Southside Oracle Archive

Vol. 49, No. 6              SOUTHSIDE ORACLE                                  April 7, 2006

The Bulletin Board

The congregational meeting last Sunday was very well attended. Armando Vasquez, who preaches for the Spanish speaking congregation that meets in our building for worship at 3:00 p.m. each Sunday, told about the work these brethren are doing and how he hopes to move to Milwaukee soon in order to give more time to the Hispanic work. Each of us should let others know about this work as we are working closely with these brethren.

The sick - Martha Sepulveda fell last week and broke her arm.... Tom Brockdorf is now home following his lower back surgery last week. He is doing well, but is still in considerable pain.... Remember the sick in your prayers.

Daryl Miller will preach for us Sunday morning. Bobby Valentine will preach again for the Monroe congregation.

Camp Notes - There will be an E-Bay auction to benefit Wisconsin Christian Youth Camp on April 16t^h and a regular auction in Black River Falls on April 23rd. If you have any items to donate, please contact Jan or April Alexander and they will take them there on April 14^th. See details on the camp bulletin board .... Applications for the summer sessions are now available in the foyer. If there are children who wish to go to camp but cannot afford to do so, a scholarship fund is available. See Wayne Alexander or Tim Shilts about this .... If you can volunteer to serve on the staff at one of the sessions, contact either Tim (who directs the junior camp) or Wayne.

ATTENDANCE RECORD

Praise and Palate will be Sunday at 6:00 p.m. The palate part is ham creations. There will be an elders/deacons meeting at 4:30 p.m. Sunday.

The next Christian Workers' Meeting will be Tuesday, April 1e at 9:00 a.m. Speakers will be Dale Nelson of Beloit and Lance Hawley of Madison. All are invited to attend.

Calendar of Events

April 7 - 9 - York College High School Days

April 8 - Men's breakfast, Hampton Avenue Church, 8:30 -11:00 a.m.

April 9 - Elders/deacons meeting, 4:30 p.m.

April 9 - Praise and Palate, 6:00 p.m.

April 18 - Christian Workers' Meeting, 9:00 a.m., Southside

April 18 - Tuesday Nights Together, church building, 6:15 p.m.

April 21, 22 - Southside Men's Retreat, Camp Matawa

April 22 - 23 - WCYC Youth Rally, Fallhall Glen

May 12 - Southside Mother/Daughter Banquet, 6:30 p.m.

May 26 - 29 - Memorial Day Southside retreat, Fallhall Glen

June 18 - July 1 - Junior session, Wisconsin Christian Youth Camp, Fallhall Glen

July 2 - 15 - Middle session, Wisconsin Christian Youth Camp, Fallhall Glen

July 12 - 19 - Mission trip to Dominican Republic

Putting God to the Test

Prayer doesn't help patients - at least those prayed for by strangers. So concludes a scientific $2,400,000 study conducted by the John Templeton Foundation. The researchers of 1802 heart by-pass patients concluded that those who were prayed for by a control group of people unknown to them fared no better, perhaps a little worse, that those who did not receive collective prayers.

I guess the study was inevitable. We are scientifically researched on everything else, so why not prayer? The problem is that prayer is in the spiritual realm, not the scientific. Prayer is a matter of faith, but how do you scientifically measure things of the heart such as faith, hope, or love? The $2,400,000 study was wasted because it was fundamentally flawed by trying to measure the unmeasurable!

All prayer is subject to God's will. “If we ask anything according to his will he hears us" (1 John 5:15). But what if it is not God's will that a patient survives' Can we conclude that God has not heard us? Not at all. All parents sometimes have to say "no" to their children's requests. Certainly, if it is the will of God to heal the sick he will do so (James 4:15), but God cannot be ordered by his creatures.

We believe that God will answer prayers because he promises to do so. This is a matter of faith. When we earnestly pray for a loved one to recover and he does, our faith is strengthened experientially. The ultimate issue, though, relates not to prayer, but to God who will do what is best, even though we may not understand his decisions. And then we cry out, as did the father of the demoniac boy who responded to Jesus by saying, "I believe, help my unbelief' (Mark 9:24).

However, God does challenge us to put him to the test, though not like the Templeton researchers. To the faltering Jews in the time of Malachi who cut back on their offerings to God because they didn't see the results they wanted, God spoke, "Put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing" (Malachi 3: l0). We challenge Gad with our hearts, not scientific research. ___Monroe E. Hawley

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