FAMILY NEWS AND NOTES
Volume 10 28 September 2008 Issue No. 31
Service Arrangements
COMMUNION FOR SEPTEMBER 2008
SOUTH SIDE NORTH SIDE
AM
Weldon Miller
Wayne Pickrel
Ronnie Stewart Jody Sparks
Cody Sparks Royce Armstrong
PM
Ron Traughber Tim Jones
ANNOUNCEMENTS ……….. ..…… Grady Duncan
(Sunday and Wednesday)
SONG LEADER (AM)……....……,…… Hal Roper
(PM)……………...….. Hal Roper
Wednesday Nite …. Royce Armstrong
PRAYERS —– Sunday.
AM First Prayer ……................. George O’Neal
AM Closing…………..............…..… Doug Abbey
PM First Prayer…….............…...….. Hal Roper
PM Closing…………................…. David McCain
PRAYERS — Wednesday Nite
First Prayer…………............... Royce Armstrong
Closing……………..…..............… Jerry Freeman
PRAYER LIST
Justin Barker, Rachel Barker, Doris Bell, Louis & Nona Bell, Billye Campbell, Suzanne Charlton, Irene Duncan, Jerry Freeman, Amy Jones, Mary Jane Joyner, Joyce Lee, Georgia Lide, JoAnn Miller, Wade Miller, Ben McCain, Thelma Reed, Rebecca Tippitt
ALSO: Wesley DuBose, LaWanta Garner, Michael Gilbert, Donald Johnson, Mary Jo Lee, Wayne Lineberger, Cammy Jo McCain, Betty Newman, Johnine Phillips, Don Shuette, Paul Unger, Yvonne Waldrup, Shirley Wright
And now for … FAMILY NEWS AND NOTES
OK … so I’m reminding you again … Next Sunday, being the first Sunday in a new month … traditionally we have set that day for contributions to our Building Fund. If you are willing and able you may contribute next Sunday (or any other day of your choosing).
Yvonne Waldrup (Karen Roper’s mom) fell and broker her upper thigh bone. She is in Room 527 at Titus Regional Medical Center. Please keep her in your prayers.
LaWanta Garner has been in ICU at Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler and at the printing of this bulletin should have a room assigned.
Ben McCain will be having major surgery sometime in the next few weeks in hopes of helping his health condition. Keep Ben in your prayers.
JoAnn Miller has been in a lot of pain lately because of two protruding discs in her back. Keep her in your prayers.
Billye Campbell is recovering at home following her recent knee surgery. Says she is feeling pretty good. Continue to pray for Billye.
At the printing of this bulletin there have been no additional reports on sick folks, but we need to keep ALL in our prayers.
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“LET US PRAY!”
—Floyd Kaiser
Southwest church of Christ—Ada, OK
How many times have we heard this expression as a prelude to a collective journey of the brethren into the presence of God? I wonder if it is so frequently used that we forget its importance?
Consider some of the instances of corporate prayers found in the New Testament.
In Matthew 26 and its parallel accounts we learn of Jesus apparently leading his disciples in prayer to bless the food (also, 1 Cor. 11:24). This is our authority for the prayer offered before the Lord’s Supper each Sunday.
On the occasion of Matthias’ selection to take Judas’ place with the disciples in Acts 1, we are told in verse 24, “And they prayed.” There is little doubt that one of the eleven led the prayer but the effect was the same as all praying.
After the apostles, Peter and John, were arrested and released for preaching the gospel, they came to the brethren. In Acts 4:24 it is written, “And when they heard this they lifted their voices to God with one accord …” What a thrilling concept that God heard all the brethren’s voices as one! We are told that God’s pleasure and power with this action were displayed when “the place where they had gathered together was shaken” (Verse 31).
In Acts 20 after Paul bade farewell to the elders of the church at Ephesus, we are told that “he knelt down and prayed with them all” (Verse 36).
We are also told that when a prayer is led it must be discernible (1 Cor. 14:15-19) and should be led by a man when in a mixed-gender assembly (1 Tim. 2:8).
The next time you hear or say, “Let us pray,” try not to consider it as just an introduction of what is happening next but a spiritual call to join hearts and minds in the greatest privilege and power offered to mankind. See it as one person leading a group before the very throne of God.
A Prophet Who Lied
—Floyd Kaiser
[Guest article from The Southwesterner—Southwest church of Christ—Ada, OK]
Question: If you can’t believe your preacher, who can you believe? Answer: God!
1 Kings 13 records a story of two prophets, one sent by God and the other a self-centered imposter.
The one sent by God — called in the text the “man of God” — was ordered to go to the king of Israel, Jeroboam, and rebuke him for the idolatry into which he had led his people. Along with his mission to the king, God commanded the man of God, “You shall eat no bread, nor drink water, nor return by the way which you came” (verse 7, NASB). While the reason for the command was rather inexplicable, the man of God, like any person of God, was obligated to obey. And, obey he did. Even when the king offered him food and hospitality, he declined to accept. He knew what God commanded and he was committed to obey.
The other prophet, an old prophet and an impostor, heard of what the man of God had done, how he had rebuked the king and even performed a miracle to validate what he preached. He wanted to somehow cash-in on this event. He sought to have the man of God come to his house and eat with him. However, the man of God replied to the invitation, “I cannot return with you, nor go with you, nor will I eat or drink water with you in this place. For a command came to me by the word of the Lord, ‘You shall eat no bread, nor drink water there; do no t return by going the way which you came’” (verses 16,17).
Then, something terrible happened! The conniving prophet replied, “I also am a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water’” (verse 18).
Terrible? It doesn’t sound terrible. It wouldn’t sound terrible to this honorable prophet who by the command of God had probably been days without food and water. It wouldn’t sound terrible to any of us who would have been in his place. Not terrible at all … at least, not until we heard what is written next, “But he lied to him.” the old prophet had lied! For his own gain, he deceived the man of God into disobeying.
Well, the rest of the story is about how the man of god went to the old prophet’s house and ate and drank water. When the Lord revealed that he had been lied to, he saddled his donkey and left. For his disobedience, on his way back a lion killed him and his body was left beside the road (verse 24).
Message: Disobedience is sin even when one has been deceived. Can we believe all preachers who say that they speak for God? No. We had better listen to God for ourselves by a study of the Bible. Not all preachers (prophets) are going to be honest. Not all preachers will have our eternal interests in mind. God will punish the false preacher. However, the responsibility of the false preacher does not absolve you and me from our own responsibility to not be deceived.
