A warden asked an assembly of prisoners, "How many of you were told you would end up in prison some day?" Nearly every hand went up. It is much easier to say to children who misbehave that the Boogie Man will get you than to spend time with them trying to show them what is right and doing it before them. Angry wives have said to their children, "You're going to end up just like your old daddy." Others are told, "You will never amount to anything." They seem to hope that this will shock them into doing better but more often they become what they were told they would become.

It is true children need to know about punishment. They need to know that there are consequences for doing wrong, but they need a beautiful vision before them of what they could become. Children need inspiration and encouragement, first from their parents, whether it is buttoning their coats to send them off to school or tucking them in bed at night, they need to hear, "You're going to make a difference for good in this world."

When I was twelve people were patting me on top of the head and saying, "This boy is going to be a preacher some day." I began to think about it Then I began to believe it, and then I did it. What if they had told me, "This boy's going to end up in prison some day."

Jesus was the master of this. He looked at rough ignorant fishermen and proclaimed that they would be fishers of men taking the gospel to the whole world, and they did. Jesus talked about hell and the outer darkness, but he painted a beautiful picture of His Father's house and then invited and inspired us to go there with Him.

What a sad consolation for a parent to walk through several prison gates to meet their son or daughter in an orange suit and say, "You see, I was right, I told you you would end up here" or "I told you you would never amount to anything." How much better to put visions of greatness in their heads and then one day say, "I told you you would do great things."

The church that will make the deepest impression on the life of the community is not the largest church because it is large but the church that is holy without blemish, and faithful to Christ.

The effectiveness of the church is not thwarted by having limited numbers. When God wanted a big thing done in olden times, He was never afraid of having too few people to do it; He was afraid of having too many. Remember Gideon. And remember 1 Chronicles 21:1, "Satan...incited David to number Israel."

The trouble with some churches is that they sound like a symphony orchestra tuning up. The dreadful discords are heard because each member is doing his own thing.

For the church to adjust to the world by living and speaking as the world, and keeping in the background the redemptive power of Christ through the Gospel - while minimizing God's laws - is not adjustment. It is surrender.

Some churches are ineffective because they have cloaked their identity. "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another" (John 13:35). If the church is to meet the needs of the new age, its focus will not be merely on more machinery, newer methods, or better organization, but on MORE LOVE. (Throwing bricks at each other in God’s name is not conducive to saving souls.)

Many years ago a man by the name of Chalmers said, "the main business with Christianity is to proceed upon it."

A recent study of maladjusted high school students shows how important it is to tell our children we love them. After the counselors had worked long enough to gain rapport with ten of the most maladjusted students, they asked them how long it had been since their parents had told them they loved them. Not a single one could remember having heard such a comment. By contrast, ten of the best adjusted teens answered the question by saying "this morning," or "last night," or indicated that they had been verbally reassured of their parents' love within the last few hours.

Pleasant View Church of Christ | 1770 Pleasant View Road | Woodbury, TN 37190