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Birdwell Lane Church of Christ Big Spring, TX |
Weekly Thoughts - July 2010
| <---- June 2010 | -- | August 2010 ----> |
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04 - HAS SATAN SIFTED YOU? 11 - GAMBLERS IN RELIGION 18 - VBS CHECK LIST 25 - MY EYES ARE DRY |
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HAS SATAN SIFTED YOU? I must admit it is always good to go on vacation. However, it is also good to be back. We had a tremendous trip to Corpus Christi where we enjoyed our place there and really enjoyed being with Haley and Jack. We did a lot of visiting, relaxing and enjoying the beach. It had been almost a year since we spent time there. The weather was hot and humid, the condo cool and relaxing. We enjoyed going to church with Jack and Haley and hearing a very good preacher, they attend the Kings Crossing Church of Christ in Corpus. Kay and I were able to recharge our batteries and just spend time with one another. We talked to all our kids while there but really enjoyed just being together. It was great. Natalie and Will are now settled in Columbus, Ohio where Will be starting on a surgical fellowship at Ohio State on July 1st. They will miss their Church family in Dayton but I know they will become involved with a new family in Columbus. Our youngest grandson Lucas is now walking. We sure would like to see that in person. Retha and John are doing great and staying busy. We didn’t get to see them while on vacation but we did visit over the phone. They were still at work when we came through San Angelo last night. Thanks goes out to Royce Clay for teaching and preaching in my absence. I know that all enjoyed hearing him again. Thanks to all of you for keeping us in your prayers while we were away. Guess it is now time to get back to work. Thank you for allowing Kay and I to labor with you in the Lord's kingdom at Birdwell Lane. See Ya Sunday, Ralph |
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GAMBLERS IN RELIGION How much respect would you have for a character who, when hired to build a house, just guessed at how wide to make the rooms? How much respect would you have for a aircraft worker who, when told by his superintendent to make a certain part according to the specifications given on the blueprint, replied that his guesses were just as good as the dimensions on the blueprint? How much respect would you have for pharmacist who, when you gave him a prescription from your doctor, just guessed at how much of each ingredient should go into the medicine? Of course, the answer is, “VERY LITTLE,” or even “NONE!” This would be common sense applied to everyday matters. Yet, strange as it may seem, the average person will not use the same wisdom when it comes to his eternal soul. But they are willing to GAMBLE their soul on the flimsy GUESSES and FICKLENESS of their fellow man. WHY? Beloved, the Bible is the divine measure of what is right in religious matters. Whatever agrees with the BIBLE is RIGHT; whatever DISAGREES with the BIBLE is WRONG! This means that every teaching which is not compatible with the teaching of the Bible must be rejected. Every doctrine which is weighed in the balance of the New Testament and is found wanting is WRONG! Every teaching which meets the demand of the New Testament is RIGHT!! Do NOT gamble with your soul!! Study your BIBLE for yourself!! And accept NOTHING as being true until you can see for yourself that the Bible teaches such. Why GAMBLE with your soul when you CAN know what is true? See Ya Sunday, Ralph |
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VBS CHECK LIST Our VBS is only three weeks away. The VBS begins on August 9th. The Lord has given us a wonderful opportunity to invite our friends and neighbors to be with us for this feast of good news and fun with our young people. The VBS is an outreach tool for our congregation to bring in young people to learn of the good news of Jesus. The lessons, skits, costumes and rooms are well on their way to being completed. Work days are scheduled for getting all the different aspects completed and finalized. Many hours have been given by a lot of folks to be sure that it all culminates in an exceptional VBS. I hope that YOU have already made plans to attend and participate in bringing it to a success. I hope that you are already inviting your friends and their children to be a part of VBS 2010. The following is a check list for the VBS.
See Ya Sunday, Ralph |
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MY EYES ARE DRY “My eyes are dry, my faith is cold, my heart is hard, my prayers are old… What can be done with an old heart like mine? Soften it up with oil and wine. The oil is YOU, your spirit of love. Please wash me anew in the wine of your blood.” (My Eyes are Dry” by Keith Green) In my life, my short life of 69 years I must admit that my relationship with God has changed. Within the simple growth and change from day to day as I live here on this earth I am reminded that my service to God coincides my very living and breathing. It seems that as my faith wavers so does my actual health. Does this happen with you? All too often I am caught up in trying to separate church and state the way government does and as a result I find myself empty and lost. As I regain my focus and health for that matter, I begin to focus and realize that God is not only the provider of each of my blessings, but He is also the provider of the blessing of life. God has allowed me to be an ant on this great sphere that has been spinning for thousands of years and all He asks in return is my LIFE. Not just on Sundays and Wednesdays, but every day. But what do I do for Him? Keith Green’s words are extremely descriptive of many of us. “We, the church, children of God, the Body, desperately need the oil to penetrate our hearts and wash us anew. Do you need healing? Is your life here on this planet consumed by everything other than God? Is your faith in the one true God best described as cold? Then it is time to come to the water and be washed clean to the realization that within this world we do not live two lives… we only live one and that one life is but in and through God.” So as you consider your life, consider how empty it would be without God to provide for it. See Ya Sunday, Ralph |
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