The Messenger. September

Transcription

1 The Messenger September VOLUME 27 September 2010 ISSUE 318 PROVERBS 25:13 As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to them that send him, for he refresheth the soul of his masters Sunday School Morning Worship Evening Worship Wednesday Service 10:00 AM 11:00 AM 6:00 PM 7:00 PM - NURSERY PROVIDED Sandy Ridge Road Colfax, NC Dr. Charles (Chuck) Peters, Pastor Home: (336) Cell: (336) Jesus Only Matthew 17:8 Peter, James, and John accompanied the Saviour into a mountain where Jesus was transfigured before them. They had the privilege of a glimpse at the eventual future glory of the Lord. His return and reign will bear the distinctiveness of His glory! The disciples went up into the mountain with Him. After the appearance of Moses and Elijah, they saw no man but Jesus only. The presence of the Lord is absolutely necessary in both the mountain and the valley. While many see Moses only or Elijah only, we must see Jesus only! We are no longer under the law with its thundering or subjected to sacrifices which never could take away sin. Jesus only can satisfy the soul. For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. Psalm 107:9 Moses had even learned that God alone was his sustenance and strength. Elijah, in fact, discovered that when the brook dried up, God was still there! When our brooks dry up, we need Jesus more than Moses and Elijah. When the disciples descended back into the valley, they would find a demon-possessed child and face great spiritual battles. Jesus only could handle those battles. Mountain time is not to be wasted. God intended that the disciples learn and grow from this experience. It is tragic to have misspent moments with God! Many have their moments with God only to have dimming afterglows. When we come down off of those mountain tops clinging to nothing but the excitement of the moment we are unable to deal with valley problems! The Master must outshine the moment. The only remedy for a dimming afterglow is Jesus only. Pastor Chuck Peters

2 Soul Survivors on Danger Island ~ VBS 2010 Now that the summer is winding down, it s a blessing to look back on Vacation Bible School and remember the way the Lord moved! Participants were shipwrecked and transported to Danger Island, and despite the look of a tropical paradise, we quickly learned that dangers lurked everywhere! At Shipwreck Point, we saw that Joshua learned to overcome his fears, and that we might also ABIDE in God s Word when we are afraid. At Big Shadow Cave, we met David, who reminded us that we can TRUST the Lord when we are facing our giants. Quicksand Cove led us straight to Hezekiah, who showed us we could PRAY in our day of trouble. Moving on to Hot Rock Volcano, we were reminded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego took a STAND when they faced peer pressure. Lastly, a trip to Boggy Swamp introduced us to Gideon, who conquered discouragement when he decided to OBEY God. Even though this life can resemble a Danger Island of sorts, we can become Soul Survivors when we trust the Lord and ask Him to become our rescuer, our Savior! Then we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. (Romans 8:37) Amidst the lush island setting, we had the wonderful opportunity to share the Gospel with a record-breaking number of young people and their families! The classrooms were so overflowing that we were running out of supplies, which was a good problem to have! The youngsters also brought an offering that totaled $ at week's end. This offering will go toward the ministry of Robbie Mullinax. This summertime outreach would not be possible without the tireless efforts of many who work behind the scenes. Many thanks to: Chasity and David, Michelle, and Dustin, who beautifully handled the Preschool/Kindergarten class; Wendy, Waynard and Carol, for inspiring a busy bunch of Beginners; Cheryl and Steve, for being willing to take the Primary class, even when you didn t feel your best; Homer and Ronda, who kindly took the Juniors under their wings all week; Johnny, Hal and Martha, for wonderfully handling the teen class; Pastor Peters, who was willing to teach the adult class at Smith Grove and Manna; Denice and Gary, Ann and