Sick and Shut-In

Ruby Bradley –   Doyle & Quitta Goodspeed

Oneita Wallis  – Martha Mitchell 

Patricia Stevenson – Thomas Carson- Charles Murrell Sr.

Military Prayer List

Michael Blackman

Jahnee McCoo

Brannon Rose

Samuel & Ja’Nae Wells

Prayer Requests  For April:

Bro Robert Montgomery was admitted to Baylor Scott White, Grapevine On April 7^th.

Remember Bruce &Tammie Smiths’ family in your prayers. They funeral her uncle on Saturday

Brother Thomas Houston lost his 1^st cousin on Saturday in Longview (Allie Rene Martin)

Bro Fredrick Reed confessed sin and requested prayer for a coworker with corona virus and a friend’s daughter that got stabbed.

Bro Michael Finch requested prayer

Sis Ollie Carter’s sister Ada Bell has very serious health issues.

Thelma Clemons, she is dealing with grief.

Bro Chris Clark for job conflict resolution

First Line  Responders & Essential Workers

Bro Cortney Pitts’ daughter has tested positive for the Virus.

Sis Eliase Tibbits’ daughter Brenda Holloway (exposed to Corona Virus)

Bro & Sis Taylor’s daughter’s father-in-law (recovering from a blood clot)

Bro Leonard Smith (recovering from pneumonia)

Bro John E. Smith (has health Issues)

Sis Rita Murray asked for prayer for her mother (This is also Ann Sanders Mom)

Sis Ann Sanders radiation treatments were stopped. Her doctors are looking for an alternative treatment.

Sis  Vicky Hawley Health Issues and medication availability.

Sis Yolanda Reynolds –recovering from shoulder surgery

Sis Sheila Riley’s brother Reese Williams in Michigan is now home recovering from the Corona Virus.

Sis Sylvia Mitchell’s mother is now home recovering from a stroke.

“Happy is that people whose God is the Lord”, Psalms 144:15.  

People are seeking happiness universally.  Men of all ranks and stations pursue it.  The general inquiry is: How shall I find it?  To this we hear answers like:  “Seek in gold.  Everything can be had for a price.  “Another say: “Seek it in paths of human greatness.”  A third answer is: “pleasure and comfort.  These alone will bring happiness.”

What are the results of these inviting pursuits?  Poor deluded men try one or all of these and find that he is not really happy but more dissatisfied and wretched than ever.  How then could one say that happiness might be achieved if the finest this world has to offer, falls so for short?

The Psalmist says that God’s people are happy and in saying so seems to say that they have found a formula that has escaped the wisest of worldly men.  He says that happiness is a natural result of being a child of God.  How can this be?  The true Christian is happy for many reasons:

*He is happy because of divine peace.  Peace with God through Jesus is promised in John14:27.  This peace casts our fear and relieves the heart of many anxieties of life and death.

*He is happy because of divine adoption.  Gal.4:5-7 teaches that he has the privileges and rewards of a faithful son.

*He is happy because none can take these things away.  Rom.8:35-39 clearly states that no power on earth can remove God’s people from Him without their consent.  Yes, these are HAPPY PEOPLE.

J. R. CHISM

In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also hath set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him.” Ecclesiastes 7:14 NIV

It’s easy to feel happy on a sunny day, when all is well, the birds are singing and life is going along swimmingly. But what happens when waters are rougher, bad news comes, or the days feel just plain hard?

God wants us to feel gladness when times are good.  He has made each and every day.  We are called to rejoice in all of them whether good or bad.  Happiness is determined by our circumstances, but true joy comes when we can find the silver linings, hidden in our darkest hours-when we can sing his praises no matter what.  We don’t know what the future holds for us here on earth, but we can find our delight in the knowledge our eternity is set in beauty.

God, please help us to understand that our happiness and true joy is in you. Help us to find a deep and abiding satisfaction in each day that goes beyond human understanding

        SELECTED.

The greatest need of the church, today, is not a “Pulpit That Will Draw”, but “Pews That Radiate”. Where were you Sunday night? Yes and where were you Sunday morning and Wednesday evening? Were you somewhere, doing something for which you had more enthusiasm than you had for being a Christian?

Not only is the world listening to the preacher’s word but they are watching your life.  Immorality or indifference from the pew often erases great sermons from sinner’s minds.

If the folks coming, for a visit on Sunday morning, mean more to me than to be in my place at the Lord’s with God’s family, I doubt if there is really a place set for me Sunday night to piously nibble on the left  overs.

Hebrews 10:25, KJV: “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”

     Few of the world’s great leaders have had followers to shed tears at their passing.  In this country, Franklin Roosevelt did.  Martin Luther King did.  John F. Kennedy did.  Sadly, many rulers’ deaths have been greeted with joyous celebration.

     Lately I reread those passages that detail the death of Christ and was again surprised that few of the men who had followed Him cried.  Luke records that “…there followed Him a great company of people and of women, which also bewailed and lamented Him.”  Since the response of Christ was,  “Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me but weep for yourselves and your children” I think it must have been the women who were tearful.  Luke 23:27,28.  It is strange that weeping is not mentioned of the men.  Simon Peter had wept bitterly when the enormity of his sin of denying Christ dawned upon him.  But tears are not mentioned as he viewed the crucifixion.  Nor are they mentioned  of John or any of the other Apostles.

     They must have been terribly disappointed.  Two of the disciples, as they traveled toward Emmaus, explained,  “…we trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel.”  To see all the miracles that proved His divinity and accept the claims He had made that He was the Messiah for which Israel had eagerly looked and then see their King enthroned on a cross, must have devastated them.  But they did not cry.  On the first day of the week, Mary was standing outside the empty sepulcher weeping when the angel said,  “Woman, why weepest thou?”  Then when Christ appeared, He told her to enter the city and tell the others He was risen.

