Posts

Bulletin for 1-15-23

Birthdays and Anniversaries

None this week

Prayer requests:

Tommy & Regena Reames are improving

Rachel Prater, Dena’s cousin, Rodney’s, recovering at home. Prayers please.

Chloe Birdwell, relative of the Weeks’s, great improvement, in a program in Houston. Keep praying, please!

Paul Tyler has a bad sort Parkinson’s. Got stem cell treatments. Pray for their success.

Shirley Weeks, Steve’s mom, continues to have trouble.

Teresa Weeks, Steve’s sister, having age related issues. She has Down’s Syndrome.

Sarah, Chris Girvin’s sister, on hospice care

Robert and Sue Waller, health issues

Darla Nitti, Wendi’s mom, good report

Leta, has a recurring cancer, prayer request from her granddaughter via our website.

Tammy Jones, Weeks’ neighbor, kidney failure/dialysis

Article:

I am responsible for my actions

A misunderstood incident in Christ’s life occurred after Jesus told Peter that he would be bound and forced to go where he did not want to go when he was old. Peter looked around and saw John. He asked, “But Lord, what about this man?” Jesus responded, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.” John reports that a rumor came out of the exchange between Peter and the Lord which said that disciple would not have to die (John 21:20-23). The Lord did not say John would not have to die, but was trying to let Peter know that he should focus on his own relationship to the Lord and let the Lord deal with others.

Successful Christians must take responsibility for themselves. Paul told the saints at Rome, “So then each of us shall give account of himself to God” (Romans 14:12). He told the church of God in Corinth, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10). No wonder he went on to command them to, “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Prove yourselves. Do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you?–unless indeed you are disqualified” (2 Corinthians 13:5).

Each must plant the right kind of seed to avoid disqualification. Paul warned, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life” (Galatians 6:7-8).

Nathan, our son, enjoyed working in the garden with his granddaddy. One year he got his granny to send some seeds home from the garden so he could plant them at our house. When spring came, Nathan asked about the seeds. Teresa found the old pill bottle containing the seeds from granddaddy’s garden. Nathan assured me they were watermelon seeds. Though they did not look like any watermelon seeds I had ever seen, we planted them in mounds the appropriate distance apart. Sure enough, vines began to grow after a short time. Then, came blooms and, later, a slowly elongating green fruit. After several more weeks, we had some of the finest inedible gourds you have ever seen!

Why did we fail to get watermelons? We did not plant the right kind of seed! Similarly, those who want to go to heaven and attain the Christian’s ultimate “success” must plant and cultivate the good works of the Spirit in our lives! I cannot expect to plant selfish, worldly life and reap everlasting life in heaven (Galatians 5:19-26).

Many like to blame others for their failures. People blame the devil, their parents, teachers, society, an inherited defect, environment and hundreds of other things. Paul took credit for his own actions (1 Timothy 1:13, 15). He encouraged his brothers and sisters in Philippi to take a similar attitude by writing, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12).

You and I can begin to change the world by taking responsibility for our own actions. That could positively impact my family. Through them, I can improve my community. An improved community will certainly make my nation better and, if God wills, can change the world!

Gary Hampton, link to original article

Bulletin for 1-8-23

Birthdays and Anniversaries

1-10 Tommy & Regena Reames

1-12 Lidia Oviedo

Prayer requests:

Tommy & Regena Reames remain under the weather with covid.

Rachel Prater, Dena’s cousin, Rodney’s, recovering at home. Prayers please.

Chloe Birdwell, relative of the Weeks’s, great improvement, in a program in Houston. Keep praying, please!

Paul Tyler has a bad sort Parkinson’s. Got stem cell treatments. Pray for their success.

Tonita, Paul’s friend, heart valve replacement needed

J R Medellin, Tiffany’s (Chance) husband, still doing well. Vanessea is doing well after her surgery.

Shirley Weeks, Steve’s mom, continues to have trouble.

