Thank You

Our thanks to the volunteers who helped with the July birthday celebration. The Bible Hour children alway appreciate the cup cakes and drinks.

YOU

Brady E. Smith

It never ceases to amaze me how the dictionary defines words down to the last degree especially the word you, and you, sharing Jesus. That’s about as brief as language allows.

The World Bible School watchword, our tag line, can still raise questions. For example, who are you?

By you we mean the Biblical you. As seen in the following passages: Be wise in the way you act towards outsiders: make the most of every opportunity. Colossians 4:5

But you are chosen people, a royal priesthood that you may declare the praise of Him who called you out of darkness into the wonderful light. 1 Peter 2:9

In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. 1 Peter 3: 15

Every Christian experiences light and hope. Therefore every Christian qualifies to share that light and that hope. Every Christian ought to share, and grow in how to share more effectively. In the context of the basic of the faith, Hebrews says "by this time you ought to be teachers”. Hebrews 5:12.

The theological basis and practicality of this "proclaiming priesthood" pervade the New Testament. Everyday Christians gossiped the gospel, even while suffering persecutions Acts 8:4. In Acts, Samaria was first reached not by an apostle, but by a table server (Acts 8:5 6:1-6).  Tentmakers launched new missions (Acts 18: 1-26 — Romans 16:3-5). Leaders exist to train and equip members “for the work ministry" that leads to church growth (Ephesians 4-12). Growth ceases when ever "you" the everyday member are missing from the ministry. When you share Jesus, New Testament-like growth surges.

But how can "you” share more effectively? Start with W.B.S. Seekers literally line up at W.B.S. asking to be taught.

See on such live list at worldbibleschool.org. When God creates amazing opportunities to share Jesus, caring Christians get involved. If they are wise.

Be very careful, then how you live, not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity. (Ephesians 5:15-16)

When Mary Louise and I heard Kim Matthews father, Harold speak here at this church about W.B.S., 35 years ago we immediately appreciated it. It was free to who ever wanted to study the many lessons courses. The Bible courses have been a journey through the Bible from a very interesting perspective, I am very grateful to those who prepared them.

I’ll recommend these courses to every one. It’s not only a course, there is a hand of God leading you through it and he will change your life.

Doors will be open that you think were impossible to open, take advantage today, I did, it changed my life forever and at 89 I am still seeing doors being opened for me.

FOR WORLD BIBLE SCHOOL 

New Parking Lot

We truly thank the Building and Grounds deacons for their overseeing the work on paving the parking lot. This will serve as a great invitation to God's visitors and is a wonderful face lift to the old worn out lot. God has blessed this family and we truly appreciate it. 

Joy Bus News

On July 27th,  the Joy Buses will celebrate all the riders birthdays for this month. We appreciate the workers who knock doors, drive buses, secretaries, runners and maintenance, The new buses with air conditioning are a blessing this time of year. The children are enjoying the video series on the Bible and the volunteers who bake the cupcakes, organize the promotions and teach the Bible Hour and Puppet Ministry cannot be thanked enough. It takes a true love for this Ministry.  The time, patience andwork are done from the heart to glorify God.

After 35 years of bringing souls under the Gospel the Woodsfield Church of Christ is doing exactly what God commanded us to do. The Great Commission has been offered to the community thru Joy Bus Evangelism. Many have come and gone and workers have come and gone but one thing is for sure, souls need to be sought, brought and taught the good news of Jesus Christ.

I hope and pray you never get tired of doing good. The Joy Bus Ministry has always done good. These Bible School on wheels have worked for decades and still work today. God has blessed us with new buses, a great Bible Hour, and a wonderful church that supports this great Ministry.

We challenge the family to look into the areas that God's buses run and see if there are any prospects that might be interested in coming to worship God. Your phone call or visit to a neighbor, friend or relative might need transportation to come and worship God. Call the church or see Brother Keith Jones and we will do our best to seek and save the lost. God‘s buses are running in the villages of Woodsfield and Beallsville. Your special touch could be the answer in a soul being brought under the sound of the Gospel. Continue to pray that God's work be done.

A Friend Indeed

Sometimes I get to thinking that Jose Wales is one of my best friends. When I call him, he's at my side in seconds. He seems to really enjoy my presence. He likes to just sit and watch TV with me. He likes all the same shows that I do. He even cleans up food that I might spill around the house. Other friends have made fun of my old beat-up Dodge truck, but he loves it - even tried to drive it once on our way to town. He's been a great friend for eight years.

But now I’m starting to wonder.

Whenever he notices that other folks have food, he starts acting like they‘re best friends too. This really bugs me. He even went so far the other day as to allow a complete stranger to rub his belly. Not long ago, we had a little bit of an argument because I really needed him to come with me, but he was too busy eating hotdogs with another one of his so-called ”friends." I'm beginning to realize that our friendship is a little one-sided. He only seems to be in this for what he can get.

