Springerville Church of Christ

Springerville Church of Christ We believe that the Church is the Body of Christ and that every other body is foreign to the will of God through the New Testament scriptures.

We believe the church to be not a physical building but the universal body of baptized believers living in relat

12/09/2025

A baby in a manger was not the God anyone expected. The Jews were looking for a warrior Messiah who would crush the Romans and restore Judah to the grandeur of Solomon. How else would peace come again to Judah?

But the wonderful thing, the unexpected, amazing thing about this plan is that when the prince of peace arrived, he didn’t bring peace by raising a bigger army, by being even more brutal than his enemies. That's how all other empires operated. But his peace begins by laying open the hearts of his own followers.

What I mean, as explained by Tim Keller, is this: “How does a surgeon bring peace to your body if it has a tumor in it? The surgeon spills your blood, cuts you open, because that is your only path to health. How does a therapist help a downcast, depressed person? Often she does it by bringing up the past, getting the patient to confront painful memories and terrible feelings. The surgeon and therapist often have to make you feel worse before you can feel better.

The Wonderful Counselor’s plan for peace starts with us, transforming what is wrong inside us, sweetening our hearts.
That is humbling. It burns at first with shame, it forces us to surrender our will, to let go of what makes us feel secure. But until we admit we are sick, we will never allow the good doctor to do his work on us so we can finally find peace.

Luke 5:32 NIV
I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

The Wonderful Counselor is seeking sinners who know they are sinners. Those are the only ones he can help. Those are the ones who can find his peace, but peace only comes after the inner conflict of repentance.

This is why Jesus is so different, so wonderful, so unlike any king before: he brings peace first and grows his kingdom first through creating people who are peacemakers, who love their neighbors as themselves and pray for their enemies, who have swallowed their pride and declare that they are in need of the same grace as everyone else.

It’s hard to quantify success in ministry. I’ve been doing this 25 years and I’m never finished. There’s always another Sunday and discipling is an uneven road full of setbacks. So this is what keeps me going: when God’s wonderful plan produces peace around kitchen tables, in hospital rooms, in marriages. It is when what used to end with slammed doors and yelling now ends with forgiveness. It is when I see church people doing the unexpected because of Christ, giving undeserved love just like Christ, living out a wisdom that is humble yet firm and clear-eyed, that doesn’t give in to fear, that is grounded and mature, that thinks of others more than themselves. That internal, sweet, generous peace inside them. It’s what I have seen, time and again, in the church. It is the peace that will conquer the world.

-from Scott Franks

12/01/2025

This is probably the most famous image associated with Thanksgiving. It’s Norman Rockwell’s Thanksgiving, the classic image of the holiday season with the glow of a house, and family and friends gathered around a table, celebrating together, eating together, much to be thankful for, surrounded by all that plenty.

But I want to take you to another table, of just three people - Elijah, a widow, and her son - huddled together around a very simple meal. In the pantry is one jar of flour and one jug of oil, and those contain just enough for one more meal.

Elijah is a fugitive from King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. God has sent a drought to punish Ahab's wickedness and expose his false gods. God directs Elijah to a widow in the nation of Sidon, but once they meet, he realizes he’s asking for her last meal. She's so poor, she is preparing literally a last meal, with no prospects for anything after that.

1KI 17:13-15
Elijah said to her, "Don't be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small cake of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. 14 For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: `The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD gives rain on the land.' "
15 She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. 16 For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the LORD spoken by Elijah.

It would be hard to believe, as they gathered around the table, that God was close by or that they had much of anything to be thankful for. But every meal in that house, for three years, was a miracle. It was just one jar of flour and one jug of oil, almost empty, that stay almost empty.

And we'd be witnessing God protecting his prophet somewhere no one would think to look – in the small, modest home of a poor widow.

And that widow, after she lost her husband, would have never been able to survive the famine, but God sent her this stranger that kept her small family fed.