Sarah, Chris Girvin’s sister, on hospice care

Robert and Sue Waller, health issues

Darla Nitti, Wendi’s mom, good report

Leta, has a recurring cancer, prayer request from her granddaughter via our website.

Tammy Jones, Weeks’ neighbor, kidney failure/dialysis

Article:

Don’t trust the media

Wait! We’re not going to talk politics. Our subject and this site deal with spiritual things. The title sounds political, but it’s true for other areas as well. Here’s an example.

One recent morning as I drove to the bread store, I turned on the radio and, in the five-minute trip, listened to two stations.

The first was a station of pop music classics. Soon, a typical radio voice, modulated to inspire confidence, made a statement about discrimination. He mentioned a person working in a business setting, fully qualified, but facing discrimination for being … a homosexual.

I don’t mistreat anyone — every soul is a creature loved by God — but I don’t teach that God accepts any behavior either, which was basically the point of the public service announcement. So I turned changed stations.

Next was a religious station, with a Protestant, probably Pentecostal, preacher urging people to be saved. He apparently was broadcasting from a large building, appealing to people to step down to the front of the auditorium to be saved by receiving Jesus. Soft instrumental music played in the background as he repeatedly insisted with people on the main floor and the balcony to come forward. He even appealed to radio and internet listeners.

At no time did he point people to a passage of Scripture. His was apparently the divine word. People were to be swayed by his charming repetition. There was no mention of repentance. Nothing about immersion for the forgiveness of sins. Absent was teaching about the nature of the Kingdom of God, the church of Jesus Christ.

I was glad to get to the bread store and turn it off. It stayed off on the way home.

These things are old hat. Since the beginning of mass media, people have been preaching false doctrine and pushing worldly immorality. Nothing new there. With the internet, however, it’s almost impossible to avoid. Almost.

Mark this down:

It’s time to push back, as individual saints. It’s time to make conscious decisions about what we lend our ears to. It’s time to cancel services and give up programs that undermine our spiritual commitment.

If you’re listening or watching entertainment that contradicts your faith and justifying it as entertainment, you’ve not yet understood the nature of following Jesus. He demands that even your entertainment contribute to discipleship. When something contradicts his Word, get rid of it.

This is a radical concept to some. To the Lord, it’s the nature of faithfulness to him.

Let the protests begin.

J. Randal Matheny, link to original article

Bulletin for 1-1-23

Birthdays and Anniversaries

1-7 Paul Tyler

Prayer requests:

Rachel Prater, Dena’s cousin, Rodney’s, recovering at home. Prayers please.

Chloe Birdwell, relative of the Weeks’s, great improvement, in a program in Houston. Keep praying, please!

Paul Tyler has a bad sort Parkinson’s. Got stem cell treatments. Pray for their success.

Tonita, Paul’s friend, heart valve replacement needed

J R Medellin, Tiffany’s (Chance) husband, still doing well. Vanessea is doing well after her surgery.

Shirley Weeks, Steve’s mom, continues to have trouble.

Sarah, Chris Girvin’s sister, on hospice care

Robert and Sue Waller, health issues

Darla Nitti, Wendi’s mom, good report

Leta, has a recurring cancer, prayer request from her granddaughter via our website.

Tammy Jones, Weeks’ neighbor, kidney failure/dialysis

Article:

New every morning

Thanksgiving’s turkey and ham are now memories. (and now 2022) However,  just mentioning the word thanksgiving can transport me to the first moments of each morning.

As I’ve grown older, morning prayer has become an absolute necessity. For me, to wake up with the awareness the sun is once again rising becomes intertwined with prayer and Jeremiah’s proclamation: “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23).

When we arise from sleep, we might have plans for the day. Yet, unexpected news or events can change everything. Truth is, we do not know what the day will bring. Our future, even the next hour, remains subject to change. Such uncertainty creates a murkiness.

