Announcements

MEMBER ALERT:

Bible study for the ladies on the English-speaking side: December 14th at 10 a.m. via Zoom. For additional information, contact Winnie Sylvester or Rosemary Dayie.

Bible study for ladies on the Spanish-speaking side: December 14th at 5 p.m. at the church building. Sister Maria Rios will be the speaker.

Men’s Bible study: December 20th, 7 p.m. at the church building. Volunteers to lead/facilitate future Bible studies are needed. Contact Bob Greene for more information.

Wednesday night Bible will remain at 7:30 PM each week!

Sign-up sheets are on the bulletin board for hall monitors, Sunday morning greeters, meal contact persons and Bible class substitutes and assistants on Sundays and Wednesdays.

Bible class teachers and assistants are needed, see Arnoldo Velásquez or one of the elders if you desire to serve in this capacity

Pray for our shepherds and the flock (our congregation): that we may all submit to the Lord's will and His design for His Church that He purchased with His own blood (Acts 20:28, 31; 1 Thessalonians 5:11-24; 1 Timothy 3:1-7; 5:1-21; Titus 1:6-15; 1 Peter 5:1-11).

Pray for the congregation in Ecuador, for the security of that country and for all people who are suffering through no fault of their own.

MEMORY VERSES

Lev. 11:45: 'For I am the LORD who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God; thus you shall be holy, for I am holy.'" NASB1995

1 Cor. 11:22: What! Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you. NASB1995

ALL IS VANITY

“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher; “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” (Ecclesiastes 1:2) LIFE IN THIS WORLD IS “VAIN.” That does not mean it is unimportant; it means it is temporary. Whatever we accomplish of a this-worldly nature, it will not last. Whatever work we do while we live, it will be forgotten after we’re gone, if not before then. So our work is like sandcastles. It’s not that we shouldn’t build any; we just shouldn’t be surprised when they wash away.

Sadly, we often try to attach more meaning and permanence to earthly things than they were ever meant to have. We lean more weight upon them than they can support. Take friendships, for example, or even marriage. When we expect from other people a joy that only God can provide, we impose an unfair burden on them and set ourselves up for disappointment. As Oswald Chambers said, “If we try to find lasting joy in any human relationship, it will end in vanity, something that passes like a morning cloud. The true joy of a man’s life is in his relationship to God.”

But we mention human relationships only as an example. The same principle holds true with regard to every other temporal treasure: these things were only meant to be enjoyed for a while, and even while we enjoy them, they were not meant to be our end-all and be-all. Unfortunately, many of us live as if that were the case. Succumbing to the powerful pull of what is “here” and what is “now,” we put tremendous effort into goals that, even if we achieve them, will not turn out to be very tremendous. To borrow Shakespeare’s phrase, we make “much ado about nothing.

” What, then, is the point of this “vain” life? Solomon summed it up succinctly in Ecclesiastes 12:13: “Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man” (New King James Version). “Respect and obey God! This is what life is all about” (Contemporary English Version). “Stand in awe of God, obey his orders: that is everything, for every man” (Moffatt). Any way you translate it, the point is basic: only in reverence and obedience to God can we accomplish anything. Without that priority, “all is vanity.”

“To become like Christ is the only thing in the world worth caring for, the thing before which every ambition of man is folly and all lower achievements vain” (John Drummond). https://wordpoints.com/wordpoints-daybook-series/reaching-forward/

Six Words Worth Heeding

In looking at Scripture, I’ve often wondered how King Solomon might have summed up his life in six words. As a young man, he could have written: “God has given me great wisdom” (1 Kings 4:29-34). But in his later years, he might have said: “Should have practiced what I preached” (1 Kings 11:1-8).

During his kingly reign, distinguished by peace and prosperity, Solomon developed spiritual heart problems. When he was old, “his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David” (1 Kings 11:4).

The result was God’s displeasure and a sad end to a previously exemplary life (1 Kings 11:9-10).

The many times that Solomon uses the word “vanity” [empty or meaningless] in Ecclesiastes, may indicate his disillusionment about life and its many challenges.

This once-wise king who had it all, pondered it all and lost it all, ended the book with these six words: “Fear God and keep His commandments” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).

Dear reader, now these are six words worth heeding! https://gospelsnippets.blogspot.com/2014/08/six-words-worth-heeding.html