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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
January 4, 2017 - In the movie "Back To The Future part II," the bully character named Biff, went back in time with a book on sports statistics that had the scores of every major sporting event and who had won. He took that information and bet on all the events and won so much money that it changed his future. Instead of being a personal assistant to someone, he altered his future and became the richest man in the world. With that book he couldn't lose. It gave him the edge, in that he knew the final score before the game was ever played. It altered his whole life plan. He became confident and bold in the way that he dealt with life and people.
Now think about this. What if you knew that no matter what happened in your life that in the end you would come out on top? That no matter what life threw at you, it would always come back around to be to your advantage? What would you do different than you do now? What would that do to your confidence? How would it change the way you react to problems and difficulties? I have to say that for most people that I know it would completely change their outlook on life, and the day to day problems that pop up. I am sure that if you were confident that things would always eventually work out in your favor that you wouldn't let little things bother you. You would approach each day with the confidence that something great was going to happen that day. You should be able to "shrug off" disappointments and setbacks as nothing more than small obstacles that slow down but not hinder the great thing that is going to happen that day.
Now let me let you in on some really good news! There is a way for you to be on top. Its a promise given to us by God. He says that if we put our trust in Him we will always be victorious. Paul asks a rhetorical question in Romans 8:31 "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?" This does not mean that we will not have hard times or be exempt from challenges; but that if we have the One who created the universe and controls the outcome of life on our side, we don't have to worry about what the final score will be. The game still has to be played for there to be a declared victor. You will have to go through the trials in life but you can be assured that you will be victorious because the one true God of all creation is on your side. That's why Paul went on to say in Romans 8: 28 "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." God has your back. He will make sure that no matter what, you win in the end.
What you have to do is to believe God and trust his promises. That book of statistics would have been of no use to Biff if he had not trusted what was in it. That's what faith is. Knowing that something is true even if you can't or haven't seen it. Trusting in the author and creator of all. God loves you and he wants to make you victorious. The ball is in your court. Do you want to be successful for eternity or do you want to just keep doing what your doing? The choice is yours. I choose victory over defeat and success over failure. You have to make your choice.
I'm Just Sayin
Mike Belgard
In 1 John, the Apostle tells us how we must "test the spirits" in these latter days in order to know the truth and that we must remember that God is love and we to must live in love for one another.
"Beloved do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world." (1 John 4:1)
How, you may ask can I know? Simple, if the prophet speaks of Christ coming in the flesh then he is from God, all others are from Satan.
A true, God-sent-preacher must profess that Jesus has indeed come in the flesh, a living man, and that He truly is the Son of God, that Jesus is both man and God, one in the same. If any preacher does not profess this then you should not listen to him nor assist him.
How can we know we are in the company of other true Christians?
"Beloved let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God." (1 John 4:7)
God's love was made manifest when he sent His only Son into the sinful world so that all humanity had the chance to live eternally with Him in heaven. The love of both the Father and the Son is so strong that Jesus died a cruel death on the cross for the sins of all people, forever.
Only those "of God" will show love to others when they are persecuting them, those of the world do not know the love of God and will not show Godly love to those who disagree with them."Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God." (1 John 4:15)
Each day we are to witness to others that Jesus is truly the living Son of God so they see the joy we have as we abide in Him. We don't live in a perfect world and we are not perfect so there will be trials and tribulations but we must do our best to hold true to the faith and promote the gospel of the Lord to others each day. Just saying "I pray you have a blessed day" is sometimes all it takes to help someone through a rough day, be an example of good for Christ.
"By this love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgement, because as He is, so also, are we in this world." (1 John 4:17)
Residing in Christ gives us the peace of mind we need to have total confidence in the day of judgement and our place in it. Either eternal life or eternal punishment awaits all humanity. "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)
The choice must be made by each. If you do not know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Redeemer, simply ask Him and He will save you.
May God bless you each day.