It is because we do not even know what will happen today that the steadfast love of the Lord is so beautiful and stabilizing. God’s love and mercy are like solid planks providing a secure pathway into the murkiness of the unknown enabling us to walk forward  with confidence.  God’s nature and promises shape these reliable planks.

Even though the day’s details remain uncertain, we can know where the path leads. Through his Son and scripture God has spoken.

  • God, who does not lie, will be faithful to his promises (Hebrews 6:18; 10:23)
  • God will not allow us to be tempted beyond our ability (1 Corinthians 10:13).
  • If our lives are built around pursuing God’s reign and engaging in what is right, we will have food and clothing (Matthew 6:30-33).
  • Furthermore, those who make sacrifices for the kingdom of God will not only be provided for in this life, they will inherit eternal life (Luke 18:28-30).

If God grants us breath to witness a new sunrise, a moment for joy and gratitude has arrived. It is a moment to once again thank God for what he has done and will yet do. It is a moment to center our hearts upon God’s faithful steadfast love as together we step into a new day.

Barry Newton link to original article

Bulletin for 12-25-22

Birthdays and Anniversaries

12-30 Besy Turcios

Prayer requests:

Rachel Prater, Dena’s cousin, Rodney’s, recovering at home. Prayers please.

Chloe Birdwell, relative of the Weeks’s, great improvement, in a program in Houston. Keep praying, please!

Paul Tyler has a bad sort Parkinson’s. Got stem cell treatments. Pray for their success.

Bill Grubbs, is home now and doing better

Tonita, Paul’s friend, heart valve replacement needed

J R Medellin, Tiffany’s (Chance) husband, still doing well. Vanessea is doing well after her surgery.

Shirley Weeks, Steve’s mom, continues to have trouble.

Sarah, Chris Girvin’s sister, on hospice care

Robert and Sue Waller, health issues

Darla Nitti, Wendi’s mom, not doing well.

Leta, has a recurring cancer, prayer request from her granddaughter via our website.

Tammy Jones, Weeks’ neighbor, kidney failure/dialysis

Article:

Steadfast love

“Let those who fear the Lord say, ‘His steadfast love endures forever’” (Psalm 118:4 ESV).

Time passes. Years come and go. We are at the end of another year which seems to have been much briefer and more fleeting than we expect. Yet one thing is unchanging. God’s love never fails! It is constant, enduring, steadfast.

The author of Psalm 118 declares that enduring reality in beautiful poetry and makes practical and pertinent application with which all believers can identify. First, he declares that God is our helper, who is on our side and hears and answers our prayers, especially when we are troubled (Verses 5-7). Because of him we gain victory over our enemies (8-11).

God is our savior, protecting us but also teaching and disciplining us as we have needs (14-18). He gives us access to salvation through his grace and power, providing whatever sacrifice or propitiation required (19-25).

The believer’s proper response to God’s love is gratitude, trust, and obedience (26-29). We recognize that we have done nothing to earn or deserve his love. He saves us because of his love and righteousness, not because of any obligation. The Psalm ends with the exhortation, “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!”

At this time of holiday celebration when we honor love, generosity, and thanksgiving, this beautiful Psalm reminds us that God is good, that he loves us always, and that he is unchanging and dependable. No matter what evils the next year may present, God is steadfast and enduring, always loving us. Let us trust in him.

Lee Parish, link to original article

Bulletin for 12-18-22

Birthdays and Anniversaries

None this week

Prayer requests:

Rachel Prater, Dena’s cousin, Rodney’s, recovering at home. Prayers please.

Chloe Birdwell, relative of the Weeks’s, great improvement, in a program in Houston. Keep praying, please!

Paul Tyler has a bad sort Parkinson’s. Got stem cell treatments. Pray for their success.

Bill Grubbs, is home now and doing better

Tonita, Paul’s friend, heart valve replacement needed

J R Medellin, Tiffany’s (Chance) husband, still doing well. Vanessea is doing well after her surgery.

