Can you spend 20 minutes a day to transform your entire life?

Twenty minutes a day is all it takes to read four or five chapters of God's Word. You can read a typical chapter in less than 5 minutes. By investing at least 20 minutes a day, you can cover the entire Bible in one year!

Make this year's Bible reading schedule a little different. 1st find a bible you can understand, or for seasoned bible readers - try a new version. Get your heart ready for worship by reading from the Psalms out loud on Sunday. On Monday through Friday, keep moving steadily through the Old Testament. Start each day with a few verses of wisdom from the Proverbs to renew our minds, and then apply them that day. Then on Saturday read for about 45 minutes from the New Testament, as well as some more of the Proverbs.

Within a year you will  change your life FOREVER!

Edie Hawk

Deuteronomy 17:19

This word is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees

John 17:17
Sanctify them in the truth; your word is the truth.

Psalm 119:107
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.

John 8:32
Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

 Praise & Worship By Joy Smith

The first P&W column will serve to glorify God and to edify some of those who worked so hard in 2007, according to l  Thes 5:12 & 13. Borrowing from a section of the SI newspaper, we would like to give thumbs up to the Lord and some of His volunteers.

·          to new faces in our assembly and those who invited them.

·          to the Lord's healing (ask Diana, Brooke, and others).

·          to two van trips for the "mature" ladies.

·          to those who trimmed the bushes.

·          to three new ladies who volunteered to clean the church building each week:  Connie H. Wendy P., and Linda S.

·          to J-Team inspiration given to Niki.

·          to Brooke's leading a new worship team.

·          to Kim's inspiration to lead others in canvassing all of Sesser to spread information about our church.

·          to work on the leak in the vestibule and steeple by Curtis and others.

·          to Penny and Tammy's hours of instruction for the Christmas program and decoration.

·          to men faithful to "Promise Keepers".

·          to a new deacon, David L., and future men's ministries.

·          to another town wide crusade and a great VBS.

·          to new additions:  Pat Johns transferred membership her and her grandson, Casey Lingle gave his life to Christ.

·          to so many unmentioned members who helped others in need.

Also we want to remember some very influential ones we will be missing since Jan., Marge Earley, Apr., Dan Williams June, Herb Hutson, Sept., Alma Jean Borosky, and Oct., Leona Inabnit. 

Finally, continue to edify one another. Need inspiration? Read 1Thes. 5:12-28.
     Be joyful! JS

1 Thessalonians 5: 12 –28

Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.

   Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

    Do not put out the Spirit's fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.

    May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.

    Brothers, pray for us. Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. I charge you before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers.

    The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

   I hope you all had a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year. We are now entering 2008 with high hopes of strengthening our relationship with Jesus Christ and his father, God. We have good intentions of reading more, praying more, or some other way of spending more time with God. If you are like me, I try it alone and falter, but let’s make this year better. I feel that God is leading me to revive a men’s ministry here at Sesser Christian Church, but I can’t do it alone.
      This is where you come in; please feel free to offer any suggestions.  For example: How often to meet, What activities to do, Any specials events that you might like to have, Bible study or open talk format, etc. You can e-mail me at dplingle@peoplepc.com, leave a message for me at home, or leave me a note in my cubbyhole at church.
   
In Service with Christ,
David Lingle

From the word 

For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. II Corinthians 5:21

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! II Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Romans 5:1

Now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.1 Peter 2:3

let the Spirit change your way of thinking and make you into a new person. You were created to be like God, and so you must please him and be truly holy. Ephesians 4:23-24 

and you must stay deeply rooted and firm in your faith. You must not give up the hope you received when you heard the good news. Colossians 1:22-23 

Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and He will say: Here am I. Isaiah 58:9

The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him. Nahum 1:7

And Jesus answered saying to them, " Have faith in God.” Mark 11:22

 A Gardner's View by Edie Hawk

     It is freezing out side and spring is a far off but yet I have just been inundated with gardening catalogs. They bring good news. They have everything for my gardens. It has tools I need to work my ground. It has fertilizer to work into my poor rocky soil. It has all sorts of watering wands and methods. It has nifty diggers for weeds that pop up.
   The catalog is full of seeds to sow. Some seeds are for beauty, some are just for my pleasure, but most of the seeds are for needful things, stuff that sustains life. All seeds are guaranteed to only grow what is sowed with no surprises.       
     The catalogs promise that if I sow my seeds in the soil I have prepared correctly by their instructions; if I water the seeds with the devises they provide and fertilize every now and then I will reap the seeds that I sowed.

So pamper me as I suggest that the Bible is like my gardening catalog, that the words in there are fertilizers and the  Godly principles are the tools for the poor rocky soil of my life. The nifty diggers from the Word root out the weeds I have sown in the garden of my life by the words I have spoken. If I plant corn I will reap corn, tomatoes then tomatoes; If I plant God’s Word I will reap God’s Word; if I plant doubt, I will reap doubt...So what am I saying? Your words & deeds are the seeds you plant in the garden of your life. Galatians 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap.

The Bumps Of Life—By Garry Hopkins

Prov 8:17  "I love those who love me and those who seek me diligently will find me".

Our walk with God usually comes down to one question: "Are we going to trust Him?"  Dear friends, if we do not, then we should expect a rough path!

During my younger years I spent a couple summers working on one of my schoolmate's father's dairy farm.  The cows were let into individual stalls in the dairy barn, their udders would be washed and before automatic milking machines was introduced in out area, then one would sit down on a stool and milk the cow.  Some of the cows gave much more milk than others, however, one could not always tell how much milk the cow had until it was in the bucket.

My friends, our faith is like a bucket of milk; one will discover how much is inside when they bump it.  When circumstances "bump" us, we will spill out what we are full of.  When we burn the toast, then our car is hard to start and someone cuts us off so that we are unable to take the correct exit to our office, (bump) others will be able to observe what we are full of. Perhaps our septic tank has overflowed on our lawn. (bump)  Maybe we went into the bathroom and discover a leak in the roof. (bump)  What splashes out of our bucket, when we get "bumped?"  Remember, others are watching!  While others cannot always tell how much faith we have by just looking at us, they will quickly discover the measure of it when we start to speak after getting "bumped".

Now, some of us might think that a few small slips when we get "bumped" are not significant.  If so, I want to take us back to the rock Moses was standing in front of, when he got a bit ticked and "struck the rock". (Num 30:11)  The problem was that God had told him to "take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together.  Speak to the rock before their eyes and it will yield its water; thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock and give drink to the congregation and their animals".  (Num 20:8)

Some of us may be thinking, "What is the big deal; so he smacked it instead of speaking to it?"  The big deal was that he disobeyed God and our Heavenly Father never takes disobedience lightly!  We should never forget that!!!

As we travel down the road of life, "bumps" are going to happen; if we expect otherwise, we are sure to be disappointed.  Yes my friends, we can count on being tested.  And the purpose of the test is not just to reveal our faith, it is to refine it. God does not test our faith in order to know how much we have; He already knows.  He tests it so that we will know and then have a chance to work on it!  In closing, I am going to give us a test: I want each of us to think of the hardest thing that is going on in our life right now, then ask our self, "Is this a test of my faith? Will I pass?"  Remember, "without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him".  (Heb 11:6) Try faith; it is a great bump-absorber!