Living Expectantly Ron Bartanen, via Arthur church of Christ, Arthur, IL Bulletin Digest (Edited) Have you ever heard the tale of old Shep? Near where our daughter and family live in Montana, overlooking the Missouri River and the Great Northern Railroad, is a monument erected to pay tribute to old Shep, a collie dog that had belonged to an old shepherd.
by: Gary L. Hutchens Tomorrow our nation will observe Memorial Day, a national holiday. It is observed each year on the last Monday in the month of May. The holiday, formerly known as Decoration Day, commemorates military personnel- men and women- who have died while in service to the United States of America.
by: Gary L. Hutchens An old line of reasoning points out how futile it is to close the barn door after the horses have already gotten out. The door should have been closed before they got out. To close it afterward does no good at all. Effective foresight eliminates the need for as much hindsight as most of us seem to be destined to use.
by: Gary L. Hutchens Sometime back it was reported that a seminar was held for ministers in training. One of the motivational speakers scheduled to address the crowd approached the speaker’s stand and said, “The best years of my life were spent in the arms of a woman that wasn’t my wife!” The crowd of prospective preachers were shocked until he went on to say, “And that woman was my mother!” The crowd burst into laughter.
This coming Friday evening and Saturday we will host a Marriage Enrichment Seminar here at Sunny Slope. This seminar will be extremely valuable to all married couples- newlyweds, couples married for a few to several years and to couples who have been married ten years, twenty years or more. But it will also be vitally valuable to singles and teens approaching the age of getting married.
by: Gary L. Hutchens Concerning the resurrection the apostle Paul wrote, “Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty” (1 Cor. 15:12-14). If we read over this text quickly, we might not pick up all of the significance of what Paul said.
by: Gary L. Hutchens The resurrection of Christ from the tomb spotlights, like a laser beam, several important truths that demand recognition and attention. The resurrection is the focal point of the gospel and Christianity. Anyone could appear on the scene and claim to be “the Christ.” Anyone could identify himself as “the Son of God.” Anyone facing death could say he will come back from the grave. Anyone could make these claims. But Christ really did rise from the dead and come forth from the tomb, alive!
by: Gary L. Hutchens Many folks don’t like the restrictions, as they see them, placed upon their lives by the Bible. They see the teachings of the Bible as restricting them to having to color inside the lines. They view Christianity as a paint by numbers religion because of the structured doctrines that lay its foundation. Because they don’t want to be restricted, they don’t read the Bible, they rarely attend church services and God is pretty much not in their thoughts. These reactions are a natural result of such a mindset.
~Edited~ Have you ever just sat around a fire? It is incredibly therapeutic. A fire seems to bring out wonderful moments of reflection and conversation. Fires are beneficial in many ways with the heat, light, and mood it produces.
By: Gary L. Hutchens Sin is what separates a person from God. In Gen. 2:16-17, God warned Adam and Eve to not eat of the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil…for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” When they disobeyed God and ate of the fruit of that tree, they entered into sin. God expelled them from the garden, separating them from access to the “tree of life” (Gen. 3:22-24). Thus, the natural processes that eventually lead to physical death were set into motion.
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