There’s a message in that simple scene about yielding to God, especially in years where things are not all that we had hoped or pictured, when there’s an empty chair at our table, when you’re just getting by, when you are not where you want to be, when you keep waiting and don’t feel successful and you are wondering what God is doing.

But you know what? YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT GOD IS DOING! What he has prepared for you. How he is protecting you. How what is happening now to you can be redeemed later into a blessing for someone else. How he is consecrating you, forcing you out of your comfort zone to transform you, taking things away to give you something better, making you be still so he can work on you.

So wait on him, yield to his perfect timing, trust he knows best, and praise him. Because if you know who he is, you know he is always doing something you will one day be thankful for.

-from Scott Franks

11/24/2025

In some card games like spades, an important part of your strategy is knowing which card to lead with. That first play can determine so much about what you can pick up in that hand and your chances of winning.

No matter what sort of hand life deals you, you can always find something to be grateful for, some way God has been good to you, so when it comes to how you pray to Him, lead with gratitude. Start with saying thanks for all he has done before you ask for anything. As you wait on God, even when you can’t understand what he is doing, start with gratitude, and here’s what will happen: Eyes that seek something to be grateful for start seeing God’s fingerprints everywhere.

When you look for that one thing to be thankful for in every situation, you'll find God on the other end of it because every good thing comes from him. That one little good thing will point you to the endless riches you have in God. So however simple or small you have to go to find something to be thankful for, find it. Choose gratitude, and you’ll discover how present He is beside you, how much you are loved, and that will open your eyes to even more to be grateful for.

I know some Christians who are not very thankful people. They complain as much as everybody out there who are not believers. They seem to be afraid of the same things as people who don’t have faith. They get knotted up with anxiety as if their Bible is missing the page where Jesus says in Matthew 6 “Don’t worry about your life. Don’t worry, saying ‘What will we eat or drink or what will we wear?’ Your Heavenly Father knows that you need them. All these things will be provided for you. Don’t worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will worry about itself.”

Philippians 4:6 (NLT)
6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.

Church, let’s go into this holiday week with full hearts and eyes open to all God has done and is doing, and let’s lead with gratitude.

11/19/2025

Justice is getting what you deserve.
Mercy is not getting what you deserve.
Grace is getting what you do not deserve.

A young man shared that in his communion thoughts Sunday, and in it I heard what makes Christianity so wonderful.

Justice is fair. We want justice . . . until we are the ones who have done wrong. Then we want mercy.

Mercy is not fair, but we're relieved anyway. Sort of. It takes away a penalty, but it doesn't clear our guilt.

Grace, however, is better than fair. It's not just the absence of something, the forestalling of punishment, it is a positive gift so much better than mercy because grace is a welcome and a future beyond our guilt. It says we have potential to be transformed. Of the three, only grace requires love.

Jesus will return and bring justice, and he is indeed merciful, but grace is the one that reveals the astounding fullness of his love. Grace is more.

Romans 5:15 NIV
15 . . . how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!

-from Scott Franks

10/27/2025

Ephesians 5:22 (NLT) 22 For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord.

To modern ears, submission sounds demeaning. We think to submit is to lose agency, to lose our identity. That is not what Paul is endorsing at all. Remember how God defined the role of the wife clear back at the beginning:

Genesis 2:18 (ESV)
18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”

A “helper” for him is the Hebrew word “Ezer.” Ezer is not a servant. Elsewhere in the Bible it describes nations bringing military aid. Its most common use is describing God and how he brings comfort or protection or salvation. So if God is an Ezer, to call a wife an Ezer is obviously not devaluing her.

The word kenegdo translated as “fit” or “suitable” is literally “like opposite him.” Their differences fit together in a way that complements each other.

A wife is an Ezer that brings her strengths to make a partnership even stronger and capable. That sort of helper is never merely compliant; she uses her resources to empower her husband and contribute to the family. So as a helper, submitting to her husband does not require a wife to turn off her brain or never speak up. A helper can ask questions, can point out problems or dangers, can offer expertise and take on major responsibilities. In fact, to be that kind of helper means she cannot be a doormat to be ignored or a passive, timid, silent non-contributor to decision making. A helper helps. That’s active. That’s someone who engages.