Shirley Weeks, Steve’s mom, continues to have trouble.

Sarah, Chris Girvin’s sister, on hospice care

Robert and Sue Waller, health issues

Darla Nitti, Wendi’s mom, not doing well.

Leta, has a recurring cancer, prayer request from her granddaughter via our website.

Tammy Jones, Weeks’ neighbor, kidney failure/dialysis

Article:

God cares for his people

Joseph made his brethren promise not to bury his bones in Egypt. He told them God would visit them and they could carry his bones out of that land. Joseph died, his body was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt (Genesis 50:22-26). Those bones suggest the story was not yet complete.

Moses began Exodus with a list of the sons of Jacob who entered Egypt with their father (Exodus 1:1-5). The population of the children of Israel grew to fill the land. A Pharaoh ascended to the throne who did not know Joseph. His fear of the rapidly multiplying Hebrews caused him to deal wisely, or craftily, with them by placing them in slavery. They built the supply cities of Pithom and Raamses. Pharaoh might have hoped hard work would decrease their numbers, but they grew (Exodus 1:6-14)!

The king approached the two women in charge of the Hebrew midwives and told them to kill all the boy babies at birth. Their fear of God caused them to refuse to be a part of such cruelty. The number of the people continued to grow, which they explained to Pharaoh as resulting from the Hebrew women being more sturdy than the Egyptian women. The children were born before midwives arrived on the scene. God blessed these women with homes and families (Exodus 1:15-21).

The failure of his first two plans caused Pharaoh to tell the Israelites to cast all male children into the river. Amram and Jochebed, of the tribe of Levi, had a son during this time. The beauty of this male child caused his parents to believe he was specially favored by God. They hid him for three months (1:22-2:2; Acts 7:19-20Hebrews 11:23).

Jochebed placed her growing boy in a waterproofed ark of bulrushes in the reeds by the river bank with his sister set as a watch. Pharaoh’s daughter found the child during her morning bath. She adopted him and named him Moses, which means “drawn out,” because she had drawn him out of the water (Exodus 2:3-10). The child’s sister stepped up and asked if they would be needing a wet nurse, thus returning him to the care of his own mother. Moses thus came to know all about God and his people while being educated in all the Egyptians knew (Acts 7:21-22).

Moses “went out to his brethren” at the age of forty, apparently choosing to suffer with the people of God (Hebrews 11:24-26). He decided, without proper authority, to defend one of his brethren, who was being beaten, by killing the Egyptian. He looked both ways before killing him and buried the body in the sand. Stephen says Moses thought the people would recognize God had chosen him to deliver them from bondage. The fact that they did not is clear proof that they were “stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears!” The fathers resisted the directions of the Spirit (Acts 7:23-25, 51). The next day, he saw two Hebrew men fighting. When Moses tried to stop them, one of them made reference to the killing of the previous day. Moses fled to the land of Midian before Pharaoh could kill him (Exodus 3:11-15).

God’s hand can be seen throughout the beginning of Exodus. As surely as he did not forget his people in Egypt, he will not forget us. No wonder Peter says, “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:6-7).

Gary Hampton, link to original article

Bulletin for 12-11-22

Birthdays and Anniversaries

12-13 Jonathan Mendoza

12-15 Noa Best

Prayer requests:

Rachel Prater, Dena’s cousin, Rodney’s, recovering at home. Prayers please.

Chloe Birdwell, relative of the Weeks’s, great improvement, in a program in Houston. Keep praying, please!

Paul Tyler has a bad sort Parkinson’s. Got stem cell treatments. Pray for their success.

Bill Grubbs, in the VA hospital, sore throat, been unable to eat for several days.

Tonita, Paul’s friend, heart valve replacement needed

J R Medellin, Tiffany’s (Chance) husband, still doing well. Vanessea is doing well after her surgery.

