Family News and Notes
As the men serving on the communion table make their way toward the front to be seated, please begin to prepare your minds for our worship service.
"Adults Only Holiday Dinner Party" at the McCains on Friday evening, December 8th. If you plan to attend, then please sign the Sign-Up Sheet on the table in the foyer. Also please indicate a dish you plan to bring. AND if you are a couple attending don't forget to bring a wrapped gift for a man and woman. Otherwise it can be generic.
Check with Bob Hedges if you are interested in assisting with the teaching. See if his list has been filled. Thanks.
On Sunday afternoon, December 10, the kids will wrap gifts for the Boles Home children and then will visit each person who signs the Sign-Up Sheet in the foyer to pick up pantry items. They will be wearing their Santa Hats. Anyone who would like for the kids to come by your home and pick up food for the pantry, please pick up a copy of the list on the round table in the foyer. Then, sign the Sign-Up Sheet for that purpose. PLEASE only the things on the list are needed.
Following picking up the pantry items they will have a get-together.
Sue Browning has been moved to a private room and is doing better.
Hollis Lee is still in Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler, but has been moved to a different room. (not available at the printing of the bulletin) He will be there for several more days as he recovers following the removal surgery on his right leg.
James Butler is scheduled to begin chemo therapy very soon and will be doing this 2 days per week. He has asked that we remember him in our prayers.
Iris Ramsey has furnished her new mailing address and phone number:
Iris Ramsey
3933 Leeds Courts
Garland, Texas 75043
972-240-1817
From Geneva Cooksey: To my dear brothers and sisters in Christ: The going away party Sunday nite was superb. I felt so honored, flattered and loved. I will treasure the picture the Roper's made. I have been so happy here in this town and in the church. I would like to receive the bulletin each week. My new address is:
Geneva Cooksey
1785 FM 1531
Klondike, Texas 75448
903-886-3202 Geneva Cooksey"
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PRAYER LIST
Justin Barker, Rachel Barker, Jean Bell, Winell Blackard, Annah Brown, 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, James Butler, Cristell Cato, Austin Cody, Juanita DuBose, Wesley DuBose, Carolyn Fox, Roy Fox, Edna Graves, Ruby Jeffery, T. V. LeMay, Wayne Lineberger
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ARRIVING SAFELY
Floyd Kaiser
(Guest article from The Southwesterner Southwest church of Christ Ada, Ok)
W hen driving, every precaution should be heeded if one wants to arrive safely. One needs to operate the car according to the laws of the state. Speed limits, for instance, are not posted to spoil our fun or waste our time; these laws are for our safety. One needs to fasten seatbelts, put children in restraints and keep air bags in working condition. All vital features of the car, such as brakes, lights and windshield wipers should be operational and dependable.
When all these aspects of driving are taken into consideration and acted upon, arrival to the destination, though not guaranteed, is much more likely to safely occur. It is a simple principle that one is far more likely to achieve an aim by means of thoughtful care than reckless disregard. No reasonable person would argue against this point.
Think about this: If thoughtful care is required for safe travel from one point upon this earth to another, how much more should equal or surpassing care be given to each person's journey into eternity? Is there any journey more serious?
In Ephesians 5:15-16 it is written, "Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil." The Hebrew writer gives this admonition, "Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience." (Hebrews 4:11). Peter wrote, "Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you" (2 Peter 1:10).
That there are considerable disagreements in the church today about what is necessary for salvation is without question. Eventually these conflicts will come around to asking, "Is baptism necessary to be saved? Does one have to worship without a musical instrument to arrive at eternal life? Can one be saved who belongs to a church not organized by the pattern of the New Testament? Can the church fellowship denominations and still be the true church?"
While asking these questions, and many others is noble minded; they should be asked as a sincere pursuit of truth and not as trying to determine how much liberty one has before salvation is lost. The single aim of the saved must be to "please God" (1 Thessalonians 4:1).
According to the Bible, which consistently teaches that Christians are to be "careful" and "diligent" about their religion, asking about how much we can get by with and still be saved should NOT be our primary concern. Instead, we need to be asking, "According to the New Testament, what is going to give me the safety I want?" To treat as unimportant any Christian doc trine taught in the Bible is tantamount to not obeying speed zones, stop signs and seatbelt laws while thinking that one has done everything to be safe. Each person's aim should be to make eternal salvation as safe as possible by not compromising any guideline. The gravity of what is at stake ought to compel us to exacting obedience.
Since instrumental music seems to be such a lightning rod for controversy, take that issue as a case-in-point.
Here are the facts:
1.Singing was authorized in the New Testament (see Ephesians 5:19, Colossians 3:16).
2.Singing was practiced by the church in the New Testament (see Acts 16:25,
1 Corinthians 14:15, James 5:13).
3. "The testimony of early Christian literature is expressly to the absence of instruments from the church for approximately the first thousand years of Christian history." Everett Ferguson, A Biblical Ecclesiology for Today: The Church of Christ, page 272.
Now, understanding just these three points, what spiritual practice is the safest; with or without instruments in worship? If you knew that Jesus' Second Coming was happening next Sunday, would you be more or less secure worshipping without a musical instrument?
The same consideration can be applied to other issues that threaten to divide the church. The organization of the church, requirements for elders, baptism, repentance, how money is raised, fellowship and many other issues each test the resolve of each Christian to abide in what one knows to be safe or to commit one's eternal soul to only what MAY work out.
What risks are you willing to take?
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