Ashville Road Church of Christ

A Fellowship of Believers

Services Schedule

(205) 699-2447
1401 Ashville Road    Leeds, AL 35004

• 14Mar

  Neil’s Niche

  by Neil in Neil’s Niche, Seeking Things Above.

  Something to note before reading this poem:  This Psalm is an acrostic poem; starting with verse 1, it begins with the first letter in the Hebrew alphabet, and continues on successively.  Measure yourself up to this Psalm, and be honest with yourself as you search you heart to determine whether you are at this point in your spiritual life.

  “Praise the LORD.  Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who finds great delight in his commands.

  His children will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed.  Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever.  Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man.  Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely, who conducts his affairs with justice.  Surely he will never be shaken; a righteous man will be remembered forever.  He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.  His heart is secure, he will have no fear; in the end he will look in triumph on his foes.

  He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor, his righteousness endures forever; his horn will be lifted high in honor.  The wicked man will see and be vexed, he will gnash his teeth and waste away; the longings of the wicked will come to nothing.”

  Psalm 112

• 14Mar

  News and Notes

  by Drew in Seeking Things Above.

  The first of the year has been pretty slow, but things are heating up in March.  Spring is fast approaching, and God will soon rejuvenate the world as he does every year.  Let’s rejuvenate our efforts for his kingdom, finding ways to get involved at Ashville Road.

  Tonight is Visitation Night.  Following an abbreviated Sunday evening service, our Care Groups will meet for a short meeting concerning needs that may exist within the congregation.  If you are looking for opportunities to help others, your Care Group is the place to do it.  If you are new to the congregation and are unsure whether you are in a group, please see me, and I will be happy to assist you.

  Following our Care Group meetings we will have Care and Share finger food fellowship in the fellowship hall.  Last month we had a great time meeting new members and enjoying one another’s company.  Tonight we have more new members to introduce, so I hope everyone is planning to be there to encourage them.  I know that many of you have young children who need to get to bed, but we are making an effort to be time conscious and make this event brief, but meaningful.

  Our Wednesday night Spring Series begins in a little over two weeks.  The theme this year is “Passages that Make the Church Grow.” As usual, we have a great lineup of speakers who have selected texts from the Bible they believe contribute to church growth.  Our attendance on Wednesday nights has left much to be desired.  But the days are getting longer, and the Spring Series is a good motivation to start a habit of being present with your family every Wednesday night.

  On March 27 the church is planning a workday to do some maintenance on our building and grounds.  The teenagers have graciously agreed to cook breakfast for us that morning.  Be here at 8 a.m. for breakfast.  The work begins immediately after we eat.

  Our workday will help us prepare for our spring Gospel Meeting with Steve Higginbotham, which is scheduled for April 11-14.  Steve preaches for the Karns Church of Christ in Knoxville, TN, where the East Tennessee School of Preaching is located.  It’s not too early to be praying for the meeting and inviting friends.

  The Lads to Leaders/Leaderettes Convention in Atlanta will be here before we know it.  In anticipation of this event we are having a split service prior to our worship services this evening at 5 p.m.  The men will assemble in the auditorium to hear our boys speak and lead singing, and the ladies will assemble in the fellowship hall to encourage our young ladies.  This boys and girls have been working very hard.  You will be impressed when you hear them!

  I am very proud of the work all of you are doing at Ashville Road.  This is truly a great congregation, and I am blessed to be a part of it.

• 07Mar

  Neil’s Niche

  by Neil in Neil’s Niche, Seeking Things Above.

  Beside this passage in my Bible, I wrote a date: 4/29/2007.  This was two days after I buried my cousin after he had died from very unnatural circumstances.  I was questioning everything, and my life seemed so unstable.  I was sitting in church, half-heartedly listening, when the preacher directed us to open to this passage.  Still today, when it seems like I am going through a faith crisis, I open to this passage, and let it affect my thinking, my morale, and my life for the better.

  “O God, you are my God,
  earnestly I seek you;
  my soul thirsts for you,
  my body longs for you,
  in a dry and weary land
  where there is no water.

  I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.  My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.  Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me. They who seek my life will be destroyed; they will go down to the depths of the earth. They will be given over to the sword and become food for jackals. But the king will rejoice in God; all who swear by God’s name will praise him, while the mouths of liars will be silenced.”

  Psalm 63

  Keep truckin’,

• 28Feb

  Neil’s Niche

  by Patrick in Neil’s Niche, Seeking Things Above.

  What do we think of when we worship?  Do we consider the very being of God, His divine attributes?  Do we consider the greatness of God, and His desire for us to recognize it?  Let’s read the 8^th Psalm before we go into worship this morning to recognize God’s amazing power:

  “O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!  You have set your glory above the heavens.  Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.  When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?

  Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.  You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.  O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”

  Dwell on these sayings for a few minutes, pray about them, and let’s get our minds right as we prepare to worship our LORD.

• 21Feb

  Neil’s Niche

  by Neil in Neil’s Niche, Seeking Things Above.

  I am going to be honest with you guys, I really, really, really like the Psalms.  I find that, in our busy lives, we just kind of skim through the Psalms to get our daily reading done, or to help our kids remember their memory verse, and we just go back to our lives.  No, I don’t like that mentality when thinking about studying the Psalms (much less the Bible!).  What we need to do is to read them and dwell on them.  Chew on them such as we would eat a filet mignon: enjoying every morsel of the fine quality that we get to experience.  These Psalms are a story of wisdom and character; pain and loneliness; God’s heart and man’s.

  This is something that we should completely take a time out for.

  So for the next couple of weeks, I want to highlight some Psalms that I love, and I want you to talk about them.  Talk about them with your family, your friends, your co-workers, the elders here at ARCOC, the teachers here, and Drew and me.  Tell us what you think, ask us what we think.  Chew on them; enjoy them; dwell on them:

  Why do the nations rage, and the peoples plot in vain?  The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.”  He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.  Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.”  I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.  Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.  You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”  Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled.   Blessed are all who take refuge in him.     –Psalm 2

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