Shirley Weeks, Steve’s mom, continues to have trouble.

Sarah, Chris Girvin’s sister, on hospice care

Robert and Sue Waller, health issues

Darla Nitti, Wendi’s mom, not doing well.

Leta, has a recurring cancer, prayer request from her granddaughter via our website.

Tammy Jones, Weeks’ neighbor, kidney failure/dialysis

Article:

Desire, numbness & goals

On the fortieth anniversary of her song “Physical,” Olivia Newton-John commented that back in 1981 this song was considered raunchy. Then she quipped that in comparison to the songs on the radio today it is like a lullaby. How can the salacious become tame? We know the answer.

The entertainment industry thrives on feeding fleshly desires. Will something tantalize? Is it a forbidden pleasure? Will it arouse desire, perhaps a private dark thrill? Then push the envelope! Offering the thrill generates money. Customers satisfying such desires only deepen their appetite for more.

Then it happens. The old stimulus does not excite as much as it first did. A certain numbness to the old stimuli begins to grow. To experience the same level of excitement requires pushing the envelope toward an ever more provocative, more salacious, or more forbidden pleasure.

The appetite creeps in from being a lark on the periphery toward becoming a  central life force; it seeks to become a relentless and demanding master. A pattern of decisions emerge seeking more. What feels like irresistible urges grow in intensity.

Paul aptly summed up this downward spiral where bad information has empowered pursuing the wrong goals. “They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.  Having lost all feeling, they have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.” Ephesians 4:18-19

The goal is not to feel excitement. However, there is nothing wrong in being excited. Pleasure is not the goal. Yet again, there is nothing wrong with pleasure. The goal is not acquisition. Yet, possessions are not evil. Failure to grasp what our Creator intended to drive our lives will result in hamstringing a life lived well.

If people will seek God and his righteousness not only will society be healthier but people can experience the life God intended. Joy, peace and contentment will replace emptiness, numbness and unfettered desire. Love replaces narcissism. And what was raunchy at one point of time will continue to be raunchy much later.

“Do not be deceived. God will not be made a fool. For a person will reap what he sows, because the person who sows to his own flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit” (Galatians 6:7-8).

Barry Newton Link to original article

Bulletin for 12-4-22

Birthdays and Anniversaries

None this week

Prayer requests:

Rachel Prater, Dena’s cousin, Rodney’s, recovering at home. Prayers please.

Chloe Birdwell, relative of the Weeks’s, great improvement, in a program in Houston. Keep praying, please!

Paul Tyler has a bad sort Parkinson’s. Got stem cell treatments. Pray for their success.

Bill Grubbs, skin cancer.

Tonita, Paul’s friend, heart valve replacement needed

Preston Downey, friend of Steve’s, recovering at home

J R Medellin, Tiffany’s (Chance) husband, still doing well. Vanessea is doing well after her surgery.

Shirley Weeks, Steve’s mom, continues to have trouble.

Sarah, Chris Girvin’s sister, on hospice care

Robert and Sue Waller, health issues

Darla Nitti, Wendi’s mom, not doing well.

Leta, has a recurring cancer, prayer request from her granddaughter via our website.

Tammy Jones, Weeks’ neighbor, kidney failure/dialysis

Article:

The Incomparable Christ

My wife, my children, my parents and extended family, my Christian brothers and sisters, my work, and my health are a few of the many things for which I am thankful. You likely have a similar list.

But nothing compares to Christ and nothing should compare to Christ in your heart.

Contemplate the gift that he gave.

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

This Word which became flesh, existed with God and existed as God in the beginning (John 1:1). He carried with him all the characteristics of Deity. He is eternal (existing prior to and outside of time – John 1:1), he is all-powerful (all things were made through him – John 1:3), he is holy (in him was life, and the life was the light of men – John1:4), he is truth (grace and truth came through him – John1:17).

