This Sunday will mark the beginning of the year 2006 and we want to encourage you to draw closer to God in this year.  If we do so we will also draw closer to the needs of our fellowman and among those fellowman are our families.  Let us focus on our families in this New Year.  Let us make an effort to bring those who have strayed away into the fold.  To do all of this might require us to improve individually.  So here is what I want to challenge you to do in this New Year:

1.  Draw Closer to God

2. Help your fellowman

3. Focus on your family

4. Improve yourself; physically, mentally and spiritually

 

We mailed out notices to our January bulletin to a few selected addresses.  If you want more blog entries check the links at the bottom of this page.  May God bless you for reading this!

We had a great discussion on divorce/remarriage last evening.  We looked at Deuteronomy 24, Matthew 19, but focused on our text in 1st Corinthians 7.  We did not agree on everything and I hope that no one was upset if they heard something they did not agree with.  The closing remark was that you can't trick God and I think that is important to remember when examining this subject.  May the Lord bless you this day!

This is a week of reflection and we hope that each of you spend time in thinking about what has been and what might be.  May the Lord bless us all with a good New Year!

 

We are going to include a daily Bible reading schedule on our site.  This will be in chronological order and if you follow the schedule you will read the entire Bible in 2006.

 

Tonight we continue our study in 1st Corinthians 7 and I look forward to our examination of this chapter.  Some call this a difficult chapter and well it may be, but the teaching is plain and direct. 

 

We are having some beautiful early winter weather in Florida and we pray that you are being blessed wherever you are!

 

Kristin and Tom have officially set a wedding date of April 8th in New Orleans.  Carlos also informs us that his wife is planning to come to Florida in April.  Be praying about these young couples as they are in the early stages of their relationships. 

 

 

Merry Christmas!

 

It is special when December 25th is on a Sunday.

It is our plans to complete the book of Leviticus tomorrow and to enter Numbers next Sunday.  So read the last of Leviticus and the first few chapters in Numbers. 

It is my plans to be in and out of the office the next few days.  If you do not catch me there, please contact me on my cell or home phones. 

We began our discussion on divorce and remarriage in our class last evening.  This is another problem the church at Corinth was having in chapter 7. I do not believe that divorce is a sin.  I believe divorce can be caused by sin and divorce can lead to sin, but it would not be permitted by God if it were a sin.  Malachi 2:16 states that "God hates divorce," but look at the context of the passage.  Think about this!

I have a system retore button on my computer.  When I have done things that I shouldn't and gotten away from the original pattern, I can select system restore and my computer goes back to an earlier time when everything was ok.  It does not even know that I transgressed.  We have such a button in this life as well.  When we as Christians, falter and sin we can repent and pray and it is just like the system restore, we can immediately retain our right relationship with God, who will forgive and forget.  What is your relationship like with Him?

Today begins a new season; the first day of winter.  It is our prayer that this will be a great season for each of you.  May we all grow closer to one another and closer to God in this new season. 

 

 

Bud and I visited Wendell and Barbara at Blake today.  He is to be transferred to Braden River Rehab later today.  Please continue to support this couple with your prayers and kindness.

 

Bud and I have served together as elders one year this week.  I am very thankful for the encouragement I receive from each of you.  Bud has been a wonderful mentor for me during this year. 

 

Please keep Jacqueline in your prayers as well.  John is hospitalized in Sarasota.  We went by but he was in treatment and we did not get to see him.  We hope to try again tomorrow.

Carlos has now been a new Christian for a couple months.  This week he is flying to Colorado to see his wife and family.  She has not seen him since Christ has come into his life and it is his prayer that she will accept him back into her life.  Will you also pray that this will be a successful journey for Carlos and that he will be uplifted no matter what happens.   

