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Contributing Writers: Mike Mills, Spring Hill Church | Doug Fincher | Pastor Randy and Sue Smith | Mike Belgard | Tim Perkins
Faith
February 26, 2024 - Good Morning! It's Monday, February 26.
One of the regular features of our Sunday morning worship service here at First Baptist Center is the Children's Sermon. It's always a joy to see the kids hurrying toward the stage to join our children's minister for their special time. And, as they come, I usually play a special song, This is the story behind that song.
Sisters Anna and Susan Warner never married, living together during the latter half of the 19th century. They supported themselves by writing novels - more than a hundred between them. In 1860, Susan had a bestseller titled "Say and Seal". There was a scene in the book where a very sick boy was visited by his Sunday School teacher. The child, as he lay dying, asked his teacher to sing a song, and the man sang these words -
Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so
Little ones to Him belong, they are weak, but He is strong
The scene, of course, was fiction. There was no little boy, no Sunday School teacher. There was no song. But the publisher was so taken by the lyrics, that he approached the great gospel hymn writer, William Bradbury, to compose a tune. The new song became hugely popular all across America.
And now for the rest of the story.
When missionaries went to exotic China - missionaries like a woman named Lottie Moon - they took this little song with them. It quickly became the favorite hymn of that vast, mysterious country. Today we call this tune "China". In an interesting side note, Bradbury's melody uses the pentatonic scale, just five notes. Most of our music today uses a seven-note scale (Do-Re-Mi). The pentatonic scale is seen mainly in folk songs and in blues music. Oh, and by the way, it's the foundation for the music... of China. Written by an American composer, "Jesus Loves Me" must have seemed, to the children of China, like it was written just for them. And, of course, it was. God works in mysterious ways!
Meet you back here tomorrow,
Bro. David
dmathis@fbccenter.org
February 22, 2024 - Recorded in Matthew chapters 5 through 7 we find what we commonly refer to as “The Sermon On The Mount.” As a part of that sermon, Jesus tells his followers that they are the salt of the earth. He tells that audience in the long ago and us today of the influence that His followers are to have on the world around them. Jesus tells them and speaks to us today to say that Christian character is to be a positive force in this world.
However, sometimes we misunderstand the role that we play in being the salt of the earth. Do you remember the words of Job in Job 6:6? He said, “Can that which is unsavory be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?” Yet, for salt to have any effect on “unsavory food” it must come in contact with that food. It cannot just sit in the salt shaker on the table.
Salt does its work by being brought into close contact with the food it is to season. God’s people cannot influence men and women for good by withdrawing themselves from all contact with the world. It is the Lord’s will that his people be scattered throughout the world so that their influence might be felt in all walks of life. Jesus calls us to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. However, we must always remember that we are to be in the world but not of the world.
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.
“They that come to the Lord must believe that He is......” Hebrew 11:6
February 19, 2024 - When I was in the eighth grade, the Curtis Publishing Company came to our school to get the students to sell popular magazines for them. (Saturday Evening Post, Reader’s Digest, etc.). And we could win special prizes if we sold enough subscriptions.
I knocked at Mrs. Munnerlyn’s door and said, “You don’t want to buy any magazines, do you?” “Come in, Henry,” she smiled. “I need to talk to you.” She stood me over a hot heater grate in the floor and gave me one more pep talk. “You’ll never sell anything with that negative approach. To be a good salesman, you’ve got to believe in what you sell.”
Hey, I took her advice and became the number one seller in our class. I won a brand new Schaeffer fountain pen!
One reason some church members never sell anyone on Jesus is because they don’t act like they believe in Him…
… and some of them probably don’t!
February 15, 2024 - The Mt. Pleasant Cemetery Committee announces new regulations. In order to keep the cost of the upkeep of the cemetery down and also to ensure that it is neat, clean, and respectful for our community, the following has been implemented.
Items allowed are:
1. Granite tombstones with vases attached
2. One bouquet of silk flowers
3. Foot markers (must be placed at ground level)
All other items will be removed after April 1, 2024.