Ronald, Gail and Walter, Jerry, Steve Dillon, and Helen, for preparing our delicious island treats in the Snack Hut; Trudy and Tony, who skillfully operated the sound system at Safe Harbor ; Melanie, who, as Music Director, taught us tropical tunes each night, printed invitations, and helped with decorating the puppet hut; Scott, for playing Scottie the puppet once again, and for counting up the offering each night; Jerry, Shelby, and Marshall, who spent hours running countless errands, and without whom the decorating would have never been finished in time; Reva, for letting us use her treasured Rascal the monkey; Oma Lou, who loaned us two beautiful palm trees to help set the mood; and Watson, who was such a good sport to join us in his first-ever Bible School! May the Lord bless each of you who had a part in making Danger Island come to life for our young people! We know the hours you spent preparing, studying, shopping and praying... thank you for investing in the youth, and for your willingness to share the Lord Jesus Christ with others. God will not forget your kind efforts and generosity in serving Him! Ladies Fellowship The Ladies Fellowship extends a cordial invitation to ALL ladies of the church to join us on Tuesday, September 14, as we kick off another year of Love and Labor and a little dose of Laughter thrown in!! We would love to see you at 7:00 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall and welcome your input as we plan for the year ahead. The mission of the Smith Grove Ladies Fellowship is to promote spiritual growth of the ladies in our church family, proclaim the love of Christ in every activity in which we participate, and provide benevolent support to our church family and surrounding community. Please pray for Pastor Chuck s sister, Barbara Cofflin, who has lung cancer. God is able! If you would like to send a card, Barbara s address is: Barbara Cofflin ~ 419 Wadsworth Street ~Lynchburg, VA They Who Tread the Path of Labor Henry Van Dyke ( ) THEY who tread the path of labor follow where My feet have trod; They who work without complaining, do the holy will of God; Nevermore thou needest seek Me; I am with thee everywhere; Raise the stone, and thou shalt find Me, cleave the wood and I am there. Where the many toil together, there am I among My own; Where the tired workman sleepeth, there am I with him alone: I, the Peace that passeth knowledge, dwell amid the daily strife; I, the Bread of Heav'n am broken in the sacrement of life. Every task, however simple, sets the soul that does it free; Every deed of love and mercy, done to man is done to Me. Nevermore thou needest seek Me; I am with thee everywhere; Raise the stone, and thou shalt find Me; cleave the wood, and I am there.

3 September Birthdays... 1 Heath Bryant 1 Evelyn Mickey 2 Glenn Blackburn 4 Lala Pitts 5 Brandon Nuckles 5 Kasie Powell 5 Sherrill Vanderburg 5 Helen Jones 7 Billy Pendry 13 Courtney Forbes 14 Landon Ramey October Birthdays... 1 Breanna Brown 2 Ernest Fulk 6 John Moore 11 Brittany Vanderburg 12 Curt Bame 12 Rhonda Owens 13 Rose Matthews 13 Cody Williams 20 Ruby Bowden 20 Tyler Landreth 23 Marlene Holt September Anniversaries Chris and Laura Bame Bob and Shirley Ingold 14 Trevor Westmoreland 15 Donnie Campbell 15 Bob Ingold 17 Clarence Redmon 18 Linda Hooker 18 Andrea Nelson 21 Raynelle Shields 22 June Freeman 23 Don Sealey 26 Melissa Briggs 26 Michelle Hendrix 24 Iris Farrington 25 Wendy Barham 25 Gary Holt 25 Gene Pitts 26 Rubie Hamilton 26 Brian Holt 27 Denice Slate 30 Kathy L. Crews 30 Andrew Raso Lydia Baker Ronnie Beeson Tony and Trudy Nuckles Ronald and Ann Rayle (21st) 27 J. D. Shields 28 Roscoe Johnson 30 Chuck Peters Ann Baker Joy Cisom Patricia Fulk Sandy Hancock Mike Poindexter Gary Sechler Edna Evans Matt Evans Michael Flynt Daniel McDowell Donna McDowell Dave Mros Julie Mros Kathy Mros Faith Sykes Charles Vaughn Arvin Wynn Pray for those In the Service of our Country Matthew Bennett, Afghanistan A1C William Holt, US Air Force Pope AFB, Vass, NC CW2 Jonathan Harless (Raleigh, NC) Cpt. Robert Harless (Savannah, GA) Charles Holmes, Al Asad Air Base (Northern Iraq) Chief Warrant Officer 3 Michael Maine, US Army [stationed stateside] Corporal Mel Wright, US