TOP OF THE WORLD

There is the story of a youth pastor in California by the name of R. Kent Hughes who went on a hiking trip with some of the High School students. They hiked to the top of Mt. Whitney in California, the highest spot in the continental United States at 14,495 feet above sea level. They exulted over the wonderful panorama of the Sierra Nevada and the Mojave Desert. What a spot, with its rare field, crystal-clear air, its indigo and turquoise lakes-vista giving way to vista as far as one could see. As they gazed together from what seemed to be the top of the world, one of their party pointed out that only eighty miles southeast was Death Valley, the lowest spot in the United States at 280 feet below sea level and the hottest place in the country with a record 134 degrees in the shade!
What a contrast! One place is the top of the world, the other the bottom. One place is perpetually cool and the other relentlessly hot. From Mt. Whitney you look down on all of life. From Death Valley you can only look up to the rest of the world.

Sometimes it seems as though we are on the top of the world looking down, and sometimes it seems that we are in the valley looking up. When I was in high school we lived in the San Luis Valley in Colorado, my brother and I went to the top of Mt. Baldy, a big mountain on the west side of the valley. We drove as far as we could, stopping to move fallen trees, driving around some and finally we had to get out of the truck and walk the rest of the way to the top. What a view from the top, we could see for miles, looking down to the valley floor we couldn’t see anybody, but we knew they were there. As great as it was to be on top, we had to come back down, you see, we didn’t live on topof the moutain. We seem to think that we should always be on top of the mountain and never in the valley, but the valley isn’t such a bad place to be. It’s in the valley that we listen to God as never before, in the valley we can get still, quite and really listen to God. When we are on that mountain top we are too busy looking around, going from this side to that, thinking about what we are going to tell others. Mountain tops are great, but valleys are great also, get quite this week and really listen to God. As the song says, If the blessings are in the valley, then in the river I will wait.

WHAT TO DO ABOUT SIN

What should the church do about sin? Should we confront it in hopes that the person who has committed the sin will repent or just ignore it in hopes that it will just go away? I believe that for way too long churches have been afraid to confront sin, they preach about, talk about it, even teach about it; but when it comes to confronting a brother, or one that calls himself a brother, who is intentionally doing something that will bring himself and maybe others harm, and gives the Church a black eye, all too often the church is not willing to confront it. It’s almost like a parent that wants to be a buddy instead of a parent. We must be willing to do the hard things in the church as well as the easy and fun things.
Did you know that when you join the church you enter into a covenant relationship with the church? You are a covenant member; this is for your protection as well as the churches. How is this protection for you? As a covenant member you know that you have people, including myself, praying for you, also as a covenant member you know that if I feel that you have stepped out of line too far I will come to you in love and talk to you. Jesus was always rebuking Peter in love, it isn’t wrong to be rebuked in love; this is one of the ways we learn. We all need someone to help us in this way; I have the deacon’s to help me. I have on many occasions gone to a member of the church and talked with them in love. Most of the time I am met with a sense of gratitude, but once in a great while anger or resentment and even a threat or two.
So what should we do? Should I just keep my mouth shut and let you believe that whatever it is that you are doing is alright. By doing that we are giving that person the seal of approval from the church, and by rebuking them in love maybe a stronger Christian will be serving the Kingdom.
Now weigh your answer carefully, because what if, by some strange twist of events, it was you approached by me or even one of the deacon’s, what would your reaction be? Think about it, pray about, what would your reaction be? It should be our desire to have stronger Christians, a stronger Church and a stronger Kingdom. What should the reaction be of a Christian??
In HIS Service, Bro. Randy

