Family News and Notes
EVERYONE Do not forget about the FELLOWSHIP LUNCHEON TODAY following the morning worship services. Everyone is invited, including our visitors.
ALSO Ladies .. we will have a luncheon following the Ladies Bible Class on Tuesday in the Multi-Purpose Room.
The Men's Business Meeting has been rescheduled for next Sunday following the evening services. All men of the congregation are encouraged to attend.
All the Young Adults (married or singlecollege age to early 40's) are invited to the McCain's after the evening service tonight for a Mexican Food Feast and for visiting with Michael Light. Any children you have are also invited. Bring nothing but your appetite and a smile!
Wayne Pickrel got a good report on his PET Scan this week. It showed he is clear of cancer except in his chest. He will continue his treatments for many weeks, yet.
Winnie Patton remains in ICU at Titus Regional Medical Center. She is still on the ventilator because of additional health problems, but the surgery on her right leg went well.
Hollis Lee is still in ETMC in Tyler, Room 2234. His phone number there is: 903-531-8234.
Billye Campbell was scheduled to return to Mount Pleasant last Friday to Titus Regional Medical Center for rehab. Gene reported that her walking seems to have improved and she had regained some of her speech. If she is able to return we should have her room number by today.
Betty Abbey is scheduled for cataract surgery in the near future.
Helen Roper had to go to the hospital last Wednesday to have her shoulder set. She is now back at the nursing facility.
Patsy Duncan has been having trouble with her eyes and will require surgery soon.
Dudley Farrell is now at home following knee surgery in Dallas. He would appreciate cards and visits. The address is:
Dudley & Patty Farrell
8688 CR 1200
Mount Pleasant, Texas 75455
Larry Terrell, age 58, (son of Julia Terrell) of San Antonio, had to have triple by-pass surgery last Monday. He will be in the hospital there for several days for rehab.
A couple of deaths to report: Bud Joyner lost his aunt last week and Mary Jane lost her brother-in-law.
Wayne Lineberger has returned home but continues his treatments. He needs our prayers and encouragement.
Juanita DuBose of Longview (mother of Judy Freeman) got a good report from her doctor Tuesday. She is cancer free at the present time. She finished her radiation and Chemo treatments and wishes to thank everyone for their prayers.
We are all happy and filled with joy,to learn that Jeannie Pat Jaggers is having a baby boy. Come and celebrate the special day. Soon little Colton Todd will be here to stay!
Sunday, October 16th, 2:00 p.m.
North Jefferson Church of Christ
2311 N. Jefferson Avenue
Mt. Pleasant, Texas 75455
Hostesses: Nelda Dunn, Elna O'Neal, Thelma Reed, Betty Ferrell
Selections at:Kasseigh's Kollage, It's A Small World, Babies R Us, and Target
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PRAYER LIST:
Betty Abbey, Justin Barker, Rachel Barker, Louis Bell, Winell Blackard,
Annah Brown, Billye Campbell, Perry Cooper, Zenith Hargrove, Hollis Lee, Joyce Lee, Georgia Lide, Elna O'Neal, Winnie Patton, Wayne Pickrel, Dorothy Sargent,
Alva Mae Sheets, Edith Shiflet, Rebecca Tippitt
ALSO: Melba Boyd, Austin Cody, Denise Dering, Wesley & Juanita DuBose, Dudley Farrell, Ruby Jeffery, Wayne Lineberger, Lonita Thompson
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"Faith" - God's Power Source For Winners!
From the very beginning of time, mankind has divided itself into two classes of people: the "nay-sayers" and the "possibility-thinkers." Just like ten of the twelve spies who reported to Moses after spying out the land of Canaan, some "faithless men" see only the giants in their seemingly impregnable walled cities. Thank God, however, sometimes there are a few "faithful men" around who have the gumption to stand up and be counted, because like Joshua and Caleb, through the eye of faith, they can see those walls come tumbling down. Plugged into God's power source by faith, they believe that with God's help they can whip some giants (Num. 13-14).
