Picnic at the Parsonage

The annual Picnic at the Parsonage will be this coming Sunday at 5:00 p.m. Join us f0r a great day of fellowship.

The Care Package

The Care Package Food Pantry distributed food to 62 families this past Saturday. Special thanks goes to Rev. Ben West and the folks from Cottondale Christian Church who came out and helped. A hearty appreciation to everyone from CCC who has donated their time and resources to make this ministry successful. The next distribution date will be November 7th.

When the Lord Passes By - Grace Is Extended!

One of the greatest stories of forgiveness in the Bible is found in the John 8. It is the story of a woman who was caught in the act of a sin that was so repulsive to the religious society of the day, the punishment for such an act was death by stoning.

There is an intriguing story told about a university professor. In this modern day of chain emails, and urban legend. . .it is nearly impossible to verify the truth of such stories, but it is compelling none the less. A University professor at a well known institution of higher learning challenged his students with this question. “Did God create everything that exists?” One student bravely replied, “Yes he did!”“God created everything?” The professor asked. “Yes sir, he certainly did,” the student replied.The professor answered, “If God created everything; then God created evil. And, since evil exists, and according to the principal that our works define who we are, then we can assume God is evil.”The student became quiet and did not answer the professor’s hypothetical definition.The professor, quite pleased with himself, boasted to the students that he had proven once more that the Christian faith was a myth.Another student raised his hand and said, “May I ask you a question, professor?”“Of course”, replied the professor. The student stood up and asked, “Professor, does cold exist?”“What kind of question is this? Of course it exists. Have you never been cold?” The other students snickered at the young man’s question.The young man replied, “In fact sir, cold does not exist. According to the laws of physics, what we consider cold is in reality the absence of heat. Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (-460 F) is the total absence of heat; and all matter becomes inert and incapable of reaction at that temperature. Cold does not exist. We have created this word to describe how we feel if we have no heat.”The student continued, “Professor, does darkness exist?” The professor responded, “Of course it does.”The student replied, “Once again you are wrong sir, darkness does not exist either. Darkness is in reality the absence of light. Light we can study, but not darkness. In fact, we can use Newton’s prism to break white light into many colors and study the various wavelengths of each color. You cannot measure darkness. A simple ray of light can break into a world of darkness and illuminate it. How can you know how dark a certain space is? You measure the amount of light present. Isn’t this correct? Darkness is a term used by man to describe what happens when there is no light present.”Finally the young man asked the professor, “Sir, does evil exist?” Now uncertain, the professor responded, “Of course, as I have already said. We see it everyday. It is in the daily examples of man’s inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil.”To this the student replied, “Evil does not exist, sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God’s love present in his heart. It’s like the cold that comes when there is no heat, or the darkness that comes when there is no light.”The professor sat down. The young student’s name, Albert Einstein.

The Bible records that when it comes to guilt or innocence, all of us are guilty of sin. (Romans 3:23) From the time of Adam and Eve until today and on as long as the human race survives, every person that is born will be born a sinner. “All” doesn’t mean me and not you. And “all” doesn’t mean you and not me. “All” means everyone. The forgiveness that Jesus offers to us is not because of our innocence. It is in spite of our guilt. In fact, according to the Bible, admitting our guilt is a requirement to receiving God’s forgiveness. (I John 1:9)

Revived!

Pamela's New Ride

Children's Church

Children

Continuing Study of the Book of Titus

Paul writes to Titus in the 2nd chapter and says, "But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine . . . ." Dr. E. C. McKinley posted some excellent thoughts on this subject recently. He wrote,

In a world filled with broken promises and twisted truth, the people of God should be those who, "Speak the truth to one another; render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace." (Zechariah 8:16 ESV) Paul wrote it this way, "But speaking the truth in love..." (Ephesians 4:15 KJV). There should be no place in the life of the child of God, but specifically in a minister where people must constantly question the veracity of your actions or lifestyle.
Broken promises come in many forms and affect every area of a persons life, sometimes these broken promises are totally unintentional, but when they are brought to light they must be confessed and corrected. However, "twisted truth" is totally different. It leads to private and public offenses in the Body of Christ that hinder the work of the Lord on every level. Twisted truth is the place the enemy of our souls reigns supreme. Taking the Word of God out of context, whether from the ignorance of it or by deliberate actions is wrong and MUST be deliberately exposed.

