In Matthew 10:29-31 Jesus states the following, “Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. 30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” Take note what Jesus said about the sparrow. He declared unto the people that although the sparrow is plentiful, and although they are sold cheaply, they are have value in the eyes of their Creator. Jesus says that there is not a sparrow that falls to the ground that God does not take notice of it. Then Christ goes on to discuss the fact that they very hairs on your head are numbered by the God of heaven. What Jesus is revealing in this teaching is that there is nothing that escapes God’s attention. He is the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-powerful God. Let us note some lessons from that point of view. (i) GOD IS ALL KNOWING One little bird falls from the sky and lies dead upon the ground in the woods. No man witnessed its death, but God witnessed the whole thing, it did not escape His attention. Even if some predator comes and consumes the remains of the sparrow, God knows what happened. Jesus is raising the question, “If God cares for the sparrows, will He not also care for us?” (ii) WHAT DOES THIS EXACTLY MEAN? That if you are in need of financial help God will just drop some money down? No. Let me show you what it means in my estimation. If you’re a child of God. there are blessings for those who are children of God. Now mind you God cares for the alien sinner and wants His children to teach them about His Son. If God cares for a fallen sparrow then He cares for the eternal soul He has created in man. However, for the purpose of this study notice some blessings for the child of God. (1) As a child of God, you can pray to your heavenly Father (Matt.6:9). Now how God answers that prayer is up to God. If He grants us some blessing we need to remember that it is for our good and His glory. If He does not grant us the blessing we requested does not mean He didn’t hear nor does it mean He doesn’t care. He cares for the fallen sparrow; how much more does He care for His children? As a child of God, we should not be ashamed of our Father, but tell others about His greatness and pray for the loss that they might be saved! (Rom.10:1-3) (2) As a child of God, this world is not our home. As children of God we have an inheritance in heaven (I Pet.1:4) our citizenship is in heaven (Phil.3:20). One day just as the sparrow Jesus talked about, we are going to die. There will come a day this flesh will go back to dust and our soul back to God (Eccl.12:7). As a child of God, we go home to heaven. This world is not our home and we shouldn’t get too comfortable here. Peter said we are strangers and sojourners here (I Pet.2:11). As I write this bulletin I have a friend in Nashville in Alive Hospice care. We look at people who are the end of their journey, and fail to see that not every sparrow makes it back to their nest. There is no guarantee we will live to see an old age. There is no guarantee that we will be given any warning of our death. Just like the sparrow that falls, we can die at any time. However, if we are children of God, physical death is not the worst thing to happen. It will be a time we go home! THE EASTSIDE ENCOURAGER A publication of the Eastside church of Christ Shelbyville, TN 1803 Madison St. Shelbyville, TN 37160 www.churchateastside.com Dec,17, 2017 (3) As a child of God, we can be content no matter the circumstance (I Tim.6-8). How can it be that with all the contentions in life that we can learn to be content? Paul gives a good answer in Phil.4:6-7 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” We must remember that if God cares for a sparrow then He cares for us. There are not enough words to describe God’s love for man. His desire is that His children show the lost His love by acting as they should so the lost can get a picture of God’s love in us. One way we do that is by letting out light shine in a dark world (Matt.5:16). REMEMBER IF GOD CARES FOR THE FALLEN SPARROW HE CARES FOR YOU!

God spoke to Aaron, the high priest, and directed him to make a distinction between the holy and the profane, and between the unclean and the clean. Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, failed to do this and it cost them their lives (Lev. 10:1-2, 10). The Greek word for ‘profane’ is bebelos, which means quite literally, “to cross the threshold” (Vine). It consists of making a common or temporal use of a sacred thing and to show disregard for God or holy things. This is what angered Jesus when He cleansed the temple (Jn. 2:14-16). One of the surest signs of degeneracy in the Jews’ religion was the failure to distinguish between the holy and the profane and the unclean and the clean. This finally led to their 70 years of captivity. The prophets would prophesy falsely and the priests would rule by their own authority (Jere. 5:30-31). Jeremiah witnessed this and was broken-hearted when he wrote about the prophets and priests who had become polluted (23:9-11). They prophesied by Baal and led God’s people astray. They did not condemn adultery or falsehood which resulted in an actual strengthening of the hands of evildoers, so that no one turned back from his wickedness. In the sight of God, they had become like Sodom and Gomorrah (23:13-14). Also, Ezekiel, while in captivity, writes from Babylon of the conspiracy between the corrupt prophets and priests in Jerusalem. He likened the conspiracy to a roaring lion tearing its prey. The priests had done violence to God’s law and profaned His holy things; they had made no distinction between the holy and the profane, and they had not taught the difference between the unclean and the clean, and hid their eyes from God’s Sabbaths. The result of all of this was that God Himself was profaned among His own people (Ezek. 22:25-26). When the Jews returned home to Jerusalem from captivity, they were prophesied to act differently. Ezekiel writes: “Moreover, they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean” (44:23). What about the NT? The principle of profaning the divine is just as true today as it was then as we shall see in this brief treatise. Ignorance of God’s word is the primary cause of profaning the divine today. Hosea wrote: “my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (4:6a). The apostle Paul prayed the following prayer for the Philippian church: “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent (“distinguish between the things that differ,” or GK. “prove things differing”), in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ” (Phil. 1:9-10). Real knowledge gives discerning power which is necessary to judge between good and evil (Heb. 5:12). This is why we must be diligent in our study of God’s word, accurately handling the word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15). THE EASTSIDE ENCOURAGER A publication of the Eastside church of Christ Shelbyville, TN 1803 Madison St. Shelbyville, TN 37160 www.churchateastside.com Dec,3, 2017 Application God has made known His will clearly so there is no excuse. We now have all the truth, the mind of God revealed so we can read and understand it. Therefore, any deviation from the divine plan which God has spoken is a profaning of the divine. Christ promised to build His church and add to it all who believe and obey him (Matt. 16:18; Acts 2:47; Heb. 5:8-9). The very existence of denominationalism is a flagrant profaning of the divine.