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Gospel

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Digging Deep 2024–Reveal is 3 days away!

Posted on August 16, 2023

Photo courtesy Rachel Valentin

I can hardly wait. But waiting is the least of my worries this morning. If God lets us get to Saturday on this planet, something important is happening. I mean it’s surely not important because of any merit of any person or group of people. This importance is not because of financial, cultural, or political impact. In fact, what’s happened in the last year, in Digging Deep, is more impactful than decisions of state and party. What we are doing on Saturday, as we unveil a new year’s study in Digging Deep has the potential to influence eternity (an infinite time and space) for some soul (the most valuable commodity known to man)! I can’t really tell you how happy it made me each time last year I’d hear about some seeking soul who found salvation from hell and to eternal life as she studied along with us. I’ve prayed so hard for this impact from Digging Deep and, at last, it is occurring in our groups.

Last night, I spoke with a group leader in Kentucky. This group, which started with one person who was willing to invite others, now has 24 signed up to study this year. Two of these women are not members of the church of Jesus. In Arkansas, a group of four (last year) has grown  to 14 this year. Some were baptized to be in Christ and have the hope of heaven for the first time in their lives in 2023. And every time I open Messenger, it seems there are good growth comments and questions. I see Him answering and I see His providence working through our study. I know He has worked through His Word in all kinds of venues through the centuries, but getting to see this kind of working this close up is the blessing of a lifetime.

I am just profoundly thankful. I know you are, too, as you invite and study and explain and as you are bold for Him. I spoke with a woman who facilitates a class in another state yesterday who said “I am so happy about this growth, but I am just nervous about my own abilities as these non-Christian women are joining us.”  Oh, we all are nervous about our own abilities. Thank the good Lord who made this salvation possible that it is not your ability or mine that has any importance! It is the Word that is the power to salvation (Romans 1:16). It is God who gives the increase (1 Corinthians 3:7). And it is Christ, though whom we can do all things (Phil. 4:13)! If I can always just remember that it is weak little me, who has been outfitted by God–given the sword of His Spirit and the shield of faith, and wearing the shoes of the preparation of the gospel that brings peace to people–If I can remember that the power is in what God is doing through His word, I can be bold in my invitations, and unashamed in my presentations. I can just be a conduit for His glory! This is the amazing privilege that has been the biggest blessing of Digging Deep.

You can do these four things that I truly believe will bring Him glory this year:

  1. You can be bold to invite. (even if you think she is not the person who will respond positively.) Invite through your facebook page as I have seen many of you do. Be sure you tell girls they can contact you for information.  
  2. You can share the “How-to” video that is pinned near the top of the Digging Deep facebook page. Link women up to the page. 
  3. You can pray daily and deeply for souls that may be reached through this avenue. 
  4. You can be present in the ballroom at PTP on Saturday at 12:30 EST or watch the video that will be aired on the DD Facebook page simultaneously with the PTP event (and from there, spread the Word about this year’s study.) 

You can do all of this without financial burdens or extensive preparation. But it is mission work. It is truly evangelism.  It is a mission and we are a mission team. If you are inviting folks to dig, don’t ever say you have not done mission work. You’re in the trenches! This is one mission among many happening in our churches, but some of you are on your first missionary “journey”. I pray God will continue adding to His church those who are being saved (Acts 2:47) and that he will keep calling women disciples “Christians” (Acts 1126) as a result of invitations by common women of God like you and me. He does, consistently, more than we ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20). Digging Deep is personal and powerful evidence that we serve the God of  more. He still saves to the uttermost (Hebrews 7:25)! I know we will praise and glorify Him together this year!

(And now, back to the packing, the making (bracelets and keychains and– oh yeah– breakfast), the study for all those lessons, the powerpoint and the frenzy of getting to Saturday! And I am way excited about all the hugging. That’s the best part between now and Saturday! When you watch God work from afar through the lives of women all around this country and then you come together, the hugs and the stories and the spiritual feasting just may be the highest mountaintop this side of the Jordan! I cannot wait to “wander in that Wilderness!”)