Hopefully, all of us realize that folks who think they are going to fail will more than likely do just that. Their "down-in-the-dumps" outlook and their "gloom and doom" philosophy will become a self-fulfilling prophecy more times than not. However, those who think they can succeed in life, usually will!
Surely, most all of us remember the childhood story of the little train with the "I think I can" attitude. The moral of the story is that positive thinking can accomplish great things in life. Possibility-thinkers face the same setbacks and failures in life as do the nay-sayers, but they don't allow discouragement to keep them from trying again. They believe in what they are doing so strongly, that they view failure merely as a narrowing of the field of possibilities, which helps to point them towards the final solution. Norman Vincent Peale dubbed this attitude, "The Power Of Positive Thinking!"
God calls this attitude "faith." Like the power of positive thinking, faith says, "I think I can!" However, unlike positive thinking, faith is not nearly so much belief in your own inherent ability, as it is belief in the power and ability of God, to work through you to accomplish His purposes. As Paul wrote, "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13). Or, as the giant slayer, David proclaimed, "And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord's..." (I Sam. 17:47). Neither is this faith based on blind luck, nor the random chances of probability, but rather on the absolute evidence of truth presented to us in God's Holy Word (Heb. 11:1).
Jesus was a possibility thinker. His mission was to bring salvation to a lost and dying world. He chose to let the world know about that salvation through the Gospel, and by "the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe" (I Cor. 1:21). He chose just twelve men to help Him accomplish His mission. Who would have thought that only twelve men could "turn the world upside down" (Acts 17:6) with the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Obviously, only someone like Jesus, who knew that the "Good News" of His life, death, and resurrection would become "the power of God unto salvation" (Rms. 1:16).
Brethren, the Gospel of Jesus Christ still contains the power of God, which can turn the world upside down for Jesus. It will work right here in Mt. Pleasant, just like it worked in Jerusalem, Antioch, and Rome so long ago. All that's needed to unleash the power is for God's people to say, "With God's help, we are able, we can do it!"
May God banish the visionless nay-sayers from His church, and replace them with the faithful possibility-thinkers, who will lead us on to victory! Which kind of person are you, faithful or faithless, a "nay-sayer," or a "possibility-thinker," a helper or a hindrance, a worker or a shirker, a leader or a leech, a builder-up or a breaker-down? Your honest answer will point toward your eternal destiny. Be faithful (Rev. 2:10)! David McCain
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SIN OF NEGLECT
Johnny Ramsey
The wages of sin has always been the same. Sin and death separation from the Lord have always gone together in a sorrowful tandem (Romans 6:23). Only the power of Christ's sacrifice at Calvary can triumph over the hold Satan has on the human race (March 3:27). What happened at Golgotha can never be changed. Hope for humanity echoes down the stream of time in a message of unchanging beauty and glory.
Jesus died for me
All to Him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it what as snow.
Thus we conclude with this major thought just think soberly of the success of the first century Christians. They grew phenomenally in spirituality in spite of rabid opposition on every hand. How? Their very lives reflected the sentiment of sacred prose "God is our refuge and strength Our help is in the name of the Lord He will never leave us not forsake us Our sufficiency is of God." For all of those who have tasted "that the Lord is gracious," the summation of each Christian's dependence upon the Lord comes from Paul's words in 2 Timothy 4:16-17: "At my first answer no man stood with me but all men forsook me. But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me."
If we will but transfer the following speech made by Booker T. Washington out of the secular realm into the divine we will learn what it takes to "go on unto perfection." The great black educator spoke these words at the Atlanta Exposition on September 18, 1895. Notice how well they can apply to the gist of this lesson:
"Our greatest danger is that in the great leap from slavery to freedom we may overlook the fact that the masses of us are to live by the production of our hands. We shall prosper as we learn to draw the line between the superficial and the substantial, the ornamental things of life and the useful. No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem. It is at the bottom of life we must begin, and not at the top. Nor should we permit our grievances to overshadow our opportunities."
May each Christian whether old or new work out his own salvation, realizing that God works within us to accomplish that end (Philippians 2:11-13).
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