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Contributing Writers: Mike Mills, Spring Hill Church | Doug Fincher | Pastor Randy and Sue Smith | Mike Belgard | Tim Perkins
Faith
July 22, 2024 - Good Morning! It's Monday, July 22.
My sister and brother-in-law paid us a visit this past weekend. They live in San Antonio - six hours from East Texas - and so we don't get to see them as often as we'd like. It was a blessing to have our families together for a few days.
Carolyn has always been, more than any of my siblings, the one who has worked to keep our family connected - the "glue". I think most families have someone like that, someone who understands the importance of family unity, someone who nurtures and encourages the ties that bind.
That kind of effort is important for church families, as well. Churches need members who work for unity, work for fellowship, work for connection. Here's what God has to say about this -
Ephesians 4:3 - Keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
Philippians 2:2 - Make my joy complete by being likeminded, having the same mind, having the same love, being one in spirit, and one in mind.
Romans 14:19 - Let us make every effort to do what leads to peace and to build each other up.
Meet you back here tomorrow,
Bro. David
dmathis@fbccenter.org
July 18, 2024 - Oftentimes we feel the church is not what it should be. We feel it just doesn’t quite meet “our expectations”. Since the Republican Convention is in full swing, and the Democratic Convention is just a few weeks away, perhaps we should examine the words of two former presidents. In his inaugural address in 1961, President John F. Kennedy stated, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” At the Republican National convention in 1916, Warren G. Harding said, “we must have a citizenship less concerned about what the government can do for it and more anxious about what it can do for the nation.”
The challenge issued by these two presidents suggests a like principle that should guide every Christian toward the church. We need to be less concerned about our “needs” being met, less concerned about “being served” and more concerned about serving.
Perhaps we have been asking the wrong question. Instead of asking “is this a good congregation to be a member of” maybe we should ask “am I a good member of the congregation.”
It is not how much I get out of worship but how much do I contribute toward making the worship meaningful for others. A life of service is a life lived within the will of God. To be pleasing to God, we must be obedient to his will and surrender our stubborn will to His will.
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.
July 18, 2024 - Lydia Missionary Baptist Church on FM 139 in Huxley announces their Farm Fresh Faith Vacation Bible School!
Sunday, July 21, through Thursday, July 25, 6pm until 8:30pm each night.
Classes for ages 3 years old through 12the grade.
A meal will be served every night and the kids will get a free t-shirt!
For more information, please call 936-368-2462.
July 16, 2024 - St. John Baptist Church Center, Tx Pastor, Rev. Winston Kibbles, invites you to join them for their Annual Homecoming and Revival Services Sunday, July 21 at 2pm with Rev. Mario Osby Smith Chapel Baptist Church Timpson, TX.
This will then be followed by a three night Revival Monday, July 22 - Wednesday, July 24 at 7pm nightly with Rev. Cedric Grace Mt. Zion Baptist Church San Augustine, TX
Revive, Revive, Revival!
July 16, 2024 - White Rock Missionary Baptist Church is hosting five nights of revival with Bro. Nathan Luellen of Stockwell Road MBC of Bossier City, Louisiana starting Monday, July 22nd at 7pm nightly.
Bro. Nathan also serves as an Instructor and as Dean of the Louisiana Missionary Baptist Institute and Seminary (LMBIS) of Minden, Louisiana. Last month, he preached the Annual Message at the 2024 Annual Messenger Meeting of the ABA in Springfield, Illinois.
We are very excited to have him as our evangelist this year at White Rock, and we hope you will attend every night if you can.
July 15, 2024 - Everyone is invited to the annual homecoming for Tennessee Cemetery on Sunday July 21, 2024.
Homecoming will be held at the Tennessee Presbyterian Church on FM 947. The business meeting will begin at 11am with lunch following at 12 noon. Please come to enjoy a wonderful lunch and catching up with friends. If you are unable to attend and would like to contribute to the upkeep of the cemetery, send your donations to:
Tennessee Permanent Trust Fund
% Jeanie Rhodes
1434 CR 4916
Timpson, TX 75975
Tennessee Working Committee
% Billie Jackson
7607 RM 947
Gary, TX75643
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. John 14:3
July 15, 2024 - I learned early on that a successful Hitch-hiker had to follow these rules: Maintain a clean, youthful appearance, carry only a small amount of luggage, and stand in good light. I also discovered that most truckers aren’t allowed to have passengers and that hitchhiking was difficult on weekends and holidays when people were on vacations and family outings.
