The NIV may be correct in its translation by implying that the gathering to meet Him occurs at the coming of Jesus. However, most translations that I consulted (and the Greek) would tend to support a second view that one of our purposes of meeting in synagogue (assembly) is to be ready for His coming. The New American Standard Bible translates the verse like this, “Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him.” With the way the NASB is translating episynagōgē, we are gathering ourselves to the Lord of Lords and King of Kings and he is not at this point gathering us up. Either view is true or maybe God’s Holy Spirit intends both. God’s manifold wisdom in Scripture is something we need to respect. The only other place this compound word is used is in Hebrews 10:25 where it is definitely speaking of Christians meeting in synagogue or assembly.

The point of meeting together, then, is to prepare us for our eternal gathering in heaven. The New Testament in passages like Galatians 4.:26, Hebrews 12:22, and Revelation 21:9‐10 all describe the church as God’s heavenly reality in an earthly environment. What better way to learn to spend forever with God and his family than attending and participating in the worship and work of God’s family, the church. By meeting together and in helping one another, we are discovering what is God’s eternal love, and His eternal service, and His forever relationship, and how to be like Jesus without end. God calls us to this unique spiritual family out of His heart because in order for us to be free from the earthly, we must choose to be eternal. The places that God makes this happen is in meeting together with His church, and in our daily spiritual service or worship by offering our bodies as living sacrifices.

Let me encourage you to avoid taking for granted and demeaning the value of meeting together. It is very true that worship is not limited to Sunday morning. In addition, it is true that some people, to their harm, limit their service to God to “being religious on Sundays.” However, when I truly appreciate what the church is and how God uses our coming together, then I have grasped an important means by which God transforms my life. It is in this sense that the Heavenly reality of God’s kingdom transforms my will to His will on earth. I love you all.

Coy

The grandson asked his grandfather what he thought about the shootings at schools, 

the computer, just things in general. The granddad replied, 

"Well, let me think a minute ...I was born, 

before television, penicillin, polio shots, frozen foods, Xerox, 

contact lenses, Frisbees and the pill. 

There was no radar, credit cards, laser beams or ball-point pens. Man had not 

invented pantyhose, air conditioners, dishwashers, clothes dryers, and 

the clothes were hung out to dry in the fresh air and 

man hadn't yet walked on the moon. 

Your grandmother and I got married first and then lived together. 

Every family had a father and a mother, and every boy over 14 had a rifle that his 

dad taught him how to use and respect. And they went hunting and fishing together. 

Until I was 25, I called every man older than I, 'Sir' and after I turned 25, 

I still called policemen and every man with a title, 'Sir.' 

Sundays were set aside for going to church as a family, 

helping those in need, and visiting with family or neighbors. 

We were before gay-rights, computer-dating, dual careers, 

daycare centers, and group therapy. 

Our lives were governed by the Ten Commandments, good judgment, 

and common sense. We were taught to know the difference between right and 

wrong and to stand up and take responsibility for our actions. 

Serving your country was a privilege; living in this country was a bigger privilege. 

 We thought fast food was what people ate during Lent. 

Having a meaningful relationship meant getting 

along with your cousins. Draft dodgers were people who closed their 

front doors when the evening breeze started. 

Time-sharing meant time the family spent together in the evenings and weekends -- 

not purchasing condominiums. We never heard of FM radios, tape decks, CDs, 

electric typewriters, yogurt, or guys wearing earrings. 

We listened to the Big Bands, Jack Benny, and the President's speeches on our radios. 

And I don't ever remember any kid blowing his brains out listening to Tommy 

Dorsey. If you saw anything with ‘Made in Japan’ on it,  it was junk. 

 The term 'making out' referred to how you did on your school exam. 

Pizza Hut, McDonald's, and instant coffee were unheard of. We had 

5 & 10-cent stores where you could actually buy something for 5 & 10 cents.             

Ice cream cones, phone calls, rides on a streetcar, and a Pepsi were all a nickel. 

And if you didn't want to splurge, you could spend your nickel on enough stamps to 

 mail 1 letter and 2 postcards. You could buy a new Chevy Coupe for $600 but 

who could afford one? Too bad, because gas was 11 cents a gallon. 

In my day, ‘grass' was mowed, ‘coke' was a cold drink, 

'pot' was something your mother cooked in, and 'rock music' was your 

grandmother's lullaby. ‘Aids' were helpers in the Principal's office, 'chip' meant a 

piece of wood, 'hardware' was found in a hardware store, 

 and 'software' wasn't even a word. 

And we were the last generation to actually believe 

that a lady needed a husband to have a baby. 

No wonder people call us "old and confused" 

and say there is a generation gap. ...and how old do you think I am -??? 

Careful now...think before you guess and don't look. 

This man would be only 66 years old!! 

By Edward Izzi of Illinois.

