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date Mar 6, 2005
Vol 5#1 Editor's
Remarks
----by Donna Richmond |
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This issue
Start digging!Editor's
comments
---Donna Richmond
Panning for more
Gold:
---preacher's articles this issue
Quick
Riches
---misc. goodies this issue
Hearts
of Gold
---poetry this issue
Gold
Mines
---quotes & sayings or yard
signs
*Archives
*Donna's
tips Archives:
---grammar for writers
*Explorations
Archives
---bulletin help
resources online
*Index to past issues
Return
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This is the beginning of BulletinGold's
fifth year. It is also the year of new beginnings for your editor.
I am getting my house ready to sell. This summer my son Jeremy and
I plan to move to Texas, where we will both be college students.
Please pray that God will guide us and keep us as we make a new start.
Because I do not feel I can give BulletinGold the time and diligence
needed to do a good job, I am turning over the reigns to two men whom I
feel are preachers of the truth, defenders of the faith, and dedicated
workers for God. They will work as co-editors of Bulletin Gold.
I am very confident that under their leadership and guidance,
BulletinGold will continue to provide the brotherhood with excellent
bulletin material. Brother Ed Thomason preaches for the Church of
Christ in New Madrid, Missouri, and is the editor of www.PreachToday.com
. He has been the webmaster for BulletinGold almost from the time
I started it. Brother David Bragg is a retired minister who
attends the Jackson Church of Christ in Jackson, Missouri. He had
to quit preaching because of illness, but he continues to teach God's
word and to write. He and Ed Thomason have been friends for years.
You can see his Bible Study Pages and read about him at http://www.cape.churchofchristwebs.com/
. You can email Brother Thomason at ed@mydoghouse.com
and Brother Bragg at
dbragg@clas.net .
I pray that you will give your support to Brother Thomason and Brother
Bragg just as you have been so kind and given it to me. Please
send them your great articles, poems, and other bulletin materials.
Who knows-you may even see some news or an article by a former
BulletinGold editor, because I plan to stay in touch. May
God bless and keep you all. Donna Richmond
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Panning for more
Gold
----
preacher's articles this issue
Saying Versus Seeing
by: Ron Adams
It's important that we teach our children
to love one another. However, this becomes difficult when they hear us
constantly criticizing and complaining about others.
What they see outweighs what we say. It's critical that we teach
our children to obey all of the Lord's commands. However, the job
becomes hopeless when they see us excusing ourselves from obeying
certain commands we may find "too restrictive."
What they see outweighs what we say. It's crucial that we teach our
children how the Lord wants them to act as husbands, wives and parents.
However, there is more likelihood they will follow our example rather
than follow our teaching.
What they see outweighs what we say. Unless, and until, what we say and
what we do are one and the same, we will never be convincing.
Thursday's Thoughts, Editor: Ron Adams (c) 2000-2005 Ron Adams
preaches for the North San Diego Church of Christ in San Diego,
California. Past Thursday's Thoughts are posted at: http://thursdaythought.homestead.com
North San Diego Church of Christ nsd@san.rr.com
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Things Needed in
the Church
by: Paul McClug
1. More open hearts and fewer open
mouths. Prejudice closes the heart to the truth (Matt. 13:15, 2
Thess. 2:10). The TRUTH is the only thing which can save (John
8:32, 1 Pet. 1:24). If the heart were kept with all diligence (Prov.
4:23), it would be right before God and would speak only that which is
good (Matt. 12:34).
2. More sound heads and fewer sore-heads. More lovers of truth and
fewer rebel rousers. We are being plagued on every side by every
kind of wild and fantastic idea. Frequently I read of young men
who are set on delivering us from what they call "the bondage of
orthodoxy." Many are being advised to seek God in strange and
bizarre ways. The Bible says, "Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God" (Rom. 10:17).
