Circular Letter
Sequatchie Valley Association
2005
Having been asked to again write this letter to be
circulated among the churches of the Sequatchie Valley Association, I thank God
for his blessings during this session. We were blessed to see the leadership of
the Holy Spirit as each servant of God spoke on one central theme, Jesus
Christ. We were made to rejoice as one by one each minister, by the preached
word, painted a beautiful portrait of Christ who is in control of all things,
surrounded by his love, mercy, and grace.
We are reminded that even the gates of hell will never
prevail against Christ's church, because he loves her so much. We who also love
the church, and the cause of Christ, being concerned for her welfare, are often
grieved at an apparent decline. We often wonder; what can we do! All too often
we look to things that appeal to the flesh rather than the spirit. The church
was not founded upon, nor can she survive, upon natural things, only upon the
foundation of Jesus Christ.
There was a time when Israel feared for her existence. She
was under a cloud of threat of Assyrian domination. Her hope of deliverance was
in a strong King; but he, as all men, died. Their confidence was in King Uzziah
rather than God. Because of their continual disobedience and idolatry God was
turning them over to their enemies. As we look at them we are reminded that we
are, as they were, great sinners, but God is a greater Savior. Although from
time to time they were cast down they were not destroyed.
To see Christ in all his beauty and glory is the greatest blessing
a church can have. Isaiah was so blessed as he went into the temple after the
death of King Uzziah, to see Christ in this manner. Isaiah 6:1 " In the
year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and
lifted up, and his train filled the temple." There was room for nothing
else in that magnificent temple except Christ. "His train filled the
temple". The temple was filled with his beauty and praise. Oh that this
was the only thing we looked for in our churches today!
As God comforted Israel then, he also comforts us today.
Isaiah 40:1 "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
2 Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that
her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received
of the LORD'S hand double for all her sins."
Elder Howard Pippin
Chattanooga, TN
August 20, 2005