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Contributing Writers: Mike Mills, Spring Hill Church | Doug Fincher | Pastor Randy and Sue Smith | Mike Belgard | Tim Perkins
Faith
May 15, 2023 - Good Morning! It's Monday, May 15.
A few weeks ago, a member of my choir was blessed to take a trip to Israel. Today at 11:30 at First Baptist Center, she will share stories and photos of her adventure. It's the monthly Third Monday luncheon for the Golden Harvest Senior Adult Community Club. A free lunch will be followed by gospel music and the special program. Any senior is warmly welcome.
Here's some facts about the Holy Land -
- Israel is about the size of Massachusetts, 8000 square miles. In comparison, the great state of Texas weighs in at 270,000 square miles.
- Israel is long and narrow, 10 miles at its narrowest, and not wider that 80 miles - about the distance from Center to Shreveport.
- The cell phone was invented in Israel. So were cherry tomatoes and the game Rummikub.
- The population of the Holy Land is 9 million, about the same as New York City.
- Some of the olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane date from the time of Christ.
- Jerusalem is the only city in the world that is a holy city for three religions - Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.
Meet you back here tomorrow,
Bro. David
dmathus@fbccenter.org
May 12, 2023 - (Photo Album) - Religious groups, community leaders and citizens of Shelby County gathered at the Historic 1885 Shelby County Courthouse on May 4, 2023, for the National Day of Prayer.
The event featured many speakers praying for the community, and was well attended by citizens of the area.
May 11, 2023 - In III John 2, John expresses his concern for the physical well being of his friend, Gaius. John writes, “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” How many of us really would like for our physical health to be as strong as our spiritual health?
Physically, we need a strong immune system to ward off disease. Spiritually, how strong is our ability to withstand threats? Are we equipped to deal with temptation, false teaching and persecution? We are commanded to be in the world but we are also commanded to not be of the world.
We also need regular exercise. Just as we only thrive physically when we are active, we also only thrive spiritually when we are active. We need to exercise ourselves unto godliness and living God’s kind of life.
A healthy diet is also necessary for good physical health and it is also a necessity for good spiritual health. We need the spiritual nourishment that comes from the word of God. Doing this means we will avoid “spiritual junk food”. We need what the Bible refers to as sound doctrine, that is healthy teaching. We must beware of fluff and anything that is designed to appeal to itching ears.
The prescription for spiritual health is a simple one. A healthy diet and regular exercise will build a strong immune system and our soul will prosper.
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.
May 11, 2023 - Open Door Baptist Worship Center with Pastor Alvin Davis are hosting their 23rd Church Anniversary Service on Sunday, May 21, 2023 at 2:30pm.
Special guests will be Bishop W.C. Martin and the Bennett Chapel Church of Shelbyville, Texas.
Open Door Baptist Worship Center is located at 900 Cotton Ford Road, Center, Texas 75935.
May 11, 2023 - Hawthorne Missionary Baptist Church is having a fundraising bake sale, proceeds will help send our youth to Church Camp. We will be at Napa on Friday, May 12th starting at 8am going until we sell out. Come out and grab something sweet for Mother's Day!
May 10, 2023 - St. John Baptist Church of Center is hosting Pastor and Wife's 17th Appreciation service for Pastor Winston Kibbles and 1st Lady Terri Kibbles. Everyone is invited to this Great Celebration on Sunday, June 4, 2023 at 2pm!!
Special guest is Rev. Roderick Kirkendall of St. Luke Baptist Church, Logansport, Louisiana.
St. John Baptist Church is located at 2308 CR 2050, Center, Texas 75935.
May 8, 2023 - In 1947 Daddy moved his family of eight children to the Jim Boothe rent house across the tracks in East Center, Texas. I was fourteen years old and had heard that revival services were being held in a "Blue-topped" tent across from the Grammar School downtown. We hadn’t been raised in church, but our parents read the Bible to us and taught us strict morality. So when we asked if we could “go to the revival,” Mother told us we could but to come right home.
