Hello Folks,
This week we in the United States, and possibly other places as well, will celebrate Thanksgiving! This is a time that reminds us how God placed His hand on our nation to allow us to grow and become a place that celebrates freedom as a part of who we are! Those of us who are a little bit older remember how the Pilgrims had almost starved to death and decided to celebrate the harvest and the wonders of God's help for them through a Thanksgiving feast. Many in our nation have forgotten why we have Thanksgiving but Christians should always remember and remind those around us about the wonders of God's provisions for our lives.
This next item that I am about to speak is something that should cause us American Christians to thank God for the way He has taken care of us! It should also cause us to remember that much of our world is not blessed in the same manner that we are blessed. Our national media has kept the instances of Muslim murder and religious persecution from the view of most people. They had failed to report how in Syria there has been mass murders of Christians. In one town alone churches were attacked and 45 Christian men, women and children were tortured and killed by the Muslim majority. It is time that Christians raised their voices in protest to such violence against our brothers and sisters around the world.
Our world has much wrong with it but there is one thing that true for all people. Jesus Christ died to provide forgiveness to all people regardless of their actions in our world. So while we protest the hatred that produces atrocities against people we should proclaim the Savior who is able to change people of all colors, religions, backgrounds, and languages.
Have a Great Thanksgiving,
HGRudd
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Hello Folks,
Last night my wife and I visited an elderly couple from our congregation. He has been unable to attend for about 2 years and she is quickly reaching that stage as well. As we sat down and talked with them they told us about how long they had been married, 72 years, the situation with their son and their grandchildren as well as some memories of their past. During that discussion the husband informed me that he felt that he had "slipped" in his relationship with Christ and wanted to me to pray with him about that issue. We had that prayer and he was assured that all the sin of his life had been placed under the blood of Jesus. The lesson for me was that I should never take it for granted that a person has resolved all the issues of their life or their soul regardless of their age. It is very easy to reach the place where you simply think that everyone is settled in their life for Christ and there is no reason to talk to them about that issue. Thank God that this man was willing to address the concern he had and call out to the Savior! I would have missed it if it had not been for him. I also thank God that He still teaches me lessons.
This past Sunday tornadoes hit in Central Illinois where two of my children and four of my grandchildren live. You can imagine my relief when I talked to them and found out that all was well. The storms had hit about 12 miles from where they live. But at the same time there were hundreds of families devastated by those storms. Life is filled with storms some of them hit us directly and some of them bypass us. Yet regardless there are people who are often devastated and I wonder if we even consider their needs or what we can do to help. We can be so relieved that our loved ones are fine that we forget that there are numerous loved ones that are overwhelmed.
Have a great day,
HGRudd
Last night my wife and I visited an elderly couple from our congregation. He has been unable to attend for about 2 years and she is quickly reaching that stage as well. As we sat down and talked with them they told us about how long they had been married, 72 years, the situation with their son and their grandchildren as well as some memories of their past. During that discussion the husband informed me that he felt that he had "slipped" in his relationship with Christ and wanted to me to pray with him about that issue. We had that prayer and he was assured that all the sin of his life had been placed under the blood of Jesus. The lesson for me was that I should never take it for granted that a person has resolved all the issues of their life or their soul regardless of their age. It is very easy to reach the place where you simply think that everyone is settled in their life for Christ and there is no reason to talk to them about that issue. Thank God that this man was willing to address the concern he had and call out to the Savior! I would have missed it if it had not been for him. I also thank God that He still teaches me lessons.
This past Sunday tornadoes hit in Central Illinois where two of my children and four of my grandchildren live. You can imagine my relief when I talked to them and found out that all was well. The storms had hit about 12 miles from where they live. But at the same time there were hundreds of families devastated by those storms. Life is filled with storms some of them hit us directly and some of them bypass us. Yet regardless there are people who are often devastated and I wonder if we even consider their needs or what we can do to help. We can be so relieved that our loved ones are fine that we forget that there are numerous loved ones that are overwhelmed.
Have a great day,
HGRudd
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Hello Folks,
You should have been in our worship this past Sunday. We honored our Veterans in our worship and had Dr. Ron Duncan here to preach. The sermon that he brought to us was from the Lord and it impacted the lives of people. There were at least two people saved and others dealt with the concerns of their lives. We started the morning with breakfast for Veterans and their families with at least 100 people eating with us. Then they entered the Welcome Center where various uniforms were displayed as well as photo's of those who had served. Then in our worship there was a very moving Drama, the choir sang, and some children sang as well. God seemed to orchestrate all that took place and it culminated in Dr. Duncan preaching about Going Home! I must say it again you should have been here to hear God speak through the various things that took place. We also received an offering that went to the Wounded Warrior Project that totaled $2343.00. That money will be used to help those who will and have returned to the U.S. with wounds both visible and invisible. I pray that all that was done here brought glory to the King of Kings! He is truly Great!
I ask you to pray with us here at Greeneville First Church of God. It is my intention to attempt to do 2-3 things over the next year that will have direct impact upon our community. We will ask our congregation to participate in an effort to reach into our community in a manner that will help the lives of people. It is to be done with the desire to help people see the living Savior working through us in their lives. Those things have not been completely decided as of yet so I ask you to pray that we will know what should be done.