Many of the difficulties local churches and organizations face are directly rooted to a TRUTH of God's word that was twisted for convenience or to shore up a petty argument that shouldn't even happen. These TWISTED truths lead to denominationalism and the delay of Christ's prayer for unity in John 17. While we want to believe that our way of thinking is the proper and righteous one, we must constantly challenge thoughts to ensure they come from a mind that is NOT in conformity with the world, the flesh or the devil. If we have been affected by a TWISTED truth, we must renounce it and seek to live out Jesus' reminder, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (John 8:32)
It is in these TWISTED truths that people claim to speak for God, when in fact it is their illusions of grandeur that are perpetuated, and not the teachings or direction of the Lord.
We must return to the Lord when we find ourselves living outside the scope of His authority, which is clearly outlined in the written Word of God. It is His Word that is the truth to be elevated by the children of God to a world that is darkened by sin. It is His Word that we can count on, not the corrupt delusions of fallen man who appear to be holy on the outside, but on the inside they are totally absent of the Presence of the Holy Spirit.
When someone says to you, "God told me this or that," you must immediately try the spirits (1 John 4:1) to see if the "Word" is from God. I know of no better way than a return to the standards of God's inerrant, infallible Word. His word is true, you can stake your life on it.

Join us tommorrow night at 6:30 p.m. as we continue our study of the Book of Titus

Special Thanks to CUMC!

We would like to extend our heart-felt gratitude to Cottondale United Methodist Church for their wonderful donation to the Care Package Food Pantry. The proceeds from their annual fish fry was $2775.66. This will go to help several needy families in our community.

The Care Package Distribution Day will be Saturday, September 19th from 8:00 to 10:00 a.m.

Think Before You Leap!

A new missionary recruit went to Venezuela for the first time. He was struggling with the language and didn’t understand a whole lot of what was going on. He went to visit a local church but having arrived late, the church was already packed. The only pew left was the one on the front row. He would be in front of everybody in the church. And so as not to make a fool of himself, he decided to pick someone out of the crowd to imitate. He chose to follow the man sitting next to him on the front pew. As they sang, the man clapped his hands, so the missionary recruit clapped too. When the man stood up to pray, the missionary recruit stood up too. When the man sat down, he sat down. During the preaching, the recruit didn’t understand a thing. He just sat there and tried to look just like that man in the front pew. The man nodded his head and he did too.Then he perceived that the preacher was giving announcements. People clapped, so he looked to see if the man was clapping. He was, and so the recruit clapped too. Then the preacher said some words that he didn’t understand and he saw the man next to him stand up. So he stood up too. Suddenly a hush fell over the entire congregation. A few people gasped. He looked around and saw that nobody else was standing. So he sat down. After the service ended, the preacher stood at the door shaking the hands of those who were leaving.

When the missionary recruit stretched out his hand to greet the preacher, the preacher said, in English: "I take it you don’t speak Spanish." The missionary recruit replied: "No I don’t. It’s that obvious?" "Well yes," said the preacher, "I announced that the Rodriguez family had a newborn baby boy and would the proud father please stand up.”

To be truthful, the church is sadly filled with many people like that missionary who are faking it. Just going through the motions. And the world can tell we aren’t genuine and they can tell by our actions that we don’t really know Jesus. They aren’t fooled. The old saying applies, "You may fool all of the people some of the time; you can fool some of the people all of the time; but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time."

Study of Paul's Letter to Titus

We will begin a new study tommorrow evening in the Book of Titus.

Titus, the 12th Epistle written by Paul, is one of his shortest. It is a personal letter to a dear friend and co-laborer. Similar to1 Timothy, it was written between Paul’s two Roman imprisonments, as he traveled on his 4th Missionary Journey. Paul obviously visited Crete on his way to Ephesus, and upon his departure requested Titus to remain and strengthen the churches in every city on the island. There is no Biblical record of how the Gospel first reached Crete. We do know that Cretans were among the crowd that heard the Gospel on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:11). Paul’s only other visit to the Island was as a prisoner being transported to Rome for trial (Acts 27:7).

Join us at 6:30 p.m. as we begin this new study.