Obviously the boss was not satisfied. "I need something from the bottom of your heart, something really touching, you know. Okay, John, you have been working with me for the last 20 years. You are my best staff. I am retiring now. What do you have to say?" Slowly but firmly, John wrote, "The best news in 20 years." 

Unlike our friend John’s sentiment regarding his boss, we do not share it with regard to Abe. I know he is missed sincerely and deeply as the pulpit minister. I have known this kind and gentle man for thirty years of my life but not in any way like you do. He has served and loved you through good and bad times. He has been faithful in his preaching of the good news of Jesus. His openness and dedication to his craft and work are for me excellent examples, and I am honored to follow him into the pulpit. 

To Abe and Shirley, my Shirley and I, only wish you continued joy and blessings in the coming years. I am personally grateful that Abe and Shirley Miller are our family, friends, and fellow servants of God here in Terre Haute and in the congregation at Eastside. I am grateful that we have their wisdom and presence for many years to come. Thank you for your legacy and faithfulness. 

I am sorry that I could not be here today due to our daughter’s graduation. Nevertheless, I want to encourage everyone to have a great time of joy and fellowship. Celebrate not a perfect man or woman, but rather a faithful couple who have given their lives in service to the kingdom of God. I think retirement is a misnomer. I would prefer the term reenlistment. Abe and Shirley simply reenlisted in a different role with the same goal, which is to serve and love Jesus through ministry to others. Thank you, dear brother and sister, for your past years and for the coming ones.

Coy

 Paul makes an interesting statement about motherhood when he says, “But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love, and holiness with propriety” (1 Timothy 2:15 NIV). The context of the passage is Paul’s call for us to follow God’s original male/female relationship in the Garden of Eden so we can live quiet and peaceful lives. However, the word woman is not in the original Greek text of verse 15. Most English versions of the New Testament supply it for clarity because in verse 14 Eve is referred to as the woman. Paul’s purpose in verse 15 is to demonstrate the enormous impact that motherhood has on creation. Adam named his wife Eve according to Genesis 3:20 because “she would become the mother of all the living.” Each woman through her relationship to her husband (who is like Adam) is like Eve in that she not only gives birth biologically to children she also gives birth to the kind of lives that bring either order or chaos to God’s creation.

 The word saved in context does not refer to having her sins forgiven, because that is through the blood of Christ by faith. Saved here is referring to the fulfillment of one of God’s purposes for creating women. Her awesome task or purpose as a wife who becomes a mother is to bear her children in faith, love, and holiness as a modest human being. God wants his children to produce children who grow to love him. In speaking to a corrupt priesthood in Judea around 400 B.C. Malachi declares, “Has not the Lord made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth” (Malachi 2:15). In this passage, as clearly as anywhere in Scripture, you see one of the major purposes of marriage. Because it is both a physical and spiritual union, we are to guard our spirits so that the offspring of this relationship become godly men and women. The bearing of children by our mothers through continuing faith, love, and holiness is one the highest ministries God has given to women. 
 Today we honor our mothers for their sacrifices and love. We honor them for giving us life, for wiping our noses, kissing our hurts away, and for loving us when we are unlovable at times. Let us also honor them for their spiritual impact and purpose for which God created them. Let us honor them for teaching us faith and the Holy Scriptures through their modesty and gentle demeanor. Let us honor them as one of God’s grandest blessings in our lives. Let us honor them for the heart they gave us that beats outside their body.

 ~Coy Siddall

These two ways are oceans apart and yet confuse most of us. The problem is that we know God deserves all we can give Him in obedience. My question is, what part of our lives should not be under his authority? The answer, of course, is every ounce of will is rightfully His. Every drop of devotion deserves pouring out to His glory. However, the awful truth is that we make mistakes, stumble in sin, and often fall short of His holy demands. Our sins magnified through God’s rules cry out “it is impossible to be right.” However, we keep trying like lab mice in an impossible maze to find a way to be right with Him through our human efforts. This effort is frustrating and obviously futile especially since God is absolute HOLINESS.

God, however, offers us something different from a maze of human futility, and His way is simple for us, helpful to our souls, and delightful to Him. Paul says “the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness” (Romans 4:5). I think another way Paul might have said this is God accepts your faith in His Son in place of human effort. He credits faith in Jesus as righteousness and not the ability to obey Him perfectly. This crediting of faith is a blessing based in His infinite grace, mercy, and HOLINESS. It really speaks to God’s perfect righteousness and unchanging character in justifying sinners through the blood of Jesus. Since I cannot obey in perfection, God grants me Christ’s perfection and gives me what Jesus deserves and not what I have earned. Jesus deserves the eternal relationship with the Father, and out of the Father’s love for Him, He accepts me freely as I am through His Son’s sacrifice.