God is Spirit not flesh and blood (John 4:24), yet this eternal, all-powerful, wholly other spirit being, chose to come to earth to become like us for us.

He was not forced by a superior being to come, he “gave himself for our sins” (Galatians 1:4). He was “delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23). If Jesus is God, then it was according to his plan and his foreknowledge as much as it was the Father or the Holy Spirit.

He was not the Son in eternity past, but became the Son of God in his incarnation (see Luke 1:36).

He never ceased being God. He received worship on a number of occasions (see Matthew 14:33; 21:9) without rebuke. Thomas’ powerful statement — “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28) — did not receive a condemnation, but rather agreement. Prior to his death on the cross, and after his resurrection, Jesus is God. Yet he subjected himself to the Father in all things.

“My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work” (John 4:34).

“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me” (John 5:30).

“For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me” (John 6:38).

He “emptied himself” by coming to earth as a man and “humbled himself” by dying for mankind (Philippians 2:6-8).

After his humility and shame upon the cross, his weary body was laid in a tomb separated from his spirit (Luke 23:46James 2:26). On that glorious Sunday morning, his spirit returned and reanimated his body. His resurrection is used as a guarantee of ours (1 Corinthians 15:12-20). He went to heaven in this body — though certainly glorified.

We know that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, the perishable cannot inherit the imperishable (1 Corinthians 15:50). Our perishable body will put on the imperishable, our mortality swapped for immortality (1 Corinthians 15:53). We will be changed, and it is then that “death is swallowed up in victory” (1 Corinthians 15:54).

Now here is something to rejoice in, be thankful for, and be awed by every day for the rest of your life.

“Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” (John 3:2).

When that great day arrives, and Jesus comes for his own, our spirits will reunite with our bodies, and will be changed to become like him. We will be (in some way) like him and with him for all eternity.

Thank God for our incomparable Christ!

Lee Parish, link to original article

Bulletin for 11-20-22

Birthdays and Anniversaries

11-21 Carolyn Anthony

11-24 Karl Jones

Prayer requests:

Rachel Prater, Dena’s cousin, Rodney’s, recovering at home. Prayers please.

Chloe Birdwell, relative of the Weeks’s, great improvement, in a program in Houston. Keep praying, please!

Paul Tyler has a bad sort Parkinson’s. Got stem cell treatments. Pray for their success.

Bill Grubbs, skin cancer.

Tonita, Paul’s friend, heart valve replacement needed

Preston Downey, friend of Steve’s, recovering at home

J R Medellin, Tiffany’s (Chance) husband, still doing well. Vanessea is doing well after her surgery.

Shirley Weeks, Steve’s mom, continues to have trouble.

Sarah, Chris Girvin’s sister, on hospice care

Robert and Sue Waller, health issues

Darla Nitti, Wendi’s mom, not doing well.

Leta, has a recurring cancer, prayer request from her granddaughter via our website.

Tammy Jones, Weeks’ neighbor, kidney failure/dialysis

Article:

Scoffing scoffers

“This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires” (2 Peter 3:1-3 ESV).

Jesus is coming again.

For two millennia deniers have been denying, doubters have been doubting, mockers have been mocking, and scoffers have been scoffing. Yet Jesus is coming again.

Some who question this are honest seekers. Others scoff with a façade of philosophy, but the real motivation is sin. As the Holy Spirit says, they are “following their own sinful desires.”

Jesus’ return implies responsibility for life here. Many do not want to be answerable for their actions. So instead of reasoning about Jesus’ return they respond emotionally, “Where is the promise of his coming?”

They look around and see that life has been continuing, and jump to the conclusion that he will not come again.

God has been patient with mankind. This should not be confused with failure to follow through with his promises. He does not wish “that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). But there will come a day when all these things will be dissolved.

We know the what — Jesus is coming. We do not know the when.