3. More standing for the faith and less falling for the fanciful (Jude
3). The church has always been hurt by those who have a desire for
that which is new and different. Many are constantly being blinded
by such newness. But the truth never changes (Heb. 13:8, John
14:6). It is fixed, unalterable, and everlasting. Often the
voices of the wise, those sound in the faith, go unheeded, while the
voices of the foolish take over. Paul in 1 Cor. 16:13 says,
"Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be
strong." The landmarks of Christianity are safely moored in
the Holy Scriptures, and we must not allow them to be bypassed by modern
Jeroboams. Any
time this is done, it will bring division and destruction, as it did in
the days of Jeroboam and Rehoboam.
Paul McClung is a retired preacher who is an elder at the 4th and
Stewart Church of Christ in Brownwood, Texas. He wrote these words
in January 1968, but they are still needed today.
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What God Wants
by: Jay Kelley
He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8 These three
things - act justly, love mercy and walk humbly - are the focus of a
Christ-centered life.
God expects His people to treat others fairly. Jesus summed that
up in the Golden Rule. Fair treatment means a day's work for a day's
pay, whether you are the worker or the payer. It means a fair
shake for everyone with whom we deal, regardless of our personal
feelings. It means standing up for right when it isn't popular.
Ultimately, it means doing what God tells us to do all the time.
To love mercy is more than being merciful. It is one thing to
grudgingly give mercy to those who deserve otherwise because God has
ordered it as though we were children ordered to make up after a fight.
It is quite another to love mercy so much we look for ways to show it.
Jesus loved mercy, and his example was one of the greatest compassion in
confronting the sins of the people combined with stern
rebuke for those who led them.
Finally, we are to walk humbly with our God. When we think of the
great privilege to walk with God, how can we do any less than walk
humbly? It is a human tendency to get a little full of ourselves
from time to time, and Christians are no exception.
It is good for us to remind ourselves that we are here simply by God's
grace and the message we have been given is not our own, but God's.
If that message is rejected, we should not angrily assume it is
personal. Rather, as those who love mercy, we should be saddened when
someone seals their doom by rejecting God.
In the end, our outward obedience - frequency of communion, worship and
even mode and reason for baptism - must come from a sincere desire to
please God.
If not, we might as well be heathens.
Jay Kelley is the evangelist for the church of Christ in Colby, Kansas.
His e-mail is jkelley@nwkansas.com
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Quick Riches
----misc. goodies this
issue
Being a Christian
Means...
by: Edd Sterchi
Being a Christian means that at the point
of my conversion, I was forgiven of all past sins (Acts 2:38; 22:16).
Being a Christian also means that if I live faithful to God's will, I
will be saved in heaven forevermore (2 Tim. 4:8; Rev. 2:10)! But let's
look at this
another way: Being A Christian Means I Am Not What I Used To Be Prior to
becoming a Christian, I was living in sin (Eph. 2:1). Living in sin, I
had no inheritance in the kingdom of God. (Eph. 2:11-12) I used to be
self-serving, directionless, without Christ, and without hope. It was a
pitiful existence. But now, I am not what I used to be. I have hope, I
have a purpose to my life, I have Christ! Because He died for me, I'll
live for Him (2 Cor. 5:15-17; 1 Pet. 4:1-2)!
Being a Christian Means I Am Not What I Am Going To Be Even though a
Christian, I still dwell in a world of temptation and in a weak physical
frame. I have limitations. Even though striving toward perfection, I am
not there yet. Even though maturing, I still have a long ways to go. But
there is coming a day when I will have a body like Christ's (Phil.
3:21). There is coming a day when I will be immortal and incorrupt (1
Cor. 15:51-57). I look forward to this day, because that is the day I
will be in heaven forevermore (2 Pet. 3:11-12; 1 Thess. 4:17)!
But in the meantime, I have a lot to do. I need to continue to learn,
love, live, and let others know the will of God. And I know that I can
do even better in regard to these if I can remember that I am a
Christian - I am not what I used to be, and I am not what I am going to
be!
Edd Sterchi is the minister of the Harrisburg church of Christ in
Harrisburg, Illinois.