But that helper also recognizes and respects the order in God’s design of headship of the husband.

Ephesians 5:33 NLT
33 So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

That’s how Paul sums up submission: It’s respect. Make him feel respected, encourage him to initiate and be a leader, build him up in that role.

But . . . what if he isn’t doing anything to earn my respect? Why should I respect him, let alone submit to him?

If that describes your marriage, I’m sorry. All of us – husbands and wives – fall short, but when you are married to someone who is not initiating as the spiritual leader of your family, who is not the Christian example you would hope for your kids, how do you navigate that reality?

1st Peter is written to Christians who are being persecuted, they are in unfair situations, in a pagan culture, but here is what Peter says is their role in such a scenario:

1 Peter 2:9 NLT
9 . . . you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.

You have a mission: to be a light, especially in darkness and mistreatment. Be good even when those around you are not. Be holy. Be hopeful and helpful. And then he gives them specific examples of what this means in various relationships:

1 Peter 3:1-2 NLT
In the same way, you wives must accept the authority of your husbands. Then, even if some refuse to obey the Good News, your godly lives will speak to them without any words. They will be won over 2 by observing your pure and reverent lives.

Think about these wives he is writing to. In 1st Century Rome, part of a wife’s submission to her husband was the acceptance of his religion. For most women, this would not have been a problem. A wife would merely add to her religion the gods worshipped by her husband. It was just a matter of adding another statue, going to another festival. A convert to Christianity, however, renounced not only her own gods, but those of her pagan spouse as well. Becoming a Christian, therefore, would have been viewed as rebellion by those husbands.

So Peter and Paul were talking to some women who had already courageously stood up to their husbands and broken social mores by becoming Christians in the first place.

This is submission volunteered by the wife, inspired by her faith. Peter speaks directly to wives here; he doesn’t say to the husbands “make your wives do this.” He speaks directly to her because this is a choice she is making, using her own intelligence, her own faith.
Christian wives were submitting as equals.

Just like Christ loves us even when we’re unlovely, just like your husband is to love you even when you aren’t very lovable, you are to respect him even when you don’t think he’s earned it. God says the two of you, as a married couple, are now one flesh. Your husband is one half of your being, of yourself. Being disrespectful and unloving to one half of yourself will not make you happier and more satisfied.

This is a hard teaching, isn’t it? But godly submission by wives and godly leadership from husbands will never come easily for either one.

Now that never requires a wife’s commitment to her husband to supersede her submission to God. Her submission aligns to her obedience to God. Never should she do what is sinful because that’s what her husband wants.

Acts 5:29 ESV
We must obey God rather than men.

But that commitment is, within obedience to God, that commitment is to be one. You left your parents to cleave to each other. That means your parents’ home is not to be used as a retreat from your marriage. Home is where your spouse is because you are one. That means no private cell phone that your spouse doesn’t know about. No secret bank account hidden from your spouse. You are one!

Your friends or your parents may tell you that it’s foolish to make yourself that vulnerable. But as Christians, the commitment we make to our spouse in marriage is actually a declaration of our trust in God’s faithfulness. Over and over in scripture, we are assured that God is faithful, he can be trusted, he will provide and protect, he cares, he sees, he is right there, and that frees us to love each other completely, to be wholly committed because we know that He will always be faithful, He will always provide. Even if our spouse ends up being faithless, our God will always be faithful.

I certainly wanted my daughters to get an education and skills that allow them to make a living whether or not they are married. But I also want them, on their wedding day, to be free to love their new husband wholeheartedly because they trust in the faithful love of God to provide for them no matter what. I want them to go into this with that level of commitment and, yes, vulnerability.

That’s real love, isn’t it? That’s what we want in our marriage, and that is what we can find if we embrace God’s good design of headship and submission.

