January 23, 2011-Bulletin.html

January 23, 2011

TO OUR VISITORS

The family of God here at Dowagiac Church of Christ wishes to extend to you a warm welcome. If you have questions about our worship services and why we do what we do, we will be glad to give you a biblical answer. The uniqueness of the Church of Christ is that we are trying to restore to the best of our ability those things that we see the first century Church doing. We are also working hard at building the spirit, unity, and love that Jesus taught and prayed for. We have no clergy, but are working together as equal co-workers trying to serve one another and the area in which we live. Come study with us, grow with us, and serve with us as we strive to do God's will in all things.

REMEMBER CHILDREN'S WORSHIP. Our services today will start with. singing, prayer, and communion. After the communion our children will be dismissed to the fellowship area for a lesson at their level while the adults listen to the sermon for today. Parents need to decide whether they want their children to stay with them or go to the children's worship, but we would encourage all younger children who cannot understand the adult lesson to go and have a lesson which will be at their level. Our goal is to have 100 percent of what we do here understandable by 100 percent of us.

FAMILY NEWS

Classes. We continue to have great Bible classes. Our Sunday morning class is on personal emotional pain and God's remedy for it. Come and be with us at 10:00. Sunday evening and Wednesday evening we continue our study of Paul's letters. We are starting Philippians tonight, so come and learn with us. These are studies involving the real world and the choices we make in life. God's word has real answers for us, and all of us need to grow and be trained in how to approach the tough choices in life. Come and join in the discussion.

Connie Adamo is a sweet lady who many of us got to know this past summer as she attended here a number of times. She teaches and lives in South Bend, and we continue to have contact with her. Connie's mother fell this past week and broke several bones and required surgery. Keep Connie and her family in your prayers. We will get an address for you soon.

TODAY'S LESSON

DREAMS
GENESIS 37-41

INTRODUCTION--

A. Different kinds of dreams--electrically caused

1. Nightmares
2. Reliving of trauma

B. Different kinds of dreams--desires, goals

1. Joseph dreamed of being a ruler
2. David dreamed of being a king
3. "I have a dream ... "--Martin Luther King

C. We need to have a dream--individually, congregationally

1. What do you want for yourself?
2. What do we want for this congregation?
3. My dream--Acts 2:45-47

a. Young leadership, new leadership

DREAMS TAKE TIME TO COME TRUE

A. Joseph waited from age 17 to 30 (Genesis 37:2 to Genesis 41:46).
B. David waited 15 years.
C. Martin Luther King waited 10 years for Voting Rights Act.

DREAMS TAKE TESTS, HARDSHIPS TO CQME TRUE

A. 1 Peter 5:8
B. Joseph--slavery (Genesis 37:28), unjustly condemned (39:28)

1. Faced ingratitude (Genesis 40:23)

C. We will face these. Who betrayed Jesus? The Romans?

DREAMS TAKE TEAMWORK

A. Teams always beat stars--football, basketball.
B. Marriage is a team effort--Ephesians 5:22-6:4 .
C. The first century Church of Christ was a team.

1. Acts 2:41-47

D. We are a team here at this place.

DREAMS TAKE TRUST TO COME TRUE

A. Joseph had trust in God--Genesis 39:2, 3, 21, 23.

1. Do we believe God is with us?

B. Trusting in God brings stability--Genesis 50:15-21.

1. How is trust built? Honesty, humility, forgiveness obedience, involvement.

DO YOU DREAM OF BEING IN HEAVEN?

Have you built a trusting relationship with God?

FROM THE QUESTION BOX--A DOWAGIAC BISHOP?

In the lobby we have a box that is labeled "Question Box." The purpose of the box is for anyone who has a question to put it in the box anonymously, and we will address the question either in this column or in a sermon. We have had a few questions, and a most recent one is "Why doesn't the Church here have a bishop who runs the Church?

The fundamental uniqueness of the Church of Christ is that we try to copy what was done by the first century Church described in the Bible. Over the centuries men have set up pyramid structured government in their churches with one head and a chain of command down to local congregations. The Church we read about in the Bible did not have a chain of command. Each congregation was autonomous and had its own set of leaders.

The word "Bishop" is from the Greek word "episkopos" used in Philippians 1:1; 1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:7; and 1 Peter 2:25. When you read through these passages you find that the bishop was not so much a ruler and he was a shepherd. Another word to denote those who were leaders was the word "elder" which comes from the Greek word "presbuteros" meaning aged person. Not everyone who is old is qualified to be a bishop. The passages in Timothy and Titus indicate some of the qualities that God wants an elder to have, and just being old does not mean you will have those qualities. In 1 Peter 5:1-3 we are told by Peter that the elder or bishop must feed the flock, take care of it, and be an example.

Many religious groups have added requirements of their own to a person being a bishop or elder. These have included celibacy, educational requirements, and certain kinds of experience. The Church here in Dowagiac wants to follow the Bible and the Bible alone, and at the present time we do not have anyone who desires to be a bishop and is qualified according to what Titus and Timothy teach. The only thing worse than having no bishops is to have an unqualified bishop. We have a number of men who are doing some of the work of a bishop--feeding the congregation, taking care of those who are in need, trying to be an example, etc. One of the dreams we are talking about in this morning's lesson is that before long we will have leaders we can identify as bishops of this congregation.