Vol. 46, No.
44 SOUTHSIDE ORACLE January
23, 2004
The Bulletin Board
Our Sympathy - We extend our sympathy to
Laura Mahan and her family in the death of her father, Tom Rucker, last
Friday. The funeral is scheduled to be held in West Chicago on Saturday.
Congregational Meeting – There will be a brief
congregational meeting Sunday at 5:40 p.m. for the sole purpose of choosing
three trustees to serve the church in business affairs as required by law.
Those whose terms expire are Brad Stanger, Rodney Windell, and Kevin
Parker. Those who have another year to serve are John Dickson and Troy
Jensen. Our evening worship will follow the meeting at 6:00 p.m.
Blood Drive – About forty contributed blood at
the blood drive last Saturday. Our special thanks to Trevonna Parker who
organized the drive, and all of those who served in other capacities to make
it successful.
Address Change – Roland Guerra, (contact
us for details).
ATTENDANCE RECORD
Two years ago Last
year Last week Goal
Bible classes
165 143
138 170
Morning worship
230 251 *237 250
Evening worship
59 66 58 80
Contribution $3739.38 $3403.12 $3181.74 $4500.00
Our Sweetheart Dinner will be February
14th at the church building. For specifics contact Jim Nichols.
Our 14th annual area-wide Men’s Breakfast
will be February 28th. The speaker will be Bobby Valentine whose topic will
be “God’s Spirit and God’s Man.”
Nine from Southside plan to attend the Spirit
Fest youth program in Duluth, MN this weekend.
Our Parent to Parent video/discussion
class is scheduled to start Saturday, January 31st. This is a program for
parents of children of all ages that is to meet every other week. See John
Giemza or Daryl Miller for details.
Our thanks to Jim Coehoorn of Elkhorn who
preached last Sunday morning.
The Wisconsin Christian Youth Camp Silent
Auction will be February 21st.
The
Meaning of Faith (2)
The Apostle Paul tells us that God accepts
us on the basis of our faith without regard to our good works. “For it is
by grace that you have been saved, through faith – and it is not from
yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast”
(Ephesians 2:8, 9).
But does believing always result in God’s
acceptance? What about those believers who will not confess their
faith, such as the Jewish leaders who were secret disciples of Jesus? “Yet
at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But
because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear
they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise from men
more than praise from God” (John 12:42, 43).
The explanation is that in the New
Testament faith is used in different senses. The Jewish leaders who
would not confess Jesus did mentally accept him. They endorsed his
teachings and maybe thought he was from God. But that was the limit of
their faith. Like the demons that James says believe (James 2:19), their
faith stopped with their mental acceptance of facts. On the other hand,
faith as used in the New Testament often includes trust - not
just belief about Jesus, but faith in him. While mental
acceptance of the facts of the gospel is necessary to establish our
trust in Christ, not all who acknowledge these truths are willing to follow
him.
An oft-repeated statement that you may have heard is,
“Only believe and you will be saved.” Is that true? It all depends on how
one uses the word believe. Saving faith goes beyond the mental
process. That we will consider in the next article.
__Monroe Hawley
Show Me!
I saw a sign along the highway. It read: “Home
Cooking.” I searched for the restaurant and went in. Home was never like
that. Another sign on a plain and homely building bore this message: “Everyone
Welcome but Especially the Stranger and the Poor.” It was a church
building. The sign was not needed. The stranger and the poor were welcome,
and the deed spoke louder than the word.
I have read dozens of leaflets issued by dozens of
companies on the subject of personnel policies. Millions of dollars spent
for millions of pages. The textual matter was excellent and well prepared.
But, without the demonstrated practice of those written principles, those
words would be just as dead as the ink with which they were printed. If it
were necessary to eliminate either the printed word or the practice, the
leaflets would have to go. One sincere handshake is worth more than all the
protestations put together.
“Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have
works: show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by
my works.” James stated the case in those clear words a long time ago. It
may not be disastrous if one fools himself and the public in some secular
matters. But when we tamper with the principles of eternity, it is fatal.
__J. H. McCaleb in What Is Your Life?
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