Roan Street Church of God
Roan Street Church of God is having a winter revival this weekend. The revival will begin this evening and continue through Sunday.
This evening’s service begins at 7 p.m. and will feature the Rev. Wayne Dority as guest speaker. The Saturday service begins at 6 p.m. and speaking is the Rev. Joel Arwood. Speaking at the Sunday morning and evening services is the Rev. Dennis McGuire.
The theme of the services is “Why Can’t We…”
The church is located at 113 N. Roan St.
The Rev. Shane Nivens, pastor, invites the public to attend.

King Springs
King Springs Baptist Church, 1798 Miami Drive, Johnson City, will host the Believers Sunday, Feb. 4, at the 10:30 a.m. service.
The Rev. Jerry Cornett, pastor, invites the public to attend. For more information call 542-6378.

First Christian
Morning worship Sunday at First Christian Church, Elizabethton, will begin at 9:45 a.m. with the message by the minister, Michael Klaus. The communion meditation will be given by Steve Peterson. Scripture will be read by Mitch Broyles and special music will be presented by Cassidy Stover.
Bible school classes will meet at 11 a.m.
The evening service is at 6 p.m.
The Tuesday morning prayer group will meet Jan. 30 at 10 a.m.
Wednesday evening Bible study classes will meet at 6 p.m.
Ladies Circles will meet Thursday.
Everyone is invited to attend the services at First Christian.

First United Methodist
The Rev. Bo Hankins will preach Sunday morning at First United Methodist Church, Elizabethton. His message is titled “Look Who Showed Up At Church” based on Mark 1: 21-28. The service begins at 9:55 a.m.
Sunday School will begin at 11:20 a.m.
The Junior High 4:12 Student Ministries will meet Sunday from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. in the 4:12 Ministries House and the Senior High group from 5:45 to 7:30 p.m. The Coolagers will meet Wednesday at 6 p.m. in the Coolager Hut.
The Wednesday Night Life Lessons Bible Study will be at 6 p.m. in the fellowship hall.
The Rev. Raymond W. Amos Sr. is pastor. The church is located at 325 E. E St.
For more information about First United Methodist and its ministries call the church at 543-3505 or check out the church website at: www.fumcelizabethton.com.

Unaka Baptist
Unaka Baptist Church will have its bi-monthly Brotherhood Breakfast Saturday from 7 to 10 a.m.
Proceeds will go to the church building fund.
Everyone is invited.

Bethlehem Lutheran
Morning worship at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Johnson City, will begin at 8 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. Sunday. The sermon theme is “The Powerful Word” based on Mark 1: 21-28.
Communion will be served at both services.
Interpreted services for the deaf are available the second and fourth Sundays at the 10:45 a.m. service.
The church is located at 201 E. Watauga Ave. The Rev. Steven Harmon is pastor.
For more information call 926-5261.

First Presbyterian
The Rev. Dr. Brian Wyatt, pastor, will preach at morning worship Sunday at First Presbyterian Church, Elizabethton.
The service is at 11 a.m. An Education Hour for all ages is at 9:45 a.m.
Other opportunities for the week include Meditation Wednesday at 7 p.m.; Thursdays with Jesus Reading Group from 10:30 a.m. to 12 noon. The group will discuss the book “Moral Combat” by R. Marie Griffin.
Yoga is Friday from 10 a.m. to noon.
The church is located at 119 W. F St.

Salvation by grace
In Titus 2:11-13 Paul said, “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.” In Paul’s inspired message he affirms that God’s grace is a teaching faith. The very same grace is a saving grace and indeed it is saving from the sin and its power. However this is not the only grace that God blesses mankind with. The grace of God that brings salvation teaches us. The salvation here mentioned is obviously salvation from sin and its power. However, there is a grace of God that does not bring salvation from sin. This form of grace benefits all mankind and understanding. It helps us to understand the spiritual grace that God offers.
Grace simply means “favor.” Therefore, we see that by God’s favor we have air to breathe, food to eat, water to drink, and even life itself. We should note that this awesome grace by which we exist is unmerited. In other words, humanity does not inherently deserve the grace of God. Also there is nothing that mankind can do to or ever has done to force God to extend His grace towards us.
Since this is true, when God’s grace is offered we cannot be passive towards it. God offers mankind food, water and air to breathe; but mankind must eat, drink and breathe on his own. God will not force anyone to eat, drink or breathe. The same is true in the spiritual real as it is in the physical.
We must remember that Paul said, God’s grace teaches. Paul’s statement is in agreement with every other passage in the Bible having to do with man’s salvation. God chooses to reveal his plan of salvation (offer His grace) through teaching. Paul said, “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe” 1 Corinthians 1:21 KJV. Mankind simply cannot devise in his own wisdom a way to reconcile himself to God. This being true God through grace gave the world His only Son. Jesus said, “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Paul said, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16). From these passages and many others throughout the Bible we learn that God reveals His grace in the gospel and those who refuse the gospel cannot be saved. This is what Paul has reference to when he said, “By grace are ye saved through faith.” This is the grace Paul spoke of in Titus 2:11, the grace “that bringeth salvation.”
With such a plan in place there is no doubt why God gave the great commission (Matt. 28:19, Mark 16:15-16). There is no doubt that teaching or preaching the gospel was the means by which God’s grace was to be revealed to humanity. If mankind rejects the gospel he rejects God’s salvation through grace. Teaching the gospel is necessary, but teaching alone cannot save anyone. People must hear and accept the teaching of the gospel to receive salvation through grace (Romans 10:17, Matt. 13:14). We must use caution in hearing and applying the word of God in our spiritual lives.
In next week’s article I will continue to consider the subject of God’s grace.
(Tony Hoss is minister at the Centerview Church of Christ, Elizabethton. He can be contacted at 423-737-2287 or by email at: CenterviewCOC@comcast.net)