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Running from Rescue
In 1981, a Minnesota radio
station reported a story about a stolen car in California. Police were
staging an intense search for the vehicle and the driver, even to the
point of placing announcements on local radio stations to contact the
thief. On the front seat of the stolen car sat a box of crackers that,
unknown to the thief, were laced with poison. The car owner had intended
to use the crackers as rat poison. Now the police and the owner of the
car were more interested in apprehending the thief to SAVE HIS LIFE than
to recover the car.
Many view God as a policeman trying to catch someone doing wrong, when
in reality, God wants to rescue us from our deadly sins (Romans 6:23).
He is "not willing that ANY should perish but that all should come
to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). He "desires ALL men to be
saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1Timothy 2:4).
Don't misunderstand - God detests sin (Habakkuk 1:13), AND He will
punish unforgiven sin (Revelation 21:8). However, God wants
to SAVE us from sin. In fact, He has gone to great lengths to
provide forgiveness for our sins. "For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not
perish but have everlasting life.
For God did NOT send His Son into the world to CONDEMN the world, but
that the world through Him might be SAVED" (John 3:16-17).
God will forgive THOSE who: place their trust in Him (Hebrews 11:6),
repent of sin
(2 Corinthians 7:9-10), confess Christ (Romans 10:9-10), and be baptized
(immersed) in the name of Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts
2:38). God will CONTINUE to forgive THOSE who: CONTINUE to strive
to walk in the light of His Word in faithful obedience (1 John 1:7).
Many are running FROM God, seeking to escape His punishment. What
they are actually doing is ELUDING HIS RESCUE! We NEED to run TO
God - turning from our sin and turning to Him through our trusting
obedience.
Are you running from His RESCUE?? Why not turn to Him today?
He wants to rescue YOU!
God bless you.
Church of Christ at Creekwood 1901 Schillinger Rd. S. Mobile, Alabama
36695
Archived issues of "Living Water" can be viewed and accessed
from our
website at: www.creekwoodcc.org
To Subscribe to "Living Water" simply Click-n-Send an e-mail
to:
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Hearts of Gold
----poetry this issue
Heart to Heart
by: Rose Ann Noey
Soul to soul and heart to heart;
Of each life, each is to be a part.
Our Christian joy can so abound
If each within each our lives are wound.
Give me, brother, your patient ear.
Touch me, sister, and draw me near.
Please, reach out to my lonely heart
And help to pull sin's painful dart.
The world, they have their "weather" talk,
But Christians share a sacred walk;
So, should we not have more to say
Than "Hello there" and "Have a nice day"?
Cliques divide our union's strength
And cause the lonely souls to shrink
Away from those they need so much.
Reach out to these! They need our touch!
Heart to heart and soul to soul;
Each buffs each in our Christian fold.
Of each to each and each with each,
We share our love till Heaven we reach.
Rose Ann Noey attends the Church of Christ at Lincolnway in Columbia
City, Indiana.
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When I am Tempted
When I am tempted, I dare not stray
For many people look my way.
Loved ones to sicken and disgust
If I betray my sacred trust;
Weak ones to stumble and to fall
If I should heed temptation's call;
Young ones to follow in my wrong
If my heart's not pure and strong;
Older ones to mourn and grieve
If I the way of truth should leave;
The holy church to suffer, too
If my soul's not right and true.
My charge is plain-my duty clear:
My soul to keep, my Lord to fear,
My light to shine, my savor keep-
Truth to teach, souls to reap,
A hope to gain, a crown to wear-
A race to run, heaven to share.
Author Unknown
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Gold Mines
----quotes & sayings
for bulletins and signs this issue
Human supposition can never take the
place of divine revelation.
Here is a test to find out if your mission on earth is finished; if you
are alive, it is not.
The devil gratifies; God satisfies.
Be the soul provider for your children.
If you brood over your troubles, you hatch despair.
The Bible will keep you from sin, and sin will keep you from the Bible.
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