THE POUND
PROCLAIMER
Volume III
December 2007
Number 2
Sing
to the Lord, bless His name; proclaim the good news of His salvation from day
to day. Psalms 96:2
“PLEASE KNOCK ON
MY DOOR!”
By Dick Cupp
Have you ever hesitated
knocking on someone’s door, afraid that those inside don’t want to hear
anything about the gospel of Christ?
Let me tell you of a young
man who would have given a great deal just to have some Christian knock on his
door earlier in his life.
This young man was born in
He returned to
Today, that same man is a
minister of the gospel of Christ in
This man remembers being
religiously minded, even as a young boy. He remembers keenly his desire to “go
to church” in
He also remembers that in
his early years he didn’t make much distinction between the various religious
groups. He very likely would have accepted an invitation from any denomination
that cared enough about him to ask him to come. He may very well have been a
denominational preacher, teaching false doctrine today, if the denominations had
knocked at this door.
But he is a very lucky man.
Nobody knocked on his door. He finally learned the truth, and became a New
Testament Christian.
He’s thankful that no
denominations knocked on his door but he wishes SOMEBODY had! He wishes
mightily that a member of the Lord’s church could have talked to him at least
10 years before they did. What a difference that would have made in his
qualifications and in his Christian fruitfulness today!
I can speak of this man
freely, because I am the man. I am so grateful to those who had a part in my
conversion but I so mightily wish that SOMEONE would have taken advantage of
many earlier opportunities to at least TALK to me about the gospel of Christ.
Don’t hesitate to knock on doors! Much of your knocking
will be in vain; but somewhere there is a man, or woman, or a family, just
waiting for you to knock on the door and invite them to come to Christ!
The Editor’s
Page
ORNERY COWS AND LONGSUFFERING
Once, when I was growing up, my dad traded a hog for a
cow. I didn’t think at the time it was a very good trade. The old cow suffered
from what was called ‘holler horn’ and besides, I did not relish the chore of
milking. Now, ‘holler horn’ is caused when some one dehorns a cow and doesn’t
take proper care. The holes then become infected.
I learned two things about
that old cow. One, she had her horns removed for a reason. She suffered from
what modern psychologists would call anti-social behavior. Two, she was
suffering from hollow belly as much as she was from ‘holler horn.’ Now the
second thing I had learned caused me to feel sympathy for her. The first thing,
however, tended to try my patience.
When we milked, we put out
feed for the cow to eat. She could eat faster than a famished teenage boy. When
she finished, she would run away. If you tied her with a rope, she would jump
back and forth, either kicking over the bucket of milk or sticking her foot in
it. You would have to milk with one hand and protect the bucket with the other.
There was no way to milk her without all of the hassle. I would milk franticly
but, could not for the life of me finish before she began her cantankerous
goings on.
One cold north
As I think of the lesson I
learned on that cold
I have, on many occasions,
been guilty of dealing with situations without practicing longsuffering. When
longsuffering is missing, the efforts at teaching, reproving and rebuking will
illicit the same kind of counter action I experienced from that old ornery cow.
How often would a brother or sister have heeded our admonition, if we had not
doubled up our spiritual fist and let them ‘have it’ but good? Brethren are
stubborn and ornery and in need of a lesson at times. However, giving them a
swift kick in their spiritual pants may not be what they need.
Even in the face of sin, we
are to practice longsuffering. Listen to the words of Paul, “and we urge you, brothers, admonish the
idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, and be
patient with them all.” 1 Thessalonians 5:14. Least we think
it un-Christian to be longsuffering with the erring, consider our personal
condition before the Lord. “The Lord is
not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward
you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”
2 Peter 3:9.
The next time your patience
wears thin with your brethren and you want to grab hold of one of them and
shake them till their teeth rattle, think about a teenage boy, an old ornery
cow and a cold north
THE LAST WORD
TEMPUS FUGIT: Time flies, it really does. Here we are at
the end of another year. Not only is it the end of another year but it is the
end of 2007. I recall when we were waiting with great anticipation the end of
the last century. Remember the Y2K scare that had many people convinced the end
of our world would occur at 12 am on January 01, 2000?
There was a collective sigh of relief when we awoke and
found that the sun had risen and our computers were still working. Of course, the
reason our computers were working was because many of us made preparation so
they would.
I was thinking. Why isn’t the end of every year met with
the same apprehension? Have we fallen into the apathy of those whom Peter spoke
of when he wrote, “They will say, ‘Where
is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all
things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.’” 2 Peter 3:4.
It is not for us to know the day of our death nor to know
the end of this world. However, we know that these are coming. Will it be
today, tomorrow, next week, or next year? We don’t know but this we do know, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise
as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should
perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come
like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly
bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are
done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved,
what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness,” 2 Peter
3:9-11.
Indeed, since all these things will be dissolved what
sort of Christians ought we here at Pound be in our lives? Will the coming year
find me praying for the sick, living an exemplary life before my neighbors
& friends, making every effort to teach someone the gospel, and being
active in the work of the church here in Pound, VA?
Should your life end or the Lord return in the year 2008,
will you be prepared to meet your destiny?
Every day, every week, every month, and every year marks
a new beginning. If you wasted time in 2007, let it be a motivation for you to
use your time in 2008 in a more efficient way.