Marines, stateside (Nephews of Clarence Redmon) Johnny & Susan Bolin ~ Bogotá, COLOMBIA The greatest of all jobs is being able to share the Lord and His plan of Salvation. Have you ever noticed in this verse (Prov. 3: 5,6) that as we are on our way we should acknowledge (admit to others) who He is? What joy to tell those that we meet that God loves them so much that He sent His Son to save them and give them eternal life. In these last few months God has given us exciting opportunities to share Him. Johnny finished preaching through The Story of Hope on Sundays and we saw several receive Christ as Savior. One is Cesar who is now in discipleship studies with Johnny. Also, Johnny shared Christ in a funeral home with the family of Matilde, whose parting wish was to have her Savior s name proclaimed to her family and friends. Another opportunity to witness was a first time ever in Colombian Sign Language for Susan. Janeth trusted Christ with tears of joy running down her face. Omar, a deaf brother in Christ, invited Johnny to share the gospel with a hearing family to whom he had been trying to witness (the family s son is deaf). All three, Antonio, Erica, and Claudia, asked Christ to save them. At a birthday cookout for Hugo, his wife invited unsaved family and friends. Both stood to give their testimonies and Johnny presented a short Gospel presentation. The second week of June a group of 17 from Colonial Baptist Church (Blue Ridge, VA) arrived and we took them to minister at the church in Tenjo, just outside of Bogota. They taught simple English Bible stories, shared the Bible in drama, presented beautiful handbell hymns and choral arrangements, preached and taught on Sunday, played soccer and other fun games, and went to the Tenjo plaza to present the handbell and choral ministry and to preach the gospel (the town government gave them permission!). Over 100 children and teens (and some parents) came to the English as a Second Language classes. At least 5 acknowledged that they trusted Christ as their Savior. We are so grateful to Colonial s Youth Pastor, Joel Wegner, and all the dedicated ministry team for their work! One of the teens, Joshua, wants to return one day to serve as a missionary in Colombia! We are grateful to each of you for your prayers and financial help! For most, we know, it is a difficult time economically. Several of our supporting churches have had to reduce our monthly support. We want to be responsible administrators of your offerings and gifts. Pray that God will multiply each hard earned dollar for His Glory here and also there in your mission field! Thank you and rejoice with us in what God is doing here in Colombia! Stay faithful in your service for the Lord! In His Service, Johnny & Susan ~ Phil. 3:8-10

4 Louise Byrd Gordon Crouch Shirley Crouch Iris Farrington Wilma Farrington June Freeman Ernest Fulk Pat George REMEMBER IN PRAYER Smith Grove Seniors Others in Need of Prayer Marilyn Alston Fred Bame Merl Blake Roy Boody Mazalean Byerly John Carter Bonnie Clark Aaron Cole Jimmy Dillon Rudy Dillon* Vicky Dye* David Gindelsberger Clyde Gray, Sr. Debbie Harden Kay Haynes Ronnie Holcomb Cleo Holt Reva Holt Helen Jones Lawrence Jones Neva Long Curney Matthews Rose Matthews Bud McCurdy Laura Nuckles (In alphabetical order) Alice & Barry Holman Garland Holt Raleigh Hunt Daniel Idol Pam Johnson Roscoe Johnson* Danny Keen Leighann Kincade Richie McCormick Mark Midkiff John & Dolly Miller Waynard Nuckles John Pearl Don Peterson Miranda Petkis Norma Pilchett* Harvey Pitts Special Prayer Requests J. D. Shields Raynelle Shields Wade Shields Louise Smith Clarence Tucker Forrest Tucker Hettie Westmoreland Mary Westmoreland *Special Needs Lala Pitts* Ann Rayle Claude Royal Jamie Shell Donald Shields Gale Tester Eddie Thomason Barbara Tucker Clara Ward Kenneth Westmoreland Gordon Wilkey* Gerry Williams* Arry Wilson Tom* & Frances Woody Jessi Wright New converts The Unsaved Note: If there are names that you know could be removed from the prayer list, please let someone on the newsletter committee know. Also, let us know if you have someone you wish to add to the prayer list. Pastor Chuck Peters Wade and Nora Smith (Virginia Beach, VA) All the missions and missionaries