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Contributing Writers: Mike Mills, Spring Hill Church | Doug Fincher | Pastor Randy and Sue Smith | Mike Belgard | Tim Perkins
Faith
December 9, 2021 - I want to apologize in advance for the tone of this column this week. It just seems that sometimes no matter how much you try to help some people, the less you seem to accomplish. That said, I have had enough! I resolve that never again will I try to help someone.
Either I am too kind-hearted, or too stupid, but I resolve never to again be taken advantage of by some ingrate. During our cold spell last winter we took a man into our home out of the kindness of our heart. Truly we felt sorry for him, it was cold and he was trembling and we felt it would be a good thing for him to have a warm place to spend the night.
However, the next morning, he had just vanished. Not one word, no note, no goodbye, no thank you for sheltering me, nothing. Now, you want to know the ultimate payoff? I realized that there was a large wet spot on the living room carpet. Obviously the lazy bum was too sorry to walk 15 feet to the bathroom! That’s the thanks you get for trying to help some people.
So as I said, I am finished! With colder weather approaching, I want to warn you about this man if he should appear somewhere near your home and like me you feel tempted to help him. He is heavy set and will be wearing a scarf. His nose is orange and looks somewhat like a carrot, his eyes are as black as coal and his arms are so skinny they look like twigs. Do not under any circumstances bring him into your house as he will leave you with a mess to clean up! Gotcha! Have a great week.
It’s something to think about…..tbp
Join Us for Worship this coming Lord’s Day
Center Church of Christ
www.centerchurchofchrist.com
December 6, 2021 - Hope, peace, love, and joy are the themes, one for each of the four Sundays of Advent. Last Sunday the word was hope, and today it is peace. Dr. King warned that there cannot be peace if there is no justice. Jesus would certainly agree with that. We are moving toward Christmas Day, but it feels more like fall in October than winter in December. When Sue and I went to Saturday’s Christmas Festival in Joaquin, it was almost hot. I have been wearing short sleeved shirts, which is not something this cold-natured person does at this time of year. Joaquin’s Candy Cane Christmas was still festive—with carols, lots of red and green, and holiday crafts. Did I mention food? Booths and booths of that too!
My older dog Gunter had surgery last week: He’s now sporting a large blue cone around his neck to keep him from messing with his eye. I think he’s a little embarrassed to wear it, and I know it has to be uncomfortable. But Gunter has been a real trouper, accepting his fate, even including eye drops. He has a good appetite, and he and Sam are still enjoying their adventures.
I took beans and rice to Community Christian Services this past week along with a couple of church checks. I also took a very generous donation for someone who receives my weekly newsletter but doesn’t attend our church. The volunteers at CCS were so pleased! In December we are collecting cans and boxes of soup. Also in December I will start gathering data about the church for the “End-of-Year” reports, a regular part of being a Methodist. Reports must be turned in before January 12, 2022. That seems so far in the future, but 2022 will be here sooner than we think.
Our Sunday School focused on Luke 1: 5-25, 57-58. The story of the long road to Bethlehem begins with the birth of John the Baptist. This series of events is led off by the angel bringing the news of an upcoming birth to Zechariah and Elizabeth. This couple was old and doubtful. I think Ms. Fannie’s class was in agreement with the author when he said, “The secret of patience is doing something else in the meanwhile.”
Today we not only had a service of the word but also a service of communion and remembrance—Holy Communion. Sue served as music tech and Joe lead us in singing “Amazing Grace” and “Away in the Manger,” two old standards that most of us know by heart. The Gospel lesson for today came from Luke 3: 1-6; for the first time in the new Christian year, we meet that wild man of the wilderness, John the Baptist. The Old Testament lesson was from the prophet Malachi. When growing up in Trinity Lutheran Church, all I knew about Malachi was that his short book was the last one of the Old Testament. But his message was very similar to John the Baptist. Both prophets told the people that they needed to repent—to turn back to the God of the Covenant and to be about kindness, justice, and mercy.
Whoever you are, in whatever faith you were born, whatever creed you profess; if you come to this house to find God you are welcome here. Paxton United Methodist Church is an inviting church that takes to heart the idea of “Open Doors, Open Hearts, and Open Minds.” Worship begins at 10:00. Our email address is paxtonumc@yahoo.com. If you would like the weekly email newsletter about Paxton Methodist, you can send your email address to the Paxton email address, and I will add you to the list. God’s Speed.
December 3, 2021 - First Baptist Center, 117 Cora, hosts a Community Holiday Production at 6pm on Sunday, December 12.
The 90 minute program of popular holiday songs and carols is free and will include a 35 voice adult choir, children's choirs, senior choirs, handbells, a visit from Santa Claus, soloists and instrumentalists from around the area, audience sing-a-longs, and a Living Nativity.
FBC is located right across from the historic courthouse. Come and join us as we share the joy of Christmas and the reason for the season. More info at 979-533-1575 or dmathis@fbccenter.org.
