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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
July 2, 2018 - Revival Mount Calvary Full Gospel Church July 16th-20th. Starts at 7pm featuring Pastor Lamar Denby.
The Stanley's will perform Thursday night. Food & Fellowship
417 East Two miles from Shelbyville, TX
July 2, 2018 - Sunday was the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time. It was certainly an ordinary hot and humid Sunday morning in East Texas! I don’t like the cold of winter, but I really can’t take the summer heat anymore. When we were kids we spent many summer days out playing and trying to stay out of our mothers’ hair. It wasn’t until I was in Junior High School that our schools were air conditioned. Last Sunday our air conditioning went out at home; we closed the drapes and turned on all the ceiling fans. It got up to the mid 80s but wasn’t terrible. Luckily the repairman came Monday afternoon, discovered the problem, and fixed it. Later in the week the electric company came by to say that our electricity would be off for a few hours as they are in the process of changing out poles. It turned out to be four hours; this time we didn’t have the benefit of our ceiling fans, but again it wasn’t so bad.
Many years ago Sue and I accompanied my parents to England, where we spent two weeks in London. My dad always made sure that wherever he stayed there was AC. One of our guides said she thought air conditioning was quite unhealthy. We replied that living in Texas during the summer without air conditioning was indeed unhealthy!
On Sunday worshipped with my friends at Tenaha Methodist. I missed seeing Maggie and Gene and hope they are doing OK. Pastor Matt had a fine sermon, and I was able to celebrate Holy Communion with my Tenaha friends. I got to Sunday school late, but Mrs. Fannie gave me an excused tardy! It was so nice to see Vera and Keith. They’ve been under the weather for awhile, and we sure miss them. Fannie’s lesson was based on Matthew 18: 21-35, dealing with forgiveness and how many times we should forgive our fellow humans. Jesus’ answer to forgive often is very hard for us, but we must try and try again.
The Gospel Lesson for this Sunday was Mark 5: 21-43. This lesson is two stories of healing woven into one. Jairus, of the local synagogue, and the unnamed woman who had been sick for twelve years had both despairingly reached their breaking points. Jairus’ daughter was extremely ill, and the woman had been sick for so long she was almost without hope. These two people from two very different walks of life had a chance encounter with the power of love and compassion who was Jesus. Joe and Hilda led us in patriotic songs: “America,” “America the Beautiful,” and “God Bless America.”
We celebrated Holy Communion today and were excited to be in double digits! Sue took a car full of Paxton Methodist’s toilet paper and paper towel donations to Community Christian Services this week. She reported that, as usual, CCS had everything well organized, with lots of customers but also lots of volunteers. This month we are collecting cans of spaghetti and ravioli.
Last week was our monthly program at Lakeside Assisted Living. Minnie played for us, letting Hilda enjoy the singing part of the program. Congregational singing included patriotic songs as well as hymns from Heavenly Highways. Gene and Minnie did “Morning Has Broken” and “The Church in the Wildwood.” Nora had a song she hadn’t known until recently, “Soon and Very Soon,” but a lot of those gathered knew it. Fannie read a piece about our country in view of the upcoming Fourth of July, and Sue had some biographical information about Peggy Lee, accompanied by selected verses from her song, “I’m a Woman.” Pastor Matt began the program, talking about changes—his own, now that he’s through seminary, and Biblical ones. He also finished out the program with a benediction and our usual “God Be with You.”
“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, 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. Godspeed.
July 2, 2018 - Salvation, what does it mean to be born again into the Lord, to be called by the Lord for his good pleasure and his good will?
“I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.” (Psalm 40:1-2)
That is salvation from the penalties of ones sins. To be lifted up from the darkness of sin into the light of the Lamb of God. To be removed from the shaky ground of the world and placed upon the solid rock of the church, the Lord Jesus Christ. Changing ones path from a shaky path in darkness to the ever-lighted path of Christ, walking with the assurance of being secure in the Lord God, forever.
“Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie!” (Psalm 40:4)
Blessed in the man who is not deceived by the devil, who trusts only in the Lord God and not in man.
For those who are deceived are drawn away from righteousness and into the pit of destruction by the lies of the devil and his minions.
Blessed is the man who delights in doing the will of Almighty God all of his days.
“Then I said, “Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me: I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.” (Psalm 40:7-8)
For those whom the Lord has called to be his own he has written his law on their hearts, that it cannot be removed by any person or power of this earth. Salvation for the Jew and also for the Gentile, for the Lord shows no partiality to any man.
“I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God and they will be my people.” (Jeremiah 31:33)
What does it mean to be born again into the Lord; it means he is forevermore your God and you are forevermore his child. There is no other blessing that can compare to this blessing of salvation in the Lord. Always to be at home and secure from sin in the Lord.
