DOERS OF THE WORD
David Lipscomb (Gospel Advocate, August 15, 1907)

"Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only,
deceiving your own selves" (James 1:22).

A man who imagines he is benefited by hearing the word when he does not do it deceives himself. A knowledge of the word of God adds guilt to the failure to do it. He that knows his Master's will and refuses to do it will be punished with many stripes. Believing in Christ without obeying him adds nothing to salvation. Obedience to Christ is faith put into practice. Faith is never regarded as fixed and helpful until it leads to obedience, until it controls the whole man. This obedience involves not only baptism and the Lord's supper, or obedience to the positive ordinances of the Lord, but it embraces obedience to the moral and spiritual precepts of the Scriptures.

One must love God with all the mind and soul and body. He must subdue and hold in proper restraint his own fleshly lusts, desires, and ambitions. He must be truthful, upright, honest, and at all times ready to do good to all the children of men. He must help the poor and needy, the widow and the orphan. He must seek to save the lost and to reproduce in his own life the life of Jesus, who gave his life as the example we should follow. The apostle follows up this admonition with the warning that the forgetful hearer is not blessed in the hearing, but that man is blessed only in doing the things required in the word. "He that looketh into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and so continueth, being not a hearer that forgetteth but a doer that worketh, this man shall be blessed in his doing." The law of God is "the law of liberty," because it frees him who continues in it from the bondage of sin and the service of the evil one. The blessing it bestows is found in his doing the will of God. He then insists that true religion, or the obedience to the law of God, requires persons to control the tongue; that it violates no law of God, and that the practice of religion, pure and undefiled, is to so refrain from the sins and corruptions of this world as not to be spotted or tarnished by them, and to actively engage in helping the widow and orphan in their need. This shows the words to be done, the laws to be kept, whence the active discharge of the duties we owe both to God and our fellow men. Only in doing his word can his blessing be found.

Each Sunday evening at 5:30, we meet in Classroom #3 for a period of prayer. All members are encouraged to attend and participate.

The youngsters of the congregation meet at 5:40 each Sunday evening for a short time of stories and songs in the front of the auditorium.

Ladies Devo Luncheon

The Ladies will meet in the annex for their Devotional/Luncheon this Monday (January 8) at 11:30 a.m. in the annex. The topic for discussion will be "Worshiping in truth and Spirit". Please plan to carry food to our sick and shut-ins as usual.

FSOP Extension Class

The class on 1 & 2 Thessalonians being offered by the Florida School of Preaching will begin Thursday evening (January 11th) at 7:00, here at Orange Street, in the annex. The course may be audited or taken for credit and will be taught by brother J. H. Blackman. There is a $5 registration fee and $3 for materials. Registration forms are available in the foyer.

Statistics 2000. . . .
Averages for the past year were:

• Sunday Classes . . . . .99

  In Loving Memory Wanda Huggins Mary Braxton Macon Cox Latanae Sims

• Sunday Am Worship. . . 121
• Sunday Pm Worship. . . 101
• Wednesday Classes. . . .98
• Contribution. . .$2,531.11

Other Stats:

• Baptisms . . . . . . . . 9
• Restorations. . . . . . 10
• Deaths (attending members) . .4
• Placed Membership. . . .16