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Contributing Writers: David Mathis | Tim Perkins
Past Contributing Writers: Mike Mills, Spring Hill Church | Doug Fincher | Pastor Randy and Sue Smith | Mike Belgard
Faith
December 15, 2019 - The Holy Spirit is my teacher, my Helper."But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things." (John 14:26) The Greek translation of the Hebrew word for Helper is "legal counsel", so he is my guide and counsel through life.
The Holy Spirit has come to convict me and the world of sin. "And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgement." (John 16:8)
The Holy Spirit dwells in me. "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you." (1 Corinthians 3:16)
The Holy Spirit is my source of wisdom and of the power of God. "These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God." (1 Corinthians 2:10)
The Holy Spirit guides me to the truth of God. "When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come." (John 16:13) The Spirit speaks to me of the things that God says to him.
The Holy Spirit gives to me the spiritual gifts that I am to use in service to the Lord. "To each is given the manifestation of the spirit for the common good. For one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophesy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues." (1 Corinthians 12:7-10)
The Holy Spirit is my seal, my legal validation of salvation. "In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory." (Ephesians 1:13)
The Holy Spirit intercedes for me and helps me in my weakness. "Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words." (Romans 8:26)
Through the Holy Spirit, God renews me and gives me eternal life with Christ. "If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you." (Romans 8:11)
The Holy Spirit sanctifies me (cleanses me, removes all sin from me) and enables me to bear good fruit for God. "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh." (Galatians 5:16-17)
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit." (Galatians 5:22-25)
"Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:38)
"Because if you confess with you mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." (Romans 10:9)
All that the Holy Spirit does each day for me, he can do also for you.
If you will just accept Jesus Christ as Lord, you will receive the Holy Spirit as your own.
December 13, 2019 - If Santa Claus ever had a helper it was my mother-in-law, Leta Howell. Though she has been gone from among us for 35 years, her love of the Christmas season has inspired all of her children to do many of the things that she did. She was a minister’s wife and thus understood the true meaning of Christmas, and she passed that along to everyone she knew.
Although she was educated with college and seminary degrees, she retained the roots of her upbringing in the plains of West Texas. While living in the piney woods of East Texas, she began several Christmas traditions.
“Granny” Howell was an excellent seamstress. She made Christmas stockings for each family member. She used red felt for the main stocking, then she put a green border around the top. As grandchildren and great-grandchildren were born into the family, she would make sure the new baby would have its own stocking to hang across the fire place mantle. She stuffed each stocking on Christmas Eve with candy, fruit, and simple useable gadgets. Near the end of her life, the Christmas stockings were almost too numerous to hang on the mantle. This tradition has been taken up by many of her children and grandchildren, most of whom are now married with families of their own.
One Christmas, she got the idea of making red outfits for all the members of her family. The good seamstress that she was, she made red suits for every one to wear on Christmas day. Even her husband, Rev. Howell, got a new red coat to wear. She sewed for months on them, and gave each family member their red outfits on Christmas Eve, in packages wrapped in red paper. On Christmas morning everyone donned their red clothes, and the house looked like a collection of walking poinsettias. Rev. Howell continued to wear his bright red coat every Christmas until his death in December of 2006.
Now you know who put the red in Christmas.
December 12, 2019 - Mount Calvary Full Gospel Church of Shelbyville will host their Christmas program on Sunday, December 15 at 6pm. The Christmas program is "O Come Let Us Adore Him." Food and refreshments will be served after the program. The church is located at 5525 FM 417 East, Shelbyville, Texas 75973.
December 12, 2019 - Strong Triumph Church, under the leadership of Elder Faye Dell Allen, invites everyone to join them in their Joyous Christmas Revival which will take place on December 20-22.
Speakers for each night will be:
- Friday night, Dec. 20th at 7pm - Rev. Javoris Gatlin, pastor of New Life COGIC, Bonham, Texas;
- Saturday night, Dec. 21st at 7pm - Rev. Richard McCowin, pastor of Lone Star Baptist Church, Chandler, Texas
- Sunday afternoon, Dec 22nd at 3pm - Prince Archie Thompson, Shepherd of Triumph Church, Todd Springs Community
The theme for the revival is Romans 15:13: "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost."
