The Encourager

Church of Christ

140 West 15th Street

Front Royal Virginia 22630

540 635 2613

FrontRoyalChurchofChrist.com

SimpleBibleLessons.com

We Welcome Our Guest! We are so glad you’ve come for worship today!

Our prayer is you will be blessed by your time with us. Please feel free to ask us any questions you may have concerning our worship.

December 31, 2017

Sunday Service’s

Bible class 10:00 am

Worship 11:00 am

Afternoon 2:00 pm

Tuesday Ladies Class

11:00 am

Wednesday Service

7:00 pm

Personal Bible Study

SimpleBibleLessons.com

Online

Correspondence

In Home

RSW Jail Ministry

Correspondence

2nd & 4th In House

Food Pantry

By Appointment

Minister

John Stephen Smith

540-635-2613

ministerfrcoc@gmail.com

2018

The Lord and No Other-

________________________________________________________________

Sermon Title

________________________________________________________________

Speaker __________________________________Date ___________________

Scriptures Isaiah 45:-13 __________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Sermon Points

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

Notes

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

Please make your

choice of the classes

you wish to teach this

year Today.

Teachers

Needed We need to begin the

year with our Rotation

Schedule complete.

All classes without

teachers attend

auditorium class

In Need of Our Prayers & Our Benevolence

Names On This Page Will Periodically be removed.

Please Keep Tenia Informed as to there Condition & or Status

Doris & Donald Jones

Debbie Martin

Linda Sullivan

Doug Ritenour

Carol Ritenour

RSW Jail Ministry

Our nation and lawmakers

The Lord’s church that meets here.

The Lord’s church worldwide.

Military men and women

First Responders

Our missionaries

Our Homebound

Larry & Audrey Herring

John Woodall

Nancy Barnes

Julia Souders

Cancer Diagnosis Blaine Tewalt

Ryan Denharat

Sandy Holzhauser

Vita Torres

Viola Menefee

Nancy Barnes

Jeff Pingley

Betty Martin

Wendy Willoughby

Elaine Appleton

Robert Jenkins

Ongoing Concerns

Bobby Jo Henderson

Pop Funk

Kenny Henderson Jr.

Ruth Martin

Ruth Brooks

Sharon Jenkins

Richy E.

Sharon Derflinger

Gloria Van Arsdall

Carson Van Arsdall

Jamie Shell

Linda York

Tim Gunter

Marty Jones

Jamie James

John Taylor

Gary May

Ron Parks

Miranda & children

Irene Alger

Lisa Settle

Chris Tewalt

Scott McCool

Mandy Clark

Jaden Turner

Kim Wines

Remi Wines

Karen Woodall

For December, our Food Pantry,

helped 22 individuals from the

community, and 12 Christmas food

baskets were giving out. This served

19 adults, 6 children, 1 teenager, and 1

baby. Thank you everyone that gave

food and money for this. Truly we are

blessed and enriched to serve in

helping others.

The Cracked Acorn

New Year Again December 31 , 2017

c.r. van arsdall

New Year's Day fell on December 25 until Gregory XIII revised the Julian calendar in 1582 and changed it to January 1. Janus the god of beginnings and end-ings had two faces; one looked into the present and the other looked into the past. We may hold an affec-tion for the past that is why we traditionally sing AULD LANG SYNE about "the good old days."

New Year's Day on the farm was a quiet day. I remember fallen snow and crisp air. You could shout and it came right back to you. If my uncle was visiting, we would call up Jughead, our dog, and tramp into the fields to scare up a rabbit or two. The day passed quickly walking over the farm. Our first big meal of the year would be a pot of cooked turnip greens seasoned with a ham hock. There was always a bowl of black-eyed peas and plenty of cornbread fresh from the oven. Dessert was bread pudding, or maybe a berry cobbler. My grandmother made fried apple pies from her own dried apple slices. It was still the season for lots of sweet potatoes.

In other countries, New year's Day is observed in many ways: Austria-they have a roasted pig, Wales- they leave the back door open for the old year to leave, and the front door is opened to admit the new year, In Spain, it is grapes for the day, Sicily- Garfield's favorite, lasagna, and in China- it is to paint the front door red for good luck and don't cut yourself with a knife on this day-this means bad luck.

This is also the time to look over the list of the resolu-tions and decide if we deserve a passing or a failing grade. The list may have noted these: exercise more,

stop some bad habit, be more friendly, improve the mind, and start a new hobby or even try to learn a foreign language.

