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Contributing Writers: David Mathis | Tim Perkins
Past Contributing Writers: Mike Mills, Spring Hill Church | Doug Fincher | Pastor Randy and Sue Smith | Mike Belgard
Faith
June 27, 2018 - Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause but we have had to cancel the chicken spaghetti fundraiser on Friday for Dreka Pentecostal Church until further notice due to uncontrollable circumstances.
June 26, 2018 - The Dreka Pentecostal Church will be having a chicken spaghetti plate luncheon fundraiser on Friday, June 29 from 11-2 to replace the icebox in the fellowship hall that has quit working.
The plates are seven dollars and will have chicken spaghetti green beans, corn, garlic bread and a dessert.For more information you can call Mildred Mcgee at 9365984433.
Thank You & God Bless, Dreka Pentecostal Church
June 26, 2018 - We the members of Carroll Chapel CME Church in Shelbyville, would like to invite you to our Pastor`s Appreciation Program. Sunday, July 15, 2018 at 3pm.
Our Guest Speaker will be: Rev. Karen Christopher of the Pine Flat CME Church in Nacogdoches, TX. Everyone is invited.
June 26, 2018 - All Who Seek God Have Many Questions About Him.
Questions such as; “What does God require of me if I am to serve him? What does God wish that I should do for him? What must I do to be saved from my sins and live in the house of God forever?
Now all these are real questions which require answers if one truly seeks to do Gods will in one’s life on earth.
Let us look through the Book of Gods Word for the answers to our questions today.
The Old Testament prophet Micah explains the question of; “What does the Lord God require of me, when a young rich man asks Micah the question of what does the Lord require of me.”
He asks; “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offering, with calves a year old?” (Micah 6:6)
Micah listened to his question and then he spoke in answer to him.
“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and walk humbly with your god.” (Micah 6:8)
And so what does the Lord require of us but that we treat others equally with justice for all. That we show mercy and kindness to those less fortunate than ourselves, and that we humble ourselves before God, asking to do his will each day and not the wishes of man.
For the question of what does God wish that I would do for him we need only to look at Gods own words to the Israelites during the time of the prophet Hosea.
God told the Israelites through the prophet, Hosea, not long before the land of Israel fell to the Assyrians.
And God spoke to Hosea saying; “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” (Hosea 6:6)
This points directly to the coming of Jesus Christ for this would be his teachings for all time, that we love God and keep his commandments through the knowledge we learn of him through the pages of his Word. That’s still what God wishes of us today, to love him above all others and to do his will and not our own each day.
And for our last question for today; “What must I do to be saved and live in the house of the Lord forever.”
Salvation requires one to be born again to the living hope of the Lord Jesus Christ, this hope being the faith one has that the Word of God is true, believing in him through faith and not through sight.
“Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” (1 Peter 1:8-9)
The act of believing, in faith, being further explained by the apostle Paul when he said; “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart (that is the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified (set aside from sin), and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” (Romans 10:8-10)
There are other steps to living the Christian life including, baptism and finding and attending a bible based church for fellowship and encouragement but the simple truth of salvation is that, if, we believe in him and have faith in him who has died for all sin. He who asks only that we accept him as our Lord and Master. We will receive eternal salvation from the penalties of sin and we will live in the house of the Lord forever. AMEN… May you receive his holy blessings this day and forever…
June 25, 2018 - Homecoming for Old Home Cemetery will be Sunday, July 8th. The meeting will begin at 10:30 AM followed by Worship Services at 11:00. Covered dish lunch in the fellowship hall following services. Please call or text for more details 936-332-9293. Donations may be sent to: Linda Wheeler 1273 CR 3689, Joaquin, Texas 75954.
June 25, 2018 - “For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men.” Jeremiah 5:26
When my brothers and I were growing up in Center, Texas, we discovered a little stretch of woods just out of the City Limits that was our closest place to hunt squirrels. The woods were so close to our house in East Center that we had time for a quick evening hunt after we got home from school.
After school one day, I grabbed ny shotgun and hurried down to “the squirrel woods”. Just as I got to the woods, I heard the screaming cry of a dog coming from the dried-up creek bed. I ran down the creek and found a young beagle hound struggling in the jaws of a steel trap. When I saw his horribly injured front leg, I reached down to take the tension off the trap, the dog continued crying and snapping at my hand . After being bitten several times, I found a nearby limb, carefully pressed the trap’s spring and ….VOILA!!!...the puppy burst from the trap at full speed and quickly disappeared over the hillside. And as he ran off, I felt almost as happy as he did.
There are millions of people the world over that are crying in pain for the same reason that this little beagle did…their painful cries might not be their fault…they might have stepped in one of the world’s painful traps and can find no way out.
And if we aren’t afraid of getting bit……and show a little patience and understanding…we might be just the person to get the trap jaws open for them …and when we do, they’ll hug and thank us…
….. and we’ll be happy, too.
June 25, 2018 - Sunday was the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time. It is hard to believe that 2018 is almost half done! June 21st was the official beginning of summer, but I think we have gotten a head start in the summer heat department. A couple of the regulars were out this morning, so our numbers were pretty slim. But we had a great Sunday school lesson and our time in worship was well spent. I had been under the weather for most of the week and didn’t finish my sermon until late Saturday night. Not one to procrastinate, I was pretty uncomfortable with my late finish.