 

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Family Bible Week–It’s about Eternity.

Posted on July 18, 2022

Family Bible Week at West Huntsville is this week! The Gospel Railroad. It’s at 6:30 through Wednesday night. Dr. Bible is there and there’s a candy bandit. (Right now, the candy jar has been stolen and we have NO idea where that bandit has stashed it!) The kids made FBW photos last night and frames for the fridge. They watched lively re-enactments of conversion examples. They sang their hearts out and they learned songs about what it takes to be saved. They entered contests and they rode a real train through the halls of the building. I heard the conductor asking them questions about the Bible as they rode along and waved at spectators in the hall. They watched a puppet show about forgiveness. This is what spiritually focused memories are made of.

On Sundays, for FBW month, the pulpit has been focused on these four examples of conversion that are the focus of this week. The children fill out sheets during the lessons in our worship that help them listen, too. The examples of obedience to the gospel that are the focus this month are the Ethiopian, the Philippian jailer, Cornelius and Saul. Did you know they all did exactly the same thing to get into Christ? There was a recognizable moment in each of these accounts from Acts when sins were washed away. The moment is described for Saul in Acts 22:16. The jailer went out, at the risk of his life in Acts 16, in the middle of the night, to accomplish this washing. The Ethiopian saw water and said “Why are we waiting? Here is water.” And Cornelius was a good man—a really good man—but still had to have the washing before he could be saved. (Notice verses 1-3 of Acts 10 and then look at verse 14 of chapter 11). While the whole world says baptism has nothing to do with salvation, we have to keep telling the whole world what Jesus said “Go into all the world and teach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized shall be saved.” 

This week is about believing–building faith in little souls. The goal is for their hearts to know what to do about sin when it one day rears its ugly head in their lives. We all encounter and fall to sin at some point (for me, it’s lots of points), and all of us need the grace given in the waters of obedient faith. 

I hope you can take the time to listen to one of the following lessons from the book of Acts. I know most readers are secure in the knowledge of salvation and are busy telling others the gospel.  If you are not positive you’ve done what the Bible requires of you to have eternal salvation, this listen could be the most important 30 minutes of your life. Here are the lessons. If I can help you become a Christian-secure in salvation and headed for heaven—I’d love to do that. Let’s talk: cindycolley@gmail.com.

https://westhuntsville.org/sermons/the-conversions-of-lydia-and-the-jailer/

https://westhuntsville.org/sermons/cornelius-conversion/

https://westhuntsville.org/sermons/the-ethiopian-eunuchs-conversion/

Saul’s Conversion

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Digging Deep–Still a Simple Catch-up!

Posted on September 27, 2021

The podcast is happening tomorrow night at 7 CST here: https://livestream.com/whcoc/for-women. I hope you will join the live-stream version so we can have your written comments. Create an account and log in, if possible, so we will know you’re there. This discussion is beneficial to me, for sure, and I know you will help others with your comments and questions. We will try to hit anything you bring up that’s been challenging or rewarding in this month’s study.

PLEASE, please invite your “non-churched” friends or friends of other faiths. Women who have sincere hearts, who want to know the good news for their souls WILL learn it if they dig with us this year. It will be an inescapable, but tender revelation from the Savior–an invitation from the One who bore our iniquities and was smitten for our griefs (Is. 53). Invite sisters, too, who can invite others who need the gospel.

Remind newcomers to watch the how-to video here (https://thecolleyhouse.org/digging-deep-introduction-video) and remind them that the catch-up is easy at least though the month of October. Further, even if you jump in at any point, you’ll be blessed, because this is the story of Jesus in its purest form. Everyone should know and study and love this story above all others. Write on my heart every word!

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Are You New to the Dig? This Is for You.

