Announcements, Books

James Bales – Romans

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We announced last week that we had reached an agreement to make many of the James D. Bales books available in digital format, and now the first one is ready!

Bales-Romans

Designed to be used when teaching a 13-week class, Romans is informative, instructive, and encouraging.  Within the 108 pages, you will find a great overview of the grand themes of this great epistle!  This is a great way to study through the book of Romans while keeping the whole book in context.

Each chapter contains several questions: some for remembering the text, and others that cause you to give deeper thought to the application of the text.  They are sure to spark some good discussion in the class.

  1. The Gospel in Romans
  2. Why the Gospel is Necessary
  3. The Law of Faith
  4. Peace Through Christ
  5. Why Christians Should Not Continue in Sin
  6. The Wretched Man
  7. The Delivered Man
  8. Not all of Israel is Israel
  9. Paul’s Desire for Israel
  10. Israel and the Gospel
  11. Therefore, Brethren
  12. Love Seeks to Please Its Neighbor
  13. The Gospel for Both Jews and Gentiles

This fantastic book is only $2.99!

Articles, Bible Questions

Bible Q&A – Lord of Sabaoth

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This is the first of what will (Lord willing) be an ongoing feature of TheCobbSix.com.  We plan on posting a new Bible Q&A each Friday.  Now, on to the question!

Why is God called “The Lord of Sabaoth” (James 5:4, Romans 9:29)?  I’m sure it means something, but I’m not sure what.–Anonymous

That’s a great question, and the answer may not be what you expect.  The word Sabaoth only appears twice in the Bible, James 5:4 and Romans 9:29.  Many people look at the word Sabaoth, and assume it is another spelling of the word Sabbath.  And so, most people just think that this is another way of saying “Lord of the Sabbath,” like in Matthew 12:8, Mark 2:28, and Luke 6:5.  But just because the words look similar doesn’t mean they’re the same thing.

The word Sabaoth means armies.  The best way to show this is to look at one of the places where it is used.  Romans 9:29 says, “And as Isaiah said before, ‘Except the LORD of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we’d been like Sodom and made like Gomorrah’.”  Here, the apostle Paul quotes from Isaiah 1:9.  Except that, in Isaiah 1:9, it says “the LORD of hosts.”

“The Lord of Sabaoth” in the New Testament is the same as “the LORD of hosts” in the Old Testament.

In the Old Testament, the phrase “the LORD of hosts” appears 245 times.  This phrase describes God as the one who has the power to destroy anyone who gets in His way.  It means He’s the military God who can control the armies of heaven and earth.  When you understand this, and understand what was meant when God is called “the LORD of hosts,” it helps you get a better picture of what’s going on in the Bible.

“For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘As My anger and My fury have been poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so will My fury be poured out on you when you enter Egypt. And you shall be an oath, an astonishment, a curse, and a reproach; and you shall see this place no more.’” (Jeremiah 42:18).

Do you see there how God identifies Himself as “the LORD of hosts” right before He promises to bring destruction?  Now, let’s go back to the New Testament and look at the other place where “the Lord of Sabaoth” is mentioned: James 5:4.

“Behold, the wages of the laborer who have reaped down your fields (which you have kept back by fraud) cries, and the cries of the reapers have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.”

Here, God is telling the ones who were oppressive to the poor that the God of destruction is coming.  He’s heard the cries of the poor.  And if you read the whole chapter, you’ll see that it was going to be bad.  Just a few years after this was written, Jerusalem was destroyed, and the people who had been oppressing the poor Christians were killed or made into slaves by the Roman armies, led by God.

–Bradley Cobb

Announcements

Website Updates and New Stuff!

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We’re constantly trying to make our website the best it can be, and adding new things  as often as possible.  Today, we’d like to let you know about some of the new things that have gone up this past week.

First, we have fixed a few problems with the store.  Due to someone not knowing how to type properly (won’t mention his name, but it starts with “Brad
”), some of the downloadable items in our store couldn’t be downloaded.  We think we’ve fixed all of the typos, and so that ought to fix that problem.

Second, we have added some sermons on our audio page.  One of them looks at Nathanael and Andrew for encouragement to live for Christ, and the other examines what the Bible says about “Calling on the Name of the Lord.”  We’ve also included a sermon from Ted Knight about building a beautiful church by living faithfully.  We think you’ll find them helpful, informative, and encouraging.

Third, we want to tell you about the new feature that starts tomorrow!  It’s called “Bible Q&A.”  Each Friday, we will take a Bible (or Bible-related) question that’s been submitted and answer it.  We hope that this will become one of your favorite features.  If you want to submit a question, contact us.