January 17, 2017 - The Gates Chapel Baptist Church of Shelbyville will host its Annual Mens and Women's Day Program on Sunday, January 15, 2017 at 2:30pm.
Special guest speaker will be Rev. Wilbert Simmons of the Todd Springs Baptist Church.
Everyone is invited to attend says Pastor Frankie Cooper.
January 2, 2017 - Pastor Marlin Cloudy, Sr., and the Abundant Love Ministries Men’s Ministry will host a Men’s Revival, Jan 5 - 7, 2017. Services will begin at 7pm, Thursday and Friday night, and at 10:00 am, Saturday morning.
The guest speaker is Pastor John Russell, Senior Pastor of Calvary Tabernacle, Alexandria, LA.
Everyone is invited! Abundant Love Ministries is located at 1426 Shelbyville Street, Center, TX.
January 2, 2017 - Sunday was the First Sunday after Christmas and, of course, New Year’s Day! Happy New Year! I hope that the New Year will bring you joy and fulfillment. On this Sunday the Psalter Lesson was Psalm 148. The Psalms are the Jewish people’s hymnbook (but we just recited—no singing). Hymn 148 is an exuberant song of praise sung by the entire universe. The Gospel Lesson has Joseph once again receiving a vision in a dream, in which he is told to take his family to safety as mad King Herod was on the loose. These two scriptures deal with the paradox of faith. We go from the world shouting out with joy to the story of human depravity found in Matthew 2:13-23.
Psalm 148’s song of praise does not spring from a delusion that the world is fine but from the human capacity for joy. The Irish monks and mystics of the 7th Century had a practice of “listening for the heartbeat of God”—NOT listening to the heartbeat but listening for it concealed within all that is around us. Listening for the heartbeat of God is certainly a good practice for us this New Year!
Ms. Fannie had a great lesson today and encouraged everyone to take time this New Year to notice all the beauty around us. The scripture lesson for today was Psalm 33:1-9, a hymn of celebration of God’s creative power and his steadfastness. One of the reasons for worship is to praise God for all his creation.
We were in double digits again this Sunday! It was great to have Laura and Joe worship with us again. It was wonderful to see Carolyn after a long absence—she has been in Pennsylvania since October. Joy and Gene are back from Christmas with their family in Houston, and Joe Fielder said he had a good visit with Ben and his family. All the Paxton folks sure appreciate Hilda and Joe for bringing us our music each Sunday.
Our next nursing home program is scheduled for Monday, January 2, at 2PM at Green Acres.
We’re expecting rain, but maybe we can slosh through the puddles for this mission of ours. And speaking of weather, they’re even predicting snow for Friday! This week we might be experiencing all the seasons in a matter of days.
“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. God’s Speed!
December 29, 2016 - It's New Year and everyone is trying to come up with their New Year resolutions. It always amazes me that people typically have to make the same resolutions every year. Some of the more popular resolutions are; losing weight, starting a new workout program, quitting smoking, praying more, and reading your bible more. And while these are all great resolutions, it seems that after a few days or weeks our resolve tends to begin to weaken and before you know it, we are right back to where we were. It's not because we don't really want to accomplish these things, we just seem to get busy and distracted and it becomes too easy to put other things first.
God knows how we are. He created us. He knows that we are weak in our resolve sometimes. The disciples were, Moses was, even the Apostle Paul realized this when he wrote in Romans 7:15 "For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want but I do the very thing I hate. (ESV)" We all struggle with resolve. God has given us some encouragement in His word to help us along our journey to accomplish what He has put in our hearts .
Here are some "pearls" of scripture from the word to help you accomplish your goals this year and succeed in accomplishing your resolutions.
1) Proverbs 3:5-6, " Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight."
We must learn to trust God in all things. We don't have to understand whats going on or even how He is going to work it out. We need to put it in His hands, and have faith that He will work it for our good and His glory.
