How Are You Building?
Leon Cole

A striking story is told of a rich man who wanted to help a poor carpenter and his family. He hired the carpenter to build a house on a hillside, and then went away on a long journey. The carpenter said to himself, "My boss is away and I can use shoddy material and neglect the supporting work that doesn't show. The house will be weak but no one will. know it" So he built an inferior house. When the rich man came back, the carpenter said, "Here is your house all built." "Thank you," said the rich man, "Here is the deed and the key. I am giving it to you." The carpenter was grieved that he had robbed himself.

Every person is building his spiritual house. The Lord has given us the talents needed, and the plans for building it, in His Word; but he has gone into a far country. Because He is not personally in our midst to see that we put into our liver. all the plans called for, many feel that they can "get by" with less, and they omit some of the things they think do not show. They feel they can build with the cheap materials of pretense, hypocrisy, and halfheartedness and no one will know the difference.

• Some omit daily Bible reading and prayer, feeling that others will never notice. They fail to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ (2 Peter 3:18) as they should. It may appear to others that all is well; but when the storms of temptation, fear, illness, or death assails, then the shoddy material upon which their life is constructed becomes evident.

• Others omit faithful attendance to all public meetings of the church. They feel that such meetings are optional and they try to "get by" without these. They may put in an appearance occasionally (or one hour per week, if it's convenient) just to keep their name on the church roll. But, they are cheating themselves again, because every class and worship period is designed to build a better and stronger spiritual life.

• Still others omit sacrificial giving. They feel that giving is so personal that no one will ever know they are not giving as the Lord has prospered them. Again, they are only robbing themselves. They have failed to see the happiness which giving can bring them (Acts 20:35). Because of their selfishness, they are cheating themselves of the great riches which God would like to shower upon them (Luke 10:38). So, it is not so much a matter of what a person can "get by with or without," for after all, we are going to live in our own house. We can build a palace or a hovel, a mansion or a pig pen, but we must live in it. It will be your loss if you neglect the supporting work that does not show.

Bears Come in Different Sizes
AUTHOR UNKNOWN

Two men were talking. One of them was huge, the other small in stature. The small man was admiring the physical size of the other. "Boy, if I were as big as you, I wouldn't be afraid of anything. I would go out in the woods and find me the biggest bear and I'd tear him limb from limb."

The big fellow replied with a smile, "There's lots of little bears in the woods. Why don't you go out and tackle one of them?"

Many church members stand on the sidelines and tell what they would do if they had the ability of others. Truly, there are many jobs to be done and we need the ten-talent man to handle them; but there are also dozens of little jobs that go undone because no one ever tackles them.

There is work for everyone of us to do. There are a lot of us little fellows who need to go into the woods and find some little bears to take on.

We invite all of our members and visitors to our monthly last Sunday fellowship in the annex, tonight after the evening services. We will honor the birthdays and anniversaries for this month and enjoy some good snacks and Christian fellowship.

Wednesday Devotional
This coming Wednesday is the fifth Wednesday this month and is the time we have set aside for a devotional service instead of our regular classes.

Proverb 31:10
" Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies".
Blessed is she who dusts away doubt and fear and sweeps out the cobwebs of confusion; for her faith will triumph over all adversity.