So the night came and my brother John and I hurriedly made our mile trip across the RR tracks and the Center square. We stopped for a few minutes to listen to Milton Wilkinson electioneering for State Representative, then rushed to the tent. To the pulpit walked 34 year-old old John Rawlings, pastor of Tyler’s Central Baptist Church --- handsome and dynamic. He preached as if he was preaching only to me and while the choir sang “Just As I Am,” I felt a tug in my heart that I’d never felt before. Since I was too timid to walk down the aisle, someone touched me on the shoulder and whispered, “Do you want to know Jesus?” I immediately stepped out, trembling and praying in my heart, “God be merciful to me a sinner — and save me.”
In 1951 I came home from Panola Junior College in Carthage one day and tearfully told Mother --- “Mother, I’m going to be a preacher” --- and we wept together. I later enrolled in the Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Missouri. My first pastorate was the Patroon Baptist Church and since then I got a B.A. from ETBU in Marshall and later pastored churches both large and small in several states.
Last week Pam and I were converting some of our VCRs t0 DVDs and watched a four hour tape of my building her rifle---(I have built almost a hundred of them over the years) and am proud (in an humble way) of the reputation my custom rifles have received. But watching that tape left me with mixed emotions. I’m almost 90 now, have neuropathy in my hands and feet and can no longer build stocks, fit barrels, etc. But about the time I am lamenting to Pam about it, she played one of my sermons from yesteryear and I suddenly realized something. I write for five newspapers and am working on my second book. Thank you, Lord… for my calling… thank you for something more precious than all my guns, cameras and hobbies combined. Thanks for that night in Center. Thanks for the most wonderful night in my life… the night I found Jesus…
… and Jesus found me.”
May 8, 2023 - The Center Class of 1983 is hosting a benefit for Lester Pitts. The event will be held at Pleasant Grove Baptist Church on Saturday, May 13, 2023 at 6pm.
We would like for you to join us in extending an outstretched hand both spiritually and financially. There is no gift too small to help someone in need.
If you're not able to attend but would like to donate, you can send via cash app to $gina831 or Zelle 281-725-8351 or mail check or money order payable to Lester Pitts to P O Box 472 Center, TX 75935. For additional information, please contact Sherry Garrett-Miller at 281-725-8351 or Regina Garrett at 936-590-8831.
May 8, 2023 - Good Morning! It's Monday, May 8.
Something very special and kind of cool happened last Friday here in Center, Texas. A photograph was taken on our town square. Doesn't sound that special, you say? Well, here's some background.
On May 5, 1923, a panoramic photograph was taken on that same square. It showed a bustling town with hundreds of people, scores of Model-Ts, lots of horses, and even a team of oxen. Exactly a century later - last Friday, May 5, 2023 - that new photo was taken. Cool, right?
As we compare those two pictures, we also reflect on all that has occurred here in those 100 years. We remember all the people, all the families, all the generations. Yesterday at First Baptist Center we sang a song called "The Blessing", a song inspired by the blessing found in Numbers 6:24. (Look it up!). The song goes on to also quote Deuteronomy 7:9 - "Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; He is the faithful God, keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations, those who love Him and keep His commandments."
God's blessings to you and yours!
Meet you back here tomorrow,
Bro. David
dmathis@fbccenter.org
May 4, 2023 - Though we might be reluctant to admit it, none of us want our lives to be just average. By nature, we want our lives to be full and prosperous. Yet, there seem to be so many things that get in our way. That’s one of the problems with life, it is as someone once said “so daily” We have deadlines and commitments. We are constantly faced with problems, priorities, distractions and obstacles.
Yet, if we turn to Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi we read “forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things that are before” (Philippians 3:13) If we are going to get the most out of life, we must forget the past. There may be good things in our past and there may be grievous mistakes in our past. It matters not whether good or bad, we must forget the past and leave it there – in the past.
We must face the present. Paul said “reaching forth unto those things that are before”. Facing the present means that we put our faith in Jesus Christ and trust Him to be involved in every part of our lives. It means we choose to live life as it comes to us day by day. We are not to waste our lives living among the “what ifs” and the “if onlys”.
Do you want to get the most out of life? Then let God lead in your life. Let God be the “Maestro” leading the orchestra of your life. Life your life within the will of God and pray the prayer of Jesus in the garden – “Not my will but thine be done”.
It’s something to think about. . . tbp. Join Us for Worship this coming Lord’s Day at Center Church of Christ.
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