Posted on January 16, 2020

It’s an amazing blessing that we now have over 7500 women in the Digging Deep Bible study group. We work hard to insure that the group is a safe place for us to concentrate on the Word and grow spiritually. That’s why it’s sometimes necessary to exclude someone from the group. We don’t do this lightly because our purpose is always souls in heaven, in the end, and so we want those who have a curiosity about the Word  to be able to begin their investigation here–with women who are so dedicated to and in love with the holy words of Scripture. Occasionally, though, someone, who is an open “attacker” of faith and the Word of God will ask to become a member. Because we must protect the sincere seekers  and the integrity and purpose of our group, we have to decline those who are obviously attempting spiritual harm or to lead away those who are hungering and thirsting for righteousness.

Because of the new system Facebook has adopted of helping to match people with groups in which their profiles show that they may have an interest, we have many new and diverse members. Perhaps there are some reading who are seeking God’s plan for life. Maybe you are not involved in any body of believers and you would very much like personal contact and study. You want to be saved, in the end, but, in a world of religious chaos, it’s difficult to know what, exactly, is God’s plan for your  salvation. I’d love to personally help you. And yet the help I can give is only though the Word of God. I will offer no other source of information about salvation than the New Testament of Jesus. But there are no parts of that covenant that are off-limits for discussion. Those who investigate find that the gospel’s plan of salvation is given with unbelievable clarity and simplicity in the New Testament. Jesus did not want it to be complicated and confusing. If we get rid of preconceived ideas that the devil would have us believe (After all, he is the father of lies…Jn. 8:44), then we can have our sins washed away and walk in His light with simple, decisive obedience.

If you are without Christ’s salvation today, you are in need. I’m no more worthy of that salvation than anyone else, but I praise Him that, because of His grace, my life has purpose and meaning and goals that make every struggle and place of despair still resonate with hope. I’ve often said that we can do anything for a lifetime. It’s true. There will be times in your life that will be incredibly hard. There may be things you have to sacrifice in order to follow the Lord. But those sacrifices and challenges are very short-lived when compared to eternity with God.

If I can help you, email me at byhcontest@gmail.com. I do not have any private access to His great gift of salvation. The gospel is for all. But it’s unbelievably simple to understand and its precious invitation is open to us all.

With many prayers for Digging Deep and especially for searching souls!

Cindy

p.s. I forgot to mention that there’s certainly nothing to purchase or any obligation if you do email me. No email address will ever be shared. I just am all about study of the Word– anywhere–even though email or Facebook.

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Sister to Sister: My Life on a Cart

Posted on August 29, 2019

Polishing the Pulpit (https://polishingthepulpit.com) is a conference for Christians, held annually in Sevierville, TN and it’s become a 5500-person fellowship/teaching event that’s unlike any other; both in great potential for the gospel’s spread and in popularity with gospel-followers. As you can guess by its name, it began as a little workshop for preachers and has developed in 25 short years to be a power-house conference (because of His power) that has meaty and practical sessions for all of God’s people. As one of the audio and video technicians, who gave his life to Christ in baptism at the end of the week said “Where can you find this many people who are just this nice?” I love that assessment.

I know the devil would love to worm his way into this event, but God’s people there, both leadership (the elders of the Jacksonville church of Christ) and attendees, are determined to keep a sound and unified event. It’s become a family (both physical family and spiritual family) reunion for the Colleys, to which we look with great anticipation every year. 

As we left the convention center this year, I took a long look at our luggage cart, and there I saw a huge conglomeration that’s now still a big pile in my bedroom floor. But looking at that cart, I saw a small cross-section of my whole world.  I could look at that all-too-familiar hotel cart and see my life–the things that I love and the things I do–rolling across that parking lot.  Some of the things were meaningful in a long-term way. Some, like the number of pairs of shoes I’d brought along, were just extra and unneeded baggage. I looked at that cart and contemplated for a minute.  