     We are accustomed, when we try to explain the Gospel to people, to emphasize that when Christ was crucified, He suffered just as much as we would if we had nails driven through our hands and feet and were suspended by these wounds upon a cross.  But wonder with me, may it not have been much greater suffering?  I think it is significant that when the death of Christ is mentioned in the scriptures, the greater number of times the word “suffer” is used rather that “death.”  Samples of this would be Luke 24:45,  “…it behooved Christ to suffer.”  Heb. 13:12,  “…Jesus also suffered without the gate.”  “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins…”  I Peter 3:18.  Why might His suffering have been far greater?

     The death of Christ involved suffering for sins that had accumulated since the foundation of the world plus all the sins that would be committed from His death forward until the end of time.  He suffered, not just for Himself, but for us all.  Isaiah says,  “He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows…he was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities…”  Isaiah 53:4,5.  He cried for a  Jerusalem that had refused to accept Him and even today is filled with grief when we fail Him.  There is reason enough for us to cry also!  But do we?

John baptism was an early preparation.  After Jesus completes His saving work, Christian baptism takes over (Matthew 28:19).  The two baptisms are different. (Those who later receive John’s baptism must be immersed again into Jesus baptism, Acts 19:1-5).  Yet both share a similar purpose.  John was “preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Luke 3:3). Compare this with Peter’s words to the people who are convinced that Jesus has risen from death.

Peter replied, “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. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off-for all whom the Lord our God will call” (Acts 2:38-39).

Noah and his family were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves us also: not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God.  It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ (1Peter 3:20-21).

Peter joins belief with water for salvation (Acts 2:10; 1 Peter 1-3).  Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for it to make it holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word (Ephesians 5:25-26; like Hebrews 10:22).  

Faith and baptism go together for entering Christ and becoming “sons of God.” This is true for everyone (John 3:3-5; Mark 16:15-16).  Jesus set the example by submitting to baptism to show his obedience to God. 

Excerpts from WBS Series

Without health!

Without wealth!

Without fame!

Without a great name!

Without learning!

Without culture!

Without beauty!

Without friends!

Without ten thousands of other things!

BUT HE CAN NEVER GO TO HEAVEN WITHOUT CHRIST!

After the Sunday evening service we were returning home with our little three-year old grandson.  Quitta had just said; “He got a lot of hugs and hugged a lot of people.”  There was a moment or two of silence after which the three-year old said:  “Grandmother; How do you hug God?”

Sometimes the super-simplicity of a child’s thinking brings a complete principle home.  He had spent a day in which there were lessons on loving God.  He was impressed by this.  He knew that people hugged him because they love him.  He hugs people because he loves them.  He loves God because his teachers have pointed out what God has done for us and because God loves him.  Therefore, it was natural to wonder, “How can I show God that I love him?”  This is a worthwhile question for us all to consider.

We live in a decade that has been characterized as spawning the “My generation.”  We are in love with things and we want those things to be “our things.”  Our generation says; “If a rule or commandment interferes with what we want to do, I will ignore it.”  We say we love God because of his bounty, but we will not allow him to interfere with our will or what we want to do.  We would like to be able to give him a hug and say, “See you again soon!”

Jesus said in John 14:15 “If ye love me; keep my commandments.” Then in John 14:23 he said, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word; and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him.” 

With Christ it was a simple matter, He is observing by the way we live our lives if we love him. 

HAVE YOU HUGGED YOUR GOD LATELY?

Your whole family needs to be in bible study every Sunday.  All of you should stay for worship.  You all should come back Sunday evening and on Wednesday night.  Which of you can truthfully say; we do not need Christian influence in our lives?  We should each have the mindset of feeling that the Sunday school class, the morning and evening services and the mid-week bible studies would not be the same if I am not there.

Don’t say, “They won’t miss ME.” Think of the importance that ONE hole in a boat can sink it.  ONE fuse blown means darkness.  ONE false alarm can cause panic.  ONE mischievous boy can break up a school.  ONE wayward child can break a mother’s heart.  ONE sinful act can ruin a life.  ONE lie can destroy confidence in you.  ONE backslider can grieve the Holy Spirit.  So, YOU are important; EVERYONE is!

ONE visitor brought to every service by every service by every member would DOUBLE our attendance at every service.  ONE additional dollar contributed by each member would increase or missionary and benevolent programs.  ONE person converted by every Christian each year would mean the world for Christ in ONE generation.  ONE prayer and ONE scripture reading every day could make for greater spiritual growth among us.

Yes, YOU count for ONE by your presence, your prayers, your contribution, your influence and your daily life.  YOU count for ONE; a most IMPORTANT “ONE”

“The most important statistic is not the number you can count, but the number you can count on.”

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things”. Philippians 4:8

Here Paul gives us a picture of a peaceful, happy mind, and the formula for making it thus. By thinking on the true, honest, just, pure and lovely things of life, which are virtuous, and of good report, we cultivate a habit of higher thinking which leads us to a higher level of speaking. As a result, the world sees a happier, more pleasant Christian; one who is not proned to be moody and depressed; one that can see God in all that is around him. It is a fact that our thinking controls our speaking, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee”. Proverbs 23:7. Also “You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. Matthew 12:34. Since our thinking produces our speaking, and our speaking governs our influence, it is vitally important that our thinking be under complete control and in absolute harmony with God’s word or the results can be damning. This cannot happen in an instant or in one day or week.  Neither does it just “happen”. I believe that the way to think, speak, and render the proper influence, today, is the way the Psalmist learned to do it. He said, “Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee.” Psalms 119:11

The person who has the word of God in his heart cannot have hatred in his tongue or mis-conduct in his life, for from the inner man, the outer man is directed.