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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
(Note: I wish I could claim originality for this, but I found it in a file in my office, I have had it for many years and it contains some valuable food for thought.)
December 5, 2024 - A man was being tailgated by a stressed out woman on a busy boulevard, when suddenly the light turned yellow, just in front of him. He did the right thing and stopped, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection.
The tailgating woman hit the roof, and the horn, screaming in frustration as she missed her chance to get through the intersection. As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer. The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up. He took her to the police station where she was searched, finger printed, photographed and placed in a holding cell.
After several hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened the door. She was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects. He said, I’m very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, shaking your fist at the driver in front of you and cussing a blue streak at him. I noticed the “choose life” license plate, the “What would Jesus Do?” bumper sticker, the “Follow Me to Sunday School” bumper sticker and the chrome plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk.
Naturally, I assumed you had stolen the car.
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 2, 2024 - Good Morning! It’s Monday, December 2.
Yesterday, December 1, was the beginning of an important holiday season. No, not the Christmas season, but the season of Advent. On the traditional church calendar, Advent is the period that includes the four Sundays leading to Christmas Day. The Christmas season, on that calendar, doesn’t begin until December 25, and continues to January 6 - the “twelve days of Christmas”!
The word advent means “coming”. It is intended as a time of preparation - preparing our churches, our families, our hearts - for the coming of the Christ Child. I’m not referring to the preparation of decorations, or gifts, or holiday food. The preparation of Advent is something deeper. We get a sense of that in the words of Isaiah 40:3 - “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God”.
So how do we do that? Perhaps one way would be to go back to the source, to read, once again, the story in the first two chapters of Matthew and Luke. It would take about five minutes, maybe another ten to meditate on it. Would you be willing to give fifteen minutes each day in December, during this season of Advent, to prepare yourself? The Christ Child is coming! Better get ready!
Meet you back here tomorrow,
David
cindertex50@yahoo.com
November 29, 2024 - It’s Thanksgiving Day! It will be a day of good food and family time and watching football games. Most of us will eat much more than we should and then wonder why we ate everything we did when we are so miserable. I often wonder if among the food, family and football if we really pause to realize just how much we have to be thankful for.
Yes, we have food, clothing and shelter. We live in a land where we are free to come and go as we please and travel and own property. We can assemble with the saints on the Lord’s Day and not fear the intervention or intrusion of government. We are truly blessed.
However, do we realize just what we have to be thankful for spiritually? Through Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice, we have the forgiveness of our sins. As Christians, we have the privilege of approaching God through the Holy, Happy, Heavenly exercise of prayer. Because of Jesus Christ, we have the promise of a mansion in heaven if faithful to Him we live our lives on this earth.
On this Thanksgiving Day, let’s make sure to take the time to realize just how blessed we really are. Let’s take the time to offer to God a prayer of gratitude for all that He has done for us. Let’s take the words of the song to heart:
Count your blessings.
Name them one by one.
Count your many blessings,
See what God hath done.
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 25, 2024 - Good Morning! It’s Monday, November 25.
Early this morning, I was sitting on my porch, enjoying my first cup of coffee, when I looked up to see a pair of deer crossing my property. They took their time and provided me a long, lingering look. It was a blessing. And it reminded me of a sermon story I heard almost thirty years ago.
In the mid ‘90’s I served with a pastor named Dan. He remains one of my closest friends in the faith. Dan, before he was a pastor, was a traveling evangelist, moving from revivals to crusades to Bible conferences, away from family and friends for weeks at a time. He was driving home late one night, after one of those long trips, and found himself on a lonely stretch of highway in New Mexico. He struggled to stay awake, couldn’t find a station on the radio, and so he began to pray out loud - talking to God as if He was sitting in the passenger seat.
After a while, he prayed, “Father, You know what would really lift my spirits right now? If I could just see a deer beside this lonely road”. Dan immediately felt embarrassed that he had asked the God of the Universe, the King of Creation, the Lord of Lords, for such a selfish little thing. But before he had the chance to apologize, he rounded a curve and was forced to stop his car in the middle of the highway. There, in his headlights, was an entire herd of deer!
