Prayer
List
Faith Balzen
is recovering surgery at home.
Greg Counts
has a severe case of gout.
Mark Morris
is waiting for his MRI test results.
Mary Jean
Turner needs our prayers.
Mike
Dickenson is recovering from kidney surgery.
Don
Hickerson’s brother-in-law Louis Horn is home.
Kathy Hill’s
friend Gary Hodges needs our prayers.
Families in
Northern Arkansas have been evacuated due to flooding.
Andy LeDane,
Eddie Griffin, Florene Griffin, Jimmy Griffin, Jerry
And Betty
Harris, Don Hickerson, Billie Phillips, Mary Jean Turner, Armanda
family, Ronnie Brown, Billie Bradford, Betty Clark, Doris James, Gary
Hickerson, Bobbie King, Dan LeDane, Carol Moore, Beryl Miller, and
Della Price.
Serving in
the military: Faith Balzen, Cody Blomstedt, Travis Counts, and Dakota
Smitherman all are in the U.S...
Let us pray
for our country and government leaders and those who are in harms
way, military and civilian personnel.
“The
effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much…
Men’s
Business Meeting is next Sunday. All men are invited and encouraged
to attend.
May 14
Prayers: Morning: Greg Counts – Charles Counts
Evening: Jerry Harris – Don Hickerson
Scriptures: Robert Courtney
>>>>>>>>>>
God
Doesn’t Care…
By
A. C. Quinn
There
is a line in an old movie which so reflects the attitudes of many
people when it comes to the subject of religion. One of the
characters in the movie is encouraging a friend to attend a different
church. She did so with the encouraging words, “God doesn’t care
which church you go to as long as you show up now and then.” There
are a number of problems with this innocent sounding theory, of which
two will be discussed.
The
first problem is that people have the idea that “God doesn’t
care.” That is, God doesn’t care what individuals do religiously
just as long as they are sincere in their endeavors. The first retort
to this idea is the simple question: “If God doesn’t care, why
did He give man a book of rules—yes, a book of do’s and don’ts”?
Of course, that book is the Bible—God’s inspired word to man in
which He directs man in the way that He wants him to go. Further, it
does matter to God the church in which one worships. It was important
enough that the blood of the Son of God was shed as the purchase
price (Acts. 20:28, et. al.). It should be noted, too, that the
purchase price was paid for one: Ephesians
4:4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one
hope of your calling;
5
One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 One God and Father of
all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
Ephesians 4:4 There is one body, and one
Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 5 One
Lord, one faith, one baptism,
6
One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all,
and in you all.
The
second problem with the thought that God doesn’t care is the idea
that one can just “show up now and then.” This is actually what
many people in the church do—show up now and then. To one who has a
knowledge of the Scriptures, that is forsaking the assembling of the
saints. The Christian is instructed not to forsake that assembling.
Hebrews 10:25 so states: “…Not
forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some
is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the
day approaching.” The first Christians
followed these instructions from the beginning (Acts 2:42; 20:7).
Still, folks seem to think, by their actions, that God doesn’t care
whether or not they attend worship services regularly. One has to
wonder what these folks would think if God chose to answer prayers
just “now and then,” or if He chose to forgive just “now and
then.”
God does care! He is not
willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9); but He does expect his
servants to be faithful unto death in order to receive the crown or
life (Revelation 2:10).