November 2, 2011
Man, is it just me or is it cold outside? Just two weeks ago I was coaching some boys in a soccer game where half of the team was running around with no shirts. I had on shorts and a short-sleeved T-shirt. Fast forward to today, and I am wearing pants, a T-shirt UNDER a sweater, a scarf and a coat. What happened? Overnight the weather changed. It happened without most of us even noticing it!
Sometimes such sudden change can be a nuisance. It can be annoying and really not the preferred method of change. But in other instances, I think I would REALLY like for things to change so quickly and easily. I am thinking of my spiritual life. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if every change we wanted to make in our hearts and souls regarding our life could happen this way? What if we were inspired yesterday to pray and read the Bible more and by tomorrow, it had completely happened and we were the greatest readers and prayer warriors known to man? Wouldn’t that be awesome?
But of course, we know it does not happen this way does it? It takes TIME to make changes in our lives. Spiritual disciplines require patience. They require slow learning sometimes, and maybe even slower changes.
I am so thankful God understands this. He does not require me to be perfect. In fact, he knew how hard it would be, so he came up with a plan to make me perfect by HIS power. Now this doesn’t let me off the hook, I still have efforts to make and changes to execute, but God knows that some will take a while. He is patient with me, loving me through the slow process. He sticks with me as I try and try to become the person I want to be. He overlooks the failures and applauds the successes. He pushes me to greater heights. And he wants to do the same for all of us.
Are you trying to be a better person? Are you making major changes? Are you trying to quit an old habit? If so, lean on the strength of God. Be strong, patient and bold! Stick to your plans! Be disciplined and press on . . . God will walk with you all the way.
– Pannell
Unity: Reality or Fantasy?
I confess that I have often read parts of the book of Acts with either a sense of skepticism or credulity. In other words, there are times when I wonder if what I am reading actually happened as recorded, or I resign myself to what I am reading without fussing over whether or not things actually happened as recorded in Acts.
Now before you think I have gone off the deep end and abandoned my faith, rest assured I accept by faith everything I read in the book of Acts. I am simply trying to be honest about my own thoughts as they sometimes occur to me in the course of reading Scripture. For instance, here is a passage from Acts that we are all familiar with that can sometimes spark either credulity or skepticism:
So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved (Acts 2:41-47).
There is plenty in the above passage to stretch and challenge the imagination. After all, when have we ever personally witnessed such heroic, sacrificial, and faithful acts today in the local congregations of the Lord’s Church as described in the book of Acts? I am sure some Christian group or other may appear to capture one aspect or another of the early Christians’ practices, but I do not know of any personally who have captured the early church’s experience in total. Does this appearance of the contemporary church not capturing in full the early church experience mean that what we read about the early church is a fantasy and not a reality? Not at all! For the book of Acts does not merely record the great acts of unity of the early Church, but also the divisions in the early church as well.
The fact that the book of Acts records the disunity among the early Christians gives in my mind more credibility to the unity recorded in Acts. To put it another way, if Acts only spoke of unity, then I would be highly suspect that Acts is being completely honest about human nature. As Christians we may be forgiven sinners, but we are still sinning, and sin does show up among the early Christians. Luke records the good as well as the bad, and so Acts is not just being nostalgic or just remembering only the good times of the early church. One example of recorded disunity concerns the account of Ananias and Sapphira in chapter five of Acts (Acts 5:1-11). Despite the unity and sacrificial efforts of the early Christians in Jerusalem, not all the Christians were so united and sacrificial. Ananias and Sapphira conspired together to lie about their charitable gift and exalt themselves falsely in the eyes of the Apostles. Or what of the potential disunity of Simon the sorcerer in Acts chapter eight who shortly after conversion desires to buy the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:9-25)?
The book of Acts is not just a recording of the Golden Age of the early church that never saw a discouraging act or heard a discouraging word. Luke faithfully and truthfully records the unity and disunity in the local church. We all ought to be greatly encouraged by these examples of unity and disunity in Acts. For what the Holy Spirit is teaching us is that unity is not a fantasy, but unity among brothers and sisters in Christ will exist even in the midst of disunity! Now that is reality.
– Terry
STRIVING FOR EXCELLENCE IN FAITH AND LIFE is the topic for our upcoming Parenting Seminar on November 10, 12, and 13. We will begin at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 10, in the auditorium with Terry Christopher teaching and discussing the topic of “Loss of Christian Community in the Modern Family.” Saturday’s session will start at 6:00 p.m. and will continue until 9:00 p.m. On Sunday, Brian Pannell will be teaching in the auditorium for All Adult Classes at 9:00 a.m. on the topic of “Youth Cultures of Today.” Terry will continue with the theme of the seminar in his morning sermon. After the morning service, we will have a luncheon discussion group led by Ron Zielke. We will have child care available for the seminar sessions. All seminar sessions are open to all parents of all ages. We encourage you to come and be a part of these valuable classes.
DEACONS MEETING -- Our monthly deacons meeting will be held on Monday, November 7, at 7:00 p.m. in the Fireside Room. All deacons are encouraged to attend.
DIRECTORY PHOTOS -- We are beginning our directory photo process earlier for our new photo directory for next year. We are encouraging all families who would like their directory photo updated to contact Sandra Cummings ASAP. We want to encourage all of our members to have their photo taken by Sandra if you want an updated picture in the directory instead of submitting your own photo. Thank you for your help.
HARVEST CRAFT FAIR -- Calling all crafters - now is the time to get all of your craft creations together and ready to sell. We will be holding our Craft Fair November 18-19 from 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Please contact Debra Burchett if you would like booth space as we still have a few spaces available.
***This would be a good time to get some of your holiday gifts.***
For Stephen Liles that he find employment as his present employer is closing the store...For Bob Page, brother-in-law of Truman and Ferne Scott, who is in RVMC recovering from heart problems and from stent surgery...For Helen Hudson, friend of Shirley Barlow, who fell this week and suffered a massive concussion and the outlook doesn’t look good for her...For school to get better for Jude Pannell...For Colleen Godfrey that she have clarity of mind and that she becomes strong after the passing of her husband a few months ago...Cooper Albright has finished his anti-cancer treatment...For the grandfather of Colleen Abbott’s husband, as he recovers from pneumonia...For Katie, the granddaughter of Eva Loy Knight, who is having medical problems...For Gaetana, who injured her back and is having a hard time walking...For an employee of Randy and Mary Kelton, Bobby Irwin, whose mother died this past week - please pray for the family...For Reed and Shirley Barlow that they can have visits with their granddaughter, Chloe...For Elizabeth Rankin - that she will have a healthy pregnancy...For friends of David Mayes - Cora and Barbara - that their faith will grow in the Lord...For our President and all of our military men, women and families.
BAPTISM AND PLACING MEMBERSHIP -- We are pleased to announce the baptism of Reed Barlow this past week. Reed and his wife, Shirley, also wish to place their membership with our family at West Main. Please make them feel welcome to our West Main family if you have not already met them.
**There will be a baby shower honoring Linkyn and his mom, Jennifer, at the home of Becky Anderson on Monday, November 14, at 7:00 p.m. Linkyn can use any clothes (size 3 months or older) or you can contact Teresa Bostwick if you want to contribute to a group gift.
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Nov 5: Daylight Savings Time Ends
Nov 10,12,13: Parenting Seminar
Nov 18, 19: Craft Fair at the Building
Nov 24: Thanksgiving Dinner at the Building
LOOKING AHEAD . . . .
The Father/Daughter Dinner Dance is scheduled for Saturday, April 21, 2012.
Please mark your calendars and save the date!