When I was in the seminary in Springfield, Missouri, I often made the 550-mile trip quicker by hitchhiking than I could by bumming a ride from a fellow-student. A man in a 1950 Olds Rocket 88 once gave me a hair-raising ride from Springfield to Shreveport, Louisiana at speeds reaching 90 miles an hour. I hitchhiked for over a year from ETBC in Marshall, Texas to my first pastorate in Patroon, Texas and was always back for my 7:00 class on Monday morning. Sometimes I was dropped off in pitch darkness but was never late for a preaching appointment at any church except one time at the First Baptist Church of Martinsville, Texas. But the rapists, murderers, drunk drivers, and dopers have ruined a once-good-and-fun thing. Picking up a hitchhiker nowadays is much too risky and no one thinking right would ever pick one up.
Thumbing a ride all those years never cost me a thing… but did cost the person giving me the ride. When I was fourteen, I got a free one-way ticket to heaven, too… but it cost the very life’s blood of the One giving me the ride. He’ll never drop me off in the dark and won’t be late getting me home, either. And even though making the trip was my decision…
… how I’ll go… and when… will be His.
July 15, 2024 - First Methodist Church, Center is hosting at Blood Drive this Saturday, July 20th from 10am until 2:30pm. Register online at https://www.commitforlife.org/donor/schedules/drive_schedule/373190
For more information, visit www.CenterFirst.org. First Methodist Church is located at 211 Porter Street, Center, Texas 75935.
July 15, 2024 - Good Morning! It's Monday, July 15.
And Jesus said to His disciples, Go into all the world, and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Mark 16:15
For decades, First Baptist Church of Center has been broadcasting a Bible lesson and a worship service each Sunday morning. When internet technology became available, our technicians were quick to make use of this new tool. Last night I was reminded of just how powerful and amazing that tool is.
Yesterday, First Baptist welcomed a missionary couple. They serve in a largely Muslim country, a place that is over 7,000 miles from East Texas. A large crowd gathered last evening to hear them share about their ministry. But before the event, the missionary shared something with me about our ministry. I introduced myself, but he quickly said he knew who I was because he and his wife watched our Sunday broadcasts... from the other side of the world.
I was suddenly filled with thoughts of thankfulness, thankful to God that he would allow a small church in a small town to "proclaim the gospel to the whole creation." To Him be all the praise, all the honor, and all the glory.
Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples. Psalm 96:3
Meet you back here tomorrow,
Bro. David
dmathis@fbccenter.org
July 11, 2024 - A physician got up a few Sunday’s back to go to church, but he never made it there. The only explanation he gave was “T.B.” Poor Doctor! He spent his life fighting almost every disease known to man and T.B. finally got him.
A prominent woman was honored with an invitation to come and worship with the saints of God, but she was not able. You see, “T.B.” prevented her from being there.
T.B. is a very old disease. A man in the Bible explained his refusal of an invitation by indicating he had trouble with T.B. “Too Busy”, the most vicious form of T.B. ever known. “I have bought five yoke of oxen, I have bought a field, I have married a wife”. That is the way they explained it in the scriptures. Today, “I have a job; Sunday is my only day for recreation; life is so cluttered, I just don’t have any time to serve the Lord.” That’s the way spiritual T.B. is explained today. However, one day, all those suffering with T.B. today will discover they will not be too busy to die nor too busy to attend the judgment.
Friends, T.B. is not incurable, however it finds its origin in heart disease. Those suffering from T.B. must make their heart right with God. When you cure your “heart trouble” you will never again be “Too Busy” to live for Jesus.
It’s something to think about... tbp
Join Us for Worship this coming Lord’s Day Center Church of Christ or online at www.centerchurchofchrist.com
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