6,;+HSSQHU*D]HWWH7LPHV+HSSQHU2UHJRQWednesday, December 20, 2023
Christmas Messages From Area Churches
Does Truth Really Matter?
By Pastor Quentin Byers of Heppner Christian
Church.
I think a good way to focus in on the truth of the
season would be to ask this question: “Is Christmas cel-
ebrated because Jesus Christ, the Messiah, was born to
save us from our sins, bring us salvation, and restoring
our relationship with God? Or is it, as the rest of the world
would have you think, that the true meaning of Christmas
is only about getting together with family and friends,
eating good food and enjoy giving gifts with each oth-
er?” Don’t misunderstand me, none of that is inherently
wrong, in fact I consider it quite a joy to spend time with
family and friends. However, when it comes to the truth
of Christmas, well then, we do have a big problem. It
is crucial to ask the question, does truth really matter?
Have you ever thought about truth with regards to who
Jesus is? In the gospel of John chapter 1 verses 1-5 we
see John very powerfully and masterfully addressing this
very question. He says, “In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God. All things came into
being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came
into being that has come into being. In Him was life,
and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in
the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”
Right out of the gate we see that John is not holding any
punches with regards to who Jesus is. In fact, the whole
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people of the world. This is why we see John, right out
of the get go in verse 1, expresses the fact that Jesus, the
Word, existed eternally with God. This would instantly
draw the attention of any Jew during that time all the way
back to Genesis 1:1 where it says, “In the beginning God
created the heavens and the earth.” By using the language
that John did in the start of his gospel, he is connecting
the Word of God, which is Jesus, to the creation process.
Displaying for us all the perfect eternal unity that God has
as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. John then tells us that “The
word was with God and the word was God.” Meaning that
Jesus the Word, always existed eternally with God, and it
is through Jesus, and Jesus alone, that “All things came
into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came
into being that has come into being.” Everything in this
universe as we know it was created through Jesus. The
power of the unseen wind, the largest star in the sky, all
the way to the smallest microscopic atom that makes up
all matter, Jesus is the source in which all things came into
being. When God spoke the heavens and the earth into
existence it came through Jesus. When God created the
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ing bugs of this earth, it came through Jesus. When God
created us, to be His image bearers and stewards of this
earth, it came through Jesus. He is the very Word of God
in action, and nothing exists without Jesus because He is
in all truth and reality, God. However, that’s not all John
has to say regarding our Lord and Savior for we also see
in verses 4-5 that Jesus is the supplier of life. You see, it
is only through Him that we have our physical lives here
on this earth, and it is only through Him that we have
spiritual and everlasting life in eternity. We learn through
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of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Jesus is
the only true source of life in this world. However, at the
end of verse 4 John tells us that “The life was the light of
Men.” Now for us to fully understand this statement, we
need know how the word “light” is used with regards to
biblical language. Within the Bible the word “light” is not
just used with regards to the light that we can physically
see, it also represents the concept of goodness and hope.
And that is how John is using the word here. He declares
that the life that comes from Jesus is the light of hope for
all mankind. And as verse 5 shows us when Jesus, our
given hope for life, came into the darkness, that darkness
which includes fallen humanity was unable to understand
the truth of who Jesus was. And that He alone is the true
life and hope we have been searching for. There’s a story
from Bits and Pieces that helps explain the point John is
drawing us to. The story explains how, The school system
in a large city had a program to help children keep up with
their schoolwork during stays in the city’s hospitals. One
day a teacher who was assigned to the program received a
routine call asking her to visit a particular child. She took
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the child’s regular class teacher. “We’re studying nouns
and adverbs in his class now,” the regular teacher said,
“and I’d be grateful if you could help him understand
them, so he doesn’t fall too far behind.” The hospital
program teacher went to see the boy that afternoon. No
one had mentioned to her that the boy had been badly
burned and was in great pain. Upset at the sight of the
boy, she stammered as she told him, “I’ve been sent by
your school to help you with nouns and adverbs.” When
she left, she felt as if she hadn’t accomplished much. But
the next day, a nurse asked her, “What did you do to that
boy?” The teacher felt she must have done something
wrong and began to apologize. “No, no,” said the nurse.
