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Contributing Writers: Mike Mills, Spring Hill Church | Doug Fincher | Pastor Randy and Sue Smith | Mike Belgard | Tim Perkins
Faith
August 1, 2022 - “Open wide your mouth and I will fill it….” Psalm 80:11
After watching my backyard birds feed their young these past weeks, I believe David must have been watching birds when he wrote this scripture. God feeds his children like the birds feed theirs. The one who opens the widest gets the worm and the ones that feed the most grow the most.
Birds stop feeding their young when they learn to make it on their own but children of God never outgrow their dependence on the Lord. Our diet might change from the “milk of the Word” to the “meat of the Word” as we grow in grace, but we continue to need our spiritual food.
Some church members are weak and puny while others are strong and healthy…and yet they feed in the same church. The same food is provided to all, so why are some so weak?
It could be that they didn’t “open–wide” their mouths.
August 1, 2022 - Grace and peace from our brother, Jesus. If you like really hot weather, blue skies, and bright sun, then you are loving our weather here deep in the heart of Texas. I know, though, that July and August are just part of not having snow and ice on the ground for days and weeks at a time. I have made some adjustments in my schedule. I get up early and head to the Joaquin City Park with my four- legged friends, Gunter and Sam. I walk my two miles, and they run free. On Friday, by the time I put them back on their leashes, they were both lying in a pile of sand, trying to stay cool.
This year July has five Sundays. Monday is the start of August, and we at Paxton Methodist will celebrate Communion next Sunday—the first Sunday of the month. All July we have been collecting cans of spaghetti, ravioli, and other Italian foods. We loaded them up in my truck Sunday and on Wednesday I will take them, along with a couple of checks, to Community Christian Services. In August we will collect children’s underwear and socks. During a short business meeting, the church voted to extend a scholarship to one of Lillie’s grandsons. We also voted to increase the usual amount of our scholarships and to revisit the amount if we need to increase it again. Seems like everything these days, including education, is very expensive. I am amazed at what the local news says parents will spend on each child returning to school this year.
It was so good to have Sue and Fred back with us this Sunday, and we hope they are on the mend. We also send our best wishes to Lillie, Keith, and Vera—all of whom have been under the weather. I know that teachers head back to the schoolhouse tomorrow in Joaquin. The summer break just flew by. Thank goodness for air conditioning! In Dallas, I remember many hot, humid days at Mockingbird Elementary (it was Stonewall Jackson when I was in school), and all we had was one rotating fan. We didn’t start school until after Labor Day, but we had plenty of hot days in hot classrooms. Our son and daughter are in the Dallas area now; they’ve had weeks of triple-digit temperatures with no let-up.
Our Sunday School lesson was a good one. It came from Acts 16 and told about Paul and Silas chained up in prison. An earthquake shook the prison doors open and loosened the chains. When the guard saw this, he was sure the prisoners had escaped and was going to kill himself. Paul assured the guard that they were all still there, and Paul was able to convert the guard right there one the spot. Paul and Silas certainly were in a terrible situation. And yet they refused to let their situation keep their spirits down. They sang hymns and prayers while the other prisoners listened. They used their predicament to bring good news to the prisoners. The author told us that when we feel helpless and all alone in the world, that spark in each of us seeks something bigger than just ourselves. I am always amazed that so much of what our Sunday School lesson teaches I speak about in my sermon later—all part of following the lectionary order of scriptures.
We began our worship service with Gathering Words based on Psalm 107. In unison we spoke our affirmation of faith, which today was the Apostles’ Creed. Sue read the Gospel lesson from Luke 12: 13-21, the parable about the rich fool. Our hymns were songs of awe and hope: “I Stand Amazed in the Presence” and “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms.” One quote in the bulletin was from Clarence Darrow, the famous American lawyer: “True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else.” Inside the bulletin was St. Thomas Aquinas, an early church father, saying “To love anyone is nothing else than to wish that person good.”
I titled my sermon “The MORE.” This comes from the great theologian Marcus Borg, who often referred to God and the Eternal as “the MORE”—the good stuff. We are all guilty from time to time of ignoring our spiritual sides and enjoying way too much our riches and possessions. Jesus was asked a question about inheritance, wealth, and possessions. In response, he told the parable of the rich fool, who was so caught up in gaining more wealth that he forgot about the MORE—God. This rich fool spent his time amassing worldly goods, only to die an early death. Jesus’ parable reminds us to make room in our lives for the MORE, not allowing ourselves to become greedy and too much in love with our possessions. I finished my sermon by saying, “Let us worship God not with fear and trembling, but with awe and wonder at the workings of our universe.”