I saw all the Digging Deep paraphernalia…my new DD bag that had carried handouts, books, baby entertainment items for worship, and bread to give away before my classes began; my Digging Deep t-shirt and the old “Authority” book from which I’d taught a couple of times through the week. And my brand new “Glory” book was also somewhere on the cart. There was even a shovel, a rake and a hoe, given to me by one of the Georgia diggers . Digging Deep was everywhere on the cart.

There was stuff from the Digging Deep Israel trip: a large group photo given to us by John and Carla Moore as they packed up the Bible Land Passages table in the Exhibit Hall. At the very top of the cart was the ram’s head with real ram’s horns, given to us by fellow Israel traveler, Caysi McDonald. Lindsay VanHook put them on the head she crafted and Linzee Stephenson mounted the ram’s head on a wooden spatula. It served us well, at the climax of the Mount Moriah scene, in Family Bible week at West Huntsville and then at Family Bible time in the Atrium with a hundred or so kids.

There were a lot of grandchildren things on that cart. There was my Bernina sewing bag, a big white laundry basket that had served to transport a bunch of birthday gifts and decorations for little Maggie’s first family birthday party, held just outside the atrium, after the crowds had exited on Thursday. There was a big black plastic garbage bag that had served to hide the 34-year-old red and white wooden scooter that Glenn had made for Caleb for his first birthday; now being passed along to Maggie (She loved it, repeating over and over “Brooom, brooom!” as she pushed it around by the wooden handle bars.)  The big bag was now full of laundry awaiting the wash.  There were leftover snack bags and boxes; surprises we’d brought to tape on the hotel room doors of the grandkids. The grands were fully represented on the cart.

My sisters were there, too. The little trinkets and treats and notes of encouragement that so many sweet friends had shared were rolling, too, in various bags and cases.

There was a computer printer, two large Bibles, a portfolio for organizing lessons, two lap-tops and an iPad, a large commentary and a big package of computer paper. It’s the way we roll when we are speaking in a total combined  number of sessions that exceeds thirty. There was even a coffee maker and a bag of Keurig cups to keep us burning the midnight oil. And there were dress clothes for all those speeches. And dress shoes and ties and scarves and there was a bag of brand new socks for Glenn because he has that propensity for leaving his at home. (He has that propensity in common with Don Blackwell. We went to Israel and washed the same pair of socks every.single.day.) 

I guess I could go on listing blessings on that cart. But the thing that struck me is  this: Your stuff represents your heart. Obviously, the stuff on the cart is the stuff I didn’t want to do without for a week-and-a-half.  Jesus said something in the same vein over in Luke 6:34

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 

By the time we left, I noticed the world was refilling the empty hotel. Carts were coming in with vastly different loads; carts pushed by people who were almost naked—carts that held luggage and beer and swimsuits and water shoes and tickets to the pleasures of the world around us. My husband commented that after watching Christians crowd those hotel hallways for a week, it was very shocking to see the world. We probably need to keep on being a little shocked. 

It’s also very motivating. Think about the diffusion of those 5500 people into a world that pushes the wrong load. Think about what we can do if every one of us invites one person to study the Bible with us monthly between now and our next gathering in Sevierville. Think about what we can do if each family has Family Bible Time daily for all 355 days between now and the next PTP. Think about how much stronger our families will be if every mother at PTP studies the Word deeply every day between now and next August 12th. Think about how much of an effectual working will occur if every woman who left that place is fervently in daily prayer for this entire year. Think about the power of a diffusion. How many carts could we load for heaven? 

How many? How many could I help load, given my opportunities in my little circle of influence? I’m going to try to have at least one more packed and loaded for heaven before that gathering on the mountain next year. Will you try, too? 

  

                                                 

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Where is Your Sting? –(The Conclusion)

Posted on February 26, 2018

The sting of death is sin.

