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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
April 22, 2024 - Good Morning! It's Monday, April 22.
Do you know what today is? It's an unofficial worldwide holiday that was started on April 22, 1970. Today is "Earth Day"!
Earth Day was intended to be a day of conversation, discussion, and debate about the environment, and about how we are protecting the resources that God has blessed us with. Some people believe Earth Day was inspired by a photograph that was taken on Christmas Eve, 1968, a photo taken by an Apollo 8 astronaut who was circling the moon that night. After the three astronauts broadcast the reading of the Bible's creation story, William Anders went to the window of the spacecraft and took a photo. It was a photo, not of the moon, but of earth. It's called "earthrise", and I'm sure you've seen it. The earth is a blue marble in ink black space, a beautiful oasis in a dark universe.
That photograph touched a lot of folks. It was the first time we'd seen our little planet from that perspective, and it made us thankful to God for His amazing gift of creation. Here's some scripture thoughts for today, for Earth Day.
- Colossians 1:16 - By Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth.
- Ecclesiastes 3:11 - He has made everything beautiful in His time.
- Genesis 1:31 - And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good.
- Genesis 2:15 - The Lord God took man and put him in the Garden, to work it, and to keep it.
Meet you back here tomorrow,
Bro. David
dmathis@fbccenter.org
Hollis
April 22, 2024 - “Go into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in…” Luke 14:23
I met Hollis Peavy in the late fifties while I was Pastor of San Augustine’s Liberty Hill Baptist Church and we became lifetime friends. He invited me once to an afternoon squirrel hunt. When I insisted that squirrels don’t “stir” that time of day, he replied, “Then let’s make’em stir”. As we walked along a spring branch near Bland Lake, Hollis grabbed a hanging vine, yelled, and yanked a couple of times. Two cat squirrels fled the tree in a wild frenzy. As I stared in surprise, Hollis laughed, “Sometimes you gotta scare ‘em out”.
The Lord uses tender entreaty to rescue those lost in the world’s viney trees. But if that method fails, He sometimes uses a different strategy.
He shakes our vines.
April 18, 2024 - Most, if not all of us are familiar with the first miracle Jesus performed. It was at a wedding in Cana and Jesus and His disciples were there. Jesus’ mother, Mary, was there too. They ran out of wine and Jesus changed six pots of water into wine. It was not just any wine, it was better wine than what had already been served.
Hidden in that story is a statement made by Mary that is often overlooked. She was speaking to the servants and recorded in John chapter 4 and verse 5 are these words, “whatsoever He saith unto you, do it.” You know, that is good advice for us to take to heart in our own day and time.
You see, the commandments of Jesus, the things Jesus tells us to do, the way Jesus instructs us to live are more than just suggestions, they are imperatives. Too often in our world today we fail to take Jesus seriously and obey what He tells us to do.
Jesus had a lot to say about obedience. In the sermon on the mount in Matthew 7:21, He says, “not everyone that saith unto me Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of Heaven, but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven”. Then again, in John 14:15, speaking to His disciples, Jesus says, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”
You know, “Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it” seems like sound advice.
It’s something to think about. . . tbp
Join Us for Worship this coming Lord’s Day at Center Church of Christ or online www.centerchurchofchrist.com
April 18, 2024 - Sardis Cemetery Annual Homecoming and Fish Fry will be May 4, 2024 beginning at 11am. Catfish plates will be $12 each and include fish, fries, beans, and dessert with tea or water. Make plans now to come and bring your family for a great day of fellowship and food.
Donations are always welcome. They are used for the upkeep of the cemetery. Cookbooks will be available for $15 each. Hope to see you there.
Also, donations can be mailed to 6034 FM 414 Center, TX 75935.
April 15, 2024 - Good Morning! It's Monday, April 15.
Yesterday, at First Baptist Center, we welcomed a new Youth Minister. This gives our church a full staff for the first time in five years. We are thankful and give God the glory for what He is doing in His church.
As we took a step forward in ministry to teenagers, I found myself thinking about youth music. In 2024, the songs that church young people sing in their meetings and camps are often the same ones that their churches sing on Sunday morning. But it wasn't always that way. When I was growing up, in the last century (!), youth music and church music were completely different. After all, our youth songs weren't in the hymnal.
And then, in 1975, I opened a book and got a nice surprise. The book was a new Baptist Hymnal, the first one in twenty years, and it contained a "youth song". I was a teenager at the time, and when I saw that song, and realized that we could sing it on Sunday mornings, it made me feel, for the first time, that I was a full fledged member of my church.