“You don’t know what I mean. We’ve been worried about
that little boy, but ever since yesterday, his whole attitude
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It’s as though he’s decided to live.” Two weeks later the
boy explained that he had completely given up hope until
the teacher arrived. Everything changed when he came
to a simple realization. He expressed it this way: “They
wouldn’t send a teacher to work on nouns and adverbs
with a dying boy, would they?” You see, just like this boy
in the story needed the truth and hope to live, John new
full well that we today need the truth and hope of Christ
as well. That is why John points us to Jesus, the eternal
God, who out of His great love for us, personally chose
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could ever imagine; the hope and reality of everlasting
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and transforming relationship with Jesus. Truth really
does matter, and the truth of Christmas is that Jesus came
into this world so that you could receive the grace and
gift of salvation.
Mustangs defeat the
The White Elephant Gift Central Linn Cobras
Exchange of Life
Pastor Tripp Finch from Willow Creek Baptist
Church
Have you ever stopped and thought that life is a little
bit like a white elephant gift exchange? For those not
familiar with the Christmas holiday tradition, it involves
exchanging presents with a group of people in which
everyone brings a gift to the party, usually of nominal
value. Everyone then gathers, sits in a circle, and places
the wrapped presents in the center. Numbers are drawn
from a basket by the participants to determine who draws
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like a tube of diaper cream, but there are surprises as con-
tributions could also be of high quality, such as a fancy
wood engraved Let ’Er Buck Pendleton Roundup Salt and
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The catch of the game is that participants can either choose
from the pile of unwrapped gifts or steal an already opened
gift from another person. Stealing gifts is accepted as a
part of the game, but this is where it gets a bit hairy and
true to life. How many times have you seemingly drawn
from the pile of life and pulled out a great treasure? Maybe
you found the romantic love of your dreams. Perchance
you fell into an unexpected inheritance. Perhaps you re-
ceived what felt like a much-deserved promotion at work
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long-awaited child was born to you, and you treasure
this child above all things. If you would indulge me for a
moment, these wonderful blessings resemble the prizes
pulled from the gift pile. However, just as those white
elephant gifts we love get stolen from our hands, there
are times in life when our prized possessions are lifted
from our lap, snatched away in less than a moment’s
notice. We lose that job. Relationships end. The gift we
found security in evaporates right before our eyes and we
are sent back to the pile of other packages in search of
something to replace the hole left in our hearts. We can
shed tears or verbally express our displeasure to all, as a
child might do. We can pretend it doesn’t bother us, as an
adult is supposed to do. We could resolve to work harder
next time to pick a better package from the pile or draw
a higher number from the basket so that we could steal a
better gift from some unlucky person. Plan, resolve, cry, or
wail somehow it never really stops our continual despon-
dency. Live long enough and you will discover that life
is full of disappointments great and small. How are we to
survive the monumental heartbreaks of loss that leave us
deep in grief? There is a way. There is good news. There
is a gift freely given to you that can never be stolen away.
This gift arrived not in a pile of inconsequential presents,
instead, it came in the form of a newborn baby. This baby
was no ordinary baby. This child is Jesus. Existing from
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and Lord of all creation. Yet born a helpless baby so that
he might enter our world to live and then die for all the
wrong we do and have ever done. Born to die so that he
might settle the scales of justice forever so that we could
be liberated from death and disappointment forever. This
Christmas, would you consider accepting this priceless
gift? You may never change that seemingly perpetual
letdown of white elephant exchanges, but larger, grander
change can happen in your life through a little baby in a
manger. Service Times for Willow Creek Baptist Church
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Service at 5:30pm.