Perhaps it seems a distasteful subject on which to spend eight successive posts and all the thought behind them; but death is an unrelenting common denominator to all people of all eras, nationalities and stations. Death is the unbending end. It is the unchanging destination to which all of us travel. We do not change our minds about the unspoken final entry into the universal journal.  So, why should we not spend time thinking about its ramifications? And why should such a natural passage be so very uncomfortable to approach in conversation or writing? 

It’s because what lies beyond it is universally unknown. No one that you know today can tell you about what is on the other side. You will never have lunch with someone who can tell you about a trip beyond death. You will not read a best-seller by someone who has returned from the land beyond death (though there have been many claims). So death is shrouded by mystery. It scares us and we prefer not to think much about it. We certainly don’t like to discuss it, and especially, we like to avoid discussing our own impending deaths. 

It’s only the Christian who has, by faith, a glimpse into the world that is already a reality for those who have left this life. And, for the Christian, that glimpse of faith should not be scary. Faith, after all, is not the substance of the the things we dread. It’s the “substance of the things we hope for,” (Hebrews 11:1). Truly, we are the only people who can, but we should be able to “look” over there with great anticipation and be ready for the transport of our lives when we leave this earth! 

The sting of sin is death (I Corinthians 15:56). In this marvelous chapter about the ultimate resurrection, we find these words that encompass all the other hurts of death. Death makes us regret only because of sin. Death makes us sad and lonely because of sin. Death makes empty chairs and hearts because of sin. Death makes its victims suffer pain because of sin. Death exists because of sin. Its introduction coincided with and resulted from the introduction of sin into our world (Genesis 3). It affects me, personally, because of my own sin (Romans 3:23; Romans 6:23). Death is the figure on the payroll for my work of sin. 

Further, there is no answer for sin, but the gospel. Only the gospel—the good news—can make something good out of physical death. That’s what I Corinthians 15 is driving home to the Christian. The law of works (or the law of the Old Testament) only confirmed and defined sin. It made sin, sin. Men learn how to sin by looking at a perfect standard—a law. Man could not transgress against the law of God until that law was given. Romans 7:1-14 is a deep discussion, by Paul of sin and death, in which he tells us that the law makes sin “exceedingly sinful.” It’s the law that gives death its vigor…its sting. 

Nothing—no sacrifice, no piety, no law of God—could give us any ability against the ultimate formidable enemy which is death. Only the gospel—the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus— could give us the victory over death. It’s ironic that one single death (and subsequent resurrection) could provide the victory over all other deaths prior to and following that one single death. Only a death followed by a permanent  resurrection could conquer the enemy that  had stung every human since the dawn of time. Only that good news could make Cindy Colley have a prayer against that venomous sting. 

And so the gloom of death—the pain, the horror the fear, the pallor—has all been eliminated for the Christian. The grave has no holding power; no victory. Death’s sting has been neutralized by the resurrected Savior. 

How foolish it is for any one of us—so weak, so affected by sin, so unrealistic in any bragging rights of strength or power against death—how foolish, I say, for any of us to reject the gospel, for it is the only strength we have against the sting of death. But the gospel is complete and total conquering victory over it. The grave is not the terminator for people of God. Why would smart people quibble over the simple requirements of such a gospel. Why, on earth, would people argue to their own eternal undoing about whether baptism really does put us into his death (Romans 6:3,4)—the only death that has ever held any power, any victory over the blackness of the “other” death that comes to all men. I want to be deeply buried in His death where there is no sting. When and if I lie in some hospital bed in my final moments, I want to claim the victory. I want to be able to welcome those angels. I want to hear my children singing “Be With Me Lord” because of their assurance that I am in Christ—in His death, in His victory. 

That’s why we should all spend some time contemplating death: because it is in our power at this moment to choose to subjugate death to a foe on which we trample because of the blood of Christ or to exonerate death to its ultimate victory over eternal salvation and happiness. If I choose the latter I give death the power: to sting, to enslave, to horrify, to torment forever. But why would anyone do that?