THE BUILDER
August 2020
Men for Christ
Hope to find you all well. I pray each day that you and your church families are continuing to be the feet of Jesus carrying His word throughout your community. I feel the need to share my feelings about the mask and what’s happening in our communities. I’m feeling frustrated, irritated, angry, sad, confused, and so over all this hoopla and how people are acting. After watching and hearing people’s reactions and some of the feelings, I have decided I need to dig into God’s word a little deeper on how to handle our current situation and how we should view things. Here are a couple of verses I found to be helpful to put my perspective where it should be. “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:31-32) “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” (Philippians 2:3-4) Upon reflecting and praying on these two verses, I understand that it’s not about how I feel but how I handle and treat others during this time of uncertainty. How will my actions help bring someone closer to Christ? How will my attitude transcend Christ’s gift to others? How are my reactions glorifying God? Remember God is in control and has His plan laid out. We can only control our actions and our responses to situations that are happening. So, our responses and actions should mimic Christ for we are all God’s children and He does not want one to perish.
I felt the need to share in hopes that if someone else was feeling a little discouraged, that these verses would lift your spirits. God is good! Thanks again to the churches who were scheduled to host in August and September. I look forward to the day when we will be able to join in-person fellowship again.
Yours in Christ
J. R. Donahue, Chairman
RESERVED SEATING
To meet new seating guidelines, the churches who have resumed in house worship have come up with special signs. Here are some examples:
“The front row is blocked off. No problem. Baptists don’t use the front row anyway!”
“Jesus sat the 5,000 down in rows. . .But not this one!”
“Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born. And if he were here today, he still wouldn’t be allowed to sit in this pew.”
“Zacchaeus climbed a sycamore tree to get a better seat. This pew was not it.”
“This pew is saved. So you’ll have to wait and sit in it in heaven.”
“Why did Paul refuse to take John Mark on another missionary journey? Because he sat in a pew that had been taped off. Don’t be John Mark!”
QUOTES FROM A. W. TOZER
“If God gives you a few more years, remember, it is not yours. Your time must honor God, your home must honor God, your activity must honor God, and everything you do must honor God.”
“While it looks like things are out of control, behind the scenes there is a God who has not surrendered His authority.”
QUOTE FROM CHARLES SPURGEON
“Consider how precious a soul must be when both God and the devil are after it.”
JESUS IS COMING AGAIN!
The “coming again” of Jesus is mentioned more than 300 times in the New Testament. Check out John 14:1-3, Acts 1:11, I Thes. 4:13-18, 2 Thes. 1:7-10, Hebrews 9:28, and 2 Peter 3:1-18. To what did Jesus compare His second coming? (1) It will be like lightning which shoots instantly from one section of the sky to another, not giving warning as to where it will start or stop. (2) It will be similar to the destruction which came in the days of Noah (everything was progressing normally, and then the end came). (3) It will happen with the swiftness with which destruction came to Sodom (with the exception of Lot’s family, the city’s inhabitants had no warning about what was going to happen). From these illustrations we learn that no signs (none that can be interpreted) will precede His coming. When things are normal, when people are not expecting it, Jesus will return. Material is reprinted from The Jesus Years by Thomas D. Thurman (1977). Note: This book is still available from Amazon.com.