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Contributing Writers: Mike Mills, Spring Hill Church | Doug Fincher | Pastor Randy and Sue Smith | Mike Belgard | Tim Perkins
Faith
April 29, 2024 - Good Morning! It's Monday, April 29.
This Thursday at noon, there will be a National Day of Prayer event in front of our historic courthouse here in Center, Texas. I'm coordinating this half-hour event that will include the singing of our National Anthem, and prayers for our country, our schools, our first responders, our soldiers, our churches, and our families. If we have at least 100 present we'll end at 12:30 with a human prayer chain around the courthouse, while we sing "Amazing Grace". I think it's going to be an amazing moment, and if you're one of our local readers, I hope you'll join us.
Today we'll begin a short series on prayer, in preparation for the National Day of Prayer. We focus today on the most famous prayer in history - The Lord's Prayer. It's found in two places - a short version in the gospel of Luke, and the longer, more familiar version in Matthew.
Some call it the "Our Father", but I prefer the name "The Model Prayer". Jesus was a man of constant prayer. He followed the instruction in I Thessalonians 5:17 to "pray without ceasing". But in the sixth chapter of Matthew, Jesus isn't praying - He's teaching us how to pray.
He teaches us to begin our prayers by focusing on the Father. The first three of the seven petitions in this famous passage are centered on God. Only after saying, "Thy will be done" should we ask for our daily bread. Protestant believers end this prayer with a doxology, a proclamation of praise. It isn't found in the earliest manuscripts of Matthew, but it's a beautiful expression of worship.
"For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever!"
Amen.
Meet you back here tomorrow,
Bro. David
dmathis@fbccenter.org
April 25, 2024 - There was a popular song written in 1974 entitled “One Day At A Time” that has been recorded by somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 different recording artists. One line of the song reads, “Lord help me today, show me the way, one day at a time.”
Perhaps that’s the concept the Psalmist had in mind when he wrote these words in Psalms 118:24, “This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad today!” (NCV). Here is a man with a word of wisdom that all of us would do good to live by. He lived in a long ago day but he has a philosophy that is fresh and up to date for us today.
In fact, I am persuaded this is even more needed in our crowded and hectic world than it was in the more quiet time he was privileged to live in.
What you and I need to do is to learn this man’s secret. If we claim the promises of God today, we take care of our yesterdays and leave the past with God. Just as God takes care of yesterday, so will he take care of tomorrow. Today is all we have, it is all we can manage and it is all we need. If we live right today, we can leave yesterday and tomorrow in the hand of God. What we must do is make sure we live for God today.
It’s something to think about... tbp
Join Us for Worship this coming Lord’s Day at Center Church of Christ or online at www.centerchurchofchrist.com.
April 24, 2024 - Mt. Zion C.M.E. Church is delighted to extend a cordial invitation to join the Baccalaureate Service of the Graduating Class of 2024. This special occasion will take place on Sunday, May 19, 2024, at 11am at the Mt. Zion C.M.E. Church located at 921 Martin Luther King Drive in Center, TX.
The Baccalaureate Service is a cherished tradition that marks the culmination of a students' academic journey and offers an opportunity for reflection, gratitude, and celebration. It is a time to come together as a community to honor the achievements of the graduating class and to offer them blessings and well wishes as they prepare to embark on the next chapter of their lives.
Following the service, there will be a reception where attendees can mingle, congratulate the graduates, and enjoy light refreshments.
We sincerely hope that you will be able to join us for this meaningful occasion. Your presence will undoubtedly add to the joy and significance of the day for our graduates and their families.
Thank you for your support and for being a part of this special moment in the lives of our graduates. You may contact Kristi McClelland at (936) 591-4268, Anita Williams at (936) 332-7847 or Veronica Berry at (936) 488-8096 for further information.
Warm regards,
Baccalaureate Service Committee
April 23, 2024 - Strong Cemetery has cancelled their annual homecoming this year.
Donations can be mailed to: Strong Cemetery, P.O Box 1383, Center, Texas 75935.
April 23, 2024 - First Baptist Center is sponsoring a Senior Adult Day Trip to the Lufkin Zoo next Monday, April 29. Any senior is warmly welcome. The group will leave First Baptist, 117 Cora, at 8am on the church bus and in private cars and will return at 2pm. The cost is $6 and that includes the zoo and the zoo train. Lufkin Zoo is very "Senior Friendly", is beautifully landscaped, and features an amazing array of animals. The group will have lunch at a BBQ restaurant before returning home. Call 979-533-1575 for more information. Reservations are not required. Join us - it's gonna be fun!
April 22, 2024 - Good Morning! It's Monday, April 22.
Do you know what today is? It's an unofficial worldwide holiday that was started on April 22, 1970. Today is "Earth Day"!