-From Scott Franks

10/22/2025

In a Christian marriage, God's design is definitely male headship, but we’re all called to submit; we’re all sacrificing something:

Ephesians 5:21-33 NLT
21 And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

That sets the stage for everything Paul will teach in the next verses about headship and submission. Submission looks differently for wives versus husbands because men and women have equal value but different roles in this partnership. Here are excerpts of what he says to husbands:

25 For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her.

28 In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself. 29 No one hates his own body but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church.

33 So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

The word scripture keeps leading me to for describing biblical headship is responsibility. It’s not a license to do whatever you want. It’s a responsibility, assigned to you in God’s design for ordering things in a way that allows everyone in your household to thrive. What headship looks like in your marriage will depend on the personalities and strengths of you and your wife, and you’ll figure out how those dovetail together. But when it comes to your attitude as the head of your family, the ultimate, perfect example of a husband’s headship is seen on the cross. Look at Jesus hanging on cross. That’s what we’re called to.

Jesus was the perfect man. Jesus was strength controlled by wisdom and motivated by love. He was the man completely in tune with God’s will, compassionate yet tough, Lord and King, and him hanging on the cross is the ultimate act of agape love, of sacrificing for the good of others, so that others could thrive. That, gentlemen, is what we’re called to. Love your wives just as Christ loved the Church and gave up his life for her.

Young men, if you are not ready for that level of commitment to your wife and family, you aren’t ready to get married. It’s not what you can get from her; it’s what you are willing to give to her and give up for her. That’s why getting down on your knee is so appropriate. Taking a knee is an act of humility, of submitting. It symbolizes how you’re submitting yourself to Christ first and to the good of your wife and your future family.

09/30/2025

Genesis 2:24 (HCSB)
This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh.

You are not just one team; you two are now one flesh. That’s more than sexual union; that means your lives and well-being are joined in deep ways we barely comprehend. She is now half of you, and you are half of her. So as soon as you start thinking, “Well I’ll show her!” you, brother, are about to hurt yourself. You are about to lose.

Anytime you hurt your spouse, withhold from or belittle him/her, you are doing the same to yourself. You don’t win an argument when the other loses. Marriage is not about you winning! It’s about the team winning.

A perfect marriage would be 50/50 on everything. But you don’t have a perfect marriage, and you never will because you both live with a flawed sinner who has baggage. Since that’s the reality, you don’t want a 50/50 marriage. You need a 100/100 marriage.
Both of you need to be all in, willing to sacrifice even when it's not fair, willing to go beyond sometimes to make up for what the other lacks.

08/20/2025

Critiquing with Care

08/18/2025

Mark 16:6-8 NIV
6 “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter,

“Go tell his disciples AND Peter.” That’s an odd phrase because isn’t Peter one of the disciples? He was in Jesus’ inner circle, along with James and John. But now it seems Peter is not with the disciples physically, or at least doesn’t consider himself a part of them.

I understand why. Peter failed Jesus in a really bad way. All the apostles, including Peter, said they would never abandon Jesus. But that same night, all of them ran away when Jesus was arrested. But then Peter hung around outside the home of the high Priest to see what would happen. When others started to recognize him as one of Jesus’ followers, Peter denied three times, with cursing, that he even knew Jesus. And then this happened:

Luke 22:60-62 (NIV)
60 Peter replied, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. 61 The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.” 62 And he went outside and wept bitterly.

I know there have been many times I have disappointed God, when my actions denied the importance I claimed He had in my life. As bad as I felt at those times, I can’t imagine how much worse it would be if I had looked up and saw Jesus staring at me. When his eyes locked with Christ’s, it had to be crushing.

But one of the first things the risen Jesus wanted to do was reach out to Peter. Peter the failure. Peter the disappointment, the coward is one of the first people the risen Jesus wants to see. That’s the same Jesus who forgives you. I just wanted to remind you of that for when you’ve really messed up. You can be forgiven. You have a future. You are loved by the one who knows everything you’ve done.

