THE NORTHERN KENTUCKY SEARCHER
"Search the scriptures: for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. " (John 5:39)

VOLUME 4, NUMBER 8, FEBRUARY 22, 2004

AND THE WINNER IS…

            Next month the Academy Awards presentation, Oscar, will take place.  It is estimated that the worldwide television audience will be over one billion people.  As the big night draws near numerous articles are appearing in various newspapers and magazines predicting who is going to win and who is going to lose.  Entire segments of television news broadcasts are being devoted to what the actresses are going to wear.  I guess somebody cares.  I have even heard reports that as much as a week before the actual event, people begin to camp on the sidewalk outside of the auditorium so that they can be close enough to get a good view of the stars as they entered into the building.

            When the awards are actually presented the recipients will be justifiably excited.  It is a wonderful thing to be recognized as the best in your field for a particular piece of work, whether you are an actor, a director, a salesman, a doctor, a secretary, or whatever other profession you might be involved in.  Those statuettes will be taken home, placed in a prominent location in the house, and they will serve as a constant reminder that at least one time in their lives the winners were honored with the greatest and most significant award possible in their field of endeavor.

            Awards are nice.  Being honored for something that you have done is a wonderful feeling.  Being able to look back over a body of work and say I have done the best I could and then to have others say that you did well is extremely satisfying.  Imagine looking back over our work as Christians when we come to death’s door and being able to say, “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.  I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” (2 Tim. 4:6-8)

            From the moment we rise from the watery grave of baptism, our new lives are to be characterized by a relentless pursuit of our goal.  I do not believe it to be wrong at all to say that we labor and strive for the reward.  Paul put it this way in Philippians 3:12-14, “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

            The reward for which we strive will not be simply a constant reminder – it will be an eternal reminder – that the lives we led were pleasing to our Savior through obedience to the “gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24), and in recognition of such we will share in His glory.  It will not be something that we will have earned.  It will be something that He gives us as a reward for having been faithful children, having fought the good fight and having kept the faith.

            When the envelope is being opened by the presenter at the awards show, everyone holds their breath in anticipation of the words, “And the Winner is…”  Don’t you even now wait with eager anticipation to hear the word, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world”? 

            Earthly rewards are great, but they are “not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” – God’s children.
                                                            Greg Litmer

WELCOME

            It is with great joy that we welcome among us the Spargo family.  Tom and Tricia (dad and mom) made it known that they would like to be identified with the Northern Kentucky Church of Christ.  The children are Cassie, Trey, Will, and Danny.  Their address is:

8661 Valley Circle Drive

Florence, Ky.  41042

We welcome yet another family to the sunny side of the river.

YOU ARE A KEY PERSON

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            Somxtimxs, it sxxms that our organization is somxwhat likx this typxwritxr, not all thx pxoplx arx working propxrly.  You might say, Wxll I’m only onx pxrson.  It won’t makx much diffxrxncx.”

            But you sxx, an organization, to bx xfficixnt, nxxds thx activx participation of xvxry pxrson.  Thx nxxt timx you think your xfforts arxn’t nxxdxd, rxmxmbxr this typxwritxr, and say to yoursxlf, “I am a kxy pxrson and thxy nxxd mx vxry much.”

                                    Via The Overland Church Bulletin

            That was unquestionably the hardest little article I have ever typed.