Isaiah 55:6-11 6 Seek the LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near. 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. 8 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," says the LORD. 9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. 10 "For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, 11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. NKJV

This last week has once again proven the fact that God wants the gospel preached, and the power that comes about when Christians work together for the goal of spreading that gospel.

Glenn Colley has done an outstanding job in preaching the gospel forcefully, honestly and uprightly. He has been clear when he needed to make a point clearly; he was gentle as he said some words, lest he purposefully offended anyone; and he spoke as God would have him speak. He did not toot his own horn and talk about what he has done (or will do); he simply preached the gospel. As a result, as of this writing, one soul has been baptized into Christ. We rejoice.

At the same time, we had better attendance at this meeting than any we have had in years. Perhaps it is because you saw how well suited Glenn was in preaching the gospel. Perhaps it was because you knew that you could get involved and invite others to hear the gospel. We have not had fewer than 100 any night of the meeting—in fact; we have grown in numbers each night. Each number represents a soul, and souls are what God and Christians are all about. You helped in making this meeting a success by attending each night, by inviting others, and by a great and wonderful spirit of enthusiasm and cooperation. Can you imagine what would happen if we continued with this enthusiasm and cooperation, what the future holds for the church? Brethren, we are the church, and the church exists to edify its members, help the poor, and teach the gospel. When we work together for the glory of God (not ourselves) then “. . . nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them.” (Genesis 11:6).

We do not know the end result of this meeting. The gospel was preached! God’s word was taught, and Scripture tells us that God’s word will not return unto him void. God’s word will accomplish what God pleases, and it will prosper. It may be years from now, but someone, somewhere, may become a Christian because they heard the gospel during this meeting. Let us do what we can to teach more and more.

Beginning on August 23 (a Thursday evening) the South Cobb church will once again host the Fishers of Men Training Course. This will be a thirteen week series of lessons on Thursday evenings, with each evening session lasting about two hours. The purpose is to train members of the church in becoming soul winners. This will help you become more at ease in teaching others the gospel, and will help you develop courage in inviting your friends and neighbors to study. Further, it will help you know what to say when certain questions come up about the church. Some years back we went through this, and we had 35 baptisms that year. It can happen again. We are excited about the training that this presents, and hope that you will participate and challenge yourself to grow in the Lord!

God’s word will not return unto him void. Let us teach the word!