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, and Open Minds.” 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 your email address to the Paxton email address, and I will add you to the list. God’s Speed.
August 1, 2022 - Good Morning! It’s Monday, August 1.
Joseph Priestly was a minister, theologian, philosopher, scientist, and a friend of Benjamin Franklin. And on this day in 1774, he discovered oxygen. Well, I’m not sure that “discovered” is the right word, since people had been breathing for quite a while before that. I guess Priestly discovered oxygen in the same way that Columbus discovered the New World - which was a surprise to the 60 million Indians already living here.
Sometimes people talk about discovering God, but He had been around for quite a while, too. Perhaps, rather, we should say that we can gain understanding of God, just a little - little by little. Verses like these encourage us to search for this discovery -
Jeremiah 29:13 - You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
Proverbs 8:35 - Those who find me, find life . . .
Meet you back here tomorrow,
Bro. David
dmathis@fbccenter.org
July 29, 2022 - New Columbia Missionary Baptist Church, located at 2018 FM 1970 S in Timpson, will be in revival Sunday, July 31 through Tuesday, August 2, at 7pm. Calvin Gould is the pastor.
Wesley Veazy, pastor of Memory Lane Baptist Church in Palestine, will speak at these meetings. Bro. Veazy formerly pastored at Hopewell MBC near Gary, and is well known in this area.
The church welcomes everyone to come enjoy Christian fellowship with its members as Bro. Veazy shares God's Word.
July 29, 2022 - Satchel Paige was a professional baseball player noted both for his longevity and his numerous witticisms that are often quoted. One of those was, dont look back, something may be gaining on you. You know, that is pretty sound advice, something that the Bible also calls for.
Looking back hinders forward progress, it can cause us to be depressed and it may be bringing defeat into our lives.
We must not look back at sins that have been forgiven. God really does put our sins away, and when in obedient faith we give our lives to Jesus Christ, we become new creatures. Neither do we need to look back at defeats we have suffered in life. All of us have defeats in our past but that does not make us failures.
Yet, we do not want to look at the past and see it better than it was. Often, distance lends enchantment to the past and yet, nostalgia is never quite honest with us. It was Vance Havner who said, the present is never as good as it used to be.
Rather than looking back, we need to look to Jesus. Here are the words of the Hebrew writer, Hebrews 12:1-2, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.
Its something to think about. . . TBP
Join Us for Worship this coming Lords Day Center Church of Christ www.centerchurchofchrist.com
July 29, 2022 - Antioch Baptist Church in the James Community is holding a Blessing of the backpacks on Sunday, August 7th at 11am. All students and school personnel are invited from nursery age to college age. Please bring your backpack for us to pray over. For questions contact, Barbara Walton at 936-598-8306.
July 25, 2022 - Grace and peace from our brother and our teacher, Jesus. Amen. Last week I mentioned in my article how oppressive the heat has been. Then this week, on Thursday and Friday, Sue and I got 2 inches of rain in downtown Joaquin! On Friday, the temperature didn’t get out of the seventies until the afternoon. Oh, what a relief it was! It has been a nice break not having to water my gardens, fruit trees, and shrubs. But it is, after all, summer in Texas, so I know what we are in for. I sure hope the electric grid holds and the AC keeps working.
Fannie had a most wonderful Sunday School lesson for us this morning. Gene read a rather long scripture from Acts 15, which documented the first church council that had to make a decision affecting the Jesus Movement. The new way of seeing and believing was just beginning; more and more converts were not Jewish but Gentile. The question before the council would be just “how Jewish” did Gentile converts need to become. For example, should males be circumcised in order to become followers of Jesus. There have always been disagreements among believers—the reason there are so many denominations today. James the Just, who was seen as the leader of the Jerusalem followers, decided that God came to the Gentiles as well as to Jews, so roadblocks shouldn’t be placed in their way. We “United” Methodists could use a James today.