(By the way, in case you haven't figured this out by now, Jose Wales is a dog.) But he certainly has put me in mind of some of my human friends over the years. And, sadly I must admit, has reminded me of the way I have been a friend to others. A friend who is only in the relationship for what he can gain is not a friend at all. It is true that in our times of greatest need, we find out who our true friends are.

I struggle to wrap my mind around the kind of friend Jesus has been to me. I mean, what's he in this relationship to gain? What does he expect to get out of it for himself? Nothing more than my friendship, it appears. He already had it all. He didn't need me. He still doesn't need me. Not only does he already own the world, he made the world. There is nothing I can offer him materially that he doesn't already own. What does he want from me? Just my friendship, my loyalty, my obedience. Because of what it does for him? I don't think so. He already has eternal life. He's always going to have eternal life. He didn't die for himself, he died for me. He is my friend because of what it does for me. That's overwhelming. Talk about being the opposite of the friend who's only around when he needs something from you. You are indeed Lord the best friend we'll ever have. Thank you.

John 15:13-14

Charles Schultheisz

Teen Mission Trip

God truly, blessed us with a great trip to Mid-Western. Children’s Home.  The teens worked hard mowing grass, raking a field of hay, painting a wooden bridge over a pond, cleaning cabins, hauling split wood, fixing diesel tractors, stacking 80 lb. bags of cement, sweeping & cleaning a kitchen while maintaining great attitudes. 

Campfire devotional, hot dog . roast, volley ball, mud sliding and wiffle ball was entertainment in the evening. 

Zip-lining over the pond was a thrill , but the Creation Museum was a great trip thru God's Word to strengthen each ones Biblical knowledge.

To end the trip we enjoyed Kings Island and boy was we tired.  God brought us home safe and sound and we want to thank our family at Woodsfield for their prayers and financial support. We had a wonderful time working, spiritual education and fun on this year’s Mission' trip.  Special thanks to Kathy Hamilton for being a great cook, and Butch & Sherry for chaperones to the teens.

Creation Museum | Photo Courtesy Sherry Lallathin

They Ain't Gonna Milk Themselves

Apparently, the dairy farmers of the world all met at a convention once and voted on the best response to any one who may question their devotion to the task at hand. It must have been unanimously decided upon that anytime a non-farmer would ask why they couldn't attend a certain  event, the reply must be, "Well, they ain't gonna milk themselves!

I heard it from the adults who inhabited the same farm I did as a boy.  In fact, I they must have agreed that anytime a boy attempted to avoid any chore, this was to be the universal answer —- "That grass ain't gonna mow itself" - "That dog ain‘t gonna feed itself" - _ "That hay ain't gonna get bailed by itself."

I'm sure that at some point I asked the Lord above to create cows that would indeed milk themselves, and grass that would cut itself. I probably thought if the Lord really loved me, he would do it, and do it quickly.

I must confess a problem I have. I, along with a number of you, wish that the work of the Lord would just simply happen without me having to do anything. I wish the lost would just save themselves. I wish the down and out would take care of themselves. I wish the children and the teens would teach themselves. I wish those who need to be baptized would just baptize themselves. I'll go ahead and say in print what many of us are saying with our actions -- I just want to come in, sit down (in my assigned pew), be entertained and enlightened for an hour, and go home. That's it. I don’t want to teach, I don’t want to evangelize, I don’t want to visit, I don’t want to get too involved, I don’t want to lead -— I just want the kingdom of God to grow itself.

But...not all have this attitude, and I want to take this opportunity to thank those of you who accept that someone needs to "milk the cows." You know who you are. When someone needs called, you call. When someone needs visited, you visit. When someone needs baptized, you baptize them. You see those who need taught, and you teach them. In fact, you've been teaching them it seems since Methuselah was a newborn! Thank you'!

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? Romans 10:14-15

~Charles Schultheisz
Woodsfield, Ohio
 

Every Sunday, A Memorial

Though the exact place, time, and originator are debated, it seems clear that Memorial Day, also known as Decoration Day, finds its genesis in the final years of the Civil War. In this struggle to maintain the unity of the United States of America and to secure the freedom of each and every citizen, more than 600,000 men lost their lives. As these soldiers were laid to rest, loved ones in the North and the South insisted their sacrifices not be forgotten, and began annual celebrations. in which graves were decorated with flowers and flags.

One of the more interesting of these celebrations took place on May 1, 1865 in Charleston, South Carolina. During the war, the Confederates had turned the  Washington Race Course and Jockey Club into a prison camp in which more than 250 Union soldiers died. They had been buried in a mass grave behind the grandstand in the hopes that the occasion of their death might be mostly forgotten by historians. However, the African-American population of Charleston would not allow that to happen. They dug up the huge grave site and gave each soldier a proper burial before organizing the May 1 memorial celebration. Why did it fall on those who at the time were considered more "property" than human beings to properly honor these men? Because they understood and appreciated how these soldiers had affected their station in life! They were free, and would stay free, thanks to the sacrifices of those who had fallen.

