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Bulletin for 7-9-23

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Birthdays and Anniversaries

7-11 Bill Grubbs

Prayer requests:

Emma Reames new doctor, working it out

Chaney Reames is undergoing extensive dental work.

Gladys Ramirez tests on stomach.

Clayton Castle, friend of Steve and Dena, not well. Pray for parents, Debbie and Pat.

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

Shirley Weeks, Steve’s mom, some better

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

Sarah, Chris Girvin’s sister, on hospice care and not doing well

Robert and Sue Waller, health issues

Darla Nitti, recovering from a fall

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

Tammy Jones, Weeks’ neighbor, kidney failure/dialysis

Sarah Ussery, Chris Girvin’s sister, in hospice care after long fight with cancer.

Steadfast love

“Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel, for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land” (Hosea 4:1, ESV)

God’s complaint against ancient Israel sounds very relevant in modern culture. Like Israel, many moderns find love to be fleeting, circumstantial, and highly subjective. It is a matter of emotions – that is feelings – and therefore not subject to one’s will or control. They “fall in” and “fall out” of love regularly, based on moods, whims, or new attractions.

Biblical love on the other hand is not an emotion, though it produces much emotion. It is not a matter of how one feels. Feelings and emotions cannot be commanded, yet love can be and is (Matthew 22:32-40; Ephesians 5:21-22). Love is a commitment and a decision. Paul commanded Christians in Philippi to “have the same love” and therefore to “look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:2, 4).

True love is the commitment to assist in the well-being of others, even when that might conflict with one’s own convenience or desires (1 John 3:16-18). It is demonstrated (confirmed) by action, not just by statement.

And, perhaps even more importantly, love is a constant, not shifting or disappearing due to changing circumstances. Unlike Hosea’s audience, we are to show our love constantly and faithfully. Paul described this pre-eminent virtue as always abiding, in contrast to those things which are temporary (1 Corinthians 13:8-13). Other things pass away but “Love never ends.”

The prophet Hosea predicted harsh judgement against a people whose love for God was wavering, inconsistent, and fickle. In times of trouble, they remembered him and called for his help. But when problems disappeared so did their devotion to God. At those times they fell prey to the attractions of idolatry, immorality, and the lifestyles of their pagan neighbors.

It is in response to this confirmed pattern that the prophet asks, “What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away” (Hosea 6:4, ESV). The answer to this rhetorical question is provided by the prophet’s predictions of harsh punishment for their unfaithfulness and for the shallowness of their professed love.

We are well reminded today of the sentiment of traditional wedding vows: “In plenty or in want; in health or in illness; until death separates us . . . ” This level of commitment does not pertain only to the love between husband and wife, but to all bonds of love. When our love for others and for God is once proclaimed, we should recognize it as a lifelong promise defining who we are as well as our relationship to those to whom we have declared love. Israel did not recognize this and they suffered the consequences.

Michael Brooks, link to original article

Bulletin for 7-17-22

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Birthdays and Anniversaries:

None this week

Prayer requests:

Reames family, several members have covid. Tommy and Regena exposed.

Paul Tyler has a bad sort Parkinson’s. Please pray for him. His granddaughter, Michelle, scheduled for surgery

Darlyne Stewart, Karl’s sister, back at hospital on breathing support.

J R Medellin, Tiffany’s (Chance) husband, had a liver transplant yesterday. Surgery went well.

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

Campers and travelers. Several family members traveling this week

Article:

God uses imperfect people

by Jon Galloway

We know ourself better than anyone else does. If we are truthful with ourself we realize our short-comings, downfalls, temptations, and weaknesses. Sometimes we might think that God can’t use us because we are just not good enough.

But when we read through scripture we discover that God has always used imperfect people to accomplish his will. We might wonder why that is – until, of course, we realize that no one is perfect. All people have weaknesses just like we do.

Although Abraham is looked on as a great man – and he was! – we realize that he was not great because he was perfect. He was a great man because of his faith in God and his willingness to obey God even when it didn’t make sense. The same man who trusted God enough to sacrifice his own son was the man who lied at least twice about his relationship with his wife.

What effect did this have on his children? Were they the same way?

Isaac was the child of promise. It was through him that a nation for God was going to come.

“Now there was a famine in the land – besides the previous famine in Abraham’s time – and Isaac went to Abimelek king of the Philistines in Gerar. The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, ‘Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live. Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because Abraham obeyed me and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees and my instructions.’ So Isaac stayed in Gerar.” (Genesis 26:1-6 NIV)

So far, so good. Isaac listened to and obeyed God and God gave him the same promise as he had given to Abraham: his descendants would be numerous, would be given the land in which he was living, and ultimately all nations would be blessed through his offspring, his seed.

But then it seems almost like déjà vu. I’m sure this is why the writer stressed that this was a different occurrence.

“When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, ‘She is my sister,’ because he was afraid to say, ‘She is my wife.’ He thought, ‘The men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful.’” (Genesis 26:7)

But this was the child of promise! This was the one God had sworn to make into a great nation. Yet he blatantly lied about his wife due to fear for his own life. He ended up getting caught out but God still blessed him.

What does this tell us? Does it not emphasize to us that we will never be good enough. When even great men like Abraham and Isaac get caught out in sin it doesn’t excuse us, but it does offer us hope. If God can use men who sinned like these two, and we could add many others like David to the list, he can use us.

What is God looking for? He is looking for faithfulness. He is looking for obedience. He is looking for people who, although they stumble in their living for him, get back up and get back on the path. He is looking for people who “walk in the light”, people who are wanting to live right and when they slip up and sin ask for forgiveness, put the sin behind them, and get back on the path.

“If we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7 NASB)

link to original article