We’d also like to take this opportunity to thank you for reading our posts and visiting our website.  It means a lot to us!  Please (if you don’t mind) tell other folks about us.

Articles

The Blame Game

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When a team loses a big game, the fans always want to pin the blame on someone.  When there’s a problem at a job, the boss looks for someone to blame (so that the blame doesn’t fall on him).  When things were going bad for the nation of Israel, they looked for someone to blame (sometimes Moses, sometimes they blamed God Himself!).

The blame game dates back to the garden of Eden.  After both Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, God came walking by, and that’s when it started.  “that woman you gave me caused me to eat!”  “That snake tricked me!” (and of course the snake didn’t have a leg to stand on
).  But notice there that from the beginning people have been wanting to avoid responsibility for their actions.  Adam blamed Eve and God!  Eve blamed the serpent.  None of them would fess up and say, “it’s my fault.”

We see the same problems in relationships today.  If a marriage isn’t going well, you can almost guarantee that the husband knows it’s mostly the wife’s fault, and the wife knows it’s mostly the husband’s fault.  Instead of looking at themselves to find a solution to their marriage problems, they are placing all the blame on the other.  Things will NEVER get better if this attitude doesn’t change.

In Revelation 16, there is a nation being tormented with plagues, but through it all they refused to repent.  In fact, they said it was God’s fault that they were undergoing these plagues.  But they ignored the fact that if they had repented, the plagues could have stopped.  But still, even at the end, they blasphemed God for the trouble they had gotten themselves into.

If you’re having a difficult time with someone, ask yourself these questions:

1. What could I have done differently that may have kept this from getting to this point?

2. What can I do now to improve this situation?

There is plenty of blame to go around.  We don’t like the thought of being wrong, and so we fight against it, trying to run through every imaginable possibility to lay the blame somewhere other than at our own feet.  But in the end, we still must shoulder at least SOME of the blame.  Examine the situations and take responsibility for your part in the mess.

For the husband, the answer is probably to treat your wife with love, patience, compassion, and understanding.  After all, she’s got a lot to deal with–including you.

For the wife, the answer is probably to show your husband some patience, respect, and understanding.  After all, he’s got a lot to deal with–including you.

If all married couples treated each other this way, marriage problems would shrink tremendously.  After all, God is the one who said to treat our spouses in these ways.  And He knows best.

–Bradley Cobb

Announcements

James D. Bales – a Digital Annoucement

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He was well-known.  Well-loved.  Well-respected.  And he liked to write.  James D. Bales authored over 100 books in his lifetime.

He was also an intense researcher.  It seems that everything he read, he categorized and cataloged so he could easily access it later.  One preacher wrote to him years ago seeking some advice on researching a specific topic.  James Bales mailed him a big box of material (make sure you send it back when you’re done).  He was always willing to help those who wanted to study God’s word.

We are excited to announce that we have reached an agreement to start making many of James D. Bales’ books available in digital format!

This will be a time-consuming process.  We are personally digitizing each book, meticulously checking for any errors, completely reformatting them to give you the best possible reading experience.

The vast majority of Bales’ books are out of print.  But through this agreement with the exclusive rights owners, we will be able to make these available to you.  And the price is right, too! ($1.99-5.99).

We will make official announcements when new books are available (look for the first one next week!).

Articles

I’ll Procrastinate–Starting Tomorrow

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Nobody enjoys getting their taxes ready.  This is especially true for those—like preachers—who are required to save every receipt, and write down the mileage from every conceivable work-related trip—regardless of how short it may be.  It’s even more true when that person (won’t mention any names here) kept putting off the collection of those receipts and the writing down of that mileage until the last minute.  Because of this, he had to get a year’s worth of work done in one day.

As I’m sure you can imagine, it’s impossible to remember every little trip you made over the past year.  So, putting off preparation until the last possible minute actually costs you some of your tax deductions.  And we all know that if you don’t organize your receipts, some of them are bound to disappear over the course of a year.  Which means that also affects your taxes as well.

Most of the time people have grand plans to get organized or to lose weight (or to get their taxes ready), but those plans are always later.  We don’t want to do things starting right now because we know those things are going to be difficult.  We dread the diets.  We dread the massive cleaning and going through boxes and boxes in order to get organized.  But the longer you put things off, the more they pile up—and the harder it is to finally convince yourself to do it.  After all, if a small pile is enough to convince you it is too hard, what’s a big pile going to do?

Here’s a little secret—a lot of those things wouldn’t be that difficult if we started doing them now.

If one were to keep track of the mileage and receipts throughout the year, entering them into the computer or ledger book, then come tax time, everything would already be ready and waiting for them.