That we do not know when he is coming is a feature not a bug. This knowledge — of the what but not the when — should cause us to consider “what sort of people” we ought to be. We should reject the life of sin and selfishness and pursue lives of holiness and godliness (2 Peter 3:11).

Each day we wait for Jesus is a day we can use to bring glory to God, grow in his image, and bless others. We can even respond to the scoffers in a Christ-like manner. Yet let us not get bogged down, for there is much to do.

My friends, the scoffers will scoff, but Jesus is coming again.

“Take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen” (2 Peter 3:17-18).

Lee Parish, link to original article

Bulletin for 11-13-22

Birthdays and Anniversaries

11-13 Michelle Best

11-15 Ruben Turcios

Prayer requests:

Rachel Prater, Dena’s cousin, Rodney’s, wife. Bicycle accident. Brain trauma, back injury. Prayers please.

Chloe Birdwell, relative of the Weeks’s, great improvement, is home now, doing outpatient therapy here in Dallas. Keep praying, please!

Bobbie Taylor, Surgery went well, recovering at Sheree and Clay’s house.

Paul Tyler has a bad sort Parkinson’s. Got stem cell treatments. Pray for their success.

Tonita, Paul’s friend, heart valve replacement needed

Preston Downey, friend of Steve’s, congestive heart failure and pulmonary embolism

J R Medellin, Tiffany’s (Chance) husband, still doing well. Vanessea is doing well after her surgery.

Shirley Weeks, Steve’s mom, continues to have trouble.

Sarah, Chris Girvin’s sister, on hospice care

Robert and Sue Waller, health issues

Darla Nitti, Wendi’s mom, not doing well.

Leta, has a recurring cancer, prayer request from her granddaughter via our website.

Tammy Jones, Weeks’ neighbor, kidney failure/dialysis

Article:

It was not too late

by Lee Parish link to original article

He was dying. Everyone knew it. As he realized his days were ending only one thing was on his mind. One question permeated his thoughts: What do I need to do to be right with God?

After a heartfelt examination of the New Testament, he submitted to baptism for the remission of his sins. A few days later his body gave out and his spirit departed this realm, carried by the angels to Abraham’s side.

Though the majority of his life had been lived for other things, he came to the truth before it was too late.

These thoughts drew my mind to Manasseh. What a life he lived. Outside of king David, no other kings are as praised as Hezekiah and Josiah. None did so much good as Manasseh’s father and his grandson.

Yet Manasseh is a man who lived as wickedly as any king in Israel or Judah. He “did what was evil in the sight of the LORD” (2 Chronicles 33:2). He undid the good of his father, even building altars in the temple (2 Chronicles 33:5).

This wickedness culminated in him burning his sons as an “offering in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom” (2 Chronicles 33:6). He shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another” (2 Kings 21:16). His leadership was so toxic — so sinful — that the people followed him in doing “more evil than the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the people of Israel” (2 Chronicles 33:9).

God’s punishment was declared upon Jerusalem, “I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down” (2 Kings 21:13).

As part of this punishment, Manasseh was captured with hooks and taken bound to Babylon. It was here that Manasseh, in distress, entreated the favor of the LORD. He humbled himself greatly and prayed to the Almighty (2 Chronicles 33:11-13).

God brought Manasseh back to Jerusalem and it was there that Manasseh used the remainder of his life to undo what he had done.

Manasseh “took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built on the mountain on the house of the LORD and in Jerusalem, and he threw them out of the city” (2 Chronicles 33:15).

There were things that Manasseh could not undo. His evil influence on the people was hard to shake. God’s punishment was still going to be carried out. His son Amon was very wicked.

But it was not too late for Manasseh to repent and to find reconciliation to the God he once mocked. God forgives completely if one humbly repents.

No matter how wicked one may be, no matter how long they rebel against God, while there is breath there is hope.