Keep your eyes on Jesus
By Hunter Greene
I haven’t played baseball in a few years, and I am not really the biggest fan of the sport anymore. However, I remember a phrase that my coaches would use while we were hitting, and it has always stuck with me. They would say, “Keep your eye on the ball!” It seemed so simple, yet hard to do. I realized that it didn’t matter how hard I swung or how much I choked up on the bat. If I took my vision off the prize, I would never get a hit.
If you, as a follower of Christ, take your eye off the prize, you will miss the mark. We can’t follow someone that we do not see. We can’t imitate the actions of someone we are not watching. If there is any advice that I think would be beneficial to the Church, it would be “Keep your eyes on Jesus.”
2 Corinthians 3:10-18 says, “For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: And not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
Many of us live, as Moses did, with veils over our face. We are blinded by our traditions and opinions from seeing the radical Jesus of the Gospels. In this day and time, we need God to remove our blinders so that we may see and become as Christ. The world doesn’t need any more casual Christianity, and they don’t need all our rules and regulations. They need to see Jesus Christ and His scandalous love manifested in our lives.
So how can we become like Christ? I want to focus on the word “beholding” in verse 18. This comes from the Greek word “Katoptrizomenoi” which had come to mean “to contemplate” or “gaze upon.” This word is considered a present participle which means that it has a continuous aspect. We do not use aspect in English, but in Greek, a continuous aspect simply means that the action is done repeatedly. Therefore, we do not just behold Christ once, but rather, we behold Him over and over and over again.
So verse 18 tells us that as we continually are beholding, or “contemplating/gazing upon,” Christ, the more that we will become like Him. We are “changed in the same image from glory to glory.” We must keep our eyes on Christ in order to look like Christ. The more that you think on Jesus and gaze upon His glory, the more that you will find your heart and mind aligning with His. 1 John 2:3-6 reads, “3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.”
If we are going to claim to be Christians and followers of Christ, we better look like Jesus. The only way to look more like Him is by looking at Him and His life in God’s Word. This week, even in the midst of life’s distractions, keep your eyes on Jesus and become like Him.
(The Solution Column is provided by Pastor Brandon Young of Harmony Free Will Baptist Church, Hampton, and his associate, Hunter Greene.)
Milligan students help rebuild in Houston
After wrapping up Fall 2017 semester exams in December, a group of Milligan College students wasted no time packing their bags and heading to Houston, Texas, to help with recovery after Hurricane Harvey devastated the city in August.
Six students, led by Campus Activities Director Jason Onks and Campus Minister Brad Wallace, went to the home of Anne Fritz, a retired Kindergarten teacher whose home was flooded by the hurricane.
Rebecca Pierce-Hale, a senior from a Glade Spring, Va. , said that the house had six inches of water sitting in it for a long time, which destroyed all the electrical and walls in the house. The house was mucked out before the Milligan team arrived, preparing the way for them to put up drywall.
Milligan connected with Chapelwood United Methodist Church in Houston on this relief effort through 2012 alum Tommy Parker, who serves in leadership at Holy Family Church, one of Chapelwood’s campuses. The church donated $5,000 per house and has funding for 50 homes so far.
Pierce-Hale said that Fritz helped them work every single day.
“It was great getting to spend time with her,” said Pierce-Hale, a psychology major who hopes to become a counselor. “She was very hands on and helped us work — and learned herself. We laughed and told stories, and we even made videos of her dancing with one of the guys in our group. She taught me how to have fun even though she was going through such a hard time.”
Onks said that the mission trip was not only an opportunity to help someone in need, but it was a learning experience for the Milligan group.
“Most of our team had no construction experience, but they figured it out quickly,” said Onks. “We worked very well together and learned a lot about teamwork and the importance of community.”
As part of Milligan’s mission to honor God by educating men and women to be servant leaders, the college works throughout the year to identify areas of needs, locally and abroad, where its students can serve. Learn more at www.milligan.edu.
Former President Carter writing
book about religious faith
Former President Jimmy Carter is working on a book about his religious faith.
Simon & Schuster announced Wednesday that Carter’s “Faith: A Journey for All” will tell of how religion has sustained him and what role it plays in society. Carter, 93, said in a statement that he wanted to explore faith’s “far-reaching effect.” Carter has been a prolific author since leaving the presidency in 1981. He has written memoirs, fiction, poetry and policy books. His memoir “An Hour Before Daylight” was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2002.
“Faith” is scheduled to come out in March.