“As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain your mercy from me; your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me!” (Psalm 40:11)
The Lord never restrains his love, grace and mercy from those who have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their sovereign Lord. Once saved by God, washed clean by the blood of Jesus one is saved from the penalties of sin forever.
“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” (John 3:36)
What does it mean to be born again unto the Lord; it means one is forever saved from the wrath of God that is to come on the day of the final judgement. It means one has eternal life in Christ, removed from even the presence of sin in heaven, forever.
There simply is no other blessing that can compare with the blessing of salvation, for as Jesus said; “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)
“But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation say continually; “Great is the Lord.”
May you know the Lord this day and may you say forevermore, “Great is the Lord.”
June 27, 2018 - Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause but we have had to cancel the chicken spaghetti fundraiser on Friday for Dreka Pentecostal Church until further notice due to uncontrollable circumstances.
June 26, 2018 - The Dreka Pentecostal Church will be having a chicken spaghetti plate luncheon fundraiser on Friday, June 29 from 11-2 to replace the icebox in the fellowship hall that has quit working.
The plates are seven dollars and will have chicken spaghetti green beans, corn, garlic bread and a dessert.For more information you can call Mildred Mcgee at 9365984433.
Thank You & God Bless, Dreka Pentecostal Church
June 26, 2018 - We the members of Carroll Chapel CME Church in Shelbyville, would like to invite you to our Pastor`s Appreciation Program. Sunday, July 15, 2018 at 3pm.
Our Guest Speaker will be: Rev. Karen Christopher of the Pine Flat CME Church in Nacogdoches, TX. Everyone is invited.
June 26, 2018 - All Who Seek God Have Many Questions About Him.
Questions such as; “What does God require of me if I am to serve him? What does God wish that I should do for him? What must I do to be saved from my sins and live in the house of God forever?
Now all these are real questions which require answers if one truly seeks to do Gods will in one’s life on earth.
Let us look through the Book of Gods Word for the answers to our questions today.
The Old Testament prophet Micah explains the question of; “What does the Lord God require of me, when a young rich man asks Micah the question of what does the Lord require of me.”
He asks; “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offering, with calves a year old?” (Micah 6:6)
Micah listened to his question and then he spoke in answer to him.
“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and walk humbly with your god.” (Micah 6:8)
And so what does the Lord require of us but that we treat others equally with justice for all. That we show mercy and kindness to those less fortunate than ourselves, and that we humble ourselves before God, asking to do his will each day and not the wishes of man.
For the question of what does God wish that I would do for him we need only to look at Gods own words to the Israelites during the time of the prophet Hosea.
God told the Israelites through the prophet, Hosea, not long before the land of Israel fell to the Assyrians.
And God spoke to Hosea saying; “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” (Hosea 6:6)
This points directly to the coming of Jesus Christ for this would be his teachings for all time, that we love God and keep his commandments through the knowledge we learn of him through the pages of his Word. That’s still what God wishes of us today, to love him above all others and to do his will and not our own each day.
And for our last question for today; “What must I do to be saved and live in the house of the Lord forever.”
Salvation requires one to be born again to the living hope of the Lord Jesus Christ, this hope being the faith one has that the Word of God is true, believing in him through faith and not through sight.
“Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” (1 Peter 1:8-9)
The act of believing, in faith, being further explained by the apostle Paul when he said; “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart (that is the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified (set aside from sin), and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” (Romans 10:8-10)
There are other steps to living the Christian life including, baptism and finding and attending a bible based church for fellowship and encouragement but the simple truth of salvation is that, if, we believe in him and have faith in him who has died for all sin. He who asks only that we accept him as our Lord and Master. We will receive eternal salvation from the penalties of sin and we will live in the house of the Lord forever. AMEN… May you receive his holy blessings this day and forever…
June 25, 2018 - Homecoming for Old Home Cemetery will be Sunday, July 8th. The meeting will begin at 10:30 AM followed by Worship Services at 11:00. Covered dish lunch in the fellowship hall following services. Please call or text for more details 936-332-9293. Donations may be sent to: Linda Wheeler 1273 CR 3689, Joaquin, Texas 75954.
June 25, 2018 - “For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men.” Jeremiah 5:26
When my brothers and I were growing up in Center, Texas, we discovered a little stretch of woods just out of the City Limits that was our closest place to hunt squirrels. The woods were so close to our house in East Center that we had time for a quick evening hunt after we got home from school.