For more information, please contact Elder Faye Dell Allen at 936-368-2611 / 936-572-5810.
December 12, 2019 - Please come celebrate Praise 2019 with us on Saturday, December 14th, 2019!
This fundraiser will include an evening of live singing, silent and live auctions, drinks and refreshments, and door prizes! Praise 2019 will begin at 6:00 pm at the Senior Nutrition Site.
We are proud to announce just some of the items we will have for our live auction! You can place your bid on great items such as a Texas A&M Rocking Chair, Propane BBQ Pit, Ruger 22 Rifle, Signed Woodrow Foster Prints, Paintings from DavMar Art Gallery, 2-night stay at Holly Park Marina, Designer Sunglasses, 2-night stay at Pine Creek Lodge, and more!!! Door prizes will also be drawn throughout the night. You do not need to be present to win. Your purchase of a ticket will qualify you for the door prize drawings.
Praise 2019 tickets can be purchased at Shelby County Outreach Ministries. They are $10 each. We need your help. This event will help continue in feeding the hungry and assisting the needy of Shelby County. For more information, please give us a call at 936-598-4990.
“Tis a sad, sad story they relate, These weak and foolish beings, Who never get through the day, But someone hurt their feelings.”
December 11, 2019 - Injured feelings are given as an excuse for a lot of wrong doing. Alcoholics have used hurt feelings as an excuse for going on another binge and not a few Christians have forsaken the church because some member of the church hurt their feelings.
Let’s face it, there are tactless, ill-mannered people who are forever saying crude and harsh things that would puncture the feelings of most anyone. Yet, it matters little what people of this disposition say or do. No life has ever been lived without a few knocks. If every sensible adult would stand firm and fight their own battles with life, each little knock would leave them stronger and more knowledgeable than before. Remember, kites rise against the wind, not with the wind.
Hurt feelings usually spring from a well of self-pity and folks, life is too short to spend one minute in self-pity, or in seeking after the pity and sympathy of others. We must make sure we are not one of those tactless people who needlessly hurt the feelings of others, and we must also make sure we don’t “wear our feelings on our sleeve” just waiting for someone to hurt them.
It’s something to think about… tbp
Join us for worship this coming Lord’s day at the Center Church of Christ, 110 Hurst Street, Center, Texas or online at www.centerchurchofchrist.com
December 11, 2019 - The Pastor and Members of Carroll Chapel CME Church in Shelbyville would like to invite you to our Family and Friend Day Program on Sunday, December 15, 2019 at 3pm.
Our Guest Speaker will be Pastor La`Shan Hayter of The St. Mark CME Church in Shelbyville. Everyone is invited.
December 10, 2019 - (Click here to view the updated program) - Everyone is invited to attend Sacred Sounds of the Season Tuesday, December 10 at 6:00 PM in the Center First United Methodist Church sanctuary. Choirs and individuals from across Shelby county will perform musical offerings that celebrate birth of Christ in this holy Christmas season.
More Bibles have been bought and sold than any other book ever written.
This is good for within the contents of this book are all of the answers to the questions of life and death, of salvation and loss, of right and wrong, all questions can be answered by the study of God's Word.
There is a poem within the Bible entitled, "A Time For Everything" written by the great king Solomon, the man credited with being the wisest man who has ever lived.
It begins, "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:" (Ecclesiastes 3:1)
There is much to be learned from the lines of this poem, (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8), it is most definitely worth your time to read and contemplate upon for it covers all of the works of man on earth, all of the seasons, not of weather, but of life.
The poem and its surrounding verses teach much of the life of man from his birth to his death and all points, past and yet to come.
We find from our studies that life is full of vanity, of false hopes and disappointments and that the only lasting things come from God, that only God and his holy plan for mankind are permanent, all else is vanity, a chasing after the wind.
