120 N Mt Vernon Ave ~ Prescott, AZ 86301 ~ (928)445-5190 mountvernonchurch.org ~ scripturessay.com [email protected] Morning Assembly March 20 th Assembly Announcements Don Dillahunty Announcements Don Dillahunty Song Leader Roger Derda Song Leader Rick Pinney Opening Prayer Dieter Pleier Opening Prayer Gordon Gower Scripture Reading Jim Hixenbaugh Scripture Reading David Kirschner Prayer Leader Glenn Kenner Prayer Leader Otto Buehler Lord’s Table Bill Stewart Lord’s Table Pat Myers Bill Davis Winn Hendricks Gary Zito Neil Simmons Charles Hughes Bill Stewart Closing Prayer Austin Wester Closing Prayer Larry Sanderson THOSE SERVING ASSEMBLE IN THE CHURCH OFFICE PROMPTLY AT 10:20 Welcome Guest We are glad you chose to worship with us. Please fill out a visitor’s card so we have a record of your visit. Come and worship with us again and often. Schedule of Services Pioneer Home Service 8: 30 am Bible Class 9: 30 am Morning Worship 10: 30 am Evening Worship 6: 00 pm Wed. Ladies Class 12: 00 pm (at church building) Wed. Evening Study 7: 00 pm Minister Ronald Bryant Shepherds Otto Buehler Morris Guest Gordon Gower Glenn Kenner Larry Miller Deacons Don Dillahunty Rick Pinney Spencer Guest Eddie Redman Bob Justice Larry Sanderson Troy Trammell Church Statistics OFFICE HOURS: M-Th 8am to 1pm ATTENDANCE Bible Class 70 Worship Assembly 118 Pioneer Home 22 FINANCES Weekly Budget $4018 Weekly Contribution $4741 Pioneer Home Schedule Date Lesson Song Leader Mar 20 th Rick Pinney Morris Guest Greeters for March Rick & Patty Pinney GOD, OR WHAT? Either, God created the universe and reigns supreme over it, or all that exists came into being by blind chance. These two concepts are mutually exclusive. If God created the world and reigns over it, there is no room for chance. If all came into being and is sustained by mere chance, God is eliminated. If chance produced or caused the universe, God is not truly God. But, chance is not power, nor is it a force, creative or otherwise. It is not possible for chance to create anything. The reason being, that chance does not have existence; it does not have the power to do anything. The theory that random, unintended, unplanned chance was involved in the creation of the known universe is therefore an irrational absurdity. There has never been a time when nothing (chance) produced something! Order has never come out of chaos! Chance does not order or sustain anything! The words of Genesis 1:1 are concise, and they are precise, and are beyond mere human composition. Only this text accounts for the origin of matter, space, and time. In unique language this verse sets forth the scientifically accepted essentials to the origin of the universe. "In the beginning" (time); "God" (force), "created" (action), "the heavens” (space), “and the earth" (matter). These five categories were finally embraced by scientists until the nineteenth century. Yet, in the first verse of the book of Genesis the actual origin of the universe, which science accepts as true, the origin of the universe is set forth. If Genesis is not truth, all that stands is speculation. To reject the book of Genesis is to reject faith in God. Throw Genesis aside and there is no authority, except that of man, and man is nothing but an intellectual biped. There is no basis for morality, no purpose in life; human personality and intelligence are meaningless, if they are but the product of chance. There is no truth, no goodness, no evil, and no real meaning or significance in anything, or in any measure. What does nothing produce, what can it produce? Those who postulate that an explosion produced the universe and all things that now exist, end up trying to rationally state that which is totally irrational. They declare that order came out of chaos, light came out of darkness, life came into being from non-life, and that intelligence came into being from matter. They reject faith as a humanly devised crutch, while they advance theories which clash with rationality. They operate on the basis of a blind faith - a faith that is based on no evidence. How can those authorities who cannot explain order, light, or life, speak authoritatively about any of those things, let alone speak of the origin of those things? Faith in an all-wise, all-powerful, and purposive God, who made and sustains everything, is the only possible rational response to the orderly universe and intelligent design that is evident in it. Light and life come from something; and that something is God. Faith in God is the only basis for living; for having any purpose in time, and it is the only basis for hope of a future. - Ronald Bryant