Family News and Notes
Please check the Pantry Items Sheet on the table in the foyer. Please pay particular attention to those items that we are in short supply of. Your participation is greatly appreciated.
Visitation Team No. 2, Captains Jerry & Alice Freeman and Co-Captains Lee & Kelley Moses, will meet after services this morning in the Multi-purpose Room. They will be serving a Mexican Stack for the fellowship luncheon. They ask that the team members bring a dessert or chips and dip.
Reminder: Bible Quiz at Clarksville church of Christ, January 27th, for ALL AGES. We will meet here at the building at 6:15 PM.
The Ladies Monthly Devotional will be on Sunday afternoon, February 08, at 4:30 PM. Ann Pickrel will be teaching. All ladies are invited to attend.
Everyone is encouraged to tell your friends and neighbors about the articles appearing in the Tribune each Tuesday.
Van and Terri Lee have a new mailing address. You need to mark this in your directory.
Van & Terri Lee
P O Box 941
Mount Pleasant, Texas 75456
Also, you need to make these changes:
Winell Blackard
1714 North Edwards
Room 23
Mount Pleasant, Texas 75455
Alva Mae Sheets
1714 North Edwards
Room 6
Mount Pleasant, Texas 75455
Josephine Cooper has now returned home following her knee surgery. She continues her therapy and hopes for a full recovery soon.
Weldon Miller will meet again with his doctor to determine what type of treatment he will be undergoing for his physical problem.
Nona Bell has been admitted to Titus Regional Hospital with a possible blood clot in one lung. She is in Room 304.
I still remind everyone .. if you know of someone who is sick, will have surgery, have a death in the family, etc., PLEASE let the editor of this Bulletin know about it.
THANK YOU "The family of Wayne Bradley acknowledges with grateful appreciation the kind expression of your sympathy. "
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~PPRAYER LIST
Justin Barker, Louis Bell, Nona Bell, Josephine Cooper,
Howard Horton, Corine Hudson, Winnie Patton, Dorothy Sargent,
Alva Mae Sheets, Ola Mae Simpson, Janelle Stephenson,
ALSO: Judy Betts, Bill Grimes, Velma Lucky,
Kelsey Meyers, Shawn Phillips, Jim White
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Rhodney's "Funny Bone"
Birthdays are good for you; the more you have, the longer you live.
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Parenting - An Investment In Eternity
By David McCain
There was a time in my life when I was an "EXPERT" on parenting, but then I got married and adopted three kids! The poet was surely right who penned, "With the pitter patter of little feet, there are a million words to eat." I'll never forget the tongue-in-cheek story told by one of my Bible professors about his expertise in child-rearing. He said that before he got married he had a sermon entitled, "How To Raise Your Children." After marrying and having kids, he said he was prompted to change the title to, "Suggestions On Raising Your Children." Finally, when his kids got to their teenage years, he said he threw the sermon away! Does that ring any bells for any of you parents?
I am right there in the middle of that now with two teenage boys still living at home. I'm at that "humble pie" point in life where I freely admit, not only do I not have all the answers, but I am not sure anymore if I even understand all the questions! The only thing I am "expertly" sure of anymore is that parenting is not as easy as falling off a log. It requires our very best efforts. It requires a big chunk of our time, lots of money, a truckload of patience, every talent we have at our disposal, and most important, lots of hours spent "in the Book" and "on our knees" as we seek our Father's wisdom to know what to do, and how to do it.
It has occurred to me at this juncture in life, there is at least one other critical element in successful parenting, that being the resolve, determination, or commitment to never, ever, quit being a parent, even when you don't know what to do, and even when you may feel like an absolute failure. That old adage, "quitters never win" seems appropriate here. No one ever got to be a successful parent by quitting before the job was done.
Sure, there are times when the frustrations of parenting make us want to throw up our hands, throw in the towel and quit. When our children are in their teenage years, it especially seems like it would be easier just to quit fighting for what is right, and let the kids rule the roost. But parents who quit being parents to their children are part of the problem not the cure. We must remember that parenting is a 24/7 job for the span of about 18 to 20 years; maybe for life. To have even the hope of being successful at it requires a consistent determination to see the job through to its natural completion.