Two brief thoughts in conclusion:

  • Praise God that he does not hold onto grudges like men! He does not wish “that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). Manasseh would have received a “too little too late” answer from many people, but not from Jehovah.
  • Perhaps you have a Manasseh in your life. Don’t give up on them. Pray for them, speak a good word for Jesus to them. God can forgive if their hearts will turn in humble obedience toward him.

Bulletin for 11-6-22

Birthdays and Anniversaries

11-8 Luke Weeks

11-9 Dan Anthony

Prayer requests:

Rachel Prater, Dena’s cousin, Rodney’s, wife. Bicycle accident. Brain trauma, back injury. Prayers please.

Chloe Birdwell, relative of the Weeks’s, great improvement, is home now, doing outpatient therapy here in Dallas. Keep praying, please!

Bobbie Taylor, Surgery went well, recovering at Sheree and Clay’s house.

Paul Tyler has a bad sort Parkinson’s. Got stem cell treatments. Pray for their success.

Tonita, Paul’s friend, heart valve replacement needed

J R Medellin, Tiffany’s (Chance) husband, still doing well. Vanessea is doing well after her surgery.

Shirley Weeks, Steve’s mom, continues to have trouble.

Sarah, Chris Girvin’s sister, on hospice care

Robert and Sue Waller, health issues

Darla Nitti, Wendi’s mom, not doing well.

Leta, has a recurring cancer, prayer request from her granddaughter via our website.

Tammy Jones, Weeks’ neighbor, kidney failure/dialysis

Remember Luis in his mission/church planting in Poland.

Article:

Trusting in God to provide

The Israelites, as the people of God, were to observe days of rest that were called ‘Sabbaths’. They worked for six days and then there was a day of rest. The rest was not just for the Israelites but also applied to those who worked for them and even to their animals. But Sabbaths didn’t stop there.

“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sabbath to the Lord. For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. But in the seventh year the land is to have a year of sabbath rest, a sabbath to the Lord. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest.’” (Leviticus 25:2-5 NIV)

We know it is good farming practice to allow fields to lie ‘fallow’ for a year without planting crops. This allows the land to recover nutrients as well as store organic material,  retain moisture and even disrupts the life cycles of pests (because what they normally feed on will not be present). Although science can teach us this today, God put this in his law to his people. It was good for the land, but it also taught the people to trust in God.

But if no crops were planted for a year, how would the people survive? Although they weren’t to touch any of their cultivated crops that came up during that year, anything the land produced without the help of people could be eaten. They had to trust God that there would be sufficient food for all the people as well as their livestock and the wild animals. This showed the people that God was the ultimate provider; even though people could assist through planting and cultivating crops all they had came ultimately from God. But that wasn’t all.

“Count seven sabbath years – seven times seven years – so that the seven sabbath years amount to a period of forty-nine years…The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines. For it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only what is taken directly from the fields.” (Leviticus 25:8-12)

If you have calculated this correctly, with the Sabbath Year coming every seven years, year 49 would then be a Sabbath Year. Year 50 was to be a Jubilee year, during which many things happened, but as far as the land was concerned it was another Sabbath Year. Two years, back to back, with no planting. How could the people survive? They needed to trust in God! They had to trust that God would supply enough produce from the land to not only feed them one year but for two years.

You might well ask if the people were able to do this. It would seem that initially they did obey God. But the number of years they spent in captivity in Babylon was directly connected to the number of years they had not observed the Sabbath years.

“The land enjoyed its sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfilment of the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah.” (2 Chronicles 36:21)

The people spent seventy years in Babylonian captivity. God chose this number to allow the land to enjoy the Sabbath rests it had missed, and there had been seventy of them. This means that there had been 490 years since they had observed a Sabbath Year.

What can we learn from this? One application is that time does not erase sin. Just because the people forgot, God didn’t.

We need to apply this in our lives and turn from our sins before we forget that we have sinned, realising that God doesn’t forget our sins until we have turned away from them and asked for forgiveness.

Jon Galloway, link to original article