we support Youth Directors Preachers, teachers, singers and workers of our church and Discovery Clubs Services Each Week Sunday School Sunday Morning Service Children s Church Sunday Evening Service Wednesday Services: Discovery Bible Clubs Prayer Service Thursday Visitation September ~ :00 a.m. 11:00 a.m. 11:00 a.m. 6:00 p.m. 7:00 p.m. 7:00 p.m. 7:00 p.m. [Sundays at 7:30 a.m. WPET - Brother Ward Laramore] Sun., Sept. 5-10:00 a.m. Pastor s Sunday School class: Glenn Blackburn 11:00 a.m. Missionary Daniel Darling 6:00 p.m. Missionary Kevin White Wed., Sept. 8, 7:00 p.m. Speaker: Johnny Cameron Tues., Sept. 14, 7:00 p.m. Sun., Sept. 19 Wed., Sept. 22 7:00 p.m. Ladies and Men s Fellowship Meetings in the Fellowship Building 10:00 a.m. Pastor s Sunday School class: Glenn Blackburn 11:00 a.m. Speaker: Johnny Cameron 6:00 p.m. Speaker: Pastor Bruce Freeman Speaker: Johnny Cameron ~ FALL REVIVAL SERVICES ~ Sunday, Sept. 26 (11 a.m. and 6 p.m. services) through Wednesday, Sept. 29 (7:00 p.m. nightly) Speaker: Dr. Billy Martin

5 I Cor. 7:22-24 Gary & Friends Missionary Outreach Ministry Greetings to our friends and church family. The senior ministries are going very well and we continue to see God bless as we labor for Him in these homes. On Friday night, , we had four people other than Carolyn and me. We sing old time gospel songs, pray with them and for them, and I have a five- to ten-minute shotgun-style message in these Friday night song services. We continue to find new homes in which to minister, and this past month we held a service in Carolina Estates on Lawndale Avenue in Greensboro. The attendance was very good and people were excited to see and hear us as we ministered to them in word and song. God bless you all, our church, and Brother Chuck (and his dear help-meet Carol) as they minister for Christ. In Christ, Gary Smith ~ 1 Peter 5:7 Our Honour Roll Smith Grove s ministry to our widows and widowers Honour widows that are widows indeed. (I Timothy 5:3) Listed below are September and October Honour Roll Gang members. Please take a moment to send a card, make a telephone call, or do something extra special for our special saints. Evelyn Mickey 9024 County Line Road Kernersville, NC ~ September 01 Linda Hooker 463 Macy Grove Rd. Kernersville, NC ~ September 17 June Freeman 803 El Toro Dr. Kernersville, NC ~ September 22 Ernest Fulk 2075 Wallburg-High Point Rd. High Point, NC ~ October 02 Ruby Bowden 8727 Bame Road Colfax, NC ~ October 20 Raynelle Shields 170 Tracie Lane Winston-Salem, NC ~ September 21 J. D. Shields 8705 Boylston Road Colfax, NC ~ September 27 Iris Farrington 4207 Kerwick Drive Greensboro, NC ~ October 24 But now in September the garden has cooled, and with it my possessiveness. The sun warms my back instead of beating on my head... The harvest has dwindled, and I have grown apart from the intense midsummer relationship that brought it on....robert Finch Laugh out loud MARIA: CLASS: JOHN: GLENN: GLENN: Maria, go to the map and find North America. Here it is. Correct. Now class, who discovered America? Maria. John, why are you doing your math multiplication on the floor? You told me to do it without using tables. Glenn, how do you spell crocodile? K-R-O-K-O-D-I-A-L No, that s wrong. Maybe it is wrong, but you asked me how I spell it. Donald, what is the chemical formula for water? DONALD: H I J K L M N O. What are you talking about? DONALD: Yesterday you said it s H to O. WINNIE: Winnie, name one important thing we have today that we didn t have ten years ago. Me! Millie, give me a sentence starting with I MILLIE: I is... No, Millie... Always say, I am. MILLIE: All right... I am the ninth letter of the alphabet. W.P.E.T. to Honor the Ministry of ~ Rev. M.W. Laramore ~ Beginning September 5 at 7:30 a.m., and continuing each Sunday morning at 7:30 a.m. for the entire month of September, W.P.E.T. Radio (950 AM) will be playing sermons from the archives of sermons preached by Brother Ward. (The family hopes to continue the broadcasts after September as long as they can afford to do so.) If you can t receive WPET locally, you can access the broadcast streaming live on your computer at Click on the LISTEN LIVE link. The Message of Redemption continues on...