Our Sunday School lesson was called “Reaping God’s Justice.” The scripture for the lesson was Luke 16: 19-31, the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. This story that Jesus tells makes a strong contrast between God’s idea of justice and ours. Fannie always prepares an interesting lesson and makes us think. My thoughts this week were uncomfortable because I know I have committed many sins of omission and could have done better. Joe brought up Warren Buffet and Bill Gates who are very rich but have put back billions into the community and the world. We decided that rich or poor, we are all required by God to care for our fellow human beings.
Sue always begins our worship together by leading us in the Gathering Words and our Affirmation of Faith, which this week was The Apostles’ Creed—traditional version. She also read the main scripture for the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time. The Old Testament Lesson was 1 Samuel 17: 32-49. It was a long passage but one familiar to all of us. In the scripture we see David facing off with Goliath. Goliath was an overwhelming problem for the Israelites but David, trusting in God, slew the giant and a great victory was won. The Gospel Lesson also dealt with an overwhelming problem. The Gospel, Mark 4: 35-41, finds Jesus and his disciples on a boat going to the faraway shore to escape the crowds. As often happens, a bad storm comes and the disciples know they are going to drown. During all the wind and rain, Jesus remains asleep. The disciples wake him and ask if he cares whether they drown or not. Jesus tells the winds and rain to be still and then questions the faith of his disciples. The disciples are of course awestruck that the winds and rain obey Jesus.
Hilda and Joe teamed up this morning and sang a special for us that we all appreciated.
After our worship service we loaded up the toilet paper and paper towels that we have been collecting this month to take to Community Christian Services in Joaquin this week. Next month we will be collecting cans of ravioli and spaghetti. Next Sunday will be July 1st. We celebrate Holy Communion on the first Sunday of each month, and we have an open table, meaning all are welcome.
We will be heading to Lakeside Assisted Living on Thursday at 2:00 for our monthly singing. Last week was our program at Holiday Nursing Home. Mrs. Hilda skillfully tinkled the ivories for our congregational singing and also a brief solo of her own. Stellar Walker, accompanying herself on guitar, sang many old favorites—including warming up the crowd beforehand. Pastor Matt opened the program with one of his thoughtful, new-eyed looks at Scripture, this one about Solomon. Sue linked his story to the Greek mythological one about Paris, Helen of Troy, and the start of the war between Greece and Troy.
Mrs. Fannie kept it going by talking about her classes studying Greek myths and then reading a piece for us. Sue read a children’s book from Desoto Parish Library, Footloose by Kenny Loggins. I closed us out with our traditional final song, “God Be with You Till We Meet Again” and a benediction.
“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, Open Minds.” Sunday School starts at 9:30 and 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 me your email address to the Paxton email address and I will add you to the list. Godspeed.
June 21, 2018 - The Community is invited to join the congregation at St. John's Episcopal Church for a special worship and brunch on Sunday, July 1 at 9am. The Bishop of Texas, Andrew Doyle will be leading the service. Andrew Doyle, is the ninth Bishop of Texas. Bishop Doyle received his Masters of Divinity from Virginia Theological Seminary after receiving a fine arts degree from the University of North Texas. He is an avid reader and fly fisherman.
Bishop Doyle's focus for ministry is service, evangelism and reconciliation, planting 15 new churches and more than 50 new "missional communities" in the next five years. He has written several books often mixing references from pop culture's music and movies with the latest is secular leadership trends in order to reach the broadest spectrum of readers.
The congregation at St. John's Episcopal Church is excited and looking forward the special worship. The Episcopal Church is located on 96 South across from High Roller Wells.
June 20, 2018 - Shelby County Outreach Ministries, Inc.’s Hunger Awareness Campaign to Stomp Out Hunger is underway!
We are taking orders for our Hunger Awareness T-Shirts and you can fill one out at the following locations: The Senior Nutrition Site and The Helping Hands Outreach Center.
The shirts are $15 each. If you would like to help change and make a difference in someone’s life, please come by and order one, or you can send donations to: Shelby County Outreach Ministries, Inc. P.O. Box 1029 Center, TX 75935.
For more information please come by Shelby County Outreach Ministries, Inc.
June 20, 2018 - Strong Triumph Church Youth Revival and Explosion is set for June 21-23, 2018. You are invited to another epic move of God.
We invite you to our annual youth revival and explosion. Thursday and Friday night will be the revival and the youth explosion will take place on Saturday. The speaker for this epic all-star event is Pastor Byron Coutee, Jr., pastor of Blount Chapel Missionary Baptist Church. We welcome all choirs and praise teams to come and join us as we prepare to lift up the name of God!!!
The theme - "Empowering the youth of today to be leaders of tomorrow." Come one, come all for singing, praise dancing, and preaching!
Strong Triumph Church is located on CR 2545 in Shelbyville, Texas 75973, 936-368-2478. For more information contact Elder Faye Dell Allen, Shepherd, 936-368-2611 or 936-572-5810.
June 19, 2018 - White Rock Missionary Baptist Church, Highway 7 West in Center, Texas is holding a Vacation Bible School program on June 25-29 from 6pm-8:30pm.
Join us as we take an underwater adventure. The redeemer is an exciting and interactive learning experience for all children ages 3 to adults.
For more information or to preregister your child, please call Sonya Wilburn - 936-591-0175 or Jessica Dillard - 936-488-0673.
Children can register at the event. We hope to see you there!
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