Charles Counts is home, improving after an ankle infection.
Florene Griffin is home, recovering after a fall last Wed. (no broken bones).
Monte Randolph has finished treatments & is awaiting a PET scan.
Angel Johnson’s surgery went well last Wednesday.
Cathy Painter (Wolfe City) is home recovering from Kidney transplant.
Kathy Hill was not able to have her chemo treatment this past week, due to pain & illness. She is in Plano Presbyterian Hospital.
Alex Miller is struggling with some spiritual issues & decisions to make.
Barry Del Monte has stage 4 liver cancer.
Rebecca Van Deren got good results from an MRI. She will have a spinal tap next week to check for pressure on her optic nerves.
Ben Harrington has pancreatitis and diabetes complications. He is scheduled to have an endoscopy on Feb. 28.
Nonie Tucker will have hip surgery March 1st.
Don Hickerson (arterial problems), Tabitha Griffin (cancer), Billie Bradford (in nursing home), Betty Clark (in remission from cancer), Les Hamel (weekly transfusions, stress), Gary Hickerson (disks fused), and Beryl Miller (macular degeneration).
Serving in the military: Tyler Davies, Josh Van Deren, Kirklynn Hance and Kirk Johnson in the USA. Cody Blomstedt is in Korea.
Our sympathy goes out to Paula Courtney and family at the passing of Robert Courtney. Funeral is today at 1:30 at Scoggins Funeral Home in Van Alstyne. Burial will be in Holloway Cemetery.
Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
James 5:16 (KJV)
Pantry Item: Coffee - or any other non-perishable item. Pickup Mar. 5-6
March Announcements Greg Counts
Table Robert Embry, Don Harrington, Jerry Harris
Men Serving Next Week March 3, 2019
Morning Prayers Greg Counts, Robert Embry
Evening Prayers Don Harrington, Jerry Harris
Scripture Greg Counts
The Church Of Christ
By Ron Boatwright
What is the difference between the church of Christ and the many denominations? Why is the one church that belongs to Christ referred to as the church of Christ (Romans 16:16), instead of being named after some other man such as Martin Luther or John the Baptist, or after a city such as Rome, or the apostles, or the Day of Pentecost, or the community, or the methodical way of doing things? They seem to be ashamed to wear the name of Christ. But Jesus says, "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels" (Mark 8:38).
The church is the Lord’s bride. "Just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their husbands in everything" (Ephesians 5:24). What if the wife told her husband when they were married that she did not want to wear his name, but she wanted to wear the name of one of her old boyfriends? How do you think her husband would feel? He would feel the same way Christ feels when the denominations take on other names that give glory to other people, things, or places. By their own names they don’t even claim to belong to Christ.
The Lord’s church is referred to as the church of Christ (Romans 16:16), because Christ built it and He called it His own, when He said, "Upon this rock I will build My church" (Matthew 16:18). Christ "gave Himself for her" (Ephesians 5:25), the church, "which He purchased with His own blood" (Acts 20:28). Christ is the "head over all things to the church, which is His body" (Ephesians 1:22-23), of which there is only "one body" (Ephesians 4:4). There is only one body and this one body is the Lord’s one true church. Christ only has one church that He has promised to save, since "He is the saviour of the body" (Ephesians 5:23). People in the many denominational churches will be lost since they have no promise of salvation from the Lord. They are not in the Lord's one church, the one body He is going to save.
We read in Acts 2:47, "The Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved." The Lord only adds the saved to His one church. But who are the saved? Jesus says, "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved" (Mark 16:16). The vast majority of the denominations say that baptism is not necessary to be saved, but Jesus say that it is necessary. It is when one is baptized that one is saved and "baptized into one body" (1 Corinthians 12:13), the church of Christ. Even though we are sad for those who will be lost in the many denominations, we should "rejoice because your names are written in Heaven" (Luke 10:20).
Paul And The Sinner’s Prayer
By Ron Boatwright
The Lord sent a man, named Ananias, to tell Paul what he must do. The Lord told Ananias to “Arise and go to the street called Straight and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying” (Acts 9:11). Paul had been praying, but he did not receive forgiveness of his sins through praying. Paul still had all of his sins. Paul was told by Ananias “And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16). Paul was not saved and his sins were not forgiven until Paul did what he was told he must do; that is to “arise and be baptized and wash away your sins.”
Today men have come up with the idea of “accepting Jesus as your personal Saviour” and saying the “sinner’s prayer” in order to be saved. This is a ploy of Satan which will cause many people to be eternally lost by not obeying what the Lord says that we must do in order to have our sins forgiven and to be saved. Satan knows people are not saved by saying the “sinner’s prayer”. “Accepting Jesus as your personal Saviour” and saying the “sinner’s prayer” in order to be saved is foreign to the Bible. Why wasn’t Paul’s sins forgiven by his praying before he was baptized? Paul’s sins were not washed away until after he was baptized. Paul was not told to pray the “sinner’s prayer”, but to “Arise and be baptized and wash away your sins”. I cannot think of a more flagrant crime against God and man, than to tell lost sinners who want to be saved something different than what God says in the Bible.
Answer to last weeks question!
This Christian prophesied a famine in the land.
Agabus – (Acts 11:27-28; 21:10-11)
Trivia Question This man of Tekoa was a simple laborer who had the audacity to confront the king’s priest at his shrine.