Family News and Notes
PLEASE NOTE:
In Order to let all the ladies (who are attending the Wednesday evening Ladies Class) see the "Searching for Truth Video Series" that David Began showing to the men the 1st Wednesday evening the elders asked David to move the series to our Sunday evening services. In order to keep our services on time, David will divide the longer lessons in the series into two lessons each. One hundred (100) copies of the video have been ordered so that each family can have a copy to use in your own personal evangelism efforts. These will be distributed to each family after we have completed the series, and additional copies will be ordered as needed for use in our personal evangelism outreach here in Mount Pleasant. We will begin viewing the series this evening and the first video will be shown again for the benefit of the ladies who were in the Ladies Class last Wednesday nite. The series will last ten (10) weeks. David will prepare some handouts for each lesson to help you review what you have learned in each segment, and will also give a short introduction to each video, and offer the invitation at the end of each lesson. Please make sure your whole family is here to see each one of these stirring lessons. They will not only inspire each individual spiritually but will also help each of us to be better able to talk with our friends about Christ, the Gospel, and the church!
If you have children who are attending college, please furnish their mailing addresses to Ann Pickrel. (We will then place these into our computer in the office for further reference.) Thanks.
Iona Carpenter was taken to the local hospital on Tuesday evening with a severe stomach problem. She was dismissed Thursday afternoon and is back at home, although she is still not feeling well.
Hollis Lee had a catherization procedure to stop the flow of blood to one of his kidneys in hopes that this would kill the cancer in that kidney. He will have another procedure in a few days with a laser catheter to help restore the blood flow to his legs. Keep him in you prayers.
R. C. Grissom is back at home again and is doing some better, after his hospital stay for congestive heart problems.
Bobby Taylor visited his doctor last week because of some physical problems and his doctor felt he had suffered light mini-strokes. Treatment is to be determined, but Bobby and Mary requested that we keep them in our prayers.
Bob Brewster of Alpharetta, GA (whose dad was our song leader for a great number of years at the old North Jefferson congregation) and dear friend of Rhodney Freeman, has been diagnosed with spinal stenosis on two levels and a large kidney stone in his right kidney. He is only able to get around with the aid of a walker. He is scheduled for a epidural injection into his spine. If that does not work then he will have to have surgery. Bob is only 68 but has numerous health problems, having had a major medical procedure last year to help remove excess fluid from his brain. Bob wishes for us to keep him in our prayers.
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PRAYER LIST
Justin Barker, Rachel Barker, Jean Bell, Winell Blackard, Annah Brown,
Iona Carpenter, Nancy Chastain, Josephine Cooper, Perry Cooper, Jan Hargrove, Hollis Lee, Joyce Lee, Georgia Lide, Wade Miller, Wayne Pickrel, Marie Plemmons, Helen Roper, Alva Mae Sheets, Edith Shiflet, Ola Mae Simpson, Julia Terrell,
Rebecca Tippitt
ALSO: Bobby Brewster, Cristell Cato, Austin Cody, Lana Downs,
Juanita DuBose, Wesley DuBose, Carolyn Fox, Roy Fox, Edna Graves, R. C. Grissom, Ruby Jeffery, Carlos Kidwell, Wayne Lineberger, Bobby & Mary Taylor,
Nola Vandusen
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What Does God Want Me To Do?
How many times are Christians found fighting against what God desires for us to do? How many times do we chaff at His commands? How many times do we practice what pleases us in worship and lifestyle, without regard for what is pleasing to God? How many times do we try to find a way around what He has said, so we can do what we want to do anyway? Are we ever guilty of defending our sinful practices by just simply saying, "I don't care what God has said, I'm going to do what I want to do?"
Do you really care what God wants? Put yourself and your actions to the test! Be honest in your self-evaluation. The world in its rebellion against God's authority obviously does not care what God wants (Rms. 1:18-32). Worldly folk live by the "I don't care" philosophy. No one is going to tell them how to act or what to do. But the Christian's first priority should be, what does God think, and what does He want me to do.
