Author: Bryan Gibson

Weekly Bulletin
March 20, 2016

Is Love to Blame?
by Steve Klein
Have you ever known parents who claimed they loved their children too much to spank them? Ever known someone who tried to justify having sex outside of marriage because they loved the person? Ever known a Christian who would not rebuke and correct religious error because they loved others too much to hurt their feelings in this way? I submit that in each of these cases, love is being blamed for something it has nothing to do with.
The Bible plainly teaches that love motivates us to do exactly the opposite of what was described in each of the preceding examples.
Love will cause us to discipline our children. “He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him promptly” (Proverbs 13:24).
Love demands that we abstain from sexual immorality. If we love someone, we are not going to participate with them in an act that will condemn their soul! If we do, we are being selfish, not loving. In Ephesians 5:2-3, God’s word explains that walking in love involves avoiding fornication: “And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. But fornication...let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints” (Ephesians 5:2-3).
Love will move us to rebuke sin and correct error. Love will not allow us to stand idly by and watch those we care about lose their souls by committing sin or believing doctrinal error. Jesus said, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten” (Revelation 3:19). The apostle Paul had strongly rebuked the Corinthians. In 2 Corinthians 2:4 he explains why: “For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you, with many tears, not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have so abundantly for you.”
The right kind of love will never cause us to do the wrong kind of thing. Love “does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth” (1 Corinthians 13:6). Real love will never be used to justify sin; rather, it will be used to help us identify what is right and good. The Lord’s will is “that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent” (Philippians 1:9-10).
Love always seeks the most lasting good for the one who is being loved. Momentary pain or pleasure is not love’s greatest concern. Love is focused on the eternal welfare of the one who is loved. “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18).

Hospitality
by Greg Gwin
Several passages in the New Testament command us to demonstrate hospitality. Romans 12:13 urges us to be “given to hospitality”. This is so important that even the qualifications of elders include the instruction that they are to be men who are “hospitable” (1 Tim. 3:2, Tit. 1:8—NASV).
We fear that some Christians have excused themselves from this responsibility by a particular definition of the word ‘hospitality’. Various Greek authorities are quoted in an attempt to force our understanding of the word to mean exclusively “love of strangers.” Usually some explanation is given about the morally corrupt conditions that existed in the public inns of the first century. Christians who traveled, we are told, were in desperate need of accommodations that were free from these temptations and evil influences. Thus the command was given to be “hospitable”—meaning to entertain traveling strangers. This standard explanation usually goes further to suggest that the command had no application to one’s own acquaintances. It seems that this view fails to include the total concept of “hospitality.”
The problem, as we see it, is in the assumption that since there are now adequate public accommodations, we are no longer bound by this instruction. This notion is too narrow, and does not consider all that is said on the subject. 1 Peter 4:9 tells us to “use hospitality one to another without grudging.” Thayer says that the word for “hospitality” means “generous to guests,” and does not denote that these “guests” were “strangers” in every case. Indeed, the very context suggests that this sharing was “among yourselves” (vs. 8), and “one to another” (vs. 9). Clearly, this command extends beyond the matter of caring for strangers and includes the idea of sharing with those of our own number. Christian, have YOU been hospitable?

Contact Information
	P.O. Box 680872 / Prattville, AL 36067
	(334) 365-5887 / (334) 868-0801
	prattmont@knology.net / prattmontchurchofchrist.org

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The Prattmont Church of Christ is just what the name suggests, a church that belongs to Christ. We are not a denomination; we are simply a group of Christians trying very hard to practice the teachings of our Head, Jesus Christ. The New Testament offers a complete pattern for what each local church should be like—its organization, its worship, its work, etc. We are committed to following that pattern. We cordially invite you to attend our services. We would also welcome any comments or questions about this bulletin.

TIMES OF SERVICES:
Sunday
Bible Study 9:00 A.M.
Worship 10:00 A.M.
Training Class 5:00 P.M.
Worship 6:00 P.M.
Wednesday:
Bible Study 7:00 P.M.