In our worship service, our Gathering Words were based on Psalm 85, and the affirmation was the Apostles’ Creed. The Gospel lesson was Luke 11: 1-13. Our songs this morning were two familiar ones, “Shall We Gather at the River” and “Hymn of Promise.” The second is a more modern one, with beautiful words and melody. Our first bulletin quote was from Maya Angelou, American poet: “Equal rights, fair play, justice, are all like the air: We all have it, or none of us has it.” The other was from Billy Graham, American evangelist: “True prayer is a way of life, not just for use in cases of emergency. Make it a habit, and when the need arises you will be in practice.” Both of these folks were wise and thoughtful, with advice worth repeating and remembering.
In today’s story, the disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray. It is in Luke and Matthew that we are introduced to the Lord’s Prayer, used more than any other prayer in Christian Churches today. At Paxton we recite this prayer each Sunday. It is not a complicated prayer—only five sentences, about forty words, in the Common English Bible that I used in preparing my sermon. I think what most writers find unique is the personal, almost intimate way Jesus addresses the God of the Universe. To the ancient world and among the priests and keepers of the Temple in Jerusalem, this would have bordered on blasphemy. To us, it seems comforting.
In July we have five Sundays, so Paxton Methodist will continue to collect cans of spaghetti, ravioli, and other Italian foods for Community Christian Services. Originally at Joaquin Methodist, August was the month we collected children’s underwear and socks. Gayle called one special Sunday “Undie Sunday” and kept the name even after expanding to the whole month. Paxton too will collect children’s underwear and socks during the month of August. New underwear for kids was to coincide with the beginning of a new school year. I saw where Joaquin teachers and staff are heading back on August 1st.
In downtown Joaquin, between Cindy’s Restaurant and the Community Center, are the Mini Library and the Blessing Box. Anyone can add nonperishable and canned goods to the Blessing Box and get a book from the library (or leave one). Mr. Shelby Johnson has been making good use of the produce section of the Blessing Box, leaving hundreds of tomatoes, cantaloupe, watermelons, zucchini, summer squash, and potatoes. He’s an example to us all.
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, and Open Minds.” 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 your email address to the Paxton email address, and I will add you to the list. God’s Speed.
July 25, 2022 - Good Morning! It’s Monday, July 25.
I love puzzles. All kinds of puzzles. But, most of all, I love crossword puzzles. The gold standard is the New York Times Crossword and I religiously complete it every day.
There are puzzles in the Bible - mysteries - questions that have no answers.
*Where was the Garden of Eden located?
*Where did Cain’s wife come from?
*What were the Behemoth and the Leviathan mentioned in the Book of Job?
*What year was Jesus born?
*What happened to Jesus between the ages of 12 and 30?
These are just a few of the Bible mysteries that I will be solving over the next week in our Daily Devotions... KIDDING! Some things are just meant to remain unknown to us.
Proverbs 25:2 says, “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing.”
How presumptuous of us mortals to think that we should understand everything about the Creator of the Universe. And so, we continue to ask our questions, continue to search the scriptures, as we should. But, at the end of the day, we are left with this thought from 2 Corinthians 5:7 - We live by faith, not by sight!
Meet you back here tomorrow,
Bro. David
dmathis@fbccenter.org
July 21, 2022 - When Paul wrote to the church in Rome, we find these words in chapter 12 and verse 2, “Be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
When we give our lives to Jesus Christ, when he becomes the Lord and Master of our lives, we change, we are transformed. We have a new way of looking at things, we have a new standard of conduct, we have a new way of life. One of the great tragedies of our day and time is that too many people claim to know Jesus Christ, they talk loudly and say “I am proud to know Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior” and there is no visible transformation in their lives. If Jesus has not changed your life, if there is not a visible transformation, then perhaps you are still conforming to the world and have not truly allowed Jesus to be your Lord and Master.
This is also one of the great tragedies of the church in our day and time. There is too much of the world in the church and not enough of the church in the world. If Jesus Christ is Lord of our lives, we don’t have to shout it from the housetop, people will see Him living in us on a daily basis. If others cannot see Jesus living in us, maybe, just maybe we ought to examine our way of life.
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 21, 2022 - Mt. Calvary Full Gospel Church is hosting a 5 Night Revival from August 1 through August 5 starting at 7pm nightly. Guest speakers are:
- Monday - Kevin Windham
- Tuesday - Billy Windham
- Wednesday - Chris Collins
- Thursday - James Goodwin
- Friday - Lamar Denby
On Friday night only enjoy New Day Spirituals. Finger foods will follow the service on Friday as well.
Mt. Calvary Full Gospel Church is located at 5527 FM 417 East, Shelbyville, Texas 75973.
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