2) Philippians 4:13, "I can do all this through Christ who gives me strength."
When we feel ourselves getting weak this verse reminds us that it's not our strength that can carry us through, but we must rely on His strength. The God that created the universe and all things in it with just a word, promises us that He will give us His strength to accomplish anything that he puts in our hearts to do.
3) Matt.19:26, "Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
When the world tries to tell you that it can't be done, this scripture reminds us that when we place trust not in our self, but in the One who has control over everything, nothing is impossible.
Write these scripture down and review them everyday and when the going gets tough they will renew your resolve. Remember God loves you and wants you to be successful in all you set out to accomplish. Trust Him and He will give you the strength you need to succeed this year and forever.
I'm Just Sayin
Mike Belgard
December 29, 2016 - Pastor Marlin Cloudy Sr. and Abundant Love Ministries will host “Watch Night” services, Saturday, December 31st, beginning at 10’oclock pm.
Sunday, January 1, 2017, morning Sunday School is cancelled, however, we will celebrate in our regular noonday service beginning at 12:15pm.
You are welcome and invited, to both of these events, or any of our scheduled services. Abundant Love Ministries is located at 1426 Shelbyville St. Center, TX 75935
December 29, 2016 - Community Watch Night Service will be held at Saint Paul M.B.C on Saturday, December 31st beginning at 10:00 p.m. Pastor Alvin Davis will be the speaker. Everyone is invited!!
December 29, 2016 - Watch night service will be held at Clayton Temple C.O.G.I.C. Saturday, December 31st beginning at 10P.M.
Elder Marvin Jackson speaker. Everyone is invited.
December 27, 2016 - While the Bible is full of mysteries, today we look at samples of the 7 mysteries of Matthew Chapter 13 called by the Lord; "the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven".
The parables of Jesus are actually stories told in the physical but talking about the spiritual, they are parallels between the two worlds.
"For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him." (Matt 13:12)
What could this mean? "Whoever has" is the believer who has accepted Jesus as Lord, more will be given him, eternal life in heaven. "Whoever does not have" are the lost, all they have are the things of this world, all of that will be taken from them for all things of this world will pass away.
The seven mysteries or parables in chapter 13 are:
(1) the sower, or the difference in people, from the hard-of-heart who will not listen to the Word, to the semi-annual Christian who goes to church only a couple of times per year, to the full-time Christian who has turned away and needs to be brought back into the flock, to the sold-out Christian who lives each day for the Lord.
(2) the wheat and the tares, the story of all Christians who must live here on earth in the midst of the children of the devil. Many of the tares will be so completely deceived by the devil that they will believe themselves to be children of the Lord.
(3) the mustard seed, the story of the gospel, beginning with Jesus and the 12 disciples and spreading all over the planet
(4) the leaven, commonly seen as the impurity in bread and in the church. No where in scripture is leaven considered good. As with the wheat and the tares, the tares never become wheat and are finally sorted out by the angels and burned in the fires of hell.
(5) the hidden treasure, heaven is such, a treasure hidden from view and only to be seen by those who believe, to gain it Jew and Gentile alike must forsake all of the world, or the field, and turn to the treasure alone.
(6) the pearl of great price, the true church, paid for by the blood of Christ, covering the world. The kingdom of heaven, the children of heaven paid for by Christ, baptized into one spirit into one body, now being prepared to be given back to Christ as the pearl of great price.
(7) the dragnet, the complete reaping of the world in the end of this age and in the day of judgment. When the just will be sorted out and taken into the temple of Christ while the unjust are judged guilty and thrown into the burning fires of hell. Let us be the "good ground" the bearers of good fruit for the Lord.
As Jesus said so often; he who has eyes, let him see and he who has ears let him hear. May we each one be the one who does see and hear the Word of God.
I pray if yo u do not know Jesus as your Lord and Redeemer that you find Him in the upcoming new year.
May God bless you each day...
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