By nature the truth of God's Word is confrontational. It pricks and cuts us (Acts 2:37, Heb. 4:12), upsetting our spiritual comfort zone, when our lives don't measure up to its standards. When God's Word becomes a "burr in our saddle," it produces one of three results. Which of the three describes your response to God's Word? Consider!
The best result is that God's Word will convict us of sin, and cause us to submit our will to His instructions. However, if we reject God's will, one of the other two results will become evident. The person who feels guilty about his sin will either begin to rationalize and defend his sin, by looking for loopholes in God's Word, in hopes of appeasing his conscience and making that guilty feeling go away, or he will take the "I don't care" approach, by simply rebelling against God's authority. Either of these last two choices has the same terrible results, enmity with God, and eternal destruction, unless one repents.
Brethren, we must ever be on guard against these last two ways of dealing with the guilt of our sin. Sometimes, when we are confronted with Truth that is new to us, we become defensive and do everything in our power to try to justify the status quo. At times like that, all kinds of things can stand in the way of a proper Christian response. Traditions, prejudice, temper, passions, pride, and many other things or attitudes can cloud our thinking and warp our judgement, causing us to react in a rebellious fashion to God's desires if we're not careful.
When you are tempted to rationalize your sin, or to discount God's Word with a flippant "I don't care" reply, please remember the warning of Christ, found in Matthew 13:13-15, "...because seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. ...For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest haply they should perceive with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should turn again, and I should heal them." If that sober epithet describes you, some changes are definitely in order.
Christ shared the Truth with man for one reason, to cause man to be convicted, converted, and healed (or saved). When we refuse to let the Truth convict and convert us, we lose the freedom which the Truth provides (Jn. 8:32), and we will not be saved. The next time you are confronted with a moral decision, stop and ask yourself, "what does God want me to do?" If needed, a change of heart and life that conforms your will to the Father's, would ultimately be in your best interest.
David McCain
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A LOST ATTITUDE
Tom Moore
Guest Article from Bangs Church of Christ Bulletin
"But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand" (Isa. 64:8). We are living in a sad time, a time when some think they are the potter and God is the clay. Instead of allowing God's word to mold them into what they ought to be, they "have turned everyone to his own way" (Isa. 53:6).
Many are trying to mold God's word in such a way that it pleases them, the "New Hermeneutic" is a case in point. Others may not try to mold God's word to their liking, but are just simply ignoring its teachings and will not allow those inspired truths to mold them in to what they ought to be.
When we allow things other than the word of God to shape our lives, we have become a worthless pota pot that will not hold water. The Almighty declared, "For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water" (Jer. 2:13). Do we not remember that "there is a way that seemeth right unto a man; but the end thereof are the ways of death" (Pro. 14:12)? Have we lost the wonderful attitude of David, "thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path" (Psalm 119:105)?
Remember that Isaiah described man as the clay, and GODthe POTTER. May we never forget that clay is only able to be molded when it is softonce it is hardened it cannot be shaped. And so it is with our hearts. When we have become hardened to the Potter, we have lost the ability to be molded to His will. Jesus spoke of the sower who sowed seed by the wayside (representing the hardened heart) and the seed (the word of God) and before it could germinate it was taken away by the wicked one (Matthew 13).
It is imperative that we have the attitude of Samuel, when he declares, "Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth" (I Samuel 3:9). Balaam on one occasion exhibited an attitude we need, "If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the LORD my God, to do less or more" (Numbers 22:18). We need the attitude of David, "Teach me, O LORD, the way of thy statutes; and I shall keep it unto the end" (Psalm 119:33). Consider the attitude Paul manifested, "And whatsoever ye do in word or deed do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him" (Colossians 3:17).
What is our attitude toward God's word? Do we consider ourselves the "clay" or the "potter?" Will you allow yourself to be molded by the Potter? Are you a soft and moldable piece of clay?
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