-from Scott Franks

07/28/2025

Usually people talk about their “glory days” as when they were younger, slimmer, stronger, prettier. But we’re different, Church! If you have Christ, your glory days are not in the past. They are not even in this life. You won't find real glory here or now:

1 Peter 1:24-25 ESV 24 for
“All flesh is like grass
and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
and the flower falls,
25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.”
And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

Your glory days are not behind you. Whatever lies in the past cannot compare with what lies ahead. Don’t mistake brass for gold. Don’t mistake the fleeting colors of a cut flower for the vibrant, rich life you were created to enjoy forever. Real glory is in what lasts.

I know it can be tiring and discouraging waiting for that. Jesus gets that. In the transfiguration in Mark 9, Jesus showed his apostles the glory that was already his – and theirs - but then they followed him through unfair criticism, and threats, and temptation. It became so hard that in the Garden he was sweating blood as he begged God in prayer to let this suffering pass from him. But it didn’t. Not for awhile. There was still his arrest, his abandonment by his disciples, mockery and torture, and the worst was still to come on the cross.

But then . . . glory! There is an incredible freedom with the resurrection, a lightness as Jesus meets his disciples in his resurrection body.

If you follow him, that may be what your path is like too. Things get continually more difficult as age or a debilitating disease takes more away from you. You may look in the mirror with a lot of regrets, longing for a different time, grieving what has been lost.
Listen: Keep the faith! Keep trusting that you are loved and your Father cares and his timing is perfect and he knows what he is doing with you. Stay close to him, keep praising him, count the blessings, consider it all joy, because one day:

1 Peter 5:4, 6-10 HCSB
4 And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you at the proper time, 7 casting all your care on Him, because He cares about you . . . Now the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will personally restore, establish, strengthen and support you after you have suffered a little.

Suffering is in the mix, but it’s not pointless, and it’s not forever.

One day we'll reach the destination., when we'll say to each other, “Look at you, now that God has completed you! Now that you are free, in a resurrection body, free from all that was broken, now in a place where everything is as it should be, and all that is good will never end, and every chapter is better than the one before.”

Those will be our glory days. That’s worth sacrificing for. That's worth the struggle. That’s worth the wait. Keep the faith!

-from Scott Franks

07/22/2025

Jesus did not take opinion polls asking what people thought of him or if they liked him. It was WHO he was that mattered.

Mark 8:29 NLT
29 Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?”
Peter replied, “You are the Messiah.”

Peter was right, and that vaults our relationship with Jesus into a whole other, exclusive category: he is the authority, first priority, over everything else.

If his are the words of God, then the Bible is the most important book on earth, and these are essential words for us to read and know. If this is God, no other relationship is more important to us than the one we have with him. Nobody can do more for us than Jesus.

So no wonder Jesus didn’t ask what they thought about him. If he is the holy God, our opinions honestly don’t matter. He doesn’t answer to us. If he speaks the truth, then whether we agree with him or like what he says doesn’t change what is true and real. We must conform to him, obey him.

And no wonder Jesus never apologized when he promised we'd be persecuted for following him, or that we'd have to make sacrifices and deny ourselves and maybe give up some dreams and be servants to others.

Luke 9:23 NLT
“If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me.

He knows us. He knows what's best for us. He doesn't ask us to do hard things without empowering us to do them through the Spirit. And nothing we give up for him compares to all he gave up for us; he gave up heavenly glory while we give up earthly glitter. He took up a body destined to die so we could lay down our dying bodies and live, forever, in his radiant glory and perfect love.

To be a disciple of Jesus is a good life; the sacrifice is complete, the humility is hard, but the reward is priceless.

-Scott Franks

Address

1250 Highway 180 (PO Box 1028)
Springerville, AZ
85938

Opening Hours

Wednesday 6pm - 7pm
Sunday 10am - 12pm
6pm - 7pm

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+19283332032

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