December 2, 2021 - Thanksgiving Day has come and gone, “Black Friday” is past and “Cyber Monday” is in the history books. We have officially started that season of the year we call the “Christmas Season”. It is a time filled with happiness and joy. There is Santa Claus, Christmas Trees, Hot Chocolate, all kinds of candies and good things to eat. It is also the time of the year when the majority of the religious world celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ.
Jesus came into this world because God loved the world, that includes you and me, enough to send His Son to die to redeem our souls from sin. Because of the coming of Christ to this world, you and I are able to experience genuine love. Not only that, Jesus gives us many other things. He gives us lasting peace and He gives purpose to our lives.
Yet, the great tragedy is that even at this season of the year, the coming of Jesus really does not change people’s lives. You see, when all is said and done, Christmas does not bring a real change to our world. It makes us a little poorer and a little more fatigued but does not really bring a change to people’s lives. The purpose of Jesus coming was to bring a change to our world. He came to bring a change to peoples’ lives. Has Jesus really transformed your life?
It’s something to think about… tbp
Join Us for Worship this coming Lord’s Day at Center Church of Christ or online at www.centerchurchofchrist.com.
December 1, 2021 - Hope, peace, love, and joy are the themes, one for each of the four Sundays of Advent. For years I began my sermon with these four words because they sum up what Jesus followers want in their life. It is my hope that each of you found some reason for joy during the time of Thanksgiving. Sue and I had our daughter, my brother, and his wife here in Joaquin for Thanksgiving. Their dogs, Stella and Scally, came with them, and our four dogs had a good time with each other. On Friday most of the humans traveled to Nacogdoches to spend quality time with Sue’s mother, sister, and brother-in-law (and dog): Years of celebrating Thanksgiving together made this group, named The Loose Connections by my mother-in-law, close friends.
During the month of November we have been collecting rice and beans for Community Christian Services. November is almost over, so we look to December, when we will donate cans or boxes of soup. In December, I will start gathering data about the church for the “End-of-Year” reports, a regular part of being a Methodist. I will give Gene, our treasurer, a set of financial questions and he will gather that information. Reports must be turned in before January 12, 2022. That seems so far in the future, but 2022 will be here sooner than we think.
Our Sunday School lesson focused on the promise that things would get better, found in Isaiah 25 and 55. Isaiah is speaking to the well-to-do and those in charge of Temple Worship. He considered the idea of idolatry more than just worshiping a false god; it also included ignoring God’s calls to justice and compassion. Both the Old and New Testaments describe God’s Kingdom as a time and place of plenty to eat, all people treated with dignity, and compassionate care of neighbors.
I used today’s Gospel lesson for the 1st Sunday of Advent, Luke 21: 25-36. During these Sundays leading to Christmas, we are to ponder what it means to be a Jesus follower, trying to reorder our lives more faithfully to the ways of the Christ. Every major religion I know of requires some sort of personal and spiritual transformation as one moves along life’s path. Advent is the Christian’s time to think and plan how to accomplish such things in the coming year. The title of my sermon was “Dark Enough?” I called it that based on the ancient Persians, who said it had to be really dark in order to study the stars, a pursuit they loved. Darkness comes before the dawn, and Advent reminds us that Jesus ushered in God’s Realm; we are to be about bringing God’s ways to everyone we meet.
Our songs Sunday centered on hope and joy. “Victory in Jesus” certainly fits the joyful category and also brings us hope for the future. Post-Thanksgiving Advent is a good time for singing Christmas carols—today was my favorite one, “Joy to the World.” Our bulletin quote expressed hope as well: “Remember, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.” The author of these promising words? None other than Stephen King!
Whoever you are, in whatever faith you were born, whatever creed you profess; if you come to this house to find God you are welcome here. Paxton United Methodist Church is an inviting church that takes to heart the idea of “Open Doors, Open Hearts, and Open Minds.” Worship begins at 10:00. Our email address is paxtonumc@yahoo.com. If you would like the weekly email newsletter about Paxton Methodist, you can send your email address to the Paxton email address, and I will add you to the list. God’s Speed.
November 30, 2021 - Tickets are "sold out" for the Comedy and Carols at the Rio Theatre. Tickets were limited and were given as requested. We regret to announce all tickets have been distributed and no tickets will be available at the box office the night of the event.
November 22, 2021 - Comedy and Carols is an opportunity to bring our community together for a FUN night of laughter and fellowship.
Through energy and laughter, Noah Cleveland and Travis Krimm will engage with everyone in the audience, but most importantly they will also point them to Christ. So don’t miss this phenomenal blend of joy, worship, and laughter that is sure to put you in the Christmas spirit.
The event will take place at the Rio Movie Theatre in Center, TX on December 1st.
Tickets are FREE but seating is limited.
To reserve your tickets email theteam@smyrnacommunitychurch.com or call 936.332.0052.
November 25, 2021 - It's the season for Thanksgiving, and to be sure, we have much to be thankful for. Most of us will never be rich in the way that the world measures riches and yet all of us may be rich toward God. The riches of the world are subject to loss, taxation and the fluctuation of the markets. The riches of God cannot be stolen, taxed or devalued. They can however be shared.
