Preacher Ponderings Chuck Schultheisz

Chuck Schultheisz – Aberdeen, Washington

On my way into town the other day, driving past one of our infamous bikini barista coffee huts, I noticed an unusual amount of traffic and commotion around the stand, including a long line of cars waiting to place their order. Must be free coffee day, I wondered. So, on my way back home, passing the stand again, the reason for the commotion and backup was clear. A van at the window had it’s hood up with a large car-hauler facing it and several fellows leaning into the engine compartment.

I had to chuckle. This would be my luck, were I ever to take a notion to visit one of these pink coffee shacks. I’d pull up to the window, praying no one I knew had spotted me, and my care would die. No wonder the poor sap had the wrecker service in front of his van – after all, you probably don’t want to call your wife in that situation and have her come get you, and something tells me the girl in the bikini isn’t going to know much about alternators or fuel pumps.

But what struck me as interesting, in addition to the van with the hood up, was the line of five cars behind him, whose occupants were so intent on seeing what they wanted to see, that they would patiently wait in line. I mean, the coffee just can’t be that good, nor the show that captivating.

Sin is an interesting creature. When we’re tempted through our own lust, we know that there exists always that possibility that we could really get busted. We could get caught. We could find ourselves in a very embarrassing situation. It could be revealed to all the world around us what our otherwise hidden desires have been. But the devil somehow persuades us that it’s all worth taking that chance. “After all,” he whispers into your ear, “there’s always that chance that you will get away with it.”

Sin can be so enticing that you’re willing to wait patiently for it to come to you. You’re not going to flee from the devil, as the inspired writer James instructs. No – you’re going to literally wait in line for your turn with him. And the fact that giving in to this temptation didn’t work out so well for the guys in front of you in line doesn’t really bother you. “That’s just him,” you reason, “It won’t happen that way to me. I’ll get my kicks, my satisfaction, and life will go  on peachy from there.”

Satan is a liar and evil to the core to be sure, but he’s not stupid. He’s actually quite a smooth operator. He knows who the stupid one is, and he entices accordingly.

Avoid every kind of evil. 1 Thessalonians 5:22

Mission Support Updates

M.A.G.I. Box Donations

Bible Class Update

Congratulations to the following Bible Class students for “Winning Gold” in this quarter’s Bible classroom:

Hannah McFarland     Willow Bates

Kylee Jones                 Trace Ruger

Josie Friday                 Reagan Britton

Colton Jones                 Tempie Harris

They can recite the books of the Old Testament or the New Testament, and find the following on a map: Jordan River, Dead Sea, Sea of Galilee, Jerusalem, Nazareth and many other facts have been learned as well. Be sure to congratulate them if you see them today.

Also thank you to all of the quarter’s teachers: Carla Rose, Sue Dearth, Bev Jones, Jewell Neville, Paul Eikleberry, Russell Roth, Trisha Eikleberry, Denise Harris, Bob Burrow, Rudy Gauding, Stephanie Gauding, Jeff Seidler and Eric Carothers. Your love and encouragement for our children does not go unnoticed.

Thank You

Thanks so much to Ron & Kathy Beardmore, they have done an amazing job updating the teen room! It looks great! 

Veterans

If you are a veteran, we would love to know! Please sign the sheet in the foyer with your name and the branch of service you served with.

Churches of Christ Disaster Relief Effort

Dear friends,

Currently, we are sending supplies to Florida due to hurricane Ian’s devastation, and the destruction it caused. We are continuing to help Eastern Kentucky and Western Virginia after the flooding that took place there. Earlier this year, we helped tornado victims in Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Oklahoma and Texas. We continue to send appliances, mattresses, furniture, and water heaters for low income and uninsured families to replace the items they lost due to these disasters. We stay prepared for the next major disaster with nonperishable food, personal hygiene, infant care, and prepacked cleaning supplies ready to ship at any time.

Thanks for your support and please keep us in your prayers as we continue to help others in need.

Yours in Christ,
Mike Lewis
Executive Director
Church of Christ Disaster Relief Effort Inc.

Mid-Western Children's Home

Benevolent friends,

As Thanksgiving approaches, I cannot help but be mindful of friends like you who have blessed the ministry of Mid-Western through your thoughtful donations over the last year. Truly, I cannot imagine where our ministry would be without the blessing of donors such as yourself.

The year 2022 has not come without its challenges. The biggest struggle our agency has experienced has been a lower population of children served during the last 12 months. This is due to several factors, the primary one being the lingering effects of the ongoing recovery of the last few years.