Why do kids dread cleaning their rooms?  Because they usually wait a week (or a month) before they actually start on cleaning it.  By then, it is a monumental task just to find the floor!  But if they would simply pick up their mess each night, it would be easier and quicker, and they wouldn’t have anything to dread.

The apostle Paul spoke about the need to start doing things now.  He told the Corinthian Christians, “On the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store [put money aside] as he has been prospered by God, so that there will be no collection when I come” (I Corinthians 16:2).  He was telling them that there was going to be a time when he would come to collect this money they were putting aside to help the poor Christians.  But he was also telling them to start putting aside money for it now—don’t procrastinate!  It’s much easier to do a little each week than it is to have to do a lot all at once.

The saddest thing about procrastination is watching people put off obeying God.  I have heard people say, “I’ll become a Christian later, but right now I want to have fun.”  The longer they put it off, the harder it will be for them to finally follow through.  Most people who continually put off obeying God never get around to doing it.

Change can be hard, but it isn’t near as hard as it will be if you keep putting it off.  Stop procrastinating and start making your life easier by doing things now.  It will help with your taxes, your weight, your organization, your family, your job, and it will help with eternity.

“Behold now is the accepted time.  Behold now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2).

–Bradley Cobb

Announcements

Fifty Years!

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Shhhhhh!  Don’t tell anyone!

Tomorrow, April 11th, is a historic day.  Bill and Rex Ann Roderick will be celebrating their fiftieth wedding anniversary!

Who are these people, you might ask?  Let me tell you:

He is a Yankee (born in Ohio), while she’s a Southerner (born in Arkansas).  They met in California in the 1960s.  In 1964, they got married in jeans, and after the wedding, he took her back to her parents’ house, because he had to report for basic training.  Oh, and one of them lied about their age on the marriage license.

They are Christians who have, for the last 40+ years of their lives, been teaching the Bible.  Bill (a.k.a. “Blondie”–even though there’s not a blond hair on his head) has been preaching at Gravel Hill as long as anyone can remember (rumor has it, that’s about 39 years).  Rex Ann has been teaching classes there just about as long.

They’ve had their difficult times (ask them about the time where he tried to grow a beard and she started plucking the hairs out one by one with tweezers while he was asleep).  But they’ve stuck together through it all (he’s been shaving every day since).

They have also both appeared on the Cobb Kids Audio Show (in episode 2, Jane’s Restaurant).

They are the proud parents of Jesse Cobb (and her siblings, too), and they tolerate her husband, Bradley (because of their grandkids).

Congratulations on fifty years, and thanks for showing what love and dedication can accomplish in a marriage!

Why not take the time to leave them an anniversary wish?  We’ll pass any comments on to them.

Announcements, Books, Restoration Movement

Pardee Butler–The Definitive Collection

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“By faith Pardee Butler became a sojourner in the land of Bleeding Kansas, dwelling in dugouts…who through faith subdued slavery, wrought righteousness and prohibition, escaping the edge of the sword. He was tortured, not accepting deliverance, that he might obtain the victory of the Gospel and establish an unsectarian, undenominational New Testament Church of Christ in the free and virgin soil of the great plains of the West.”

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An abolitionist, a statesman, a writer, a farmer, a crusader–but most of all, a preacher.  This is Pardee Butler.

The newest release from Cobb Publishing is Pardee Butler: The Definitive Collection.This 438-page book covers the life of this pioneer Kansas preacher from start to finish.  When you see what’s in it, you’ll know why we call this the definitive collection.

Contents

Pardee Butler: Kansas Crusader
This work, graciously provided by the Kansas State Historical Society, looks at the life of Pardee Butler as he fought against slavery and saloons.  And in Kansas, he won both fights.

Pardee Butler: Kansas Abolitionist
An extensive look at the life of Pardee Butler during his years of trying to make Kansas a “free state.”

Pardee Butler’s Reply to Attacks made by Elders Isaac Errett and Benjamin Franklin
This article was written for publication in answer to personal attacks made against him by his own brethren.  These attacks were made by the leaders who thought the best tactic to take in regards to slavery is to just not bring it up.  Of course, those brethren refused to print it, so Butler published it himself.

Personal Recollections of Pardee Butler
This is part autobiography, part history, and every bit of it interesting.  Read his personal account of being “rafted” down the Missouri River by an angry mob.  See how the same mob later tarred and cottoned him (they didn’t have feathers).  But even more than that, You will see his incredible love for the truth and care for the churches in Kansas.

Pardee Butler: Pioneer Minister and Statesman
This is the “final word” on Pardee Butler, written by his son, Charles P. Butler.  It gives a very balanced look at his life and shows that he was much more than an abolitionist.

Over a hundred hours of work have gone into preparing this 438-page book.  We know that you’ll enjoy it!