After school one day, I grabbed ny shotgun and hurried down to “the squirrel woods”. Just as I got to the woods, I heard the screaming cry of a dog coming from the dried-up creek bed. I ran down the creek and found a young beagle hound struggling in the jaws of a steel trap. When I saw his horribly injured front leg, I reached down to take the tension off the trap, the dog continued crying and snapping at my hand . After being bitten several times, I found a nearby limb, carefully pressed the trap’s spring and ….VOILA!!!...the puppy burst from the trap at full speed and quickly disappeared over the hillside. And as he ran off, I felt almost as happy as he did.
There are millions of people the world over that are crying in pain for the same reason that this little beagle did…their painful cries might not be their fault…they might have stepped in one of the world’s painful traps and can find no way out.
And if we aren’t afraid of getting bit……and show a little patience and understanding…we might be just the person to get the trap jaws open for them …and when we do, they’ll hug and thank us…
….. and we’ll be happy, too.
June 25, 2018 - Sunday was the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time. It is hard to believe that 2018 is almost half done! June 21st was the official beginning of summer, but I think we have gotten a head start in the summer heat department. A couple of the regulars were out this morning, so our numbers were pretty slim. But we had a great Sunday school lesson and our time in worship was well spent. I had been under the weather for most of the week and didn’t finish my sermon until late Saturday night. Not one to procrastinate, I was pretty uncomfortable with my late finish.
Our Sunday School lesson was called “Reaping God’s Justice.” The scripture for the lesson was Luke 16: 19-31, the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. This story that Jesus tells makes a strong contrast between God’s idea of justice and ours. Fannie always prepares an interesting lesson and makes us think. My thoughts this week were uncomfortable because I know I have committed many sins of omission and could have done better. Joe brought up Warren Buffet and Bill Gates who are very rich but have put back billions into the community and the world. We decided that rich or poor, we are all required by God to care for our fellow human beings.
Sue always begins our worship together by leading us in the Gathering Words and our Affirmation of Faith, which this week was The Apostles’ Creed—traditional version. She also read the main scripture for the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time. The Old Testament Lesson was 1 Samuel 17: 32-49. It was a long passage but one familiar to all of us. In the scripture we see David facing off with Goliath. Goliath was an overwhelming problem for the Israelites but David, trusting in God, slew the giant and a great victory was won. The Gospel Lesson also dealt with an overwhelming problem. The Gospel, Mark 4: 35-41, finds Jesus and his disciples on a boat going to the faraway shore to escape the crowds. As often happens, a bad storm comes and the disciples know they are going to drown. During all the wind and rain, Jesus remains asleep. The disciples wake him and ask if he cares whether they drown or not. Jesus tells the winds and rain to be still and then questions the faith of his disciples. The disciples are of course awestruck that the winds and rain obey Jesus.
Hilda and Joe teamed up this morning and sang a special for us that we all appreciated.
After our worship service we loaded up the toilet paper and paper towels that we have been collecting this month to take to Community Christian Services in Joaquin this week. Next month we will be collecting cans of ravioli and spaghetti. Next Sunday will be July 1st. We celebrate Holy Communion on the first Sunday of each month, and we have an open table, meaning all are welcome.
We will be heading to Lakeside Assisted Living on Thursday at 2:00 for our monthly singing. Last week was our program at Holiday Nursing Home. Mrs. Hilda skillfully tinkled the ivories for our congregational singing and also a brief solo of her own. Stellar Walker, accompanying herself on guitar, sang many old favorites—including warming up the crowd beforehand. Pastor Matt opened the program with one of his thoughtful, new-eyed looks at Scripture, this one about Solomon. Sue linked his story to the Greek mythological one about Paris, Helen of Troy, and the start of the war between Greece and Troy.
Mrs. Fannie kept it going by talking about her classes studying Greek myths and then reading a piece for us. Sue read a children’s book from Desoto Parish Library, Footloose by Kenny Loggins. I closed us out with our traditional final song, “God Be with You Till We Meet Again” and a benediction.
“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, 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. Godspeed.
June 21, 2018 - The Community is invited to join the congregation at St. John's Episcopal Church for a special worship and brunch on Sunday, July 1 at 9am. The Bishop of Texas, Andrew Doyle will be leading the service. Andrew Doyle, is the ninth Bishop of Texas. Bishop Doyle received his Masters of Divinity from Virginia Theological Seminary after receiving a fine arts degree from the University of North Texas. He is an avid reader and fly fisherman.
Bishop Doyle's focus for ministry is service, evangelism and reconciliation, planting 15 new churches and more than 50 new "missional communities" in the next five years. He has written several books often mixing references from pop culture's music and movies with the latest is secular leadership trends in order to reach the broadest spectrum of readers.
The congregation at St. John's Episcopal Church is excited and looking forward the special worship. The Episcopal Church is located on 96 South across from High Roller Wells.
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