I’ve heard a lot of “true” sermon stories over the years, and sometimes had my doubts about their accuracy. But Dan is my friend. I know Dan. I trust him. And I believe every word of his story. I was blessed when I heard it thirty years ago, and I was blessed to be reminded of it this morning. I hope it was a blessing to you.
Luke 6:38 - “Give, and it will be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over.”
Meet you back here tomorrow,
David
cindertex50@yahoo.com
November 18, 2024 - Good Morning! It’s Monday, November 18.
In 1967, a book was published titled “Children’s Letters to God”. It wasn’t fiction, but a compilation of real letters written by 3rd graders. Here’s a few of them, as you start your week. Hope they give you a chuckle and touch your heart.
*Dear God, Did you mean for the giraffe to look like that, or was it an accident? - Norma
*Dear God, Do you draw the lines around the countries? - Jake
*Dear God, I went to this wedding and they kissed right in church. Is that OK? - Lisa
*Dear God, Thank you for my baby brother, but what I prayed for was a puppy. - Joyce
*Dear God, I think the stapler is one of your greatest inventions. - Randy
*Dear God, Maybe Cain and Abel wouldn’t kill each other so much if they had their own rooms. It works for me and my brother. - Jimmy
*Dear God, You don’t have to worry about me, I always look both ways. - Linda
*Dear God, Please send me a pony. I’ve never asked for anything before. You can look it up. - Bruce
*Dear God, Instead of letting people die and having to make new ones, why not just keep the ones you have now? - Jane
*Dear God, If you watch me in church Sunday, I’ll show you my new shoes. - Alice
*Dear God, I bet it’s very hard to love everybody. There are only five people in my family and I can’t do it. - Larry
*Dear God, I think about you sometimes, even when I’m not praying. - Claire
*Dear God, I just feel good knowing that you’re in the world. That’s all. Your friend, Gabe.
Out of the mouths of babes!
Meet you back here tomorrow,
David
cindertex50@yahoo.com
November 14, 2024 - During the middle part of the 20th century, one of the most popular religious writers was Norman Vincent Peale. He was most famous for his book, “The Power of Positive Thinking.” Many today would not recognize his name, however, they would recognize the names of Max Lucado, Joel Osteen, John McArthur, Charles Swindoll and others.
The books written by these writers are quite popular and widely read. Yet, I remember reading the advice that an old preacher one time gave a young preacher when he said, “be careful young man that you don’t find yourself some day reading more and more books about the Bible and reading the Bible less and less.”
I wonder how much of that is going on in our world today. How many people are reading more and more of the writings of popular religious authors and reading less and less of the Bible.
Perhaps we should give consideration to spending more time in the reading of the word of God. How much time do we spend in reading the Bible? We might say we don’t have time to read the Bible, and yet that is just one more of the many excuses we offer for not living God’s kind of life. Friends, we find the time to do almost everything we really want to do. If we don’t have time to spend in reading God’s word, it’s because we really do not have the desire to spend time studying the Bible. When we offer some lame excuse for not reading and studying God’s word, do we really think God is buying what we are selling?
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.
Threatened Seizure of Joaquin Methodist Church
November 13, 2024 - Bishop Cynthia Fiero Harvey of the Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church has notified the congregation of the Joaquin Methodist Church that it is seizing their church building and all their property, and will be offering these for sale to the highest bidder. The original property for the Joaquin Methodist Church was purchased by the congregation in 1904 with deed issued and filed in 1905. Members donated additional properties to the church in 1944, 1962, and 1980.
In 1905, the congregation built a frame church building on the property, which they used for services for almost 50 years. In 1951 members of the congregation tore down the wood building and with their own hands built the brick building where they have worshiped for the past 73 years.
