March 6, 2013
AN ORDINARY MEMBER
“Just an ordinary member of the church,” I heard him say,
But you’d always find him present even on a rainy day.
He had a hearty hand clasp for the stranger in the aisle
And a friend who was in trouble found sunshine in his smile.
When the sermon helped him, he told the preacher so;
And when he needed comfort, he let the preacher know.
He always gave so freely and tried to do his share
His talents were not many, but his love for God was true.
His prayers were not in public, but he prayed for me and you.
“An ordinary member?” I think that I would say,
“He was extraordinary in a humble sort of way.”
Author Unknown
Have you ever known someone like this? They quietly do much good for the service of the kingdom and get little, if any, recognition for it. No amount of organization or planning can replace the kind deed that is done when it’s needed. We are told that even a cup of water will be rewarded in heaven (Matthew 10:42). Truly, God cares about the “small things” that we do. A congregation can only prosper when the “ordinary” members are extraordinary. It’s not big things that make a congregation, but rather, a series of small things that are done quietly over time that will make a congregation truly great. Are you doing your part to make this a great congregation?
Mark Teske
via Garden Valley Church of Christ
GRACE IS NOT CHEAP IT IS FREE
“But don’t we have to do something?” is an oft heard protest to one of the Gospel’s central tenants: “We are saved by Grace through faith alone.” Grace, as we often say, is “unmerited favor.” In other words, we cannot save ourselves no matter how righteously or morally we may think we are living. Our justification rests exclusively with our faith in the work accomplished in Jesus Christ. As the Apostle Paul says (Romans 4:4-8):
“Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”
Yet, even as Christians we still fight against the human propensity to earn the “wage of salvation.” Becoming a Christian does not mean unbecoming a human being. Despite knowing the Gospel inflicts a death blow to our pride, we nevertheless attempt to resurrect our human pride. We are very prideful of our pride! We seem to want to hold on to some notion no matter how small that we somehow contribute to the work of salvation. We perpetually fall back on the belief, “Yes, saved by Jesus, but also by a little of me.” The problem is that our “little me” grows quickly into “all of me.”
The relationship between what God accomplishes for our salvation and our role in that accomplishment has always sparked debate within Christianity. One believer writing in 1730 said, “Someone said that questions of grace are like a sea without a shore or bottom. He would perhaps have been more right if he had compared them to the straits of Messina, where one always risks being crushed on a rock while trying to avoid another one (Pierre Bayle).” Today, we might say that questions about grace are like being caught between a rock and a hard place. The rock is works of righteousness and the hard place is faith in the righteousness of Christ.
How can we safely navigate these biblical “straits, rocks, and hard places” of God’s grace? In a wonderful book, Justification by Faith: A Matter of Death and Life, Gerhard O. Forde offers up the helpful navigational course: “Baptism thus signifies two things—death and resurrection, that is, full and complete justification . . . . This should not be understood allegorically as the death of sin and the life of grace, as many understand it, but as actual death and resurrection. For baptism is not a false sign (italics, Forde, pg.,16).”
In other words, when we are baptized by faith into the death of Jesus Christ, we truly die. The dead cannot earn any points in the realm of salvation. Dead men earn no wages. Grace is not cheap, it is free.
– Terry
Vacation Bible School Sign-Ups -- Get ready to surf !!! Our SonSurf Beach Bash Vacation Bible School will be held June 18-21. We need YOU to have the best VBS ever. This Sunday, “surf” on over to the VBS sign-up table and volunteer to help. Please contact Denise Beeks if you need more information.
Our Next Elders/Deacons Meeting will be Monday, March 11, in the Fireside Room at 7:00 p.m. Please make every effort to attend. Thank You.
Elders Open House -- You are invited to come join us for an Elders’ Open House on Sunday, March 17, from 1:30 - 4:30 p.m. You are invited to visit the homes of Larry and Wydie Denn, Gerry and September Flock, and Truman and Ferne Scott. We will have maps to their homes on that Sunday for your convenience. Please come join us for this special afternoon.
West Main Primetimers -- The West Main Primetimers are celebrating the beginning of Spring on Thursday, March 21, at 11:30 a.m. at Wild River Pizza on North Pacific Hwy. in Medford. All church family members and guests 60 years and older are invited to attend, and ladies, please wear your Easter Bonnets. Please call Bob or Joan Tisdel for more information and to RSVP.
Daddy / Daughter Dance -- Save the dates of April 19 and 20 for our Annual Daddy/Daughter Dinner Dance. We will be having a Dessert/Dance for our young ladies ages 4th grade through high school on April 19th beginning at 7:00 p.m. in the Fireside Room. We will have pictures, partner games and prizes. On Saturday night, April 20, we will have a Dinner/Dance in the Fireside Room beginning at 5:00 p.m. for our girls ages five years old through 3rd grade. Please see Marcie Dixon to purchase tickets or if you need more information.
Mexico Dinner and Auction -- Thank you so much to everyone who helped make our Dinner and Auction a success. We appreciate all of your donations, help with food, and set-up and clean-up afterwards. We raised nearly $6900.00 for our Mexico Mission trip! Thank you so much for all of your donations and help.
Prayer Requests . . . Debi Robbins asks prayers for an infant son of a patient. He has a seizure disorder and his prognosis is not good...For Samara Walker who has been ill with the flu and that her immune system will be strengthened...For a distant relative of Zachary Kirk, whose fourteen year-old daughter was abducted and murdered - please pray for peace for the family...Jacob Stapp requests your prayers for a young lady who ran away from home and tried to commit suicide and broke her back - please pray for healing...For Hailie Kelton who has been very sick - please pray that she will get well soon...For some young teen-age boys who were recently left on their own by their mother as she left for a job - please pray that they will receive the guidance that they need...For Jenny Way’s continued recovery from her brain injury...For our President and all of our military men, women and families.
Income:
General Fund Contributions $25643.00
Non -Budgeted Contributions 11925.52
Development Fund/Rents 1883.33
Interest/Other Income .71
Total Income for the Month $39452.56
Expenses:
Administration & Payroll $12737.28
Youth on Fire 643.49
Vision Ministries (388.97)
Office 813.03
Nurturing Brethren 2051.85
Operational Ministries 2027.93
Worship & Facilities 1119.67
Non-Budgeted Mission 11873.90
Development Fund 4210.72
Total Expenses for the Month $35088.90
February Attendance
1st Sunday 251
2nd Sunday 218
3rd Sunday 233
4th Sunday 198
Calendar of Events
March 11: Elder/Deacon Mtg; 7:00 p.m.; FSR
March 17: Elders Open House at the homes of Larry & Wydie Denn,
Gerry & September Flock and Truman & Ferne Scott; 1:30-4:30 p.m.
March 21: West Main Primetimers Lunch at Wild River Pizza; 11:30 a.m.
March 24: Meet and Rekindle Open House at the Testerman’s;
3:00-5:00 p.m.
March 30-April 7: Mexico Mission Trip
DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME BEGINS THIS SUNDAY. REMEMBER TO SET
YOUR CLOCKS AHEAD ONE HOUR SATURDAY NIGHT.
