Burns Church of Christ

Sunday, September 20, 2008 was our awards day for our young people. Several of our students have completed very difficult programs in the Members of Churches of Christ for Scouting “Servant Leadership” Program. This program is designed to teach young people to lead like Jesus–as servants.

Each student was assigned a mentor, memorized scripture, participated in service projects, and had opportunities to grow in leadeship. 

In addition, we recognized our Bible Bowl students as you have already read in previous posts.

Enjoy the pictures from our awards day!

Thanks to everyone who made the Burns annual community appreciation day a success! We had a good number of folks come through to enjoy dinner with their friends and family while the kids enjoyed games outside. Enjoy some pictures from the day!

Collage of the annual Fish Fry

I never noticed it before but there are two thirteens in the location of this powerful text from the pen of Paul.  Now we all know that 13 is an unlucky number.  They even leave off the 13^th floor in most hotels.

But for us this verse is a life giver.  It speaks of the three most important words in the Christian religion.  Faith is our way of reaching the saving blood of Jesus.  He shed his blood on the cross and gave us the opportunity to kneel at the cross and find the way back to our Father.  He speaks of his going to prepare a place for us in John 14.  He knew that the way would be prepared by his own death.  By dying for us he became the “way, the truth and the life.”

By becoming the “life” he became the hope for all mankind.  Any who will trust him can have that hope of being in his family in this life and when we “die in the Lord” we will “rest from our labors” (Revelation 2:10) No power on earth or beyond the earth can take away our hope. (Romans 8:35)

But the greatest of these is love. Why is love so great?  Aren’t there other principles that are just as great?  Not according to Paul.  Love is great because “God is love”. (I John 4:8, 16)  Love can melt the heart of the most bruised personality.  Love can carry on when all else runs out of steam. Love can carry the burden when all else fades.

Maybe that is why Paul listed one of the characteristics of love as “love never fails.”  It will stay after everything is dead and forgotten. It will keep on helping when hell claims its own. It is a little bit of heaven that God has placed on the earth.

We want the Burns Community to know how thankful we are to be a part of you! Our annual Fish Fry and Family day is scheduled for this coming Saturday, September 27, 2008. As usual, everything is completely free. We’re neither asking for or accepting donations! So come, bring your family at 5:00pm to our location at 2718 Church Street, and enjoy a fresh dinner of fried catfish and fixins, hamburgers, hot dogs, and the best desserts we can cook!

Your kids will really enjoy our annual train ride in the parking lot…and it’s a great time for you to get to know your neighbors again. We hope you’ll join us!

Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? I Corinthians 5:6

Yeast is a silent and unseen ingredient that shows its presence by what it does. “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.” (Matthew 13:33)

According to USA Today (4/9/97) scientist now say that the Titanic was sunk by a series of small slits not a giant gash.  The 900 foot cruise ship sunk in 1912 on its first voyage. It was traveling from England to New York. Fifteen hundred people died in the worst maritime disaster of the time.

The theory at the time was that the ship hit an underwater iceberg that opened a huge gash in the liner and sunk her quickly.  An international team of divers and scientists using sound waves to probe the wreckage, buried in the mud under two-and- one-half miles of water discovered the damage was surprisingly small. Instead of a huge gash, they found six relatively small slits that had done the damage.

Small damage, invisible to most, can sink large ships, destroy hundreds of lives.  Not only can small damage sink large ships, they can also sink our lives. Small incessant sin can grow to huge proportions in ones’ life or in a church or community. Before you know it is everywhere. Get rid of the old yeast (I Corinthians 5:7)

Don’t let a small sin grow to large proportion and sink you good ship!

“What some people mistake for high cost of living is really the cost of high living.” Doug Larson

I have never had much of a desire to be a referee. A friend of mine who has coached for a number of years calls them “Zebras”. Most of the fans think they know more rules than the officials.  They certainly see the play “right” as opposed to the official who sees it “wrong”.  Most of us fans know the call was wrong but the official made it as he saw it.

Now since I don’t ever plan to be a referee in a game of sports, I probably won’t get yelled at by irate fans.  I was trying to imagine what would be the most difficult contest to officiate. A soccer contest between Iran and Israel?  A match between Al Qaeda and the Taliban?

I think it would be very difficult to umpire a baseball game between the Knights of Columbus and the Ku Klux Klan.  Any of these would put any official between a rock and a hard place.

Blessing those who curse you isn’t that easy.  Jesus was able to do it because he looked beyond the offence to the Father above. When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.  (I Peter 2:23)

I suppose that the flesh will fail us if we are faced with such dire circumstances.  Flesh calls out for vengeance, justice, retribution. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. (Galatians 5:25)

Now, I never expect to be an official in any of the above matches.  What I would like to be able to do is to respond in kindness to the worst of situations.  I would like to answer as Jesus answered.  Perhaps you will forgive me if I am not yet perfect in these areas.  I will try to forgive you as well.  Maybe we can remain silent even if we are not quiet ready to bless those who curse us.

We just wrapped up a summer sermon series about “Tough Stuff” — the difficult days of life. You can listen to all of the lessons by clicking on “Sermon Audio” to the right.

Topics included: Temptation, Doubt, Shame, Anxiety, Divorce, Remarriage, and Death. That’s tough stuff–but God has a plan!

This week, in lieu of pew notes, James presented this “12-step program” for overcoming worry in the lives of Christians. This material is adapted from Twelve Steps To Overcoming Worry byArchibald Hart, Overcoming Anxiety, pages 29 and 30.

1. Admit that you are a worrier and that you are powerless to overcome worry entirely on your own strength.
2. Believe that God through Christ is able to help you overcome worry.
3. Turn your life over to God.
4. Make a list of everything that worries you.
5. Find someone you can talk to about your worries.
6. Be willing to “let go” of your worries.
7. Trust God to give you the courage you need to take Action and abandon the safety and comfort of your worry.
8. Review all your past worries and see how they never came to pass.
9. If anything you worried about in the past actually did happen, and was devastating to you, ask yourself what you could have done to avoid it.
10. Continue to take personal responsibility for your life.
11. Spend a part of each day strengthening your personal relationship with God.
12. At the end of each day, take a few moments to review the accomplishments of your day.

Jesus teaches us that worry is useless-it’s baggage that hinders us in our pursuit of God. Listen to this wise counsel and learn to overcome worry!

Paul always used the love of God to persuade men to come to Jesus. For Christ’s love compels us. (II Corinthians 5:14)  He understood Lincoln’s adage, “You can catch more bees with a teaspoon of honey that a bucket of spit.” 

We can follow Paul, and other great men of the Bible and the past, in leading many to Christ. We can take pleasure in seeing someone travel the road to recovery and personal balance.  We can love to see men and women come to Jesus as we use our influence in a powerful way for the Lord.

It is a godly way of life when we use our abilities to persuade others to live for Jesus.  There is someone in your acquaintance that is waiting for your power to persuade them to be all that they can be for God.