*”Super Sunday” by Todd Parsley

Super Sunday

Today’s the day! A day that comes around once every year that so many people look forward too. Super Bowl Sunday!! People all around the world will put their lives on hold to be glued to the television for four or so hours, not willing to let a single play go unnoticed. Billions of dollars will be spent on food, football jerseys, wide screen TV’s and whatever else people think they need to make this day more enjoyable.
It’s amazing how our very sense of identity hangs upon the outcome of such a thing as a sporting event. Everyone wants to be part of the winning team. When our team wins, somehow that translates into ourselves as being winners. We feel a little bit better about ourselves because people we do not know, did something we can not do, but we were cheering them on. And, in the end, one team will walk away with the title of “Super Bowl Champions”, and bragging rights for the next year.
It feels good to be part of the winning team. But, if people really want to be part of the winning side, then why isn’t Christianity more popular. I dare say, that more people will be watching the Super Bowl than will be in attendance at the Lord’s church today. Remember what the Apostle Paul said, “O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as you know that your labor is not in vain.” (I Cor. 15:55-58) If we do that, every Sunday can be Super Sunday!
Enjoy the game, I hope your team wins. But first enjoy the worship of our great God. Choose to be part of His winning team.
If we here at the Centerville Church of Christ can be of any spiritual assistance to you. Please let us know.

God Bless- Todd

*This Old Book the Bible

This Old Book the Bible

It seems that so many people today regard the Bible as old and outdated, written for a time and culture long gone from the world we live in today. I disagree, I believe and stand on the promises of this old book. The writer of Hebrews declared “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is the discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart”. (Heb. 4:12) Jesus said in Mark 13:31; “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away”. And we are reminded by John that we will be judged by the things written in the Bible. The Bible old? YES! Irrelevant for today? NO! Consider the following statement about the Bible and see if you agree:
“This old book contains the mind of God, that state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners and the happiness of believers. Its histories are true, its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding, and its decisions are immutable. Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe, and practice it to be holy. It contains light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer you. It is the traveler’s map, the pilgrim’s staff, and the sailor’s compass, the soldier’s sword, and the Christian’s charter. Christ is its subject, our good its design, and the glory of God its end. Read it slowly, frequently, prayerfully. It is given you in life, will be opened at judgment and will be remembered forever. It involves the highest responsibility, rewards the greatest labor and condemns all who trifle with its holy contents.”
In the words of an old hymn; “Give me the Bible, holy message shining; Thy light shall guide me in the narrow way; Precept and promise, law and love combining, till night shall vanish in eternal day.” Thank you God for your Holy Bible!
If we here at the Centerville Church of Christ can be of any spiritual assistance to you. Please let us know.
God Bless- Todd

*”The Challenge Again – 2015!” by Todd Parsley

The Challenge Again – 2015

I was encouraged last Sunday with the number of our members who had completed the yearly bible reading for 2014. I hope many more of you will join in as we challenge ourselves to reading the Bible through again in 2015. I promise you that you will learn more, see more, hear more, and be satisfied with reading the Word of God through in your life.
The Apostle Paul reminds us in Ephesians 6 that the Word of God is our sword as we endure as a good soldier of Christ. It was not given to us to collect dust and remain unused or remain in the backseat of the car. It is to be used and read and cherished as we would cherish our most prized possession.
The challenge to read the Bible through in a year is one that does require dedication and commitment. Sacrifices of time and schedule have to be made, but I think we all honestly know that we have room in our time and schedule for 20 minutes a day to spend in reading the Bible.
So we are 11 days into the new year. Have you started yet? Are you going to start? Do you think God would want you to read all His word? Time to sharpen our minds and feed our faith with the Holy Word of God! You won’t regret it…”the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)
If we here at the Centerville Church of Christ can be of any spiritual assistance to you. Please let us know.
God Bless- Todd

 

 

 

Editor’s Note:

One of the persistent themes of God’s Word is “change”!  To change from the carnal pre-saved-self into the spiritually-saved-new-self. The former self despised the Word of God, Fellow-ship with the congregation, group-Bible Studies and, even refused to be drawn in to the habit of spending time with each other unless it was unavoidable and absolutely necessary. The latter-self surrendered their heart to Christ and began to embrace all of these things as being precious to this life and to the life to come. I found myself and many close friends on this same matrix of “change vs static resistance”.  I’m still working myself through it as we speak and am enjoying every minute of it

Through the reading of the Word of God (Bread of Life) alone is found the way and the impetus for complete change. Otherwise, there is no change in this life or the next. Stay in the Word and in the Fellow-ship. Not there? Get there today. Daily Bible Reading works! So do “Pot-Luck” Dinners at our Centerville Family Life Center. Y’all Come!

Bill for the OWLS

*2014 New Year’s Eve at the CCC/FLC

Food table is ready for everyone

Coffee, tea or pop?

Chef Tom and Sandy

Glynn and Logan

Logan and the owl are ready for 2015

Fellow-ship, then, Fair Play

Planning a “bigger” room for next year!

Diron and Kayrene before the games start

Kayrene and Betty

Sam and Gary

Red 3 points Black 2 points

Cornhole winners

Let the games begin

Dave picking a game

Parcheesi table

If I only had a ….

Can you solve it?

Bill is learning Rummikub

A good game for everyone

*PUNDIT OF PUNS offers these puns to kick start the New Year

PUNDIT OF PUNS offers these puns to kick start the New Year with an exercise for your brain to think and is not intended to be Punishment.

Puns for Educated Minds

1. The fattest knight at King Arthur’s round table was Sir Cumference.
He acquired his size from too much pi.

2. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned
out to be an optical Aleutian.

3. She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still.

4. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class, because it
was a weapon of math disruption.

5. No matter how much you push the envelope, it’ll still be stationery.

6. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for
littering.

7. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum
Blownapart.

8. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.

9. A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are
looking into it.

10. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

11. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

12. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to
the other: ‘You stay here; I’ll go on a head.’

13. I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.

14. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: ‘Keep off the
Grass.’

15. The midget fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small
medium at large.

16. The soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a
seasoned veteran.

17. A backward poet writes inverse.

18. In a democracy it’s your vote that counts. In feudalism it’s your
count that votes.

19. When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.

20. If you jumped off the bridge in Paris, you’d be in Seine.

21. A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons. The
stewardess looks at him and says, ‘I’m sorry, sir, only one carrion
allowed per passenger.’

22. Two fish swim into a concrete wall. One turns to the other and
says ‘Dam!’

23. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in
the craft. Unsurprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can’t have
your kayak and heat it too.

24. Two hydrogen atoms meet. One says, ‘I’ve lost my electron.’ The
other says ‘Are you sure?’ The first replies, ‘Yes, I’m positive.’

25. Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during a root
canal? His goal: transcend dental medication.

26. There was the person who sent ten puns to friends, with the hope
that at least one of the puns would make them laugh. No pun in ten did.