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The Country Baptist Church Newsletter “The
Voice Of The Country Church” |
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We Ask You To Pray For: Sis. Angela
Lennie, Bro. Charles & Mary Hammond and family, Erik Hammond, Bro. Archie
& Barbara Griffin, Waylon & Pat Abercrombie with their daughter and
son, Randy & Donna Johnson, Loyce Smith, Roberta Bruce and family,
Barbara Fails, Jim & Linda Meier, Tyson & Dina Taylor and The Boys,
Bro. Sergey Mochalov and the Churches in Russia, Don & Wynell Hammond,
Brenda Galusha, Baby Tucker Walker, Helen Stone, Bro. & Mrs. Pinson, Leta
Ellis, Chet Reagan, Sidney Strawn, Amanda Tomlin, Helen Rowe, Kimberlee
McCool, Stephen and Kaleb McCool, Jeremiah Kelleher, Janiece Stewart, Melissa
Smith and Children, Perry Gowin Family, Brother David and Anne Shortt, Jewell
Mathis, Justin Horne, Janette Sims, Jean and Cheryl, Letha Langford, David
Ellis and family, Virgil Young, Gwen Davis, Allison Rodgers Clay, Angela
Hutson, Tiffany and Shannon Lemmon, Bob Ellis, Elaine Woodall, Reese
Carrington, Jack Whittle, Ronda Douglass, Nancy, Rosa Tomlin, Pastor and Sister
Hammond, Katie Fitch and Stephaine, Sarah Dooherty, Scott & Gina
Sillivan, Otis Steward, Mark Ralston, Fay Johnson, Bro. Frank Pittman, David
Lemmon, Martha Haygood, Kim Stevens, Lit Hatly, Brian Berry, Mike & Sally
Leinhauserand, all of our Troops and their Families. |
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A Thought For The Week: From: Faithfulness unto Death By: J. C. Philpot “Fear none of those things
which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into
prison, that ye may be tried: and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou
faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” Revelation 2:10 How cheering then are these
words to the poor, tried, tempted saint of God, who is pressing on through
innumerable difficulties, to believe there is a crown of life to be put upon
his head, that he shall see Jesus as he is without a veil between, that he
shall enjoy a glorious and unfailing immortality in the immediate presence of
God, where sin and sorrow are unknown, where tears are wiped from all faces,
and there will be nothing but one uninterrupted song of eternal bliss. This
is at best but a dying life. What enjoyments we have here are but transient.
The sweetest comforts—how soon they vanish away! The happiest frames—how
quickly they pass away, and what a blank they leave behind! But heaven when
it comes with all its glories will be forever and ever. There will be no
cessation to the eternal happiness which will then be the portion of all the
saints of God, but one undying song. To praise and bless the Lord will be the
unceasing joy as well as the unceasing occupation of the glorified members of
the mystical body of Christ. The Lord, if it be his infinite mercy, set these
things upon our heart, and give us that faithfulness unto death whereby he
who has graciously revealed the promise will surely perform it, and give us a
crown of life!
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Danger of False Teachers Whom
Shall We Fear? Proverbs 14: 26, 27 “In the
fear of the Lord is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of
refuge. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares
of death.” In our world today there are many disturbing
events going on that have many people living in fear. From some of the
policies of our government to events around the world such as war, famine,
natural disasters and the economy. I know several Christians who live in fear
everyday that they and/or their families may be subjected to some form of
persecution. Some say we as Christians should leave our homes and move to a
more suitable environment away from all the troubles that are here or are to
come. I have yet to have anyone show me such a place. I am convinced that we
here in the United States have become so spoiled to having things “our way”
that when persecution comes we want to run the other direction. Is that what
Solomon told in the verses above? No. Solomon tells us that if we fear the
Lord we will have a “strong confidence”, a confidence that as the children of
the Lord we have a refuge in our Lord when trouble arises. Where is that confidence in
the Lord's children today? Well, from what I see, fear of the Lord is not
being taught by the teachers and pastors. What is being taught today is
watered down doctrines that teach that our Sovereign God is not as sovereign
as He tells us in His word. Christians are being taught to take matters into their own hands and
save themselves from the persecution they are dealing with or of the
persecution that is to come. Preachers and teachers are telling people to
“read this book” or “watch this video” or “listen to this person on audio”
they will tell you how to better yourself physically and/or financially or
they will teach you how to save yourself and your family when hard times
come. This does nothing but teach people to fear the persecution and not the
Lord. As the verse above teaches, with the fear of the Lord comes a “strong
confidence” that he will give us refuge. Over and over in the book
of Psalms David tells of the “refuge” the Lord provided him when David's
enemies sought to kill him. In Psalm 27:5 “For in the time of trouble he
shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide
me; he shall set me up upon a rock.” Now some may say “what about David, he
fled when his son Absalom turned Israel against David?”. That is correct
David did flee, but David knew the Lord had plans for David's return as king.
What is being taught today is not the same as David. David taught the fear of
the Lord. Psalms 27:1 “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I
fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” Here
David asks “whom shall I fear?” or
“whom shall I be afraid?”. As children of the Most High God and
Creator of this earth whom or what is there that we should fear? Because we
are children of the Lord the powers of this world hate us as they hate Him.
For this reason Jesus and the Apostles warned us there was going to be
persecution in our lives. Therefore persecution is to be expected by the
Lord's people. Then if we truly fear the Lord we should not fear the troubles
of the world we live in. Look at the martyrs down
through history. Most of them did not run from the persecution of the Roman
church. They stood for the Lord all the way, even while being tortured or
suffering a slow cruel death at the hands of those claiming to be Christian,
they sang hymns and quoted scripture. Today just the mention of the
possibility of persecution by any group towards the Lord's people and the
talk of getting out of town, state, and/or country begins. When hard times
come the Lords people generally do one of two things: 1. run and hide from
their problems or 2. set in their homes freeting over their problems. I find it sad that there are very few
Chriatians that I know who truly rely on the Lord during persecution. In Luke 12:4,5 our Lord
Jesus told his disciples “And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of
them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I
will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed
hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.” Did not Jesus
tell us that we would have a Comforter with us till he came again and that
Comforter is the Holy Spirit of God. So the question is: “Whom
Shall We Fear?”. Steve McCool |
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Happy Anniversary James
and Elaine Woodall – June 26 Happy Belated Birthday Mable
Wiler – June 18 |
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“And I was
with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and
my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in
demonstration of the Spirit and of power: that your faith should not stand in
the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 2:3, 4, 5 |