Here's that song -
It only takes a spark to get a fire going
And soon all those around can warm up in its glowing
That's how it is with God's love, once you've experienced it
You want to sing, it's fresh like spring, you want to pass it on.
We sang that song in our service yesterday. After all, it's in the hymnal.
Meet you back here tomorrow,
Bro. David
dmathis@fbccenter.org
April 12, 2024 - (Flier) - Clever Creek Baptist Church is hosting Evangelist Jim Moss for a meeting Sunday through Wednesday, April 28 – May 1, 2024. The theme of the meeting is “Stepping With Jesus” based on the great hymn “Each Step I Take”. Evangelist Moss is in his twenty-fourth year of full-time evangelism. He was pastor of Ephesus Baptist Church south of Shelbyville for many years (1981-1990) and then after that time was pastor of First Baptist Church in San Augustine for 10 years. After his work with San Augustine First Baptist Moss entered full-time evangelism and has preached in hundreds of meetings since that time, conducting close to 50 meetings a year across the nation.
The meeting at Clever Creek will begin Sunday morning with Sunday School at 10am with Evangelist Moss preaching at the 10:55am morning worship service. The next meeting will begin with supper at 6pm in the church fellowship hall and the preaching service at 7pm. Each night service through Wednesday there will be supper at 6pm and the preaching at 7pm. Bro. Barney Bryant, pastor of Parkway Baptist Church in Carthage, will lead the music Sunday night through Wednesday night. Sheran Bryant will accompany the music on the piano each night.
The Clever Creek Baptist Church is located on FM 417 West which is between SH 96 South and Shelbyville at the intersection with CR 1042. All are welcome to share with us in the supper meetings and in worship afterwards.
April 11, 2024 - There was a little church in Philippi that was near and dear to the Apostle Paul. It had its beginning when he and his companions went to the river to pray and came in contact with a woman from Thyatira by the name of Lydia. The Lord opened her heart and Paul baptized her and her whole household.
Later, Paul would write a letter to this church and he told them, “For me to live is Christ”. Have you ever thought about that statement and what it means? It means that we remember the cross on which Jesus died. It means that we never forget all that Jesus did and all that he suffered for us. It is because of Jesus Christ and His death on the cross that we have the forgiveness of sins and the promise of heaven if we live his kind of live in obedience to his will.
It also means that we never forget the presence of Jesus. Whether at morning, midday or evening we realize he is our ever present companion. Day and night, we are conscious that we are in his sight, we are in his care and he is with us. Certainly we all feel the presence of Jesus at special moments in life. We feel his presence in worship, we know he is near in prayer. But when we really belong to Jesus, we feel his presence at all times.
Are you living life within the will of God so that he is always near you. Can you say with Paul, “for me to live is Christ”?
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.
April 8, 2024 - Pleasant Grove Cemetery Annual Business Meeting and Homecoming Saturday, April 27, 2024.
Business Meeting begins at 11am / Lunch at 12-noon.
Join early to visit the cemetery, located behind Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church at 1440 CR 1470, Timpson, TX 75975. Share this information with family and friends of the Pleasant Grove Cemetery!
Please send donations to the following address: Pleasant Grove Cemetery Association, 663 Private Road 118, Center, TX 75935.
April 8, 2024 - Good Morning! It's Monday, April 8.
This is a day when much of America will be captivated by a celestial event - the eclipse of the sun. But on April 8, 1965, our country was focused not on the skies, but on the cover of a magazine.
Sixty years ago, Time was the number one weekly in the world. And that week, it's cover featured red letters on a black background. The message was a question - "Is God dead?" That's one of the ten most famous headlines in history.
Well, as you might imagine, that cover created a lot of controversy. Is it a question that you've ever asked? Probably not. But, like most people, you've probably experienced moments when you felt alone. It seems that even Jesus Christ experienced that when, on the cross, He called out, "My God! My God! Why hast Thou forsaken me?"
Is God dead? For the answer, we can just go back to last week's Easter Sunday, and remember some other famous words. The women who came to the tomb that Sunday morning two thousand years ago were grieving, were lost, were feeling alone. And then they heard the angel say, "Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here. He is risen!"
Meet you back here tomorrow,
Bro. David
dmathis@fbccenter.org
April 5, 2024 - New Prospect Missionary Baptist Church in Timpson, Texas will celebrate their Pastor and wife's (Pastor Rayford and Sis. Judie Caraway) 22nd Anniversary on Sunday April 21, 2024 at 2:30pm. Pastor Byron Coutee, Blount Chapel Baptist Church in Center Texas and Unity Baptist Church will bring the message. Everyone is cordially invited to attend.
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