The Bible offers these encouragements for the New Year:

"Remember His marvelous works which He has done, His wonders, and the judgements of His

mouth," Psalm 105:5

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God pre-pared beforehand that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:10

"Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy lad-en, and I will give your rest." Matthew 11:28

"Seek Me and Live." Amos 5:4

"Keep my commands and live, And my law as the apple of your eye." Proverbs 7:2

Above all, let us RESOLVE TO LIVE a peaceable life. "If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men." Romans 12:18

from an old hymn, "Once more I must tell the old sto-ry to you, The story that I love; The story of Jesus so good and so true, How He

came His love to prove. Once more I must tell the old story to you, 'Tis pleasant to repeat The marvelous story of Christ and His love, The story true and sweet, I tell it because I cannot restrain His love that fills my soul; ONCE MORE I MUST TELL IT, ONCE MORE I MUST TELL IT, ONCE MORE I MUST TELL IT TO YOU!(#280 from Sacred Selections)

Mark Your Calendar’s

& Check Bulletin Boards

N.Y.E. Party at the Tewalt’s house at

8:00 pm. Bring gifts and finger foods.

Relay for Life: Recyclables in blue tote in main foyer. Plastic cola caps, tabs, ink cartridges, aluminum cans.

Ramen Noodles

Spaghetti

Dry Cereals

Bill & Linda

Adams 13

Mark Derflinger 31, Larry Herring 9 Reagan Anderson 9 Jane McCool 16 Eddie Benfit 17, David Born 22, Joel Jones 23 Emma Diaz 30

Please check the 2018

Teacher’s Rotation Sheet

on back Bulletin Board.

For classes still needing

teachers.

As the New Year begins, and our

Ladies Meetings haven’t taken place

in awhile if there is someone that

would like to oversee this, please

let Tenia know so that this can be

put in the bulletin.

A Planning Committee

Needed for

February’s Sweetheart

Dinner

Let Tenia know details for Bulletin.

Atheism’s Contradictory Supernatural “Natural” Explanations

by Eric Lyons, M.Min. Atheism contends that a supernatural Creator does not exist. Allegedly, a supernatural Being is unnecessary in our material Universe. Everything can be explained purely naturally through a study of the natural world. In short, nature exists “naturally,” not supernaturally.

If such is the case, however, then how did nature get here to begin with? In nature, matter and energy do not appear from nothing (so says the First Law of Thermodynamics).

(1. In nature, nothing always comes from nothing and something always comes from something. So from whence came the first “something”? That is, where did nature itself come from? According to some of the world’s foremost atheistic evolutionists, something came from nothing. Atheistic cosmologist Stephen Hawking stated on national television in 2011, “Nothing caused the Big Bang.”

(2. In the book The Grand Design that Dr. Hawking co-authored, he and Leonard Mlod-inow asserted: “Bodies such as stars and black holes cannot just appear out of nothing. But a whole universe can.”

(3. So, although it is not natural for something to come from nothing, many atheists assume that it did “in the beginning.”

And what about the first life form? From

whence did it arrive? According to atheistic evolution, life was not created supernaturally by a supernatural Creator, rather life came from non-life; it spontaneously generated “naturally.” But does life ever come from non-life naturally? Never. As evolutionist Martin Moe observed, “[A] century of sensational discoveries in the biological sciences has taught us that life arises only from life.”

(4. It would take a miracle for life to come from non-life, yet atheists contend that no God exists to work in such a supernatural manner. So how did the first life get here? Atheists (who have “refused to have God in their knowledge”—Romans 1:28, ASV), contend it must have arisen naturally, yet it did so in a way that breaks the natural Law of Biogenesis.

(5. Atheism can continue to deny the existence of a supernatural Creator, but it does so in the only way possible—illogically and self-contradictorily. Rather than irrationally endowing nature with the ability to act supernaturally while alleging nothing supernatural exists, the reasonable person should conclude that what happened supernaturally must be the effect of a supernatural Being at work.

In truth, both Heaven and Earth reveal that “the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible” Hebrews 11:3. Rather, the supernatural “God created the heavens and the earth” Genesis 1:1.

