NEED TRANSPORTATION? Call............Frankie Sargent
903-572-2647
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Family News and Notes
If you are able and have made plans you may contribute to our Building Fund today.
It's almost here! Gospel Meeting begins October 10 thru 13th. Brother Jack Orbison (Janice's dad).
There are brochures available on the round table in the foyer for your taking.
We will have a Fellowship Luncheon on that day following the morning services. Everyone is invited and encouraged to attend.
All ladies Bro. Orbison will be teaching the Tuesday morning Bible Class. The topic will be Ephesians 5 & 6, "The Home As God Would Have It."
The Ladies Devotional has been rescheduled for Sunday afternoon, October 10 (same day as Men's Business Meeting). Please make plans to attend.
The elders want to express their thanks for the generous gifts from this congregation to help their brothers and sisters in Florida and Alabama who suffered losses fromthe recent hurricanes that went through their state. You always show your love and generosity in times like these. We had a contribution of $$3,854.07. Thanks.
Visitation Team No. 2 (Jerry Freeman's team) will meet briefly after morning services today to hand out cards. Everyone on this team is encouraged to attend.
We have been requested to remember Tracy McCracken (mom of Patricia McCracken) in our prayers. She is in the hospital in Las Vegas, NV on Kidney Dialysis. At last report she had pneumonia and was in serious condition. No updates at the writing of this bulletin.
Wesley DuBose (brother of Judy Freeman) suffered a massive stroke Monday afternoon. He was admitted to Good Shepherd Hospital in Longview for treatment. He is still in serious condition at the writing of this bulletin and still cannot talk.
Blodgett Church of Christ is having a series of Bible Lectures from October 3 thru 6 at 7:00 PM each evening. Theme: "My Favorite Sermon"
Scheduled to speak are;
SUNDAY David Cotham
MONDAY James Winniford
TUESDAY Randy Daw
WEDNESDAY Ernie Albrecht
Funeral services were held on Wednesday, September 29, for Kevin Bowen (38) who passed away on September 26, 2004. Services were conducted by Bates-Cooper Funeral Home with burial at Maddox Cemetery in Diana, Texas. Kevin was the brother-in-law of Kathy Zacarias.
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PRAYER LIST:
Justin Barker, Louis Bell, Annah Brown, Sue Browning, Josephine Cooper, Perry Cooper, Zenith Hargrove, Bonnye Horton, Howard Horton, Ruby Lawhon, Winnie Patton, Dorothy Sargent, Alva Mae Sheets, Ola Mae Simpson
ALSO: James & Marie Butler, Tom Dooley, Wesley DuBose, Lavon McClish, Tracy McCracken, Kelsey Meyers, John Moses, Lynn Parker & his family, Lois DeWahl, Joan Williams
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Rhodney's "Funny Bone"
GROCERY LIST: What you spend half an hour writing, then, forget to take with you to the store.
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HomeThe Ultimate Training Center
(Guest article written by: Bill Bryant)
(copied from www.arcc.faithsite.com and appearing in The View)
Many centuries ago, just before the Hebrews invaded Canaan to finally live in the Promised Land, Moses stood before the people and gave them God's wisdom pertaining to their priorities. Included in this great counsel was this charge to Israel, "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up." (Deut. 6:4-7)
God let it be known to Israel and to everyone the importance of the family and the importance of parents training their children after His precious will. God intended the home to be the ultimate training center of training and nourishment of those precious souls given to us as gifts, our children.
It is in the home that we learn to develop the right kind of relationships with people. It serves as a model of how God's pattern is to be applied in everyday life. As parents, we model before our children many things. They learn from us how to speak, how to love, how to solve problems, how to work and plan and how to respond to our Creator. People who are never shown how to get along in the home will eventually have a difficult time getting along with their spouses and their children in later years. That same lack of consideration, which produced tension in the home, will produce tension in the classroom, in the workplace, and in the church.
Our society is dependent upon the home doing well. We can make valiant efforts to heal the ills of society by spending massive amounts of money and by passing more laws to regain lost ground. But these attempts will only do little more than patch up the holes of society whose fabric is rotting at the core. The major issue is that people are only going to be as good as they are taught and trained. That responsibility is given by God to parents, especially fathers. Dear friends, Eph. 6:4 is still in the Bible! It still tells fathers to "provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." There is no excuse that one can offer as a father that will absolve him of that responsibility.
We live in perilous times. The world is full of prevailing forces of evil that can have a strong impact upon our children. As a parent, I must remain the number one influence in the lives of my children. I am the one that God commanded to stand up and take charge. I cannot pass the duty and responsibility off to anyone. I will be the one required to give an account of how I raised them before God.
Can it be done? Yes, but it will not be easy. With an evil society around us that can't even understand that marriage is between a man and a woman, we face a tremendous challenge. We must search the pages of God's Word and find the good examples of godly families who were led by men and women of God. We must be willing to stand like Noah for God and for His truth. Noah might have heard the popular statement from his children, "Everybody else is doing" and be correct. But that did not change him. Nor should it change us. The straight and narrow path that God has called us to was not established upon the shifting sand of popular opinion, but upon the true foundation of Christ our Lord (I Cor. 3:11). We must stand boldly and confidently before our children as did Joshua who even in the midst of idolatry made the right choice. his choice will echo again and again throughout the halls of his home in word and in deed, "...as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" (John 24:15). Can the same be said of us?
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Hugs Are Important in the Home
(Guest Article from Jacksonville Church of Christ)
Some counselors recommend two hugs a day, just for maintenance! Consider these words written by Dean Walley concerning hugs:
It's wondrous what a hug can do. A hug can cheer you when you're blue. A hug can say, "I love you so," or, it can say, "I hate to see you go." A hug is "Welcome back again," and, "Great to see you, where've you been?"
A hug can soothe a child's pain, and bring a rainbow after rain. The hug, there's just no doubt about it we scarce would survive without it! A hug delights and charms; it must be why God gave us arms. Hugs are great for fathers and mothers, sweet for sisters, swell for brothers. And chances are, your favorite aunts, love them more than potted plants.
Kittens crave them, puppies love them; heads of state are not above them. A hug can break the language barrier, and make your travel so much merrier. No need to fret about your store of them; the more you give, the more there are of them. So stretch those arms without delay, and give someone a hug today!
The human touch is powerful medicine overlooked. There are some crucial times for families to think about hugs:
When you get up in the morning.
When you part for the day.
When you come together in the evening; and,
When you retire for the night.
Have you hugged your kids today? What about your husband or wife? Take the time to make a difference in somebody's day. Some people go days and even months without a hug from anybody. Alert your family members to such needs and share your hugs with others!
"a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing" Ecclesiastes 3:5
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"God grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change the courage to change the one I can and the wisdom to know it's me."
