The Church of Christ at Tebeau Street here in Waycross, Georgia just completed a weekend meeting with Ron Edwards of Jonesboro, Georgia. Ron is a gospel preacher who preaches at the Jonesboro Church of Christ in the Atlanta area. He has been a gospel preacher there for 25 Years and is married to Jane. Together they have 5 grown children. We were treated to 4 excellent lessons and a bible class. You can listen to the lessons by clicking on the Ron Edwards link at the top of the page.

The first lesson called “Who am I?” gives a unique prospective on Genesis 1 and 2 with the focus on just who is every human being in God’s eyes. He brings out that we are created in God’s image and thus are image bearers for God in the sense that statues or busts carry the image of the one who is carved.

That is not to say that God looks like us, but spiritually we all carry His image none-the-less. Keeping this in mind, the decree by God for Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth was a decree to spread the image, power and glory of God throughout the earth.

Note, that every person that lives on this planet is a child of God in the sense that he or she carries the image of God. As Christians we are also image bearers of Christ and it should be our goal to fill the earth with the image of Christ by converting as many as we can to Him.

The next lesson dealt with the lineage of Cain in Genesis 4. It shows how their sin  was to attempt to live without the rule of God in their lives and to create for themselves a sense of security and well being apart from God. They set out to seek their own glory.

This is reflected in America’s mainstream culture today and is the greatest danger to our salvation. It is not what is the most sinful and ungodly that is our greatest danger, but that which is closest to what God offers that is the greatest danger.

Many people find their security and happiness in the world and have replaced what God provides with an apparently adequate facsimile to Christianity. This is our greatest danger and was the same sin that those in the lineage of Cain committed when they separated themselves from God and went their own way. Their destiny then became destruction in the flood and a similar fate at the hands of God, awaits all who do the same today.

The next lesson dealt with what kind of legacy we want to leave behind to our children and the use of our time, which is limited in this life. We should use every moment we can to the glory of God and to further His kingdom, so that we leave a good and lasting legacy to our children and so that it cannot be said that we merely existed,like Methusaleh (Genesis 5:25,26). We should live so that the angels in heaven can record that we have done much in the service of the Lord.

The final lesson deals with the story of the tower of babel in Genesis 11. These people sought to make a name for them selves and to overthrow the rule of God in heaven as well as on the earth. The result was that God confused their speech so that they might not attempt such a sinful thing because of their sheer numbers and common tongue.

We seek to do a similar thing on a smaller scale when we refuse to serve God in our lives and submit to His rule in our hearts. When we seek to make a name for ourselves outside of God we are committing the sin of the tower of Babel and will be condemned for it in the end.

All in all, the lessons this past weekend were excellent and provocative as Ron sought to spur us forward in our service to God as the Church at Tebeau street. It would we well worth your time to give them a listen and, as I said, you can do so by clicking on the Ron Edwards link at the top right of the page and then clicking on each corresponding link.

May God bless and keep you until next time.