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FAMILY NEWSAREA WIDE SINGING SUNDAY — BRING COOKIES: Next Sunday we will have visitors from all over Michiana. We voted to have cookies, brownies, and other bar cookies (like, lemon squares, etc.) as a snack after the singing. The singing starts at 2:30 P.M. and will probably run until 4:00. We would like to have homemade cookies and brownies instead of store bought ones, so we are asking all cookie makers to bring as many as you can easily do. If we have cookies left over we will freeze them for future use. Because of the singing WE WILL NOT HAVE A CLASS SUNDAY EVENING! TODAY — POTLUCK AND TIMBERS: Please stay and enjoy a meal together and join us at Timbers for a devotional at 2:00 P.M. Please come early to visit with the residents there and help with wheelchairs, etc. We need singers, so please do not leave this to someone else. THURSDAY — ACTION MINISTRIES: We need workers at A.C.T.I.O.N. at 3:15 P.M. There are a wide variety of jobs for us to do — pushing carts, making boxes, filling sacks, etc. We need to have a good turn out for this project. See Richard Hoyt, if you have any questions.! THANKS — to those who stayed Sunday night and made up the candy bags for Tuesday's city of Dowagiac “Trick of Treat” night. We made up 260 bags. Due to the weather we only had 70 trick-or-treaters . The remainder will be given out to our monthly food distribution recipients. TODAY'S LESSON
We are all either in a mess, coming out of a mess, or headed for a mess. We all have problems unique to us. I. THE STORY — 1 SAMUEL A. 1 Samuel covers 115 years of the history of Israel.
II. THE MESS - THE AMALEKITES FIND ZIKLAG — 1 Samuel 30.
1. Saul is on the throne for 32 years to age 72.
B. Saul is angry and David is threatened.
2. David is young, handsome, and popular. 1. His first solution is to outrun his problems.
C. David aligns himself with the enemy.
2. 1 Samuel 27:1 — He runs to the land of the Philistines instead of going to God. 3. Do we try to outrun our problems? 1. Achish the king of Gath (1 Samuel 27:6) who gives him Ziklag and David becomes a Philistine Arab raider — 1 Samuel 27:12.
2. Achish says Israel will reject David — 1 Samuel 27:12.
D. The Philistine military does not trust David
3. Do we align ourselves with an enemy? (1 Samuel 29:4) and sends him back to Ziklag.
E. All this is good political sense — Matthew 24:6; Mark 13:7.
We cannot use worldly standards - Matthew 22:21. A. What do you do when all you have is gone?
III. CHRISTIANS MUST NEVER BE FOR SALE. God says go.
1. 1 Samuel 30:4 — David's soldiers weep, want revenge.
B. David uses his religion instead of losing it — 1 Samuel 30:7?
2. Do you get blamed for the mess — 1 Samuel 30:6? 1. Worldly solutions do not solve problems. 2. Is God a last resort for you? Use 2 Timothy 3:16. A. David goes and defeats the Amalekites.
1. Not all of David's soldiers share his values.
B. How about us? See THE BACK PAGE below.2. The world will not share our values. 3. David's character shines in 1 Samuel 30:23-25. 4. David refuses to accept a world standard. C. What mess are you in now, and how are you doing? THE BACK PAGEHANDLING OUR PERSONAL MESSES IN LIFEI hope today's lesson has some special meaning to you. Life is frequently hard, and we seem to move from one mess to another. As Christians we should have a greater capacity to handle life's messes than do people in the world. If you have been hearing me talk for a while, you know that I use my own life as an example of whatever I am trying to teach. Sometimes it is bad, but there are a few times when it is good. Let me show you how this has worked in my own life. My atheist parents were the Amalekites for me. In high school and during my first two years of college I tried to please them by being an active atheist. I also tried to take course work that would lead to being a doctor, which is what my father wanted me to do. When I became a Christian my parents assumed it was a phase that would pass, but when I started applying Christian principles there was trouble. It began when I decided I did not want to be a doctor so that I could make a lot of money. I wanted to teach kids science to oppose the atheism I had previously promoted. My father objected saying he was paying for my education and I would do it his way. One of his friends was in the speech department who tested me and said I could never be a teacher or a public speaker because my speech was not good enough. I then announced I was going to marry Phyllis who was a diabetic from the wrong side of the tracks, and my parents tried their best to stop that marriage. Then I had an adopted son who had severe birth defects, and my parents even went to the state to try to force us to give up the child rather than try to raise him. When Cynthia came into my life one of her sons wanted to know what the rush was. There were Christian reasons why our marriage would work. All of these messes were answered only from the standpoint of faith in Jesus. What is your story? How are you approaching your messes? Our sign by the street! Sign saying from www.sayingsforchurchsigns.com. Scripture links/references are from BibleGateway.com. Unhighlighted scriptures can be looked up at their website. www.dowagiaccoc.org |