I like the challenge of preaching on December 25th. The last couple of weeks we have built up to this Sunday by presenting lessons on "What a Wonderful Savior" we serve.  This week my attention is brought to the next to last verse of 1st John.  "And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life."  Focus on that passage this week and see what it does for you. (1st John 5:20)

I have been listening to the "Happy Goodmans" sing "Looking for a City," this weekend.  I have gone to Hebrews 11 several times, being reminded of how Abraham was looking for a city whose builder and maker was God.  Those other men and women of faith lived on this earth, just like we are, believing in God.  They were looking for a new country.  Verse 16 tells us God has a city prepared for them and for us.  Isn't that a wonderful thought to be going to a city prepared by God, for you!

We had a good service this morning and as usual we were blessed with visitors.  I especially enjoyed having Carol's daughter and granddaughters with us.  It was also good to see Jim M. again.  He has not been with us in several weeks. 

 

This morning's lesson focused on the event of the angel appearing to the shepherds, announcing the birth of Jesus.  This was a real event that took place in our history.  The shepherds were real and above all Jesus is real.  He changed the world, He changes lives, and He can change you!

 

 

For additional journal (or blog) postings, click on the dates listed at the bottom of this page.

We are receiving several comments about this site and I am very grateful for that.  One of the suggestions involves more color and some photos. We will work on both of those and have them in before too long. 

 

Ruth uses WEBTV and says the first letter in not appearing, does anyone else have this problem?

It is our plans to examine Luke 14:15-24 tomorrow evening.  This parable about "the Great Supper," indicates to us that the Lord is not going to return until His house is full.  That means that one day someone is going to be in a baptistery or lake obeying the Lord and that will complete the number the Lord is seeking to fill His house and the trumpet will sound. Our challenge is to compel as many as we can so that that moment can happen.   

In our lesson on Sunday morning, we want to continue to think about what a wonderful Savior is Jesus our Lord.  The topic will be "Jesus is Real."  In this time of year when there are so many unreal things associated with Christ, we want to emphasize what is real, and Jesus is real. 

I received note, pictures and date from Kristen and Tom.  They are set to wed on April 8th in New Orleans.  Kristen says they still lack many conveniences in her neighborhood but it is functioning.  We need to continue to remember that area, and those people during the holiday season and days to come. 

 

Pat received a note from Pam and she made it to Georgia ok and is to visit the rest of the family in Kentucky over the holidays.  We already miss Pam and Kristen!

 

Carole visited with Mary yesterday and she is making some improvement.  Please continue to remember Mary and Maryanne!

We studied the latter part of 1st Corinthians 5 and the first part of chapter 6 last evening.  It was a good study with good discussion.  We also discussed briefly the history of Christmas.  Most seem to respect this holiday tradition and appreciate the opportunity that others have to think about Jesus. 

We are going to send this electronic bulletin to a few selected addresses and we would appreciate comments, suggestions and input from all who examine.  Thank you for looking!

It is just another beautiful morning and for the first time since moving to Braden River, the traffic is at a standstill.  After almost an hour, I have returned to the house hoping that it will clear.  Traffic and highway safty are out of hand and need some serious people with serious ideas to remedy.  We cannot just keep going, it is just getting worse. 

One of the items discussed in our meeting last evening was to change from 4 to 3, the men serving on the table.  Would this work better?

It has been another beautiful day in Florida.  We have updated and continued to build this web site.  Your suggestions and comments would be appreciated.

One of the issues discussed last evening at our leader's meeting was to use this electronic bulletin and not the WEB site.  It is something that we are going to investigate. 

We did have a good leader's meeting tonight and discussed better communication ideas.  We also talked about some ideas to improve the physical property and some new fellowship ideas.  We are looking for a productive year in 2006. 

It is a beautiful day in Florida.  I wore a coat this morning for the first time since being in Florida. We had our monthly fellowship last evening at Midway and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.  Tim visited with us again and we look forward to him being with us.  The leaders have an important meeting scheduled tonight and we pray for a good get together. 

