GRANT COUNTY CHURCH OF CHRIST
May 10, 2009

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A MOTHER'S INFLUENCE
Jerry W. Carmichael
I met Hazel in the 1950’s when I was a child. Her husband died May 28, 1962 at age 36 leaving her widowed at age 35 with four children ranging in age from 6 to 13.
In spite of this tragedy she and her children seemed to be happy people. Shortly after her husband's passing she had a family meeting where she set two goals for the family. She stated very plainly, "We are going to stay together and we are going to go to church." Many times after worshipping at their home congregation, she would pack the kids up and rush across the county to a gospel meeting at a sister congregation. She would receive such teasing remarks as, "You're going to church them children to death!" She would just smile and continue to teach her family all she could about Jesus and His church.
Her children now say that they often thank God for the fact that they were blessed with a Christian mother. She didn't "pawn" them off onto relatives. She didn't have a string of "sleep-over" boyfriends. She didn't abandon them for her freedom. She realized her responsibility and with God's help she met those awesome obligations. She was much like the woman in Proverbs 31:27 "She watches over the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness."
On Mother's day, May 13, 1990 she passed away. She had been a faithful Christian mother under difficult circumstances for almost 28 years. She is a perfect example of what a great and powerful influence a mother can have on a child.
Among her children are faithful members of the church and examples to many of a strong faith largely because of their mother's influence. They received their faith very much like that of young Timothy to whom Paul wrote, “…I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also” (2 Timothy 1:5).
Hazel would have been just another obscure person whose life came and went almost unnoticed except for her undying faith in God and her desire to pass that faith along to her children.
Young mothers, you may not realize it now, but the influence you have on your children, whether good or bad, will either direct or mislead them throughout the rest of their lives. Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6).




Has It Ever Been This Bad?
Dennis L. Curd
Recently I heard a government official describe the economy of today as one we’ve never seen in as bad a condition as it is. In environmental matters the cry is constantly, “the sky is falling,” or some equivalent. The older generation sees the youth of today as the worst ever. The young often see the older ones as more out of touch then ever. In the church, alarms are often sounded that if we don’t watch we’re going to see the church cease to exist. No wonder people are unhappy and worried.
There’s good reason to be worried. Lot’s of things aren’t what they ought to be, and they might get worse. Who knows? Nobody likes to live in such a state. While ignoring the conditions of the times is like hiding ones head in the sand, thinking it’s all over is also unrealistic. A lot of people have lived before us in all sorts of circumstances. Don’t you think they sometimes thought things would never be better? Every generation is near-sighted, only seeing what’s right in front of them. They fail to see what has been and what happened then.
Some perspective is in order. God holds the world tightly and as long as He does it will stay together (Colossians 1:17). God has promised that as long as the world stands, ”seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22) . So much for global warming or global freezing worries. A bit of God’s perspective takes away a lot of unnecessary worry.
God rules in the Kingdoms of man as well (Daniel 4:32). He may even allow a bad ruler to thrive (Psalm 9:17), or a wicked nation to be victorious (Isaiah 19:5 ff). But God’s plan for the work He is doing will always work toward His good (Romans 8:28). If you think the morals of today are worse than ever, read the stories of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19), or read of ancient Rome. These make 2009 look pretty tame. Family values are greatly lacking, but are not so different than times past. Remember Judah and David. Most of us wouldn’t want to go back to those “good ole days”. As for the church condition, are we naïve enough to forget about Corinth, Sardis and Laodicea? Again some of our problems seem almost inconsequential in comparison.
In all these cases God didn’t quit working. Even with the flood when God only saved a few He still kept going with His plan of redemption. He promised that the kind of destruction witnessed then, will only happen one more time, at the final day of judgment. We can never fail to be serious about our troubles and meet them head-on, dealing with them aggressively. But we must never lose sight of the real power in the world. God and His word provide us with the proper perspective in which to see all things.
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"THAT'S THE WAY MAMA DID IT!"
As the young wife prepared the ham, her new husband noticed that she cut off both ends before placing it in the pan. When he asked her "why?" she replied, "I don't know that's just the way my mother always did it."
Later he asked his mother-in-law why she cut off both ends of the ham before cooking, "I don't know," she replied, "That's just the way my mother always did it."
The next time he saw Grandma he asked her why she cut off both ends of the ham before cooking. "I never had a pan long enough to put the whole ham in so I had to cut off the ends to make it fit!" she replied.
People often do what their parents did without asking why. In religious practices this can especially dangerous. Even sincere, honest, religious folks can be religiously wrong (see Matt.7:21-24).
The noble Bereans in Acts 17:11 "Searched the scriptures daily" to find whether the things they were being taught were in accordance with God's will.
Although few would do so intentionally, parents often teach their children religious practices that cannot be found in the Bible. These practices are unauthorized and are not pleasing to God.
The Bible is very clear as to the dangers of adding to or taking away from the word (Prov.30:5-6; 2Jno.9; Rev.22:18-19).
Christianity is an individual responsibility (Rom.14:12). The sentence one receives in the final judgment will not be based on what his father or mother did, but solely upon how well or how poorly we as individuals kept God's word while we lived on earth (Rev.20:11-15).
In the Bible we have record of thousands of people who left the religion of their ancestors because they wanted to be pleasing to God (Acts 2:41).