Perhaps it would help us to renew and strengthen our resolve to keep on keeping on in the job of parenting, by thinking of it as, "An Investment In Eternity." In parenting, God entrusts a helpless, precious soul into our care and keeping. His desire is for us to nurture that soul in such a way, that 18 to 20 years later, a capable, confident, well-adjusted, happy, young adult emerges into the world, as someone who is committed to spending his or her life as a faithful servant of God.
Being a parent is an awesome and fearful responsibility. My mother-in-law says it's a cradle to the grave job. I interpret that to mean she still intends to try to smooth off some of my rough edges to give Janice a better husband and her grandkids a better dad! Whatever, when you sign on to be a parent, you're really signing on for a lifetime of responsibility. It's tiring, heart-rending, frustrating work, but it's worth the effort because of the great eternal rewards for godly parents. Indeed, thinking about parenting as "an investment in eternity" should make us want to accept God's challenge of being godly, loving, teaching, training, exemplary, and disciplining parents who will not quit the job until it's done.
Are you willing to make the investment, no matter how costly in time, effort, or sacrifice? Your soul and the souls of your children hang in the balance! (Please read Deut. 6:3-9, 32:46-47; Proverbs 13:24, 19:18, 22:6-15, 23:13-14, 29:15-17; I Cor. 13; Eph. 6:1-4; & Titus 2:1-8).
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The Fruits of Faithfulness
By Lee Moses
Last week, the fruits of faithlessness seen at the foot of the Mount of Transfiguration were considered. Certainly, the weakness, mean-spiritedness, and misery and suffering that comes from faithlessness is to be shunned in favor of faithfulness. But is the only blessing that is to be found in faithfulness the mere avoidance of the curse of faithlessness? No, the Testament of Jesus Christ speaks a great deal of the "fruits of faithfulness."
There are two senses in which the term "faithful" is used in the New Testament: (1) trustworthy, and (2) trustful. The second is the sense here being considered. However, the first (trustworthiness) is one of the fruits of faithfulness (trust). One who trusts in God and allows God's word to direct his life can certainly be trusted. He will not lie, because he knows what God has said about lying (Ephesians 4:25; I Peter 3:10; Revelation 21:8). He will not take advantage of the vulnerable (Isaiah 1:17; Jeremiah 7:6-7; James 1:27). He will not lead another into the paths of sin (Habakkuk 2:15; Matthew 18:6-7; Galatians 5:7-8). He is led by the "wisdom that is from above," said to be "without partiality, and without hypocrisy" (James 3:17); therefore he will be neither partial nor hypocritical. Trustworthiness is a fruit borne of faithfulness.
If we examine further the above passage from James, other fruits of faithfulness come to light. Both this passage and Philippians speak of the fruits, or fruit, of righteousness:
But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace (James 3:17-18).
And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ; Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God (Phil. 1:9-11).
Righteousness can only be had by one faithful to God (Genesis 15:6; Psalm 119:172), therefore the fruits thereof are the fruits of faithfulness. These include:
Purity, the state of being undefiled regardless of past wrongs.
Peace, "which passeth all understanding" (Phil. 4:6).
Gentleness, humanity and patience.
Ready obedience to the will of God, in stark contrast to the rebellion of the world.
Mercy, both as a recipient and a giver.
Love, the opposite of selfishness.
Knowledge, that is, an exact knowledge.
Judgment, perception and discernment.
Approval of things excellent, by means of this knowledge and judgment.
Sincerity (purity) and voidness of offense at the Judgment, by which one is assured eternal life.
The glory and praise of God, the desire and aim of every faithful child of God.
Faithfulness is a source of Divine blessings, for it is a Divine attribute: "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness" (Lam 3:22-23). When we consider the Lord's faithfulness, His infinite trustworthiness; we know that the Lord merits our faithfulness, our unending trust in Him.
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