SHEPHERDS
Barry McDowell
Jimmy Neatherlin
J. R. Stroble
Our Door is Open
Anyone wanting to meet
with our Shepherds is
encouraged to contact any
of the elders to set up a
time.
Volume 50 Issue 6
February 7, 2017
UNITY - GOD'S SPIRIT IS THE KEY
DEACONS
Travis Crandall
Johny Harris
Larry Mitchell
Mike Owens
Virgil Smith
Glenn Wells
Ministry Team:
Jill Crandall
Bruce Daughtry
Tammy Frintz
Brian McGonagill
Glen Moore
Eleanor Nelson
Mark Schinnerer
Charlie Weatherford
Sunday Services
Sunday Bible Class
9:00 am
Morning Worship
10:00 am
Evening Worship
5:00 pm
Wednesday
Fellowship
Ladies Bible Class
10:00 am
Bible Class
6:00 pm
Human beings are driven by emotions and that just makes for a mess. We see it every
day in our families, social groups, and community interactions and even in our spiritual
families. The extreme behaviors in the American Political system today are the best example of that mess and our daily lives seem to be defined and led by such emotional
human interaction. The American culture promotes individualism and personal gain
without regard for others. I believe the root cause of such behavior can be defined
with one word – “selfishness”. SELFISHNESS drives individual behaviors and emotions
and is the basis for many humans’ opinions, and is usually shaped by the environment
each person is in, their unique historical background and the drive to be in control and
to be “right”.
Proverbs 18:1 NIV - An unfriendly
sound judgment starts quarrels.
person pursues selfish ends and against all
The only consistently successful solution known to man and that has been known to
man for over 2,000 years is to fill your heart with the Holy Spirit. Allow God to fill your
heart completely, driving out the evil spirit influence that wants to fool you with your
human emotions. If the spiritual future for us individually and for us collectively, in our
spiritual family, in our earthly families, in our careers, in our social interactions is to be
preserved with God and only God being the center of life on earth, we have to humble
ourselves and turn to God to resolve every situation in our lives. God doesn’t want us
to be passive in our spiritual walk. He wants us to be active, but not acting on our own
emotions and opinions driven by those emotions, but rather active in His will in us.
Philippians 2:3-4 NIV - Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in
humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each
of you to the interests of the others.
The only way there will be unity in a church family is for each individual in that family to
completely turn their hearts over to God and fill their hearts with God’s spirit. Any one
or more emotional opinion from humans that is not truly God’s spirit acting in their
hearts will create conflict and division. As elders in this family, each time we are faced
with a question or a situation that God expects us to address, we turn to God in prayer,
asking Him for wisdom to understand the situation and clear direction on the way He
wants us to move. Sometimes we have to wait for God to respond. God rarely provides such wisdom and direction after one prayer. So we continue to pray, to follow His
instructions in our hearts, and wait for Him to reveal the big plan to reconcile the situation.
James 3:17 NLT - But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving,
gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and the fruit of
good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere.
Continued on page 2
Page 2
J.R.’s Article Continued
We want to encourage each of you to do the
same. No matter how big or small the situation is,
stay close to God and keep your heart full of His
spirit, and seek His wisdom and direction in everything you do. Pray to God and reveal your level of
faith in him, let go of your own emotional desire to
control and trust that He will deliver when He is
ready and don’t ever give up. If you trust that God
will take care of whatever binds you emotionally,
He will give you peace and His light will shine
brightly in every dark and dim situation. The next
time you feel strongly about your opinion on a situation and feel compelled to force your opinion on
others, stop and ask yourself “Is this God’s wisdom
and direction? Or is it my own emotional opinion
on how I think things ought to be?” If you truly
step back, pause and pray and allow God to answer
that question, you will likely be surprised. You will
know the wisdom and direction is from God if after
you prayed, other Christians around you reveal the
same wisdom and direction to reconcile the situation. And, if you are the only one with the desire to
reconcile a specific way, or if there are only a few in
a large circle that share your ideas, it’s not likely to
be from God.
Colossians 3:14 NIV - And over all these
virtues put on love, which binds them all
together in perfect unity.
At the beginning of the Restoration Movement in
1809, Thomas Campbell said in the “Declaration
and Address”, that it is vital to the future of the
church to follow God’s inspired word as written,
eliminating any man-made inventions and eliminating the human opinions from the decisions of the
church. And, by doing so will not only “restore”
God’s church established in the New Testament,
but will preserve it for another 2,000 years and beyond. So, in keeping with that core belief in the
way we make decisions in our own little community
in the middle of a big earth and billions of people,
we must turn to God for everything we do, generation-to-generation and never lose sight of what
God is capable of doing if we will just keep human
opinion out of the way.
How good and
pleasant it is when God's people live
Psalm 133:1 NIV together in unity!
God Bless You and God Bless our Family,
J. R. Stroble
Announcements
This Friday, February
10th, the Youth Group
will be hosting a Valentine’s Spaghetti Dinner
at 6:30 pm to help raise money for their
mission trip this summer to Boles Children’s Home. Free babysitting is available
for those that attend the dinner. Tickets
are $10.00 per person and can be purchased from the office, Bruce, or a youth
kid.
On Sunday, February 12th
there will be a baby shower
for Joel and Joy Massey at
2:00 pm in the MultiPurpose Room. They are expecting a
baby girl and are registered at Target,
Walmart, and Amazon.com. All ladies are
invited.
Ladies 3D (dinner, devo,
and dessert) will be on
Monday, February 13th at
6:00 pm in the MultiPurpose Room. Sherry Tidwell will be
our speaker, so please invite all your
friends and join us as we grow closer to
each other and closer to God.
