FAMILY NEWS AND NOTES
Volume 10 05 October 2008 Issue No. 32
Service Arrangements
COMMUNION FOR OCTOBER 2008
SOUTH SIDE NORTH SIDE
AM
Rance Robison
Bob Hedges
Daniel McCaryJon McCain
Bronson Roper Austin Neal
PM
Jim Duncan Darrell Cooper
ANNOUNCEMENTS ……………… Wayne Pickrel
(Sunday and Wednesday)
SONG LEADERAM……..… Royce Armstrong
Wednesday Nite ….…. Grady Duncan
PRAYERS —– Sunday.
AM First Prayer ……….. Wayne Pickrel
AM Closing ………….… Fred Harkrider
PM First Prayer …..…….. Bob Hedges
PM Closing ……...……. Darrell Cooper
PRAYERS — Wednesday Nite
First Prayer ………...……… Wade Miller
Closing ……….……………. Jim Duncan
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, Joanne Miller, Wade Miller, Ben McCain, Thelma Reed, Rebecca Tippitt
ALSO: Gary Bell, Wesley DuBose, LaWanta Garner, Michael Gilbert, Donald Johnson, Mary Jo Lee, Wayne Lineberger, Cammy Jo McCain, Lee McCain, Betty Newman, Johnine Phillips, Don Shuette, Paul Unger, Yvonne Waldrup, Shirley Wright
And now for … FAMILY NEWS AND NOTES
Be mindful … today, being the first Sunday in a new month … traditionally we have set this day for contributions to our Building Fund. If you are willing and able you may contribute to the fund today (or any other day of your choosing).
MEN … Be here and attend the Men’s Business Meeting next Sunday evening following services. Your attendance and input are important.
If you have not already done so … please read the flyer enclosed in your bulletin. Beginning tonite and for the next 4 Sunday evenings, there will be a 5-Sunday evening viewing of a DVD entitled “The Silencing of God”. YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS THIS.
Please remember that our “Bible Bowl” will begin again for its second season on Monday nite, October 13. We will host this first meeting. All of the competitions will be held here, but with different congregations hosting each month. Our study material will be the Old Testament book of Judges, out of the NKJV. The first test will cover Judges 1—3. Our coaches this year will consist of the Armstrong(s), the Robison(s), and the McCary(s).
David and Janice have been in Arkansas this past week for surgery for his brother, Lee, on Wednesday. The surgery went well and the tests were okay. Keep Lee McCain in your prayers.
Thanks to Bob Hedges for the great presentation last Wednesday evening in David’s absence.
Gary Bell is backing the hospital with a blood clot in his leg. Keep him in your prayers.
Joanne Miller has been having lots of back pain the past several weeks. She got a shot in her back last week and is doing a little better. It is hoped the shot will give her some relief. Pray for Joanne.
Lawanta Garner has been released from the hospital and is back at home.
There are so many we need to pray for. Please check the prayer list for additional folks to remember.
THANK YOU … “Thanks to all my brothers and sisters in Christ for your prayers and every act of kindness shown me during my illness. May the Lord be with you and bless you in his own special way.
— In Christian Love,
Billye Campbell”
THANK YOU … “Brothers and Sisters … thank you so much for the calls, cards, food, and visits … and most all for your prayers offered on my behalf. I’m doing well and hope to be back in worship soon.
— Thank you again,
Suzanne Charlton”
Blodgett church of Christ Fall Lectureship ~ October 5 — October 8
Presents teaching on:“How to Live Righteous In a Unrighteous World”
10:00 AM Sunday
6:00 PM Sunday
7:00 PM Monday thru Wednesday
True Freedom
—Johnny O. Trail—Murfreesboro, TN
[Guest Article from The Southwesterner—southwest church of Christ—Ada, OK]
We live in a country where we enjoy great freedom. Our ancestors fought a revolutionary war so we could gain freedom from the oppressive practices of the British during the colonial period of this great nation. We enjoy virtually unlimited personal freedom, and we are very fortunate to live in such a great land.
Considering all of these things, it is ironic to realize that many do not have real freedom. We are not under a tyrannical American dictatorship, but the vast majority of people are under spiritual bondage.
In this life, we are under some type of bondage. We are either in bondage to Christ or to Satan. There is no middle ground, we serve one or the other. Matthew 6:24: “No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”
Many pretend that they are servants of God. They appear faithful outwardly, but they are entrapped in the cares and concerns of a worldly nature. The brother of our Lord, James, was very plain about this type of service. James 4:4: “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whatsoever therefore will be a friend to the world is the enemy with God?” If we are the friend of the world we are the enemy of God and in bondage to Satan.
There is good news—we can be in bondage to Jesus Christ. Paul starts the epistle to Philemon by saying in verse one “Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ …” He also calls himself a prisoner in verse nine, “Yet for love’s sake I rather beseech thee, being such an one as Paul the aged, and also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.”
Paul wrote several of his epistles from jail or under house arrest. The conditions in most of those ancient jails was abysmal. They did not have the luxuries that people in prison have today. Even though Paul was in prison they could not cage his spirit. Man has yet to invent “heart cuffs.” Paul did not see his bondage as a hindrance to the cause of Christ. He spoke with every one about Christ, even those who held him in bondage.
You see, he understood that his true Master was Christ. No matter what his lot in life, Paul served the master. The bondage to Christ was a willing, blessed bondage for Paul.
This bondage could only be maintained with the proper attitude. Paul knew that all things belonged to God and without him nothing mattered. Philippians 3:8: Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss “for the excellency of knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.” To Paul, things of a worldly nature were no more than refuse and filth. We should have the same attitude when we are forced to choose between Christ and the cares of the world.
You are in bondage today. You either belong to Christ, or you belong to Satan. There is no middle ground. You must choose one.
