JUNE 2009 | VOLUME II
Victory Chronicle A PUBLICATION OF THE VICTORY FAITH CHURCH · PINE BLUFF, AR BISHOP K.D. MIXON SR., EDITOR
In search of
Authenticity by Tisha Arnold
‘I Love You.’ How does that make you feel? Would your experience of that expression change if you knew me? A song entitled “These Three Words” come to mind when I think about the overused and misunderstood expression of love. Regardless of your context of the expression (romantic, friendship, agape), it simply means more when you mean it. Not Just What You Say Love is a verb. God is clear in giving us ways to express our love for Him. From service to others (Matthew 25:35-46), to love for one another (Matthew 22:39), God also desires for us to spend time with Him in worship.
“But the hour cometh , and now is , when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.” - John 4:23, KJV Worship should be genuine; coming from our heart, our lips and our lives - it requires effort on our part. It’s not enough to lift our hands and say hallelujah if it means nothing, “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me (Matthew 15:8, KJV).” see real on page 3
In This Issue From the Bishop’s Pen: The Value of Hearing....2 A Lively Praise........2 A tribute to Reverend Timothy Wright......3 According to Knowledge: The Need for Sunday School....3
Calendar of Events June 14 : Annual Sunday School Day 8:45 a.m. & 10 a.m. June 17-19 : Vacation Bible School 7 p.m. nightly. June 22-28: National Auxillary Convocation Evangelist Temple (House of Refuge for All Nations) Churches of God In Christ Jackson, MS
News Kingdom Development Ministry Building Planned The Kingdom Development Ministry building, soon to be located adjacent to the main sanctuary, will contain the Ministry of Christian Education, Outreach Ministry and Youth and Children’s Ministry.
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Victory Chronicle • JUNE 2009
From the Bishop’s Pen:
The Value of
Hearing PART 1
We can all agree that while growing up you would listen to your parents, grandparents or any other adults giving instructions. At the end of the sentence would come, “Do You Hear Me?” They knew you were sitting there as if you were attentively listening just waiting on them to finish talking so you could go back to whatever unconstructive act you were so overly engrossed in. So when you resumed your activities something happened and you didn’t know what to do or how to respond to it. If only you could remember the instructions that came before the phrase “Do You Hear Me?!” I said that to say this, many times we go to Church, Bible Study and Sunday school and we sit there not really hearing what we need to hear to deal with the situations that life throws at us. We allow things around us to distract us – things on our minds and even things bothering our spirits to distract us. We must learn to cast all our
cares on Him for He careth for us and focus on Hearing the Word of God, which are our instructions for this life’s journey. Remember, Jesus warned us to be careful how you hear... - Bishop K.D. Mixon, Sr.
A Lively
Praise
The living God should be adored by a living people. A blessing God should be blessed by a blessing people. Whatever others do, we should and must bless jehovah. When we bless Him we should not rest till others do the same.
2. Life can be short. You should bless the Lord at all times. Missionary Holmes in Kansas City says " Oh, magnify the Lord with me, let us exalt His name together.”
Why compel them to "Praise the Lord"? You need people around you who do what you do and say what you say. Show others what a lively praise looks and sounds like. "The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence." This reminds us:
3. There are ungodly people around us, who are already spiritually dead and can no more praise the Lord than if they were dead. 4. Lost souls that lift their eyes from hell, and cry out not giving praise, but seeking a deliverance.
1. Of the dead in Christ who voices we no longer hear in this world. THE VICTORY FAITH CHURCH • 1517 SOUTH POPLAR STREET • PINE BLUFF, AR 71601 • WWW.THEVICTORYFAITHCHURCH.ORG
Victory Chronicle • JUNE 2009
REAL ‘In spirit and in truth, with a pure heart ‘ are the words used by Dawkins & Dawkins. Take time each day to earnestly seek after God’s presence and be real with your adoration of Him. It starts with you:
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Reverend Timothy Wright A Tribute to...