In total, the Methodist Church of Joaquin has occupied the property at 105 Faulkville St. for, 120 years. As a Congregation, the Methodist Church of Joaquin is at least 148 years old, having been chartered in 1876. However, their history traces back to the earliest days of Anglo settlement of East Texas when Circuit Riding Methodist Ministers broke Mexican law and held services on the bluff above the Sabine River where the Brookland Cemetery now stands. In a brush arbor at that location, Texas Methodists worshiped as early as 1825, almost 200 years ago. Thus, the Methodist tradition in Joaquin is 11 years older than the Republic of Texas, and 20 years older than the State. In fact, the recognized oldest Methodist Congregation in Texas. at Pecan Point, dates to 1822, only three years earlier. The Methodist congregation is the oldest in Joaquin.
For the first 92 years after its was chartered, the Joaquin Methodist Church operated as a local church, but in 1968, when the United Methodist Church Conference was formed, the local church joined the Conference and became the Joaquin United Methodist Church.
The claim of the Texas Conference to ownership of the local church property and buildings dates to a 2016 action by the Conference. Nine years ago the United Methodist Church Conference decided to place all real property of all the member churches under the ownership of the Conference. The local churches were only to hold their property “in trust” for the United Methodist Conference. This action apparently did not require signatures from local church officials nor any transfer of deeds or titles. Titles and deeds to the Joaquin Methodist Church are still filed with Shelby county as belonging to the local church.
This fall, the Joaquin United Methodist Church differed with Conference policies with respect to acceptance of LGBTQ ministers, and withdrew from the Conference, again becoming a local Methodist Church. The Conference then notified the local church that they would seize the church and all its property and offer these for sale in November of 2024.
To back their claim, the Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church has sent the Joaquin congregation a copy of Chapter Six of the rules of the United Methodist Church which state that the Conference has taken all real property of all the local congregations, but permits the local congregations to hold the property “in trust” for the Conference. No information is provided as to when or how the local congregation agreed to, or assigned their real property to this trust. No signatures on trust agreements nor any transfer of deeds or titles were provided; nor are any to be found among the records of the local congregation.
The controversy is compounded by the fact that the pastor of the Joaquin Methodist Church, Bro. Robert Ortigo, passed away in the fall of 2024 after a five year battle with cancer. The congregation had not received guidance or even information from the Conference for two years prior to their taking action to withdraw.
It is unclear whether the little local congregation will have the resources to fight the seizure and sale of their property by the Bishop of the Texas Conference. This may well mark the end of a chapter in the religious history of East Texas, as a Methodist tradition of two centuries is ended by actions of a Methodist Conference.
November 11, 2024 - A Call to Help Ministries is hosting a Thanksgiving Feast on Saturday, November 23, 2024 from 12 noon until 2pm at 818 Cotton Ford Road (FM 699), Center, Texas 75935.
November 11, 2024 - Experience the transformative power of love and faith with the Bennett Chapel Family at an inspiring screening of Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot, on Saturday, November 16, 2024 and discover an unforgettable true story of unwavering support and hope. The screening begins at 4:00pm and concludes with empowering ways to make a difference.
Bennett Chapel is located at 675 County Road 2582, Shelbyville, Texas 75973. Call or text Marquita Garrett at 936-427-7766 to RSVP.
November 11, 2024 - Good Morning! It’s Monday, November 11.
Today is Veteran’s Day. It is our pleasure, our blessing, our honor, to say thank you to all the men and women who have served as soldiers, who have stood their post, who have protected America. Here’s some great quotes for this special day.
*Some people live their entire lives and wonder if they’ve made a difference in the world. Veterans don’t have that problem. Ronald Reagan
*Honor to the soldiers and sailors everywhere, who bravely bear their country’s cause. Abraham Lincoln
*We will be soldiers, so that our sons may be farmers, so that their sons may be artists. Thomas Jefferson
*Never was so much owed by so many to so few. Winston Churchill
Those who have served in the military are truly worthy of faithful support and honor. God calls us, as Christian soldiers, to serve as well. The Apostle Paul wrote these words to the churches in Galatia (5:13) - “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another in love”. And to his brothers and sisters in Philippi, Paul writes (2:3-4) - “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility, value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests, but each of you to the interests of others”.
Good advice for soldiers. Good advice for us all.
Reach out to a veteran today . . . and say thanks.
Meet you back here tomorrow,
David
cindertex50@yahoo.com
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