No plans were made to give Jesus a proper burial. Crucifixion was intended to let you die slowly and to allow the birds and bugs to feast on you down to the bones. But there were those who knew he deserved better. They understood, to some degree, that he hung there for them. Nicodemus knew a little about being enslaved. He was bound by the Law and restricted by the irrational and hateful behavior of his peers. In his conversations with the Savior, he learned about the new birth, about a new start. Jesus brought freedom from the Law, freedom from sin, freedom from the woes of this life -- and for that he deserved a better burial!

Thanks to Christ, we are free! Free from fear, free from worry, and so much more! Every Sunday is our "Memorial Day" to Him.

Check out the sermon as well:  To Think On While You're Decorating.

~Charles Schultheiz

A Fire Started By A Mother's Faith

2 Timothy 1:5-7

Timothy had a fire inside him. It was a spiritual gift, a fervor, a spark given to him by God when Paul laid his hands on the young missionary. Paul acknowledges, however, that it was his mother and his grandmother who cut the wood and stacked it, ready to be burnt. Eunice and Lois passed their wonderful faith onto Timothy.  Without this faith, no spiritual gift could have been given to him. But it was up to Timothy, and Timothy alone to fan this into flame.  His mom and grandma can't hover over him the rest of his existence fanning the fire.

Hannah, of Old Testament fame, promised her son to God. She literally took him to the tabernacle and left him there. That's all she could do. The rest was up to Samuel. She placed him in a place where the Spirits fire could be ignited and burn. It was up to him to keep the flames going. And if you know the story, that's exactly what he did.

Many a good, Godly mother has taken the heat (yes, the pun is intended) for a faithless, flameless child. Well-meaning "advice" from other parents, hell-fire sermons from the pulpit, and good ole fashioned gossip cause them to live in guilt and regret. But if mom put the material for the fire in her child's heart, if she took her child to a place where he could find God, what more can she do?

I truly feel sorry for those who spent their childhood years receiving from their moms and dads nothing with which a spiritual fire could be started. Heaven help them and may God have mercy on such ignorant parents. I feel more sorrow, however, for those who did indeed have the luxury of being born to a Godly, spiritual mother and father, but who are squandering that great blessing. You had a mother who read the Bible to you, who prayed for you and with you, who brought you to hear God's message, who instilled in your heart a faith in the Almighty and in His ways. Why have you let that fire go out?

My prayer is that God would bless all you moms who help start the fire, and that He would give us sons and daughters the courage to keep fanning it into flame.

~Charles Schultheisz

Selling It But Not Buying It

While standing in line trying to read the menu board of a local seafood restaurant, we overheard a very interesting conversation between the cashier and the customers in front of us. They inquired as to the best type of fish to order, and received this response: "Well, truthfully, l prefer Coleman‘s fish, yea;   I’d rather have it any day." The customer then replied, "l don’t see that up there." To which the all·to-honest employee said, "Oh, we don’t sell it. You can get it in Wheeling." All of us potential customers just kind of stood there in a moment of silence trying to decide on whether we should go ahead and order something or drive to Wheeling for Coleman’s fish.

This incident reminded me of one similar which precedes it by some twenty years. A fellow in our community owned a shoe store and was always complaining about Wal-Mart, and the great difficulty he had in competing with their prices. "I probably won’t be able to stay in business much longer because of them,” he’d say. While walking the isles of Wal-Mart one evening we encountered him and his basket which happened to be full of socks - an unremarkable fact, except that part of his own business was selling socks!

He ended up being right, by the way - his business didn’t last much longer.  

When it comes to Christianity, some of us are trying to sell what we ourselves are not buying. We pray along with those who ask God to help us reach the lost. We ask the church leaders about evangelistic programs. We gripe and complain about how bad the world is, how immoral our non-Christian neighbors are, and the prevalence of all the ungodly influences our children must endure day in and day out. But the real message we’re sending to our non-Christian neighbors is that we prefer the same things they do. We're paid, if you will, to tout God’s ways, but it’s his competitors ways that appeal to us.

While I’m yelling and screaming about how few souls the church is converting these days, I might want to take a look at my own life and consider this thought — what would my neighbor think they were being converted to?  Other than getting up and driving to a church building every week, is there; anything about my life that really stands out from theirs?

“Come, be a Christian,” I could. say, “you can be negative, pessimistic, and depressed about life, just like me, but you'll be able to call yourself a Christian."   Take a look today at 1 Peter 2:12 and Matthew 5:16.

~Charles Schultheisz
Woodsfield, Ohio