We began a series on "Christ" this morning, entitled "Do You Know My Jesus?"  Our Bible study covered Leviticus 16-19.  We continue to have visitors and some are returning on a regular basis.  We are thankful! 

The ladies had "Secret Sister" luncheon today.  I was at the office early but have worked at the house this afternoon. 

Chuch Monan from Little Rock, Arkansas is scheduled to be with us February 5-9.  Here are his planned topics:

 

           What Is Your Goal?

AM     The Greatest Need of This Church

PM     When Life Doesn’t Make Sense

 

Monday       The Bad News of Sin

Tuesday       The Fruit of Repentance

Wednesday  Its Time for a Change

Carole and I are both at home today for the first time in a number of days.  I am studying and she is doing house work, but it is nice to have a day together. 

 

 

Bud and I are scheduled to meet this morning and we have a large agenda to prepare for Monday's leaders meeting.  We have several items that need our attention.  

Kristen and Tom were at services tonight and announced their engagement.  We finished 1st Corinthians 4 and covered some of chapter 5 in our study tonight.  This has been a good study. 

I met with Terry from South Trial and Howard from North River this morning and we are prepared to expand our monthly leader's meeting in January.  These sessions together have been beneficial to me and I have enjoyed the fellowship of these men. 

I have received several comments about the comparison of life to eternity with the analogy of a cup of water to an ocean.  I like it myself but I borrowed it from TD Jakes.  I have used it before but it seemed like more people heard it for the first time Sunday night.  We do spend a lot of time concerned with the cup of water when we need to look up and see the sea. 

We posted our sermons for the the last two Sunday's to the Midway web site

The Sunday morning lessons were on "The Holy Scriptures" and the evening lessons were from Luke 13, "Are Few Going To Be Saved?"

https://www.plaxo.com is the address of the service I used to update my address book.  I recommend it for keeping your address book with current information. http://gbntv.org/ is the Gospel Broadcasting Network and some have told be you cannot receive the video portion with out a fast internet service, only audio with dial-up connection.  Go to church!

I heard from Kristen this morning and the prayer request of yesterday have already been answered.  We serve a loving God who truly is amazing! 

 

We also have a good group to turn out for workday.  They accomplished a lot and had a beautiful day to work.  Thanks!

 

We are planning to reexamine the question "Are there few who are saved?" from Luke 13:23, tomorrow evening if it be the Lord's will.  We looked at the text last week but from questions and doubts of my own, I think we need to spend more time with this section of God's word.  May God bless our study!

We have a workday scheduled for tomorrow at the building.  We need to focus on the sprinkler system and doing some landscape trimming.  It looks like we will have a nice day, weather wise. 

 

Our Sunday Bible study is scheduled to be our third lesson from the book of Leviticus.  We plan to cover chapters 11-15.  This is a different kind of reading but it is still God's word. 

 

We are planning to preach a second lesson on "The Holy Scriptures" in our worship hour, Sunday.  Sunday evening we continue through the gospel of Luke and we find our study in the early verses of chapter 14.

 

It is a beautiful morning in Bradenton, FL with temps in the fifties.  We hope to have a day of study and lesson preparation. 

A new month begins today and we pray that each one reading this will be especially blessed in this Dececember, 2005.

We did publish this site and are going to send out a few email notifications. 

As we prepare to launch this info tool we need to update our database.  We lost a lot of information when we changed computers and have sent out a form to upgrade some of the info. 

I received request from Kristen who will be retuning to New Orleans next week.  She has concerns about what lies ahead and they are not unfounded.  We do want to pray for her as she moves forward with her life.  She has been a wonderful blessing to our congregation the few months she was with us.  She has been a blessing of the storm. 

We had an elders meeting this morning and Jim Lee joined us for a discussion on disfellowship that has carried over from our study of the Corinthian letter on Wednesday.  It was a good discussion.  Gerald Crager joined us for the close of the meeting to discuss our current transaction.