Have a great day,
HGRudd
You should have been in our worship this past Sunday. We honored our Veterans in our worship and had Dr. Ron Duncan here to preach. The sermon that he brought to us was from the Lord and it impacted the lives of people. There were at least two people saved and others dealt with the concerns of their lives. We started the morning with breakfast for Veterans and their families with at least 100 people eating with us. Then they entered the Welcome Center where various uniforms were displayed as well as photo's of those who had served. Then in our worship there was a very moving Drama, the choir sang, and some children sang as well. God seemed to orchestrate all that took place and it culminated in Dr. Duncan preaching about Going Home! I must say it again you should have been here to hear God speak through the various things that took place. We also received an offering that went to the Wounded Warrior Project that totaled $2343.00. That money will be used to help those who will and have returned to the U.S. with wounds both visible and invisible. I pray that all that was done here brought glory to the King of Kings! He is truly Great!
I ask you to pray with us here at Greeneville First Church of God. It is my intention to attempt to do 2-3 things over the next year that will have direct impact upon our community. We will ask our congregation to participate in an effort to reach into our community in a manner that will help the lives of people. It is to be done with the desire to help people see the living Savior working through us in their lives. Those things have not been completely decided as of yet so I ask you to pray that we will know what should be done.
Have a great day,
HGRudd
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Hello Folks,
This past Sunday was a day of wonderful worship in Jesus. I had prepared a sermon on Biblical honor as the first sermon in a series that I preach each year on the family. It seems to me that if families honor each other and God the home would be a place filled with the wonders of God. Well, I had already prepared the sermon when I received a phone call from a woman in the church whose son plays football at one of the High Schools. It seems that the players wanted to attend this past Sunday as a way of saying thank you to Dale Gruver our Worship Pastor. He has been a volunteer chaplain for them over the past four years. So unknown to Dale I said yes and they arrived in their uniforms. I could not have paid for a better illustration about honor than what they provided us that morning! Praise be to God while they did not know what I was preaching about and I had no knowledge that they would call and want to do that on that Sunday God did and He arranged it all! The presence of God was very real and people were praying at our altars getting business done with the King!
Next Sunday we will celebrate Veteran's Day and we have been preparing for it for some time now! Ron Duncan will be our speaker and we will have some special moments designed to honor, there's that word again, our Veteran's for their sacrifices. We are fortunate to have one WWII veteran, Arthur Ricker, who was at Normandy storming the beaches on June 6, 1944. The future of the world depended upon those men who were dying as they attacked an entrenched enemy. Thousands died and many more thousands were wounded that day alone but the Allies won the day and history was changed for the better! In our services will be men and women who have given much to enable all of us to have freedom that we are so blessed to have in the United States. I pray that we give real honor to those individuals who gave so much.
Yet there is one who gave so much more than all of them combined and that is the Savior, Jesus Christ, who left heaven, put on human flesh, died on Calvary, was buried, but rose again on the third and appointed day! May we always remember to honor Him! There is no other Savior than Him and if He had not accomplished the greatest victory of all no one would be able to enjoy the freedom that comes from Him. We should honor Him above all else.
Have a great day,
H. G. Rudd
This past Sunday was a day of wonderful worship in Jesus. I had prepared a sermon on Biblical honor as the first sermon in a series that I preach each year on the family. It seems to me that if families honor each other and God the home would be a place filled with the wonders of God. Well, I had already prepared the sermon when I received a phone call from a woman in the church whose son plays football at one of the High Schools. It seems that the players wanted to attend this past Sunday as a way of saying thank you to Dale Gruver our Worship Pastor. He has been a volunteer chaplain for them over the past four years. So unknown to Dale I said yes and they arrived in their uniforms. I could not have paid for a better illustration about honor than what they provided us that morning! Praise be to God while they did not know what I was preaching about and I had no knowledge that they would call and want to do that on that Sunday God did and He arranged it all! The presence of God was very real and people were praying at our altars getting business done with the King!
Next Sunday we will celebrate Veteran's Day and we have been preparing for it for some time now! Ron Duncan will be our speaker and we will have some special moments designed to honor, there's that word again, our Veteran's for their sacrifices. We are fortunate to have one WWII veteran, Arthur Ricker, who was at Normandy storming the beaches on June 6, 1944. The future of the world depended upon those men who were dying as they attacked an entrenched enemy. Thousands died and many more thousands were wounded that day alone but the Allies won the day and history was changed for the better! In our services will be men and women who have given much to enable all of us to have freedom that we are so blessed to have in the United States. I pray that we give real honor to those individuals who gave so much.
Yet there is one who gave so much more than all of them combined and that is the Savior, Jesus Christ, who left heaven, put on human flesh, died on Calvary, was buried, but rose again on the third and appointed day! May we always remember to honor Him! There is no other Savior than Him and if He had not accomplished the greatest victory of all no one would be able to enjoy the freedom that comes from Him. We should honor Him above all else.
Have a great day,
H. G. Rudd
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