COMING EVENTS

Did you know that we go from the laziest days of the year, Summer, now I know that we have been busy around here this summer with VBS, Father’s Day Cook-out, Youth Fish Fry and Fund Raiser, Youth Habitat for Humanity camp, Open House & Fish Fry and vacations, to the busiest? Summer is called the lazy days, kids are out of school and things seem to be more relaxed. So we have gone from the lazy days of summer right into possibly the busiest time of the year, that being fall and all of the holidays. Looking at the calendar I am thinking of all of the things coming up in October, November and December; September just seems to getting us ready for it all.
A quick rundown; we have our On Mission Celebration (OMC) on October 5, we will have a missionary here on Sunday morning and then we will all go to Vernon that night for the Annual Red Fork Jubilee, and I will actually have the honor of speaking during the 4:00 pm session. Also in October we have the Teachers Banquet and Harvest Party. November we will host the After Game Fellowship for the High School students; church-wide Thanksgiving Dinner, Thanksgiving and of course the Hanging of the Greens. We will need to have all of the Christmas decorations up and in place and everything cleaned up on that night because on December 1st we will host the Annual Red Fork Staff and wives Christmas Dinner. We will need people to help with this as we host all of the pastor’s and staff of the Red Fork, we need to all work together to make Carey Baptist shine. Also in December we will have our Carey Christmas program (begin practicing now), do our food baskets (we need to begin bringing canned goods for this) and our Christmas Eve Service.
Just so you know, in September we are doing the Reach Texas offering, all of the money raised for this stays in Texas and goes directly to mission work in Texas. I am also forming new 4 X 4 groups that will begin in October. If you would like to be in one of these please let me know, I need your names, address and phone numbers. Also if you are in a group and do not wish to be again let me know. Also this month is See You At The Pole for our students, and the Brotherhood work day at the church on the 27th. Let’s all get involved, see you there.
In HIS Service,
Bro. Randy

ONE OF THOSE WEEKS

Do you ever have one of those weeks when everything happens at once? You know what I mean, you have all of those things that you need to be doing, all of the things that have to be done by a certain day, you are under the gun, feel the pressure, have the responsibility, these things must be done. But then everything else happens that keeps you from doing them. This seems to be a weekly event in my life. I have learned that the bulletin will get printed and my sermon will still be ready, even if I am still working on it at 3am Sunday morning. God has never failed me just because I felt too pressured or too busy. He always comes through, always has, always will. Jesus felt this kind of pressure from people also, only worse. He had people pulling Him in several directions at once, heal my son, come and heal my daughter, touch me and I will be healed, teach us, feed these people… I’m glad I’m not Jesus. Even Jesus felt it, and sometimes He had to get away, He had to be alone and let God talk to Him. Sometimes we also need to get away and have some alone time with God. What is your alone time, or quite time? Time when your brain can unwind, it is important that we all do this. Find your alone place, it doesn’t have to be a far away exotic place, it can be your bathroom, bedroom, yard, garage or wherever. Find a place for yourself.
Next week is going to be a great week, we will have a Gideon with us in church, telling us what all the Gideon’s are doing. And then Desert Reign will also be with us in church, it will be kind of like Desert Reign unplugged, they will be doing some music and sharing what God had laid on their hearts. You may see Desert Reign like you never have before.
And then on Sunday night at 6:00 pm we will be doing the free food and free concert with Desert Reign in the park. Why am I telling you this? Because all of this takes money. The man from Gideon International will take up an offering at the door to help buy the bibles they give away. We need to give Desert Reign a generous offering and we need to give Morris and Carolyn money to cover food expense. I know; give, give, give. But you do it so well. Let’s show everyone what we are made of, and make this the best outreach ever. What do you say??
In HIS Service, Bro. Randy

NEW BABY

Isn’t it amazing how much you can love someone you just met? It would seem that you would need to get to know someone for a while before you love them so much. After all isn’t that the way it was when you fell in love and got married (if indeed you are married or ever have been). You saw that special someone, found out who they were, hit them in the back of the head with a snowball, (that’s what happened to me), began dating, fell in love, got married, and all of this takes time. But on Tuesday I fell in love at first sight...again. It’s happened 5 times in my life, 2 times with my kids, 3 times with my grandkids. When a man has a son he walks tall with his chest stuck out, knowing that someday this little boy will learn to play catch, wrestle, hunt and fish with him. He can teach his son to be a man, how to love and how to work. When a man has a daughter she immediately takes his heart and wraps it around her little finger, and he doesn’t even mind. Granddaughters are much the same way, and now we have 3 of them. When you have a baby, grandbaby and I’m sure great-grandbaby, you fall in love with them immediately, and you wonder how you can love so completely, but you do. You know that you will do whatever you have to do for that baby, even die. That’s the way it is with God, as a matter of fact, He loves you even more than that, He loves you so much that He let His Son die for you. What on God’s green earth makes you worth that? Absolutely nothing! There is no way that you or I are worth the life of God’s only begotten Son. It doesn’t matter how well you can sing or dance, or how handsome or pretty you are, how much money you have, what kind of car you drive, who your mother is or anything else you can think of, we are not worth the life of Jesus. But there it is, the fact that His life was given for you and me. So what are you going to do with it? Will you live for Him, sacrifice whatever needs to be sacrificed, give up whatever is in your life that keeps you from being close to Him, worshipping Him, from having a personal relationship with Him, you know, really living for Him?
After all, He really does love you that much!
In HIS Service,
Bro. Randy

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