Tag Archive for: bulletin

Estes Echo

Honoring Our Senior Saints

…with the Senior Saints’ Valentine’s Day Banquet. It is only appropriate that we all honor our older brothers and sisters, and our young members are to commended for this gift of respect and appreciation. These people in our midst have incredible experience and wisdom to share with all of us. They are wonderful examples of people who have endured hardships, triumphed over problems, savored blessings and success, and offered examples of the faithful Christian walk. Here are some biblical reasons to honor our Senior Saints:

  • They are hard workers in the kingdom despite age and infirmity: They will still yield fruit in old age; They shall be full of sap and very green. (Psalm 92:14)
  • They are our parents and have sacrificed for us: Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, that your days may be prolonged and that it may go well with you on the land which the Lord your God gives you. (Deuteronomy 5:16)
  • They are great Christian examples: But as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine. Older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible, sound in faith, in love, in perseverance. Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored. (Titus 2:1-4)
  • They are deserving of honor and respect: As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete. (Genesis 15:15)
  • They love us: Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a varicolored tunic. (Genesis 37:3)
  • They are examples of dedication: And there was a prophetess, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years and had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple, serving night and day with fastings and prayers. At that very moment she came up and began giving thanks to God, and continued to speak of Him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem. (Luke 2:36-38)
  • Their proven, steadfast faith in the Father gives them strength and spirit:
    Who redeems your life from the pit,
    Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion;
    Who satisfies your [a]years with good things,
    So that your youth is renewed like the eagle. (Psalm 103:4-6)

Say “Thank You!” to a senior saint this week.

Estes Echo

The leaders of the Estes congregation believe financial planning for the future is an important part of our spiritual lives and are providing an estate planning seminar to help each family get their financial house in order. This seminar, provided by professionals, is presented free of charge. Further individual planning sessions may be scheduled after the seminar has concluded (at no additional cost and no future obligation).

The seminar teaches God’s principles of money management in simple terms and highlights the blessings that come from putting these principles into practice. The professionals conducting the seminar sell no other products or services. They are prepared to give each participant hope and motivation to wisely manage the assets God has placed in their care. You will learn the benefits and blessings of understanding and living by the Biblical principles of money management. You will also learn why it is so important to create your own estate plan and how these Biblical principles can help you do this.

The timeless lessons on money management from the Bible are important for Christians of all ages. The young are learning the importance of living within financial restrictions while giving to the Lord. Matured couples see how the promises of God really are fulfilled in an abundant manner. Older couples want to make certain their own needs and those of their loved ones are taken care of. All of these are addressed with Biblical wisdom in an enjoyable, easy-to-apply way.

Imagine what the church could do if these statements applied to each of our families:

  • Out of debt and free of financial worries
  • Building wealth, while maintaining a Christian perspective
  • Giving as they prospered
  • Believing God when He said that He would bless those who bless others
  • Teaching their children about money management and financial priorities
  • Appreciating the fact that everything belongs to God
  • At peace from knowing that they had enough to live on for the rest of their lives
  • Wrote letters to heirs concerning the spiritual values that they want to pass on
  • Had a current estate plan which took care of them, their heirs, and the church

The Estate Planning Seminar for Christians will meet from 9-11 am in Room 5 on Saturday, January 30. So that we will know how many copies of materials to provide, please RSVP to info@esteschurch.org or sign the list on the Activities’ Board.

Estes Echo

Gospel Meeting: Let’s Talk About Jesus!

This coming week (October 11-14) Estes invites you to participate in our Gospel meeting featuring six lessons on the nature of our unique savior.

Every generation needs to hear about Jesus. The place of Jesus is unique. God’s “only one of a kind” son (John 3:16) was given for humanity to obtain eternal life. In 1 Timothy 3:16, the apostle Paul spoke of the great story of Jesus, once hidden but now revealed. Several qualities he attributed to Jesus include that He was manifested in the flesh, preached among the nations and received up in glory. Such restrained words stand for the marvelous revelation of Jesus. The four core lessons of our discussion will show more of the revealed place of Jesus, as the promised, rejected, crucified and risen Savior. It is a message that continues to need preaching today as much as it did when the voices of the apostles first echoed in the streets of Jerusalem. The Bible Class lesson is a stand-alone discussion of Christian joy drawn from Philippians. The final lesson will feature the Lord’s great parable of the prodigal son.

Our speaker for the week is Tim Orbison who is is in his nineteenth year preaching for the Maysville, Alabama congregation. He and his wife Libbie met and married while attending Freed-Hardeman and now have three grown children, Lauren Thompson, Leah Shull, and Tyler Orbison and three grandchildren. Tim holds degrees in Bible from FHU and Lipscomb (MAR). His interest in biblical archeology has taken him to Israel for times as well as to Greece and Egypt. He spent a month on an archeological dig in Israel at the ancient site of Ein Gedi, on the Dead Sea. Never a boring scholar, Tim’s interests also include flying as a private pilot, snowboarding, and tinkering with just about anything mechanical. He and Libbie both also enjoy long-distance motorcycle touring and camping.

