Youth at Central Church of Christ would like to thank all emergency personnel for the service you provide to the community. Ambulance, fire, rescue, police, corrections, 911 and more, come on out and get a free lunch. Students stayed up all night to smoke pork and chicken to provide you a fresh and hot meal. Drive to Central Church of Christ between 12-1:30 p.m. and pick it up or come get enough for your entire department!

 

 

Please share with your emergency personnel friends!

Jason Maxwell’s information is now updated in our online directory. Remember, you can access this directory from the app, viewing online, or downloading the PDF. Go to our website and click “Resources” for more links or download the church directory app here: https://www.christiscentral.org/four-apps-for-your-phone-or-tablet/

• • • OPEN: Janna’s Elizabeth

• • • Welcome to Central Church of Christ: Not a place, but a people called out by God to Show His Love, Tell His Story, and Be His Family. Today we begin a new message series from the Bible called, “Let’s Talk About It” exploring some of the common mental health struggles people, even Christians deal with, and how Christ through His Word can help.  Please turn to Adam’s Story in Genesis 2 as we prepare for today’s Let’s Talk About It Topic. 

• • • LONELINESS: According to a 2018 national survey by Cigna, loneliness levels have reached an all-time high, with nearly half of 20,000 U.S. adults reporting they sometimes or always feel alone. Forty percent of survey participants also reported they sometimes or always feel that their relationships are not meaningful and that they feel isolated.

Such numbers are alarming because of the health and mental health risks associated with loneliness. According to a meta-analysis co-authored by Julianne Holt-Lunstad, PhD, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Brigham Young University, lack of social connection heightens health risks as much as smoking 15 cigarettes a day or having alcohol use disorder. She’s also found that loneliness and social isolation are twice as harmful to physical and mental health as obesity (Perspectives on Psychological Science, Vol. 10, No. 2, 2015).

“There is robust evidence that social isolation and loneliness significantly increase risk for premature mortality, and the magnitude of the risk exceeds that of many leading health indicators,” Holt­Lunstad says.

From <https://www.apa.org/monitor/2019/05/ce-corner-isolation>

 

Effects of Loneliness: in Christian Counseling by Gary Collins

• Low Self-Esteem
• Depression
• Rebellious Nature
• Alcoholism & Drug Abuse
• Heart Disease & Physical Problems

WHOA!  ILLUS: Charles Swindoll mentioned an ad in a Kansas newspaper. It read, “I will listen to you talk for 30 minutes without comment for $5.00.” Swindoll said, “Sounds like a hoax, doesn’t it? But the person was serious. Did anybody call? You bet. It wasn’t long before this individual was receiving 10 to 20 calls a day. The pain of loneliness was so sharp that some were willing to try anything for a half hour of companionship.”
https://bible.org/illustration/loneliness

Psalms 68:6 tell us that “God sets the lonely in families, he leads forth the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.”

Genesis 2:18 “It is not good for the man to be alone.”

• David – “Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.” Psalms 25:16

• Paul “make every effort to come to me soon.” (II Tim. 4:9-12 NASB).
• Jesus “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46)
  •  

“So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field. But for Adam NO SUITABLE HELPER WAS FOUND.” (Genesis 2:20)

GOD PROVIDES THE CURE FOR LONELINESS –

Philippians 4:19 – And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

ILLUS: Psychologists Carter, Meier & Minrith have observed that “People who have constant bouts with loneliness often fall into the overly dependent style of life…. An overly dependent person… becomes excessively distraught if he is rejected by someone. He clings to people, sucking up all their emotional energy… (these lonely people get to the point where they) expect others to fulfill their needs for them. Then they begin to make demands of those on whom they depend. Naturally, this causes others to retreat from them, keeping at a distance. The dependent person finds himself back at square one, and usually continues the cycle endlessly.”
https://www.amazon.com/Overcoming-Loneliness-W-Leslie-Carter/dp/0800786890

 

Ways to help according to Gary Collins

• • 1. Admit that they are lonely – best step for battling it
    2. Consider the causes – work on the sources rather than the symptoms
    3. Change one’s Thinking if possible – (with a widow this is tough, some things can’t be changed) – Inadequate social networks or skills or a poor view of self.
    4. Develop Self- Esteem
       1. Lonely people must be helped to see and acknowledge their strengths, abilities, and spiritual gifts.
    5. Encourage Risk Taking – Reach Out
    6. Encourage to help others
    7. Point to God – “God is real and his presence can be sense.”

Psalms 68:6 tell us that “God sets the lonely in families, he leads forth the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.”

• • • CLOSE: Coffee Shop Janna’s Story to faith and family

Welcome to Central Church of Christ: Not a place, but a people called out by God to Show His Love, Tell His Story, and Be His Family. Today we begin a new message series from the Bible called, “Let’s Talk About It” exploring some of the common mental health struggles people, even Christians deal with, and how Christ through His Word can help.  Please turn to Elijah’s story in 1 Kings 19 as we prepare for today’s Let’s Talk About It Topic. 

 

* Fear – “Elijah was afraid and ran for his life….” 1 Kings 19:3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Give them rest
• Find Church
• Let them talk
• Deal with false beliefs – Give Hope
• Give them a mission

 

1. He chose some close friends to be with him. “Taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee” (Matthew 26:37).
2. He opened his soul to them. He said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death” (Matthew 26:38).
3. He asked for their intercession and partnership in the battle. “Remain here, and watch with me” (Matthew 26:38).
4. He poured out his heart to his Father in prayer. “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me” (Matthew 26:39).
5. He rested his soul in the sovereign wisdom of God. “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39).
6. He fixed his eye on the glorious future grace that awaited him on the other side of the cross. “For the joy that was set before him [he] endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).

Remember the words of Jesus in song here: https://youtu.be/cfN5N1kdgGk

Meat & Tators #5 – Where’s the Beef? 

1984. In 1984-85 Wendy’s had a commercial running featuring a four foot eleven inch tall, gray haired old feisty Grandma named Clara Peller. If you remember the commercial Ms. Peller would walk up to the counter of the fast food restaurant with about a four inch hamburger patty on a 12 inch bun, slap the counter and loudly asked, Where’s the Beef? It became a national catch phrase that was used even in the presidential elections in 1984. The premise behind the ad was that there was no place except Wendy’s that you could get a hamburger with enough beef to satisfy your appetite. The expectation was that if you went to Wendy’s for your hamburger, you would not have to ask…Where’s the Beef!

Does our church leave people asking, “Where’s the Beef?”

Hebrews 5:12-14

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

 

1 Corinthians 3:1-3

But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?

42 And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43 But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” – Mark 10:42-45

 

God’s glory is on full display today; look close at the geometric beauty of snowflakes on the bushes, truck tailgate, and minivan window that Topher shot this morning. AMAZING!

 

Church family, it is bittersweet to share the passing of Brian Crow to his heavenly reward. Brian served as minister at Central Church of Christ from 1981 to 1991. The picture below is from his directory photo in 1989. We will send out a link to the obituary information when it is made available. We hope you all are having a safe and blessed Monday.