My position of a right relationship with the Father is because of Jesus and in spite of my lack of perfect human effort. This means something, which the Bible calls sanctification. In reality sanctification is transformational righteousness in my life through the work of the Holy Spirit. God takes his perfect nature and through my faith transforms or transfigures my nature to be like Jesus. Sanctification is a walk of faith in Christ’s light that metamorphoses my position of being right with the Father into becoming right like Jesus (2 Peter 1:3-4 and 1 John 1:5-10). Faith is never simply intellectual acceptance, but loving trust to please Jesus in order to know the Father. Transformation occurs in moments of weakness, sin, and confusion when you give yourself over to the Father. When you fail, God calls you back to the position of right relationship so you can again express loving trust. Sanctification is the process of failure and renewal until you get a new nature. The only way to fail eternally is to stop believing and repenting. Amen!

~ Coy Siddall

 Parents, R.E.A.C.H. provides an excellent opportunity for your children to increase their Bible knowledge and to complete service activities. Requirements for each age/grade level (age 4 through the 12th grade) are available in the document rack in the hallway leading into the fellowship room. Students you can do it! 

Jesus gives us the glory God gave Him for a very specific purpose, which is that we as a body can be one as He and the Father are one. The questions that roar out to me, then, are: what is the is that the glory and their oneness deal with the relationship that God and Jesus have with one another. He (Jesus) is the Word made flesh that dwelt with us so that God’s glory is seen in His human life. When one sees Jesus in the flesh, he sees God the Almighty, and this is because: first, Jesus is like the Father: second, Jesus is connected to the Father in spirit; and third, Jesus is driven by the Father’s will to love and serve. The point simply is to realize that the life Jesus lived is the light or glory by which he lived in relationship to God (John 1:4-5). The glory of Jesus is His daily walk with God as a human being. This walk is what God gave Him to save us all. His glory is the relationship with His Father that caused him to learn obedience, trust, and awesome love in suffering and humiliation (Hebrews 5:7-10). It is God living in Jesus and Jesus living out God’s nature in human flesh perfectly.

Christ’s light or glory is what we walk in according to 1 John 1:5-7 that gives us fellowship (oneness with each other). What Jesus gives us, then, is His relationship to God because He lives in us and the Father lives in Him. He makes us like the Father, He connects us to the Father, and he drives us to the Father’s will in loving obedience. It is obvious that we have not become one through rules or theological systems we create from Scripture. However, we can become one through the relationship Jesus gives us to God and each other that is life changing, life transforming, and life creating.

Our flaws of intellect, character, and life style are why we fall short of God’s glory causing us to plunge into the pit of human rebellion and division. Jesus living in us and the Father living in Him is the ladder which allows us to climb up out of human sin and depravity. The deeper we allow Jesus to live in our hearts through faith the higher we rise in God’s presence and love. The result is that we as individuals and as a body are changing because God’s glory is the transforming power that does far more than we can ask or imagine. Let me leave you with a question. Is oneness in the body of Christ meeting here at Eastside dependent on our full intellectual agreement on every issue or on your individual relationship to God the Father through Jesus the Son and His empowering Holy Spirit?

Coy Siddall

Relationships are one of the ways God’s Spirit flows in and out of our
lives to others. What makes us family is that the Spirit dwells in our
hearts and connects us with one another. Paul says to the Corinthians,
“Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit….”
(1 Corinthians 5:3) meaning he is connected to them. The Body of
Christ assembles and we can see and hug each other but that is not
where the connection ends. When we separate, God maintains our
connection to each other through the Holy Spirit. He lives in our
hearts and bodies giving life twenty-four/seven and joins us to
Himself and each other in the living body of Christ raised from the
dead.

Spiritual life is never individual or singular to one’s self alone.
Rather, life is relational and interdependent upon all the parts of
the body. Even God himself is relational in that He is the sum of
three parts. Therefore, what God gave us for unity is relationship
with Him and Him with us, which flows to each other and back to Him.
Note Jesus’ prayer, “ 22I have given them the glory that you gave me,
that they may be one as we are one: 23I in them and you in me. May
they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent
me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (John 17:22-23).
Jesus’ prayer is that through our relationship with Him and each other
we have one heart, mind, and purpose through the love that the Father
and Jesus have for each other shared in the Spirit filled body of
Christ.

What is real is the Holy Spirit working in our hearts through Christ’s
body guiding us to serve each other. He is connecting you to someone
who needs your encouragement, help, and acceptance. May I suggest,
first, open your heart to human need: second, find Jesus through his
revealing Word; third, pray for people you know and do not know well;
and fourth, trust that God places you to serve someone. In doing these
things, you are freely opening yourself to relational connections
created by His Holy Spirit. You have connected to my heart in a
powerful way, and I thank God and you for your Spirit filled
relationship.

Coy Siddall