Thank you,
Mt. Pleasant Cemetery Committee
Walter Bradshaw
Lynn Johnson
Pam Sanford
Russell Andrews
For information or questions, call 936-598-4946.
February 15, 2024 - I read an interesting story the other day related by William Barclay. It seems a minister accepted a position with a new congregation. He was warned by those who knew this congregation that it was a dead church and he would be better served not to go there. Nevertheless, he accepted the position and soon discovered that the church was indeed dead.
There was no planning, no labor and no amount of urging or exhortation could kindle a spark of life or waken any response. To be sure, he told the congregation they were dead and he made plans to carry out the funeral of the church.
On the day appointed for the “church’s funeral” he had a coffin brought into the building and the building was decorated with funeral sprays and other floral arrangements befitting a funeral. The building was crowded more than it had been in years. At the end of the “burial service”, as a last token of respect, the minister invited the assembled audience to file past the coffin.
As they filed past, they received a shock. The coffin was open and empty. In the bottom of the coffin was a mirror. As each individual looked into the coffin of the “dead church” they saw their own face. You see, if the church is dead spiritually, it is because we are dead spiritually. The simple fact is that we are the church. The church is people. It is its members. If a congregation is dead, it is because its members are dead.
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
February 12, 2024 - Please join Neuville Baptist Church for an Old Fashioned Singing on Saturday, March 9, 2024 starting at 3pm.
Bring your group, solo, or whole church and come and enjoy an afternoon of singing.
For any questions, please call Bro. Steven Berry at 936-332-4714.
“Take heed to thyself…” (I Tim. 4:16)
February 12, 2024 - Lawrence and Lucille Mitchell of Vinton, Louisiana invited me for lunch almost every Sunday of the six years that I was their pastor. They were the “canners” of the community and Lawrence built Lucille special shelves for their canned food.
One Sunday morning they arrived at church with noticeably somber faces. When I asked what was wrong, Lawrence exploded, "Those canning shelves crashed last night and all the jars are broken!"
“What do you think God is telling you?” I asked. “Quit feeding the preacher?”… “Stop canning?”
Sheepishly grinning, he mumbled, “No, He told me the nails I used to build those shelves were too short.”
We can’t blame God for self-inflicted calamities. If we carefully examine our fallen shelves, we might find that neither God nor our fellow man is responsible for their collapse.
Maybe our nails were too short.
February 12, 2024 - Good Morning! It's Monday, February 12.
Did you watch the Super Bowl last night? Hope your team won, or at least that you enjoyed a few commercials. I thought Reba McEntire did a great job on the National Anthem. She sang it in under 90 seconds - always a good sign.
Sportswriters will write a lot about The Big Game, and I'm sure that some of them will say "It was a war out there!" Comparing football to war is a common metaphor. Coaches are called "generals," players are "warriors," in a "Battle on the Gridiron!" Sometimes I wonder what real soldiers think of this metaphor, men and women who have actually been in combat.
Well, I wouldn't know. I've never been in a war, and I never played football. But I know this. The Bible tells us that Christians are in a battle, a real war. We read about it in Ephesians 6 - "We fight not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, the authorities, the powers of this dark world." Spiritual warfare... it's not a metaphor. Put on your armor today!
Meet you back here tomorrow,
Bro. David
dmathis@fbccenter.org
February 9, 2024 - The Pastor and members of Carroll Chapel CME Church in Shelbyville would like to invite you to our annual black history program, Sunday, February 18, 2024 at 3pm.
Our guest speaker will be Rev. Frankie Cooper. Everyone is invited.
The church is located at 302 Fm 2694, Shelbyville, Texas 75973.
February 8, 2024 - St. John Baptist Church in the Africa Community, Center, Texas are hosting a Black History Celebration on Sunday, February 18, 2024 at 2pm.
The celebration is “Honoring the Past to Inspire the Future” with guest church family, Pleasant Grove Baptist Church of Tenaha, Texas and Pastor Johnny Jones.
All area probation officers honored.
Sis. Jacklyn Moton, Coordinator
Winston Kibbles, Pastor
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