The office will be closed on
Monday, February 20th in
observance of President’s
Day.
Page 3
Brian’s Corner
Change Requires You to Make a Choice
“Throw off your old sinful nature and
your former way of life, which is corrupted by
lust and deception” (Ephesians 4:22 NLT, second edition).
Change requires making choices. It’s not enough to dream
of changing. It’s not enough to desire change. In order for
you to change, you will need to make a decision. You must
choose to change.
Change is intentional: Are you going to be any different in
six months? Are you going to be better a year from now?
Are you going to be healthier, stronger, and more mature?
Are you going to be happier? Are you going to be less in
debt? Are you going to be more like God wants you to be?
I can tell you the answer right now: It will only happen if you
choose to change, because it isn’t going to happen accidentally. I want you to be better in ten years than you are
now, but you won’t be unless you choose to be.
It requires a choice.
A lot of times we think we’re waiting on God to change us.
No. You are not waiting on God. God is waiting on you! He’s
waiting on you to say, “Yes, Lord, I’m willing to make these
changes.”
We have to make intentional choices in order to grow.
There is no growth without change, there is no change without loss, and there is no loss without pain. If you are going
to grow, you will have to change, and change means letting
go of some old things in order to grab hold of some new
things.
It’s like swinging on a trapeze: The trapeze artist swings out
on one bar, and then he has to reach out and grab the other
one. At some point, he has to let go of one to grab the other, or he’s not going to make it to the other side. If he thinks
he can hold on to both, what happens? He gets stuck in the
middle, and he’s going down.
Some of you are stuck in the middle, and you’re going down
because you haven’t let go of the old patterns, the old habits, and the old ways of thinking. You have to let go of your
old ways.
The Bible says, “Throw off your old sinful nature and your
former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception” (Ephesians 4:22 NLT, second edition). In other words,
let it go. Those old habits, those old hurts, those old
patterns, those old sins in your life — let them go. The Bible
says to throw them off and trust that God is working in you
“to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13b NIV).
Prayer Requests
Vallaree Cherry will be undergoing
tests this week.
J.C. Cunningham had an angiogram
in Lubbock this week.
Alyssa Ferguson has cancer.
Amber Groves is back at MD Anderson for a
follow up visit. Pray for good test results.
Mike Harrington will have surgery on Wednesday, February 8th.
Emma Harrington had an appointment today
in El Paso.
Aleice Mitchell has connective tissue disorder.
Pray for pain management and relief.
Josh Shakra is in the hospital in Montana with
an infection. He is now in ICU.
Terry Wilson is in the hospital at Scott and
White.
Please pray for those who are traveling, those
that are lost and have not found their way to
Jesus, and for all of our families.
Continue to keep the following people in your
prayers: The Bradley Family, Beth Becker, Jim
Garner, Kaye Hoermann, Rose Marona, The Moore
Family, and Bernie Sanchez.
Shut Ins: Grace Autry, Bob and Velma Brown,
Pauline Crisman, Audrey Fisher, and Vivienne
Garner.
Upcoming *Anniversaries &
Birthdays:
February 7th-Jane Joe
February 8th-Judy Jones
February 9th-Veronica McIlwee
February 10th-E.H. Redden, Jeff
Veilleux
February 11th-Justin Carr, Mary Hughes, John
Mezger
February 13th-*Michael & Erin Neatherlin
Sunset Church of Christ
Contribution & Attendance For Sunday, February 5th
1308 W Blodgett
Carlsbad, NM 88220
Phone: 575-887-1278
Fax: 575-887-8078
[email protected]
www.sunsetchurch.org
Benevolence Ministry
Carlsbad Battered Families Shelter
Carlsbad Community Kitchen
Carlsbad Transitional Housing
Checks:
Bills:
Change:
Online Giving:
Total:
Average:
Weekly Budget:
Weekly + or (-)
$11,429.00
$341.00
$0.71
$645.00
$12,415.71
$9,315.86
$9,524.00
(208.14)
Lakeview Chaplain
Sunday Morning Bible Class
Sunday Morning
Sunday Evening
Small Groups
Wednesday, February 1st
Ladies Bible Class
124
215
36
22
Wednesday Services
New Mexico Christian Children’s Home
PERIODICAL RATE
Sunset Bulletin (USPS 913-140) Published weekly, except the last two weeks in December, by the Sunset
Church of Christ meeting at 1308 West Blodgett Street, Carlsbad, New Mexico 88220. Periodicals postage
paid at Carlsbad, New Mexico 88220. POSTMASTER SEND CHANGE OF ADDRESS TO:
SUNSET BULLETIN, 1308 W. BLODGETT ST, CARLSBAD, NM 88220
Sunset Bulletin
Sunset Church of Christ
1308 W. Blodgett St.
Carlsbad, NM 88220
Sunday, February 12, 2017- 10:00 a.m.
Speaker:
Men To Serve Communion:
Brian McGonagill
Worship Leader:
Rodney Williams
Mark Schinnerer
Welcome:
Alan Wood
Scripture:
Jon Barnes
Communion Service:
Jimmy Neatherlin
Shiloh Wyatt
Rocky Ybarra
Todd Allison
Martin Campos
Jeffery Carr
Greeters:
Red Team
Welcome Desk:
Robin Irving
Nursery Attendant:
Sally Fierro
Communion Service Schedule
February 19th-Dave Oakley
February 26th-Orlando Ortiz
March 5th-Roy Peterson
March 12th-Steve Peterson
Justin Carr
Ron Clem
Thank you for serving!
If unable to serve during
worship, please call:
Kelly Henry at 706-3304.