserve things, ferment them, and to add taste. If salt “loses its saltiness” it is thrown out. Salt is cheap. We have no problem throwing it out if it’s bad. Jesus’ point is for us to be good salt for others, to be appealing. Likewise, light is essential for productivity. It’s necessary to see. Jesus said, “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (vs. 16).

If we simply do these two things within our community, lives will be radically changed for the good. It doesn’t take a detailed plan, a committee, or truck loads of volunteers. The way for the church to build a bridge between the church and community is to be appealing–to do the work of Christ and to point people to God. More and more people are combining a Christian model of living into their business plans and it’s experiencing wild success. People buy products and use services that they know are benefitting a good cause. We need to constantly be the salt and light of the world.

June 26, 2025

Be the change for good

man and woman carrying medicine and food labelled cardboard boxes behind a white van

There’s an old expression in the church that was used to sniff out supposed heretics. That term was “change agent.” Change agents refer to individuals who advocate for significant alterations in the church’s practices, beliefs, or structure and were accused of deviating from the church’s “norms” or traditions. The problem is that this term is incredibly subjective and many were over-labeling people as change agents when they simply were trying to do good for the kingdom.

There is nothing inherently wrong with change or doing new things, so long as they are in step with God’s commandments. God himself said, “Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert” (Isaiah 43:19 ESV). Romans 12:2 says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2).

Renewal. Transformation. Change. These are all good things when they align with God’s good and perfect will. It’s our duty to seek and follow the will of God. Oftentimes even well-intentioned people follow their own desires, thinking it is God’s will when it is not. Following God’s will requires discipline and a vast amount of scripture reading and prayer. As Christians, we can be change agents for good! We can be transformed to become more like Christ. This is the change we should be after!