6 Under His Wings After a forest fire in Yellowstone National Park, forest rangers began their trek up a mountain to assess the inferno s damage. One ranger found a bird literally petrified in ashes, perched statuesque on the ground at the base of a tree. Somewhat sickened by the eerie sight, he knocked over the bird with a stick. When he gently struck it, three tiny chicks scurried from under their dead mother s wings. The loving mother, keenly aware of impending disaster, had carried her offspring to the base of the tree and had gathered them under her wings, instinctively knowing that the toxic smoke would rise. She could have flown to safety but had refused to abandon her babies. Then the blaze had arrived and the heat had scorched her small body, the mother had remained steadfast... because she had been willing to die, so those under the cover of her wings would live. He will cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you will find refuge... (Psalm 91:4) The U in Jesus Before U were thought of or time had begun, God stuck U in the name of His Son. And each time U pray, you ll see it s true, You can t spell out JesUs and not include U. YoU re a pretty big part of His wonderful name, For U, He was born; that s why He came. And His great love for U is the reason He died. It even takes U to spell crucified. Isn t it thrilling and splendidly grand He rose from the dead, with U in His plan? The stones split away, the gold trumpet blew, and this word resurrection is spelled with a U. When JesUs left earth at His Upward ascension, He felt there was one thing He just had to mention. Go into the world and tell them it s true That I love them all - Just like I love U. So many great people have names spelled with a U, Don t they have a right to know JesUs too? It all depends now on what U will do, He d like them to know, But it all starts with U. When JesUs died on the cross he was thinking of you! Taste Jesus At a University of Divinity School each year they have what is called Baptist Day. On this day each one is to bring a lunch to be eaten outdoors in a grassy picnic area. Every Baptist Day the school would invite one of the greatest minds to lecture in the theological education center. One year they invited a learned PhD. He spoke for two and one-half hours trying to prove that the literal resurrection of Jesus was false. He quoted scholar after scholar and book after book. He concluded that since there was no concrete proof of the historical resurrection the religious tradition of the church was groundless, emotional mumbo-jumbo, because it was based on a relationship with a risen Jesus, who, in fact never rose from the dead in any literal sense. He then asked if there were any questions. After about 30 seconds, an old, dark skinned preacher with a head of short-cropped, woolly white hair stood up in the back of the auditorium. Docta, I got one question, he said as all eyes turned toward him. He reached into his sack lunch and pulled out an apple and began eating it. Docta... CRUNCH, MUNCH... My question is a simple question... CRUNCH, MUNCH... Now, I ain t never read them books you read... CRUNCH, MUNCH.. and I can t recite the scriptures in the original Greek... CRUNCH, MUNCH... I don t know nothin about Niebuhr and Heidegger... CRUNCH, MUNCH. He finished the apple. All I wanna know is: This apple I just ate. Was it sour or sweet? The guest speaker paused for a moment and answered in exemplary scholarly fashion: I cannot possibly answer that question, for I haven t tasted your apple. The old white-haired preacher dropped the core of his apple into his crumpled paper bag, looked up and said calmly, Neither have you tasted my Jesus, the One who lives in me! The 1,000 plus in attendance could not contain themselves. The auditorium erupted with applause and cheers. The speaker thanked his audience and promptly left the platform. Have you tasted Jesus? O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. Psalm 34:8

7 You say you will never forget where you were when you heard the news On September 11, Neither will I. I was on the 110th floor in a smoke filled room with a man who called his wife to say Good-Bye. I held his fingers steady as he dialed. I gave him the peace to say, Honey, I am not going to make it, but it is OK. I am ready to go. I was with his wife when he called as she fed breakfast to their children. I held her up as she tried to understand his words and as she realized he wasn t coming home that night. I was in the stairwell of the 23rd floor when a woman cried out to Me for help. I have been knocking on the door of your heart for 50 years! I said. Of course I will show you the way home - only believe in Me now. I was at the base of the building with the Pastor ministering to the injured and devastated souls. I took him home to tend to his flock in Heaven. He heard my voice and answered. I was on all four of those planes, in every seat, with every prayer. I was with the crew as they were overtaken. I was in the very hearts of the believers there, comforting and assuring them that their faith has saved them. I was in Texas, Virginia, California, Michigan, Afghanistan. I was standing next to you when you heard the terrible news. Did you sense Me? I want you to know that I saw every face. I knew every name - though not all know Me. Some met Me for the first time on the 86th floor. Some sought Me with their last breath. Some couldn t hear Me calling to them through the smoke and flames; Come to Me... This way... Take My hand. Some chose, for the final time, to ignore Me. But, I was there. I did not place you in the tower that day. You may not know why, but I do. However, if you were there in that explosive moment in time, would you have reached for Me? Meet Me In The Stairwell Sept. 11, 2001, was not the end of the journey for you. But someday your journey will end. And I will be there for you as well. Seek Me now while I may be found. Then, at any moment, you know you are ready to go. I will be in the stairwell of your final moments....god