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 Sunday

   Bible Classes (10:00 am)

   AM Worship (11:00 am)

   PM Worship (3:00 pm)

 Thursday

   Bible Classes (7:35 pm)

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Piedmont Family YMCA

442 Westfield Road

Charlottesville, VA 22901
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I Can Follow Gods Simple Plan

by Nathan Williams

God made things simple. God’s law for us is not like the IRS tax code. We do not need a fleet of lawyers to explain the details of God’s word to us. Jesus praised God and thanked Him in Matthew 11:25 – “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants.” God’s word is designed to resonate with good and honest hearts. Non-seeking hearts, complacent hearts, and hearts overcome by the lies of Satan do not understand God’s plan.  

People tend to make things complicated. In the first century there were Jews demanding Christians follow the Law of Moses in order to be “true Christians.” I don’t know if there is a single epistle of Paul that does not deal with the fact that both Jews and Gentiles are now supplied an entrance into the kingdom of God. But men wanted to complicate the simple plan. Paul asked the Colossian brethren…  

Col. 2:20 If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, 21 "Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!" 22 (which all refer to things destined to perish with use) --in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? 23 These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence. 

Great ideas strike men. Why not show how much we love God by abstaining from all things physical? Why not live in a monastery with nothing but a sackcloth robe and a rope belt and do nothing but pray, meditate, and read the scriptures all the time? Some men have done this, and they believe they reached a “higher” spiritual plain through those activities. Others believe they found some hidden truth in the Bible or perhaps through a special revelation. Joseph Smith (founder of the Mormon Church) claimed to have all kinds of special revelation…including a sanction on polygamy.  

Mary Baker Eddy (founder of the Christian Science Church) claims to have a special understanding of the scriptures…did you know there is no such thing as physical matter in reality? She taught the only reality is a spiritual reality. If we are sick, it’s because we don’t have faith in God or a true understanding of God. Answers to sickness and disease come through simply believing there is no such thing as sickness and disease. It sounds like a great idea.  

These men and women are guilty of what Paul described in Colossians 2:18-19 as “delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.” They have not held fast to the simplicity of Jesus’ gospel.  

We ought to hang on to our Head, Jesus Christ, for all we are worth (it’s a terrible thing to lose your head). Do we think we have an understanding? The first three chapters of 1 Corinthians tell us much about the wisdom of God vs. the wisdom of men.  1 Cor. 1:19-21 – “For it is written, ‘I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE, AND THE CLEVERNESS OF THE CLEVER I WILL SET ASIDE.’ Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.” 

Whenever we think we have “arrived” or been “enlightened,” we need to remember Jeremiah 10:23 – “I know, O LORD, that a man's way is not in himself, Nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps.” Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.” We don’t have a clue. Left to our own devices we will choose a course leading straight to hell. Let’s follow the trail Jesus blazed. 

Other Articles
Selecting a Companion
Six Steps to a Broken Home
The Thief on the Cross