The Heppner Mustang
boys’ basketball team won
both of their games at the
Heppner Christmas Clas-
sic this past weekend. The
Classic was held at Hep-
pner High School this past
weekend. The Mustangs
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Linn Cobras by the score
of 50-41 and then beat the
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In a tough matchup
with a team who traveled
a great distance from their
school (which is located
halfway between Corvallis
and Eugene) the Mustangs
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quarter 12-10. Heppner
then fought back to go into
the half time break with a
24-22 lead. The lead stayed
at two points at the end of
the third quarter as the Mus-
tangs led 35-33. Heppner
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fourth quarter but then put
together a 15-8 point run to
secure the win 50-41.
Caden George led the
Mustangs in scoring with
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rebounds. Landon Mitchell
was next with 10 points,
five rebounds and three
blocks. Mason Orem had
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Proudfoot scored 3 points in
the game and Marty Medina
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The Echo Cougars
didn’t have to travel near
as far as Central Linn did
to play the Mustangs. Echo
came into the game riding
high after a big win over
the Weston-McEwen Tiger-
scots the day before. Hep-
pner coach Jeremy Rosen-
balm knew that the Cougars
would be a challenge for his
team and he was correct.
Heppner jumped out
to a 19-12 lead at the end
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cut into that lead in the sec-
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at halftime. Heppner got up
by as many as nine points
early in the third quarter,
but the Cougars used a
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lead into the fourth quarter.
The game stayed close
throughout the quarter as
neither team would have an
advantage of more than one
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took the lead for good with
a little over two minutes to
play in the game. Heppner
was able to build on that
lead from there as they hit
some crucial free throws
down the stretch to seal the
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Landon Mitchell had a
big night for the Mustangs
as he scored 23 points and
ripped down 15 rebounds.
He also had 3 assists in
the game. Caden George
followed up his stellar per-
formance on Friday night
with another great over-
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assists and 4 steals. Ma-
son Orem was one point
shy of a double-double
as he scored 9 points and
ripped down 12 rebounds.
Mason also had 2 assists
and 2 blocks in the game.
Cameron Proudfoot had
an outstanding game with
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assists. Thomas Bales had 5
points and 8 rebounds while
Keaton Coiner chipped in
with 4 points for the Mus-
tangs.
Print & Mailing Services
*Design *Print
Sykes Publishing
*Mail
541-676-9228
Heppner FFA gives
back
(L-R) Delilah Sauceda, Jules Archer, Claire Lindsey, Riley
Archer, Piper Kelton, Teagon Kelton, Nick Wenberg, Quaid
Jensen, and Lizzy Ginn.
The students of the
Heppner FFA enthusias-
tically participated in the
‘Adopt a Family’ program.
They are dedicated their
time to shop for families in
need. They were excited to
see how their Random Acts
of Kindness (RAK) activity
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positively impact families
this holiday season.
Santa’s elf gets
hearing test
Print
&
Mailing
Services
*Design
*Print
*Mail
Sykes Publishing
541-676-9228
Santas helper getting his ears
checked to hear all the chil-
dren. - Contributed Photo
Verna’s Hearing Care Cen-
ter is dedicated to ensuring
optimal hearing for indi-
viduals of all ages, even
Santa’s beloved elves!
Morrow County Services would like to thank all
Veterans for their service to our country.
It is a great honor to offer our help in return.
Please visit us at 215 NE Main Avenue in Irrigon,
Monday-Thursday 8 am to 12 pm and 1-5 pm
Or contact us at 541-922-6420 or scase@co.morrow.or.us
Lunch
& Dinner
Menu
Specials 12/21 - 12/27
*Thursday - Grilled Chicken wrap
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*Friday5HXEHQDQGFXUO\IULHV
*Saturday- Potato soup and grilled
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*Monday Closed. Merry Christmas
*Tuesday - Seafood platter and cup clam
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Tuesday night 6-9pmKDUGVKHOOWDFRV
*Wednesday Spaghetti & meatballs with
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**Open Sunday 12-31-23 New Years Day
at 3p m
20% off Montana Silversmith Jewelry
Morrow County Grain Growers Green Feed & Seed
Heppner - 242 W Linden Way - 541-676-9422