Estes Echo

Faith

Our faith is precious and should be considered, nurtured, and cherished.

Wear it every day: “But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.” 1 Thessalonians 5:8

Know its source: “…my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. 1 Corinthians 2:4-5

Use it for unity: “For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.” Hebrews 4:2

Know its power: “But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.” Hebrews 10:39

Realize what it is: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1

Use it for understanding: “By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.” Hebrews 11:3

Know it has rewards: “And 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 seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6

Estes Echo

HOMECOMING AND DECORATION DAY
Sunday, May 17

Friends, family, and former members – we’d love to see you! Come home to Estes this weekend.

GUEST SPEAKER: JUSTIN ROGERS

9:30 am – All adult Bible classes meet in the auditorium
TOPIC – Returning the People; Ezra 1-3

10:30 am – Worship
TOPIC – Rebuilding the Temple; Ezra 4-5

NOON POTLUCK

1:00 pm – Worship
TOPIC – Restoring the Nation; Ezra 6-10
(no 5:00 pm worship service)

Estes Echo

Congratulations to our 2015 high school graduates! Please take time to pray for each of these young people and let them know you are proud of who they have become. The graduates will be honored Sunday morning, May 17, at Estes.

Brady Clark
Marissa Dove
Sydney Frank
Elisabeth Hibbett
Matthew Johnson
Bill Lampley
Jamie Moody
Carson Naylor
Holly Oliver
Dylan Purvis
Samuel Sides
Kasey White

There will be a dinner celebrating and congratulating our 2015 high school seniors on Saturday, May 16, 6:00 pm. If you would like to attend, sign the list on the youth board by Sunday.

Estes Echo

Sheep Need a Shepherd; Humanity Needs the Good Shepherd

Last published in 2007, W. Phillip Keller wrote A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23. Mr. Keller came to write the book with a very interesting and diverse background. He was, himself, a shepherd for many years of his adult life. Being a well-educated man, he spent the last several years of his professional life working as a scientist. This placed him in an interesting position when he wrote A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23. He was able to provide insight from a practical standpoint because he was a shepherd and he was able to write from a technical standpoint because he understood the science behind why shepherds do the things they do.

In the book, Mr. Keller tells of how he would often lead a flock of sheep to a luscious, green pasture. The pasture was often fenced in and would have good water available and nutritious plants for the sheep to eat. He relayed how there would always be one, and maybe a few more, lambs who would walk along the fence looking for a way out. There were always sheep that wanted to escape. The sheep would often escape to pasture that was dangerous for them and even to pasture that was much worse for them. They were just looking for a way out.

Mr. Keller then relayed how the sheep would develop an intimate relationship with their shepherd and would do anything they were directed to do. He told how he could lead a sheep to the slaughtering block and they would blindly follow him, not being cognitively aware they were being led to their death. And, in the pasture at large, the sheep would be headed for their own death or demise without the shepherd’s direction.

It is interesting how children of God will study His word and often attempt to look for a way out of the directives given by God. Isaiah described humanity: “All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned every one, to his own way” (Isaiah 53:6). Often times, Christians look for a way out of God’s directives and it is ultimately to their own demise. Sheep need a shepherd and humanity needs the Good Shepherd.

It is also easy to imagine a lamb following shepherds to their own death. The lambs were, of course, led to their own death by the priests of the old law and did not have any awareness they were to be slaughtered. It was not that way with the Lamb of God. Christ was led to His own death completely aware He was to die on Calvary’s tree. “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth” (Isaiah 53:7).

–Jeremy Northrop

Estes Echo

The Single Christian

People are single for various reasons, whether widowed, divorced, or never married. Many are simply waiting to find that special someone with whom they are willing to spend a lifetime, while others actually choose to remain unmarried. In almost every congregation of the Lord’s church, single Christians can be found in each of these categories.

While all eligible persons have the “right to take along a believing [spouse]” (1 Cor. 9:5), keep in mind they also have the right not to! Regardless of social expectations, the Lord has not made it a requirement for everyone to be married. Jesus, our Master and perfect example, was a single man, as was Jeremiah, Daniel, and Paul. There is no mention in the Bible of the following individuals having been married: Ezra, Nehemiah, Mordecai, John the baptizer, Mary Magdalene, Lazarus and his sisters, Stephen, Barnabas, Silas, John Mark, Timothy, Phoebe, Titus, Apollos, and many more. Others, such as Ezekiel, Hosea, Naomi, Ruth, Jesus’ mother, Lydia and more, became (or at least appear to have become) “single again” after marriage. Being unmarried, therefore, is not only acceptable, in some cases it may even be preferable (cf. 1 Cor. 7:7-8).