Kindle version is available via Amazon.com.

Announcements

The Cobb Six – is Officially Online!

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Today, April 7, 2014, is a day that will go down in history.  It probably won’t have anything to do with us, but we can dream, right?  Today is the day that theCobbSix.com is officially launched!

Take a few minutes and look around our website.  We’re sure that you’ll agree, we’ve got a lot of cool stuff here!  And there’s even more coming!

The Cobb Six are: Bradley, Jesse, Paul, Ivy, Savannah, and Deserae Cobb.  We’re a family that loves the Lord Jesus Christ, and loves each other.  We also love to make people smile, and help them get to heaven.

Really quick, let us tell you about our website and the things you can expect to see in the future from theCobbSix.com.

What you can see now!

  • The Cobb Kids Audio Show.  This show, done in the style of old-time radio, has been making people laugh since 2011.  We are constantly asked “when’s the next one coming out?”  To that, we can say soon.  But in the meantime, you can listen to all the past episodes and get to know the characters.
  • Cobb Publishing.  This is the publishing wing of the Cobb Six.  Presently, our focus is on religious books (including some Bible commentaries written by one of the Cobb Six).  Many of the books deal with the Restoration Movement.  Our books are available in high-quality paperback, Kindle, and in pdf formats.  You’re almost sure to find something that’ll interest you.
  • e-Sword files.  e-Sword is the most popular Bible study program for computers with Windows.  And it’s free!  These extra e-Sword files (Bible translations, commentaries, topical books, and more) were all prepared by one of the Cobb Six, and some of them are not available anywhere else!
  • Audio.  This section of the website supplies you with things to listen to as you work or drive (or even when you sleep, we guess).  Each of these audio files are available exclusively from theCobbSix.com.  Right now, we suggest trying out the talks that were done at the 2013 Restoration Movement Seminar at McLoud, OK.
  • Revelation.  The book of Revelation was written to a specific people during a specific time, and it was written to be understood.  When you look at what the Bible specifically says about the book of Revelation and the things surrounding it, there can be only one proper interpretation.  Please take the few moments to look at the introductory lessons on Revelation and see for yourself!

Coming Very Soon

  • Bible Q&A.  Each Friday (Lord willing) we will post an answer to a Bible question that has been asked.  This feature will begin April 18th.  The first question: What does “the Lord of Sabaoth” mean?
  • Used Books. We’ve got a lot of books, and unfortunately, we don’t have room to keep them all.  So, our trouble is your blessing!  Religious books, kids books, how-to books, and more!  These will be listed for sale in our store.
  • Articles.  Each week, we will have at least one new Bible-related article posted for your reading pleasure.  The first one is scheduled for this Friday!
  • eBooks. It’s really hard not to shout out what we’ve got in the works here.  Trust us when we say that it’s a big announcement!  (stay tuned–the announcement is coming next week!).
  • Short stories.  Most of the Cobb Six like to write stories.  These stories cover a lot of different areas, such as romantic comedy, super-heroes, and obsessive toilet-paper salesmen.  Yep, you read that right.  And we think you’ll find some fun stuff there.
  • Family updates.  Every now and then, we’ll post updates about important or noteworthy things that are going on in our lives.  If you already know us, you’ll enjoy them.  If you don’t already know us, you can get to know us through some of these updates.
  • Special announcements.  When something happens (or is about to happen) that we think is significant, we will make an announcement of it here.  Additionally, when we put something new on the website, we’ll announce it on the front page.  So, keep coming back, because you’ll never know what you’ll find!

Finally, we suggest that you enter your email address in the “subscribe” box on the right-hand side of the screen (you may have to scroll up a bit to see it since this is a long-winded post).  This will then send you an email each time we post something new on theCobbSix.com.

Thank you for visiting, and please come back often!

 

Announcements

Welcome to TheCobbSix.com!

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Yes, you’ve found us.  And we’re glad you did.  Our official launch is April 7th.  But since you’re here already, go ahead and take the time to look around and enjoy all the goodies that we have for you.  There are books, articles (coming soon), radio shows, short stories (coming soon), and much, much more!

The Cobb Six are:

  • Bradley Cobb ( Christian, husband, daddy, preacher, author, and random other stuff)
  • Jesse Cobb (amazingly awesome Christian, wife, mother, chef, singer, and lots of other things)
  • Paul Cobb (Christian, son, singer/songwriter, author, artist, actor)
  • Ivy Cobb (Christian, daughter, singer, bookworm,  chef, actress, editor/proofreader)
  • Savannah Cobb (daughter, lover of God, singer, actress, little cook)
  • Deserae Cobb (daughter, lover of God, singer, musician, actress, and stuffed animal lover)