BSGFAA Lesson 179

ELIJAH—1 Kings 17

Elijah Told Ahab of Drought; God Provided Food

Bible Quiz:

1. What feelings did the Canaan have toward the Israelites and their God as described by Rahab? Joshua 2:9-11

2. At the feast of King Belshazzar, what cups were used for drinking wine? Daniel 5:2-3

3. Describe King Belshazzar’s reaction to the handwriting on the wall. Daniel 6

4. To encourage worship Jeroboam did not (a) place a golden calf at Bethel and at Dan, (b) make priests other then the sons of Levi (c) institute a feast, or (d) send the people to the temple at Jerusalem. 1 Kings 12:26-33

5. Why would the prophet of God not eat and drink with Jeroboam? 1 Kings 13:7-9

6. The man from Bethel who lied to the prophet from Judah was (a prophet, (b) a king, © a judge, or (d) a priest? 1 Kings13:11-18

7. Why did Jeroboam send his wife to Shiloh to the prophet? Why did he have her disguise herself? 1 Kings 14:1-2

8. When, according to Ahijah the prophet, would the sick son of Jeroboam die? 1 Kings 14: 12, 17

9. Yes or No were there wars between Israel and Judah after the kingdom was divided? 1 Kings 15:6, 16, 32

10. Did the prophet Jehu prophesy (a) good or (b) bad for Baasha, king of Israel? Why? How did Zimri’s acts against Baasha’s household fulfill the prophecy of Jehu? 1 Kings 16:1-12

11. Elijah—present knowledge, probably associated with the fiery chariot.

Additional Scripture:

1. Put God first.—Colossians 1:18; Matthew 6:33

2. Elijah prayed that it not rain.—James 5:17

Questions:

1. Elijah the prophet told Ahab, king Israel, that there would be neither ____nor_____ until he spoke. 1 Kings 17:1

2. After telling Ahab of the drought, why did Elijah hide? 1 Kings 17:2-3

3. While Elijah was hiding from Ahab, what did he eat? Drink? 1 Kings 17:4,6

4. What was the widow’s reply to Elijah, when he asked for bread? Describe Elijah’s instructions to the widow. 1 Kings 17:11-13

5. What was Elijah’s promise to the widow concerning her flour and oil? 1 Kings 17:14

6. Whom did the widow, whose flour and oil never ran out, blame for the death of her son? 1Kings 17:17-18

7. What did Elijah do when he begged God to return life to the son of the widow? 1 Kings 17:19-23

Application: on trusting God—1 Kings 17:1-15

BSGFAA Lesson 180

ELIJAH—1 Kings 18 Contest on Mount

Carmel

Bible Quiz:

1. What river did Joshua lead the Israelites across into Canaan? Joshua 3:1

2. What happen to the Jordan River when the feet of the priests carrying the ark entered the river? Joshua 3:13

3. How often did Daniel pray and give thanks to God? Daniel 6:10

4. What did the prophet of Bethel say concerning the prophecies against the alter in Bethel and against the high places which the prophet of Judah had made? 1 Kings 13:32

5. Why did Ahijah tell Jeroboam’s wife that all Jeroboam’s son’s would be killed? 1 Kings 14:7-10

6. What happen to the shields of gold, which Solomon had made during the reign of Rehoboam in Judah? 1 Kings 14:25-26

7. What was the sin of Baasha ad Elah his son, both kings of Israel, that so provoked God? 1 Kings 16:13

8. How many books are in the Old Testament? (a) 32, (b) 39, or (c) 27

9. Elijah the prophet told Ahab, king of Israel that there would be neither ___nor__until he spoke. 1 Kings 17:1

10. Whom did the widow, whose flour and oil never ran out, blame for the death of her son? 1 Kings 17:17-18

Additional Scriptures:

1. Being faithful to God in one’s youth—1 Timothy 4:12

2. How Jesus feels about an individual trying to follow God and the devil both—Matthew 6:24; Revelation 3:15-16

3. God—Psalm 18:30

Questions:

1. Elijah told Ahab that there would be a drought. How long did the drought last? 1 Kings 18:1

2. Yes or no, did Jezebel destroy all the prophets of God? Explain. Describe Obadiah as a youth. 1 Kings 18:4, 12-13

3. Why did Elijah tell Ahab that Ahab himself had caused the drought in Israel? 1 Kings 18:18

4. On Mount Carmel Elijah said the people wre trying to follow___as god and ___as god. How did Elijah that God is really God? 1 Kings 20:20-39

5. On Mount Carmel when the 450 prophets were trying to get their god Baal to put fire on their alter, they did not (a) pray reverently, (b) cry with loud voices, © leap on the alter, or (d) cut themselves. 1 Kings 18:26-29

6. What did Elijah do to the 450 prophets of Baal? 1Kings 18:40

7. What did Elijah warn Ahab to do because of the approaching heavy rain? 1 Kings 18:44

Application: on being faithful to God during youth—1 Kings 18:12