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Stand for something greater than yourself
Pastor's corner
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The Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ was founded in 1919 in Columbus, Ohio, by the late Bishop R.C. Lawson. His teachings still hold true today. He penned the following:
“One of the most significant aspects of life is the power within the human personality to stand for something larger and greater than one’s self. The way we use ourselves, that is, our influence, more than anything else reveals our personal quality and high resolve. We can enlarge our lives in a representative sense, for we are all endowed with the ability and privilege of a large representative capacity, that is we can be more than ourselves.
“We have it in our power to stand for high principles and great causes. We may be small, as it were, but we can stand for great issues. In fact, it is the highest and most influential element in our power, i.e. to identify ourselves with something greater than we are, so that when people think and talk about us, they will think of the cause for which we stand and the institution with which we are identified. So great is this capacity that Jesus Christ laid hold upon it, and gives us thereby the inestimable privileged and honor of being His witnesses, ambassadors as it were, in His stead representing Heaven on Earth.
“In our infant life we soon exercise this capacity when we achieve an interest in things. In some way or another, all through life we are persuaded by and relate ourselves to people, causes, etc. In fact, when one does not stand for anything, they are not much of anything to themselves. Another writer has said, ‘If you don’t have anything to stand for, you can fall for anything.’ So we are what we stand for and what we believe. The higher the principle, the greater the issue, the bigger the person that stands for them.
“The faith of Jesus Christ, that is the New Testament Church, is the greatest thing in the world, and for one to identify himself with it and stand or espouse its doctrine has achieved incomparable greatness and stature. 1 Corinthians 16:13 says, ‘Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.’ (The same verse in the living paraphrased Bible says: ‘Keep your eyes open for spiritual danger, stand true to the Lord; act like men; be strong.’) This is apropos to the above philosophy. The Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ expects of its young people to hold up the standard of truth, to stand representing all that the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ means, to identify themselves with its program and objectives, and to defend and confirm the Discipline Book as the cogent expression of its doctrinal stand. To do this, one must be alert and watchful to declare and confirm God’s standard of salvation.
“In the word of God, we find nothing short of a holy, spirit-filled life with the signs (speaking in tongues) following as on the day of Pentecost, which involves and requires repentance toward God as the only grounds upon which He will accept a sinner. A broken and contrite heart He will not despise. Following this are: divine healing, the Lord’s supper, Holy Communion, feet washing, second coming of Christ, resurrection and translation of saints, the millennial reign of Jesus Christ and final judgment.
‘Finally brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever thing are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and there be any praise, think on these things. Those things which ye have both learned and received, and heard, and seen in me, do; and the God of peace shall be with you’ (Philippians 4: 8,9).
Dear Lord, let me be aware. Let me not stumble blindly down the way.

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