The Reminder

A PUBLICATION OF THE DEXTER CHURCH OF CHRIST

March 25, 2012

 

Christian Parenting          

by Travis L. Quertermous

 

             Raising children is not an easy job as any parent will tell you! Raising Christian children is even more of a challenge given the many temptations they are subjected to every day. At the Dexter Church of Christ, one of our favorite hymns to sing in worship is “God Give Us Christian Homes.” Despite the challenges, God calls upon parents in the Bible to raise children who will know Him so they can live with Him forever in Heaven. Paul challenged dads, “And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4). He likewise challenged mothers “to love their husbands, to love their children” (Tit. 2:4).

             It’s an awesome challenge, but remember mom and dad, you are the greatest influence on your children’s lives. No teacher, coach, or preacher will ever shape your children’s lives and minds like you will. An unknown poet once wrote a poem that makes this point in a powerful way. It’s called “I Took A Piece Of Clay,” and reads as follows:

 

I took a piece of plastic clay

And idly fashioned it one day,

And as my fingers pressed it still,

It moved and yielded to my will.

I came again when days were past –

The bit of clay was hard at last;

The form I gave it, it still bore,

 

But I could change that form no more.

I took a piece of living clay

And gently formed it day by day,

And molded with my power and art

A young child’s soft and yielding heart.

I came again when years were gone --

It was a man I looked upon;

He still that early impress wore,

And I could change him nevermore.

How Long Has It Been Since You…

 

 

▪ Took time to go see someone who lives alone?

▪ Wrote a letter to someone who crossed your mind?

▪ Read the Bible to someone too ill to read for themselves?

▪ Encouraged someone who was having a hard time being a Christian?

▪ Prayed earnestly for someone who was faltering?

▪ Tried to have a Bible study with someone who you knew was lost?

 

Bulletin Digest                                       via Findlay church of Christ

                                                                                       Sparta, TN

CAN A CHILD OF GOD FALL FROM GRACE?

Dale Grissom

 

             There are many in the religious world who believe and teach that once a person is saved, there is nothing he can do that will cause him to be lost.  Consider, however, the words of the apostle Paul in Galatians 5:4: “Christ is become of no effect unto you.   Whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace”.  Here Paul told the church in Galatia that if they tried to live under the law of Moses, they would fall from grace.  The old Law had been fulfilled and had been taken out of the way, having been nailed to the cross (Colossians 2:14).

                 Many today fail to rightly divide the Word of God, continuing to try to live under part of the Old Law.  We must realize that the Old Law is good to study and that it will help us to understand the New Testament, but the Old Law is no longer in effect.  We must live under the Law of Christ, the New Testament.

                 Those who believe they cannot fall from grace are deceiving themselves, and this is a dangerous way to live.  We must spend each day living according to the Word of God, always praying to God and seeking His forgiveness.  The following Scriptures bear this out: “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12); and “…For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).  Even Paul was concerned personally about falling from grace: “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway” (1 Corinthians 9:27).  We must always be alert so that sin will not slip in and take over in our lives.

                 In 2 Peter 2:21,22 we see that we can fall from grace after we have known the way of righteousness: “For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.  But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb; the dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire”.  Those who truly study the Word of God with understanding cannot help but realize that it is possible to fall from grace, and that those who do not repent of sin in their lives will be lost.

 

 

FAMILY NEWS AT A GLANCE

 

*Travis will present a QUESTION AND ANSWER SERMON for worship  service this evening.

*The MEMPHIS SCHOOL OF PREACHING will have their annual lectureship March 25-29. Details are posted on the foyer board.

*Please mark your calendar for April 3rd, Tuesday evening at 6:00 p.m.  REACH OUT will resume.  See Mark Jacques with any questions you might have.  Your help is requested.

*The April FELLOWSHIP will be moved to April 15, due to the second Sunday of the month being Easter.

  YOUTH NEWS

 

~PEW PACKERS @ 5:45 p..m.

~Reminder - the youth will be SINGING at

Cypress Point this afternoon at 3:00.

~BIBLE BOWL  STUDY this afternoon at 5:00.