To many folks, there is only one kind of wealth. Houses, stocks, securities and money in the bank. Their happiness rises or falls with the stock markets. To these people everything has a monetary value. Often, only bitter experience is able to teach them that some things in life are more valuable than money.
The carpenter of Nazareth lived and died as one of the poorest men on the earth, yet he taught the true sense of values when he proclaimed, "A man's life consists not in the abundance of the things he possesseth" (Luke 12:15) He came to enrich human life, to teach the value, not of man's accumulations but of his soul. Faith, hope, love, these attributes of the soul, Jesus made them of inestimable value.
We must not let things which are part of the passing scene, stocks, houses, securities and money in the bank cloud our vision to the finer spiritual securities in Jesus Christ. Yes, at this season of the year we say, "Thank you Lord!"
It’s something to think about… tbp
Join Us for Worship this coming Lord’s Day at Center Church of Christ or online at www.centerchurchofchrist.com
“We give thanks unto thee, O LORD, and sing praises unto thy name.” Psalms 18:49
November 22, 2021 - This coming Thursday our nation will pause to remember a special day set aside to give thanks to God for His bountiful blessings we all experience every day in our land. Yet, year by year, such a day of thanksgiving is all but lost to most Americans. In its place, we celebrate unworthy things such as Halloween and a secularized Christmas that is centered on greed, avarice, and idolatry of the worst kind.
The first Thanksgiving, was a time to remember God's sovereignty over life and His love expressed for them. Contrary to teachings these days, these Puritans or "Separatists" were not dangerous revolutionists or fanatics; rather they were plain honest citizens - farmers, merchants, and professional men.
The Mayflower Compact 1621 was one of the earliest plans for self-government by European Christians in America. But notice the basis of it. It stated that their purpose for government and their living in this new land was, "Having undertaken for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith." How far we have strayed from this historic and Biblical truth! Today we are told lies and deceived by godless men who want to change the laws by which we live. The "politically correct" teaching today is that our government must be separated not only from religion, but from the God of that religion as well. Nothing is further from our American historic truth! This nation was indeed founded by Christians, for Christians and with the intent to have land free from the control of any "state church,” or any established religious sect, but not from the basic philosophy of the Christian world view for life and living.
George Washington in his "Inaugural Address" in 1789, at the foundation of this nation said,” The smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained."
And at the turn of the century even our Supreme Court stated, "Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind. It is impossible that it should be otherwise; and in this sense and to this extent our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian."
May this Thursday as we gather together with families to enjoy a full and overflowing meal - may we remember to bow our heads and hearts and thank God for His abundant blessings on our families and on our land.
We are what we are because of Him.
November 19, 2021 - Peter was writing about Jesus when he penned these words in I Peter 2:21, “Leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps.” Those of us who claim to be followers of Jesus should examine our lives and see how we are doing at following in the steps of Jesus.
Those footsteps of Jesus led him to the waters of baptism, the wilderness of temptation, the house of worship and the fields of Service. They led him to the mountain of prayer, the garden of despair, the cross of suffering, the valley of death and ultimately to the throne of God.
When we are faced with temptation, do we come forth victorious as Jesus did or do we yield to that temptation? When we are presented with opportunities of service to our fellowman do we consider it an honor to be of service? The briefest biography of Jesus says “he went about doing good.” Can that be said of us?
Jesus went to sinners to save them, to the sick to heal them and to the lost to rescue them. When he went to the mountain of prayer, he spent time there all alone with God and came back from prayer stronger.
When we follow in the steps of Jesus, they will ultimately lead us also to the throne of God, to live eternally in Heaven. Are you following in His steps? If not, right now would be a good time to start.
It’s something to think about… tbp
Join Us for Worship this coming Lord’s Day at Center Church of Christ or online at www.centerchurchofchrist.com
November 15, 2021 - When I decided to get a B.A. instead of a B.S. at ETBU, I knew I would have to take a course in some foreign language. And since Greek was the World language when Jesus was born and since our New Testament was originally written in Greek, I decide Greek would be my foreign language choice.
So on the first morning of Dr. Roark’s class, we were given some free advice. “Young men, “ he began, “If you plan to miss any of my classes, don’t bother coming back.” “A third of you will either flunk out or drop out of this class and it will probably be “διαιρώντας το μυαλόo” that caused it.” “Those Greek words are translated as “worry” in English but they mean literally “to divide the mind.” “And you can’t pass this course unless you come to every class with an “undivided mind.”
I immediately thought of my “divided mind´ through High School. As teachers like Mr. Wyatt was trying to explain Algebra, I day-dreamed about going down to perch fish or swim at Weaver’s pond as soon as school let out. Consequently, my “divided mind” made me barely pass Algebra even though I had great fun after school.
Because of my determination to learn Greek from Dr. Roark, I began challenging Tony Evans and Jimmy Millikan for first place in the class. On the second year, I asked Dr. Roark who did best on the last test. I had a 99 and Tony and Jimmy both had 96’s. I later learned that they both became Seminary Professors.
In 1947… at 14 years of age… I gave my life to Christ. It was unconditional surrender. And I will always be fine…
… as long as I serve Him with an “undivided mind.”
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