October152006 - 2006 Eastland Bulletins

Eastland eBulletin 10.15.06

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Area Meetings
. October 22-27 - Oak Grove.

Potpourri
. Remember the kids' bulletins.
. Reggie Robarts is today's speaker.
. Our monthly singing will be tonight at 5:00.

Food For Thought
. "Take away my capacity for pain and your rob me of the possibility for
joy. Take away my ability to fail and I would not know the meaning of
success. Let me be immune to rejection and heartbreak and I could not know
the glory of living." (Ross W. Marrs)
. "It is one of the ironies of the ministry that the very man who works in
God's name is often hardest put to find time for God. The parents of Jesus
lost him at church and they were not the last ones to lose him there."
(Vance Havner)
. Rick Majerus, former University of Utah basketball coach once quipped,
"Everyone's worried about the economy this year. Hey, my hairline is in
recession, my waistline is in inflation, and altogether, I'm in depression."

Monthly Duties
. Transportation: Broderson, McPherson
. Lord's Supper: P Reece, T Reece
. Meals: B Crowder, B Barnett
. Deacon: J Mindel
. Usher: S Riggle
. Sound: J Price

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Preparation for Prayer
By Peter Marshall

"And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while
they are yet speaking, I will hear" (Isaiah 65:24).

Once again, our Father, we marvel at the mystery of Thy love that can regard
our low estate and can be concerned with our weakness and our need, when
Thou has so many children all around the earth with so much need and sin and
sorrow.

Yet, in Thy great Love, Thou dost stoop to listen to us. May the wonder of
it enthrall our hearts, and the meaning of it captivate our wills.

Make strong our faith that Thou art listening to us even now, that the
petitions rising from our hearts are heard by Thee and have set in motion
all the processes of divine love, and caused to hurry to our assistance the
spiritual messengers at Thy command.

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A Prayer For Sins Against Others
By Peter Marshall

Hear me, Father, as I make my confessions. I thank Thee that Thou dost
receive me as I am - not as I pretend to be. I am so tired of pretending.

Forgive me for the times I have succeeded in deceiving my friends and loved
ones, for I knew I did not deceive Thee. In sinning against others, I know
that I have sinned against Thee. For hast Thou not said plainly that he who
claims to love God, and yet hates his brother, is a liar?

Father, I know that in my ignorance I have cast a shadow upon many. I have
stood in the way of their discovery of Thy way and Thy presence. O God,
forgive me. I have thought often of myself and my own needs, seldom of my
fellow human beings and of their needs. O God, give me selflessness.

I have been unwilling to forgive others, yet have had the audacity to ask
Thee to forgive me. I ask Thee for an understanding heart.

I have criticized other people in order to inflate my own importance. I ask
Thee, O God, for a generous heart.

I have tried by reason and the twisting of my conscience to rationalize
wrong into right.

There have been times when I told the truth only because I believed it was
expedient to do so. O God, help me to love truth and honesty for their own
sakes, that I may do right simply because I know it is right to do right.

I have sought the spotlight, yet am not big enough to stand in it. I want to
be renowned for great deeds, and all the while am notorious for small
performances.

I know that love for others is a gift of Thine. How much I desire it! Yet I
cannot manufacture it. Increase, I pray, Thy giving to me, that I may have
more love toward other people.

So may I go from this place to live my Christianity every day, in the things
I shall say to others, in the things I shall do for others, in the way I
shall live with others, that my own witness may be made to the love of
Christ Jesus, my Lord. Amen.

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