Marriage, in and of itself, does not guarantee a fulfilling and happy life, as evidenced by the many disillusioned married couples and the alarming divorce rate! If we expect to be happy in heaven, and there is no marriage in heaven (Mark 12:25), where is that happiness going to come from? True joy comes from within, regardless of external circumstances. It was a single person who said, “I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content” (Phil. 4:11). One must never let singlehood keep him/her from living a faithful and fulfilling Christian life, eagerly serving in God’s kingdom.

Unmarried people are not a special class of needy individuals in the church to be pitied, ministered to, or entertained. Being spouseless is not an impediment. The mere fact of singleness does not automatically render a person “needy” or eliminate that person’s own responsibility to serve others (1 Tim. 5:3-16). Singles ought to be seen as a dynamic force in the Lord’s body to be appreciated and utilized. Every congregation needs an effective “singles ministry,” which means keeping our unmarried members involved in active ministry (1 Cor. 12:12-21).

To help singles cope with the inevitable pressures of the single life, the following is suggested. (a) Realize you’re not the only one. Singlehood is a reality for a lot of people, including many great men and women of faith who have gone on before us (Heb. 12:1). (b) Keep your eyes focused on Jesus, who lived a productive life as an unmarried person (Heb. 12:2). (c) In overcoming self-pity and loneliness, remove yourself from the center of your life (1 Cor. 10:24). (d) Stay keenly involved in the Lord’s work (1 Cor. 15:58). (e) Develop close relationships with your spiritual family (Eph. 2:19). (f) Appreciate the blessings of singleness and the opportunities that would otherwise not be afforded (1 Cor. 7:25-35). (7) Trust in God (Psa. 37:3-6). (g) Learn and embrace contentment (Phil. 4:11-13). (h) Pray regularly (1 Thess. 5:17). (i) Commit your life totally to the Lord (Eccl. 12:13).

Married or single, the challenge is to accept your circumstance in life, be content, and use your unique situation to the glory of God (1 Cor. 7:24; 10:31). Even if your marital status happens to change, your contentment and usefulness to God should not.

–Kevin L. Moore

Estes Echo

Ninety Generations

The dating of the book of Isaiah is placed during the seventh and eighth centuries before the time of Christ, which makes it approximately 2700 years ago. It is hard for me to comprehend 2700 years. I am not sure any of us can completely understand the time that has passed and all that has happened. A bit of reflection on generations might be helpful.

It is not uncommon (in fact, it is extremely common) for us to know our parents. Most of us spend over half of lives knowing our parents and having a significant relationship with them. Still not uncommon, but a little less common, is to know our grandparents. I was blessed to know all four of my grandparents and had a significant relationship with all of them. Two of my grandparents still live and I get to spend time with them. Perhaps, you have been blessed to know your great-grandparents. I remember three of my great-grandmothers. Two of the three passed away around the time I became a teenager. The third lived until I was in my 20s. She was a godly lady who passed with hope. We called her ‘Gramsie.’ She often told of our family’s association with the church.

While spending time with Gramsie, I remember her telling about times she grew up in Hewins, Kansas, and would walk or even ride a horse and carriage to worship on Sunday. She would tell how she would walk into the auditorium on Sundays and see both of her grandfathers (my great-great-great-grandfathers) on each side of the auditorium. They were both elders in the church.

Several years ago, my father conducted genealogical studies of the family and was able to trace the family back over ten generations. Yet, after we searched back two (maybe three or four) generations, the people just become a name and a date. Time marches on. In Genesis 5, there is a record of family generations beyond Adam and Eve. Yet, so many of them are just names and length of years they lived. As I have written about my family here, I went back five generations, even as far back as the 1800s. Yet, to get to the time of Isaiah, if the average generation is 30 years, we would have go back 90 generations.

Ninety generations ago, Isaiah told of the coming of Christ. 2700 years ago, Isaiah told how Jesus would be born into the world and he would bring hope to a world filled with hopelessness. He told how He would be born into the world like everyone else, be rejected, and ultimately killed. And all of it was in the plan of God. Isaiah more than any other prophet provided predictions of the coming King (i.e. Isaiah 52:13-53:12) – Ninety generations ago.

–Jeremy Northrop

Estes Echo

Visit to the Bible Lands

This is a brief summary of the recent trip made by a group of 20 pilgrims to Greece and Israel, led by our capable guides Mark and Dana Blackwelder.

In Athens we visited the Acropolis, a high rocky hill upon which the remains of several ancient structures stand, including the Parthenon – the old temple of the city’s patron goddess Athena. When the apostle Paul was in Athens over 19 centuries earlier, “his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols” (Acts 17:16). From atop the Acropolis, viewing the city’s myriad (tightly compacted) buildings and houses, it’s hard not to share the apostle’s deep concern for these precious souls. On the northwest side of the Acropolis, we climbed to the top of the Areopagus (“Rock of Ares”) or Mars Hill, where Paul had delivered his passionate speech about “the unknown God,” pleading for all to repent in view of the coming judgment (Acts 17:19-31). Read more