FAMILY NEWS AND NOTES
As the men serving on the communion table make their way toward the front to be seated, please begin to prepare your minds for our worship services.
Please remember …Each Member and Visitor needs to complete an
ATTENDANCE CARD and pass them to the inside aisle where they will be picked up at the appropriate time.
OUR GOSPEL MEETING BEGINS March 30th and runs thru April 02. It is not too early to make your plans to attend. We hope to have good crowds each evening. Won’t you be there?!
Gospel Journal subscriptions renewal time has arrived. If you wish to continue your subscription, or become a first-time subscriber, please see David McCain ASAP and give him your correct mailing address.
Widows and Singles noon luncheon scheduled for TODAY February 17, hosted by the youth of this congregation. All widows and any other singles are invited. Even if you did not sign up you are welcome to attend. There will be plenty for everyone.
BIBLE BOWL study at 5:00 PM this afternoon before worship service. This is to prepare us for the March 10 Bible Bowl.
Lurline Johnson was scheduled for surgery this past Friday at 9:30 AM at East Texas Medical Center in Tyler. She was scheduled to return home on Saturday. We should have a more up-to-date report on her today.
Funeral service for Jay Roach (Bud’s grandson) was conducted by Chapel Wood Funeral Home at First Baptist Church in Nash, Texas this past week, after passing away in German.
LaShedra Traylor has been dismissed from the hospital and was able to be back in worship services Wednesday evening.
Carlos Kidwell, a life-long resident of Mount Pleasant, who is known by many in this congregation, is in Baylor Hospital in Dallas suffering from leukemia.
He has had leukemia for about two years and has undergone chemotherapy treatment during that time. The doctors have determined that the chemo is not have told the family that a bone marrow transplant is the only option left. Hey are trying at this time to determine if his brother is a match for the transplant.
Carlos and Hope have asked us to keep them in our prayers during this very difficult time. The mailing address and phone number for Carlos is on the round table in the foyer.
Larry Clifton of Wichita Falls, brother-in-law of Wayne Pickrel, is not in good shape. He has cancer in both lungs and his liver and possibly other parts of his body. Please keep Larry and the family in your prayers.
Josephine Cooper has been feeling much better and has been able to attend services again.
Perry Cooper passed away early Friday morning after a lengthy fight with multiple illnesses. Visitation will be Sunday evening at Bates-Cooper-Sloan Funeral home from 7—9 PM and the funeral service will be conducted Monday afternoon at 2:00 PM at North Jefferson Church of Christ, with burial at Nevill’s Chapel Cemetery. Perry is survived by his wife Josephine, son Randy, 6 Grandchildren, 6 Great Grandchildren, brother Darrell Cooper and sister Patsy Dillard, as well as his Aunt Hallie Lang and Aunt Pat Lee, sister-in-law Iona Carpenter, and numerous nieces and nephews.
PRAYER LIST:
Justin Barker, Rachel Barker, Doris Bell, Louis & Nona Bell, Winell Blackard, Annah Brown, Billye Campbell, Josephine Cooper, Patsy Duncan, Lurline Johnson, Joyce Lee, Georgia Lide, Ben McCain, Charles Neal, Rebecca Tippitt, LaShedra Traylor
ALSO: Larry Clifton, Wesley DuBose, Carlos Kidwell, Betty Newman, Whayln Payne, Don Shuette, Paul Unger
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Church’s Worship in Giving
[Guest Article from The Southwesterner—Southwest church of Christ—Ada, Oklahoma]
By Floyd Kaiser
No matter how unpopular the subject of giving might be to the general crowd of church-goers in this country, one cannot study the Bible and not be impressed by the seriousness of it. Here are six points about giving:
SAY “THANK YOU” WHEN YOU GIVE.
I realize that doesn’t sound correct, that one gives with gratitude. You would think that it is only the one who received who should be grateful. But, the answer to this seeming contradict6ion is that God has given us so much more than we could ever give Him.
Do an exercise with me? Take a deep breathe. Hold it. Did you know that you breathe over 20,000 times a day? Now exhale. Who gave you that breathe? God! In Job 12:10 it’s written, In whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.. If you had to buy a breath what would you pay for it? All you had, if you thought it were your last!
