Monday, August 16, 2010

The new school year is now underway. I’m looking forward to my fellow Christian brothers and sisters being home again, back from family vacations and visits. It will be great to have a full house again when the church meets together for worship on Sundays and Wednesdays.

Our area monthly Men’s and Preachers’ Meeting on Tuesday was a good one. This fall we will be studying “Faithful Elders in Every Congregation.” I introduced this series with a lesson on the need for faithful elders in every congregation. Next month we will take a look at the qualifications of faithful elders. Brother Bill Young has served as a gospel preacher and also as an elder of the church for many years before his retirement. He is well qualified to present our program in September. If you have a couple of hours available, we meet every third Tuesday in the month at 10:00 a.m. in the fellowship hall. After the meeting we have lunch together at one of our local restaurants.

Lately we have had much to pray about. Sister Mary Dennison remains in the Providence Heart Hospital. The doctors are working to bring her system back into balance. Sister Elma Berrier is working hard every day at Heartland Rehabilitation Center trying to improve enough to go home. Brother Jerry Satterfield is doing much better after his sinus surgery a few days ago. One of our teenagers, Kyle Holton has had a tough battle with food poisoning and is on his way to recovery. Sister Teresa Reeves is improving after her fall and then her surgery to repair a broken elbow. Another one of our teenagers, Shila Johnson is improving after surgery to repair a dislocated knee cap. The past few days have been rough on Brother Jimmy Gist as he continues his battle with cancer. There may be others that I do not know about. Please remember last Sunday evening’s sermon from Luke 18:1-8. The widow was persistent in prayer, persistent in hope, and persistent in her faith in someone who didn’t care. The judge didn’t care for her. He didn’t care for anyone. He didn’t regard man or God. Yet this unrighteous judge helped her because she kept on keeping on.

Our faith and our hope is in the living God, our Father. He cares for us, hears our prayers, and is ready, willing, and able to help us according to His will and purpose. Our challenge is to keep on keeping on in hope, in faith, and in persistent prayer. Jesus said it best in Matthew 6:33; “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

This Sunday morning we will focus our attention on WISDOM – Why Do I Need It? We will consider what Solomon wrote in Proverbs 3:1-18 and make a list of the reasons every one of us should earnestly desire wisdom from God. Then on Sunday evening we will again look at WISDOM and ask the question; How Do I Obtain It? If you would like to read ahead, read James 1:5-8, 2 Chronicles 1:7-12, 2 Timothy 3:14-17, and 1 John 2:1-2.

Cindi and I will be attending the Polishing the Pulpit Workshop in Sevierville, Tennessee from August 27th through September 2nd. Brother Alan Larmon and Brother Allen Hutchison attended this workshop last year and really benefited from the lessons that they heard. I am thankful to have the opportunity to attend this year. Please pray for us as we make the trip to the Smoky Mountains for PTP.

Mark you calendar for September 25th. It is a very special privilege for us to have two wonderful missionaries visiting with us on Sunday, September 25th. Joey Treat from Chuuk will be with us on Sunday morning and Patrick Swayne from Melbourne, Australia will be with us on Sunday evening.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Our annual ALL NIGHT SINGING is this Friday night, August 6th beginning at 7:30 p.m. I hope you will be a part of this great time of fellowship where Christians sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs well into the night. We plan on singing for a couple of hours then take a break. The singing will resume and continue as long as we can.

Our annual youth rally; BREAKOUT 2010 is this Saturday, August 7th. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. Brother Caleb Colley will be our speaker and has planned some really great lessons on the Christian’s ACTIVE DUTY. Please make plans to come out on Saturday for this very special event.

Thank you so much for your positive comments about last Sunday’s sermons. To God be the glory because every lesson I present comes directly from the Bible. Are you a faithful Christian? Only a faithful Christian will hear Jesus say “Well done.” A faithful Christian “is” until death. Faithful Christians bear much fruit. Faithful Christians not only talk the talk, but also walk the walk. When it comes down to it, faithful Christians walk a different, difficult path from the rest of the world. We must not conform to the world. We can and must allow God to transform us by and through the word of God.

Some people seem to think that God will not accept them, that God does not value them, that God does not love them, that God will not forgive them unless their lives are perfectly in order. They are mistaken. Please don’t be mistaken! If this is the case with God then none of us will ever be accepted, valued, loved, or forgiven. I love to read the Biblical account of a father and his two sons in Luke 15:11-32. The young prodigal son made some really poor decisions. He made some sinful decisions. Yet what happened when this young sinful son realized his wrong and decided to return home to his father? Read it. The father joyfully accepted his son even though his life was sinful, dirty, and in disarray. It is true. We all are capable of making some really bad choices. It is also true that we are capable of making really good choices.

Don’t be fooled by the lies of the devil and those who are mistaken about His goodness and His will for every man, women, boy, and girl in the world. The Holy Spirit wrote concerning God’s plan for every human being in 2 Peter 3:9; “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, NOT WILLING THAT ANY SHOULD PERISH but that all should come to repentance.”

This Sunday morning we will consider the subject “BUSYNESS” not business, busyness. Our lives are about to get very busy again with school, homework, tests, sports, practice and games, getting up earlier, going to bed earlier, and everything else that goes with the close of summer. In our busyness we must not forget our first and foremost commitment to Christ and His church. We must never be too busy with life that our Bibles go unread. We must never be too busy with our own schedule that we miss the opportunity to help others who are in need. We must never be too busy to pray, to sing, to give, and to worship. Let’s make sure that we put first things first. When we do, all the other things will be in the right order.

On Sunday evening we will take a look at Paul’s words to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:6-8; “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” We too have a fight to fight. We have a race to finish. We too must keep the faith. What was at the end of Paul’s journey? Read it.