Faith

First Baptist Church, Hemphill is excited to announce that they recently called a new pastor to our community. Rick Harrison and wife Dayna began at the church in January. The Harrison’s have been involved in pastoral ministry for over 30 years. Rick has served as pastor to churches in Texas, Arkansas, Indiana and Oklahoma, before moving to Hemphill. Rick is a published author and enjoys speaking at parenting conferences and father-daughter weekend experiences. He and Dayna have 5 daughters who are all living in Oklahoma. Please join us in welcoming the Harrison family to Hemphill.

Our attention goes where we focus. I love helping people. I love greeting them to serve whatever good I can. Hospitality is a gift of the heart and writing or painting or baking or cleaning and even laundering, are acquired skills that delight my soul in sharing with others. And why do we lose confidence in delivering our best?

“and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.” (Mark 4:19) Staying in a living, fresh faith is a challenge. It seems that everything in this fallen world is aimed at stealing, killing, and destroying the faith of believers. It can seem overwhelming at times. Since we know that faith is a fruit of hearing the Word (Rom. 10:17), anything that can keep you form “hearing” needs to be recognized and dealt with. As I look at the above verse, I can say that I don’t really have a problem with the deceitfulness of riches or the desires for other things, but the “cares of the world” can be challenging.

So the Lord said, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.” (Luke 17:6) So often we refer to “mustard seed faith” to declare that even the tiniest amount of faith is all it takes to get mighty results. And yet, on at least three occasions the Lord rebuked His disciples for their little faith, and on two occasions He spoke glowingly of great faith (the Centurion and the Gentile woman). Was Jesus speaking of the “size” of faith, or perhaps something else?

Even a lone dove is not alone. God’s Holy Spirit is alive in every living being. And yet, as much as true Christians yearn to know God by being in communion through prayer, the loneliness present when we miss the companionship, the love, the conversations with a departed, is as real as water. Alone in this physical realm requires adjustment just as a toddler may learn. We need one another in a mutual embrace.