Earth Day was intended to be a day of conversation, discussion, and debate about the environment, and about how we are protecting the resources that God has blessed us with. Some people believe Earth Day was inspired by a photograph that was taken on Christmas Eve, 1968, a photo taken by an Apollo 8 astronaut who was circling the moon that night. After the three astronauts broadcast the reading of the Bible's creation story, William Anders went to the window of the spacecraft and took a photo. It was a photo, not of the moon, but of earth. It's called "earthrise", and I'm sure you've seen it. The earth is a blue marble in ink black space, a beautiful oasis in a dark universe.
That photograph touched a lot of folks. It was the first time we'd seen our little planet from that perspective, and it made us thankful to God for His amazing gift of creation. Here's some scripture thoughts for today, for Earth Day.
- Colossians 1:16 - By Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth.
- Ecclesiastes 3:11 - He has made everything beautiful in His time.
- Genesis 1:31 - And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good.
- Genesis 2:15 - The Lord God took man and put him in the Garden, to work it, and to keep it.
Meet you back here tomorrow,
Bro. David
dmathis@fbccenter.org
Hollis
April 22, 2024 - “Go into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in…” Luke 14:23
I met Hollis Peavy in the late fifties while I was Pastor of San Augustine’s Liberty Hill Baptist Church and we became lifetime friends. He invited me once to an afternoon squirrel hunt. When I insisted that squirrels don’t “stir” that time of day, he replied, “Then let’s make’em stir”. As we walked along a spring branch near Bland Lake, Hollis grabbed a hanging vine, yelled, and yanked a couple of times. Two cat squirrels fled the tree in a wild frenzy. As I stared in surprise, Hollis laughed, “Sometimes you gotta scare ‘em out”.
The Lord uses tender entreaty to rescue those lost in the world’s viney trees. But if that method fails, He sometimes uses a different strategy.
He shakes our vines.
April 18, 2024 - Most, if not all of us are familiar with the first miracle Jesus performed. It was at a wedding in Cana and Jesus and His disciples were there. Jesus’ mother, Mary, was there too. They ran out of wine and Jesus changed six pots of water into wine. It was not just any wine, it was better wine than what had already been served.
Hidden in that story is a statement made by Mary that is often overlooked. She was speaking to the servants and recorded in John chapter 4 and verse 5 are these words, “whatsoever He saith unto you, do it.” You know, that is good advice for us to take to heart in our own day and time.
You see, the commandments of Jesus, the things Jesus tells us to do, the way Jesus instructs us to live are more than just suggestions, they are imperatives. Too often in our world today we fail to take Jesus seriously and obey what He tells us to do.
Jesus had a lot to say about obedience. In the sermon on the mount in Matthew 7:21, He says, “not everyone that saith unto me Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of Heaven, but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven”. Then again, in John 14:15, speaking to His disciples, Jesus says, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”
You know, “Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it” seems like sound advice.
It’s something to think about. . . tbp
Join Us for Worship this coming Lord’s Day at Center Church of Christ or online www.centerchurchofchrist.com
April 18, 2024 - Sardis Cemetery Annual Homecoming and Fish Fry will be May 4, 2024 beginning at 11am. Catfish plates will be $12 each and include fish, fries, beans, and dessert with tea or water. Make plans now to come and bring your family for a great day of fellowship and food.
Donations are always welcome. They are used for the upkeep of the cemetery. Cookbooks will be available for $15 each. Hope to see you there.
Also, donations can be mailed to 6034 FM 414 Center, TX 75935.
April 15, 2024 - Good Morning! It's Monday, April 15.
Yesterday, at First Baptist Center, we welcomed a new Youth Minister. This gives our church a full staff for the first time in five years. We are thankful and give God the glory for what He is doing in His church.
As we took a step forward in ministry to teenagers, I found myself thinking about youth music. In 2024, the songs that church young people sing in their meetings and camps are often the same ones that their churches sing on Sunday morning. But it wasn't always that way. When I was growing up, in the last century (!), youth music and church music were completely different. After all, our youth songs weren't in the hymnal.
And then, in 1975, I opened a book and got a nice surprise. The book was a new Baptist Hymnal, the first one in twenty years, and it contained a "youth song". I was a teenager at the time, and when I saw that song, and realized that we could sing it on Sunday mornings, it made me feel, for the first time, that I was a full fledged member of my church.
Here's that song -
It only takes a spark to get a fire going
And soon all those around can warm up in its glowing
That's how it is with God's love, once you've experienced it
You want to sing, it's fresh like spring, you want to pass it on.
We sang that song in our service yesterday. After all, it's in the hymnal.
Meet you back here tomorrow,
Bro. David
dmathis@fbccenter.org
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