"What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with." (Ecclesiastes 3:9-10)
God has placed mankind upon this earth and has given him work to keep him busy and out of trouble in life and God has given man a beautiful place in which to reside, as we look around us at God's creations we should marvel at his greatness and his glory.
"He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God had done from the beginning to the end." (Ecclesiastes 3:11)
God has put the longing for salvation into all people's hearts for without that yearning for something besides what we have from birth, we would die in our unrighteousness never knowing what was available to all who would simply ask.
"Ask, and it will be given you, seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you." (Matthew 7:7)
God has also given us a knowledge of eternity, a question of enormous proportions that cannot be answered in its entirety here on earth for we are not God and are not to know all that God knows. We are only the clay, he is the potter who molds the clay into useful vessels. Adam and Eve lost their sanctuary in the Garden of Eden because they wanted to "be like God" as promised by the devil in his deception of Eve.
It is no different today, we always want more, but is that God's plan for us.
"I perceive that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil - this is God's gift to man." (Ecclesiastes 3:12-13)
Why is man meant to work for his living, that he can appreciate what that God has given him and be happy and joyful in it. People who refuse to do as God intends will find themselves living miserable lives no matter how rich or how poor. Be thankful for what God has given you, not bitter for what you do not have for if you love God and obey his will all good things will be given you.
"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28)
"I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him." (Ecclesiastes 3:14)
All else is vanity, a chasing after the wind!
December 9, 2019 - Grace and peace from our brother and savior, Jesus, Amen. Thursday morning my four-legged friends, Sam and Gunter, went to the city park with me for our morning walk. On Wednesday, I was all bundled up, but that morning I didn’t even need a jacket. It is too good to last, so I will just enjoy it while I can. On Saturday Sue and I went to the Arbor Assisted Living in Nacogdoches and had Christmas Brunch with Sue’s mom, Dixie. We enjoyed visiting with Dixie and Amy, Sue’s sister. We also met some very nice folks sitting with us at the table. Later that day we went to the Joaquin Christmas Festival. Downtown Joaquin was bustling, and we saw many friends there including many from our old church, First United Methodist Church of Joaquin.
Christmas will be here before we know it: Sunday is the Second Sunday of Advent. The Paxton Community Christmas Program and Dinner is Tuesday, December 17th at 6:00. We have had to alter our schedule for our monthly programs to area nursing homes due to the holidays. Our Focused Care ministry will be this Thursday at 2:00. We hope that you can join us as we will sing Christmas carols and listen to stories of faith and this special season. During this month, Paxton Methodists are collecting cans of soup to take to Community Christian Services. Each month we collect a different non-perishable item for the food bank at CCS.
Fannie had a really good Sunday School lesson for us today. The main focus was how faith and hope are tied together. Our author says that when our childish ways of religion are stripped away, two things that remain to us as adults are faith and hope. Our author said, “It is with confidence, as Fredrick Buechner put it, that we can say that the “worst thing” isn’t the “last thing”—the last thing is always hope.”
Two of the Gospels have genealogies. Matthew and Luke both have a miraculous birth story, and both have family trees tracing Jesus back to Father Abraham and to the royal house of David. The two are different from each other, however. We are in a year of Matthew in the Common Lectionary, so I decided to preach on Matthew’s genealogy. I usually stay far away from those strange-sounding names. But this is how Matthew begins his gospel, so it is obviously very important to him. An odd feature of his lineage is that he includes four women in his list—and controversial ones at that. This is peculiar for the time period; yet I think it is quite telling of the early Jesus movement and what Jesus thought was important.
Whoever you are, in whatever faith you were born, whatever creed you profess; if you come to this house to find God you are welcome here.” Paxton United Methodist Church is an inviting church that takes to heart the idea of “Open Doors, Open Hearts, and Open Minds.” Sunday School starts at 9:30 and Worship begins at 10:00. Our email address is paxtonumc@yahoo.com. If you would like the weekly email newsletter about Paxton Methodist you can send me your email address to the Paxton email address and I will add you to the list. God’s Speed.
Randy & Sue Smith/Paxton United Methodist Church
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