But 2022 has also seen some milestones met by the children, house parents, and families who are served by our agency. By God’s abundant grace, one soul was added to His Kingdom, and many other children expressed sincere desire to be connected to His church through participation in extra church -related activities and worship services. We continue to see how God has blessed our ministry through the physical, emotional, cognitive, and spiritual growth that takes place when we sow seeds in the hearts and minds of our children.

Matthew 6:19-21 exhorts, “Do not lay up yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” I wish there was a way to let you see directly how your thoughtful gift has positively impacted the life of a child. Please know that you are making an eternal difference!

Saying “thanks” seems inadequate but be assured that we are eternally grateful for all that you have given. May the Lord bless you and keep you in all your ways.

For the Children,
Barry Boverie
Executive Director

Thanksgiving

In the Bible, we see thanksgiving for blessings as a theme.  The Old Testament resounds with the people praising God; Israel had a history of giving thanks to God for the mercy and deliverance he showed them.   In the New Testament we read, Jesus "Then he took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven he gave thanks and broke them" (Luke 9:16).  At the Last Supper Jesus took bread and gave thanks and offered it to His followers (1 Corinthians. 11:24).  Jesus always prayed before meals.

With the holiday approaching, let’s consider some thoughts for thanksgiving. 

Motive.  When we give thanks to God, our sole motive should be pure gratitude.  Thanksgiving is giving thanks and that alone.  Of all our types of prayers, a thanksgiving prayer is the least likely to be polluted or corrupted with selfish thoughts or a subconscious appeal to manipulate God.  It is about God’s blessings toward us and our appreciation of those blessings.    

Knowledgeable.  Being grateful requires us to look back into the past, whether times recent or years past, and acknowledging blessings for which we are thankful.   Our culture is infatuated with the future and the result is that thanksgiving is sometimes neglected.  But to give thanks to God is to look backwards, not forwards, and to express gratitude for the good things that have come our way.

Comprehensive.  On the U.S. holiday, we thank God for the meal.  Sometimes we include more in our prayers.  We should, because we are so blessed.  God is to be thanked for our family, friends, housing, jobs, and possibly hundreds of other minor things.  Giving God thanks should be a theme running through our lives in times good and bad.  The Pilgrims lived close enough to the soil to know how dependent they were on God's providence.  In bitter winters with scarce food, they learned to thank God for all they had.  And they were eager to thank Him during times of abundant blessing, too.

As Thanksgiving Day approaches, ponder and consider the many blessings you enjoy. Be grateful for these wonderful benefits and thank God for them.

KMJ
Mountain View Church of Christ
Cumming, GA

Preacher Ponderings Chuck Schultheisz - Aberdeen, WA

“Erastus stayed in Corinth, and I left Trophimus sick in Miletus” – 2 Timothy 4:20

At casual glance this is one of those verses (similar to those in Romans 16) that seem worthy of very little attention. We tend to treat such passages as though they are basically worthless to us today. You know how it is when someone starts name-dropping people you’ve never heard of - you tend to tune them out until they come back to a topic of interest and relevance to you personally.

But this passing, seemingly insignificant little verse provokes some pretty interesting thought. If I had a friend and fellow missionary who had been granted the power to heal the sick, I’d be mighty upset and confused if he “left me sick somewhere”. A guy falls out of a window dead while you’re preaching and you bring him back to life (Acts 20:10). You heal the father of a man you’ve known for all of five minutes (Actos 28:8), and you yourself are healed once from a poisonous snake bite (Acts 28:5) . In fact, the power of healing is so present in you that handkerchiefs you’ve touched are given to strangers who are then cured (Acts 19:12). And yet, you leave me sick in Miletus!!

Poor Trophimus had to have been wondering, “what’s going on here Paul? You took care of all these other situations and here I sit, after travelling with you for seven years, helping spread the Good News to these people, and you just leave me here, SICK!? Come on, Man!”

This confirms that the healings that took place at the hands of the apostles had one purpose – to give credibility and credence to the message of the Gospel – to confirm that it was indeed coming form God. They didn’t’ heal just to heal. These miraculous restorations were not simply for they physical benefit of the infirmed. Their purpose was to produce faith in the Word. Trophimus already had faith in the Word. He already believed it was from God. He already believed in Christ. He needed not a confirmation form a miracle. The Holy Spirit, as hard as this is for us to accept, doesn’t heal just because He can.

Purely human logic leads us to believe that the closer you are to God and the harder you work to serve him, the easier your existence on this earth should be. But this little snippet about Trophimus reminds us that no one, regardless of their relationship to the great healer, regardless of their efforts to advance his cause, is entitled to a healing. God owes me nothing. I owe him my life.