“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.” - Romans 12:1, NASB
According to Knowledge: The Need for Sunday School by Thomas J. Arnold , III
Sunday school in its current form, began in the Middle Ages in Europe by clergy trying to teach the masses Bible basics for the literate and illiterate. Sunday school's importance in the church as a whole may be made light of to the average person, but for the new convert, its importance cannot be overlooked. One can't learn everything you need to know about this walk of faith without being properly taught, and you can't learn it all just during Sunday worship. Just like when we go to secular schools as a mandatory practice, it is even more important to realize the necessity of growing in the knowledge of the Lord - and one of the best places to do that is in Sunday school. It’s a discipline that we all must learn that sharpens our focus on the important things in life. For example, Paul when speaking to Timothy in 2 Tim 1:13 said that we should “Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus,” meaning that to keep the testimony of the Lord that he’s (Timothy) heard from his grandmother, mother, and Paul. Later in 2 Tim 3:12-17, Paul also says “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
Gospel director Reverend Timothy Wright has been involved with choirs on a regular basis for most of his life. Wright began playing piano at the age of 12, as he utilized his budding musical talents at the St. John’s Fire Baptized Holiness Church of God in Brooklyn, NY, eventually composing for the church’s choir. By 1969, Wright was playing piano for the late Bishop F.D. Washington, and it was from his tenure in Washington’s choir that Wright gained the attention of Rev. Isaac Douglas and the N.Y. Community Choir, for which Wright soon began playing organ for, as well as penning almost all the songs on Douglas’ 1971 album Lets Go Higher. In the mid-’70s, Wright formed his own outfit, the Timothy Wright Concert Choir, resulting in such releases as Who’s on the Lord’s Side and Do You Know the Light, and began playing with various other choirs across the United States. Wright also found the time to team up with Myrna Summers for her We’re Gonna Make It release, as well as forming the project Come Thou Almighty King, which is comprised of a 500-voice choir. Wright is the pastor and founder of the Grace Tabernacle Christian Center in Brooklyn, and since 1990 has been issuing albums on a regular basis, including such titles as I’m Glad About It, Moving in the Spirit, and Story to Tell; 1994’s Come Thou Almighty King was nominated for the Best Traditional Soul Gospel Grammy and hit Billboard’s Top 20 gospel chart. He remained busy into the 2000s, until July 2008, when Wright was seriously injured in a car accident that killed his wife and grandson; he died the following April at age 61.
THE VICTORY FAITH CHURCH • 1517 SOUTH POPLAR STREET • PINE BLUFF, AR 71601 • WWW.THEVICTORYFAITHCHURCH.ORG
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Victory Chronicle • JUNE 2009
NEED But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is
PRAISE But We Will Bless the Lord. In heart, sound, testimony and action, we are resolved to give the Lord our praise because: 1. In Him we live, move and have our being. Shall the creation not bless the creator who keeps us from falling ? 2. Our spirit man is alive. Though this outward man is dying the spirit is being renewed day by day. 3. If I bless him He will bless me. We Will Bless the Lord from This Time Forth. When the heathen asks where is your God tell them this, " but our God is in heaven; and He hath done whatsoever He pleases. Who is like the Lord ? Nobody.” When you are in you prayer and meditation time thank God for sins forgiven, needs supplied, Mercy
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” In a nutshell, Paul is saying that ‘Yes Tim, anybody who’s living right for Christ is gonna suffer, but you must retain, teach, and uphold the standard that’s been set because evil will get worse and the people must
know right from wrong!’ So begin to discipline yourself to come to Sunday School and grow in the Lord. Don’t let reasons like ‘it’s boring’ or ‘it’s too early in the morning’ stop you, quick fixes to that is to make the class exciting by bringing the excitement and if you can get up to go to school or work then make it a point to go to church in the same fashion.
for my mess, fears removed and hope fulfilled. Let us from this very moment magnify the name of the Lord.
but love makes for short prayers that continue into praise. Man's chief end is to magnify the Lord.
Weariness shall not suspend it. We will renew our strength as we bless the Lord. When I am weak, then am I strong. Why? Because the joy of the Lord is my strength. Nothing Shall Separate me from God. Job in his situation chose to bless God, " The Lord gave and the Lord taketh away ; blessed be the name of the Lord." Job 1:21 Praise is the highest function that any creature can discharge- there is no one in heaven, in this world, or in the world to come, for people who don't praise God. If you don’t enter into the Spirit and worship of heaven, how should the spirit and joy of heaven enter into you? Selfishness makes for long prayers,
The Victory Faith Church 1517 South Poplar Street Pine Bluff, AR 71601
www.thevictoryfaithchurch.org
When we bless God for mercies we prolong them, and when we bless Him for miseries we usually end them. When we reach to praise we have compassed the design of a dispensation, and have reaped the harvest of it. Praise is a soul in flower, and a secrect, hearty blessing of the Lord is the soul fruit-bearing. Praise is the honey of life, and a devout heart tastes from every bloom. - Lady Timberly Mixon