An experienced preacher, years ago, told me that every time he preached on giving., The contribution declined. That’s not been my experience, but I could see how that might happen. Unless a person is committed to the Lord, giving is very difficult. As a matter of fact, I believe that trying to coerce a Christian to give if he or she doesn’t feel driven by gratitude could destroy that person’s faith. This is probably why Paul writes in 2 Cor. 9:7 that no one is to give “under compulsion.” Underpinning every gift we give in the name of Jesus should be gratitude, because of how much God has done for us. And, thankfulness is an attitude that cannot be forced from an outside influence. It has to come from the inside.
GIVE BACK WHAT YOU’VE BORROWED.
We need to understand, that everything we own, we don’t, God does. He just loans it to us. In Psa. 50:10 the lord declares that the cattle on a thousand hills are His. But, what we need to remember is that while He owns thousands and thousands of cows, each one of them is branded as a possession of man. It’s God’s cattle, but men’s brand. God really owns them; man just THINKS he does.
Writing on the topic of worship, author Greg Laurie shares the following:
I heard the story of a woman who had finished shopping and returned to her car. She found four men inside the car. She dropped her shopping bags, drew a handgun and screamed, “I have a gun, and I know how to use it! Get out of the car.” Those men did not wait for a second invitation; they got out and ran like crazy.
The woman, somewhat shaken, loaded her shopping bags and then got into the car. But no matter how she tried, she could not get her key into the ignition. Then it dawned on her: her car was parked four or five spaces away!
You see, she thought it was her car, but it really belongs to someone else. We think our lives are our own, but they really belong to God.
When we give to God, it’s with the awareness that He owns it all anyway. We are just returning what we’ve borrowed.
GIVE GOD A CHANCE TO GIVE TO YOU.
While God gives some blessings to all of us (see Matt. 5:45), He apparently adjusts blessings in some areas so as to make them proportionate to what is given to Him. If He gave all things to the grateful and ungrateful alike, then for some He would be rewarding a state of mind and life that are contrary to how they need to be. This is something God would never do (James 1:17).
Therefore, there are some blessings God gives only in proportion to what we give to Him. Jesus said, “Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure —- pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.” (Luke 6:38; also see Prov. 39-10, Mal. 3:10 & 2 Cor. 9:8-11).
GIVE UNTIL IT IS A SACRIFICE.
Around Thanksgiving a few years ago, Paul Harvey shared a true story of a woman and her frozen Thanksgiving turkey.
The Butterball Turkey Company set up a telephone hotline to answer consumer questions about preparing holiday turkeys. One woman called to inquire about cooking a turkey that had been in the bottom of her freezer for 23 years. That’s right, 23 years. The Butterball representative to her the turkey would probably be safe to eat if the freezer had been kept below zero for the entire 23 years. But the Butterball representative warned her that even if the turkey was safe to eat, the flavor would probably have deteriorated to such a degree that she would not recommend eating it.
The called replied, “That’s what I thought. We’ll give the turkey to our church.”
Is there a sacrifice to your giving?
In Mark 12:41 ff we read how Jesus once sat and watched people giving to the Temple treasury. Rich people put in large sums while a poor widow put in only two small copper coins worth about a cent. Jesus tells His disciples that she put in more than the rich because, while they gave from their surplus, she gave all she had to live on. It was not the cash amount that counted with the Lord, but the sacrifice.
REACH INTO YOUR LIFE WHILE YOU REAH INTO YOUR WALLET.
In Romans 12:1 it’s written, Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of god, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
You may be thinking that giving is only about money. We do have to give money, but if one doesn’t have it, it can’t be given. In 2 Cor. 8:12 we are commanded to give according to what we have and not according to what we don’t have.
I recall a widow lady in Texas who gave give dollars every Sunday. That’s all she could give on the meager amount she received. I felt like she didn’t have to give that much, but she did. If you can only give a dollar, do that. However, give in other ways as well. There will be a number of programs and works in your congregation that could use your time.
DON’T EAT A GREEN PERSIMMON BEFORE YOU GIVE.
If you’ve ever eaten a green persimmon, you know what I’m referring to. It will cause your mouth to pucker like you wouldn’t believe. I remember one time thinking that by sheer willpower I could bite a green persimmon and not pucker. I couldn’t do it! It’s humanly impossible.
Sometimes people give with an attitude that is about like they have just bitten a green persimmon, with not even the hint of a smile.
Listen to what Paul says about the proper mood of giving, 2 Cor. 9:7, “God loves a cheerful giver.”
