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.


DECISIONS. The family here has a couple of decisions that need to be made within the next week to ten days. A final choice about carpeting for the downstairs needs to be made immediately. If you care about this, let your opinion be made known immediately. Samples are in the fellowship room. We need to decide if we want to do the booth at the Cass County Fair again in August. We have been sent the forms, and if we are going to do it, we need to get our space reserved. The purpose of this booth is to get the Church in front of the community and let them know who we are and what we do. It is the cheapest advertising we can get, but it takes some work on everyone's part. Everyone needs to be a part of this if we are going to do it. Voice your opinion to Bill Gibson, as he will be sending in the forms if we are to do it. We are talking about hosting a singing again this summer. Let your opinion on this be known.

POTLUCK NEXT SUNDAY. This is our usual first Sunday time of fellowship and discussion together. Plan to stay, whether you can bring a dish or not.

IN NEED OF PRAYERS. Be sure to pick up the sheet that Julie and Karl Marcussen have prepared. Thelma Raab continues to have a variety of problems with her health and with caring for her brother. Keep her in your prayers. Cynthia Clayton is in Colorado until the end of April caring for her mother. Janice Love has had a difficult couple of weeks. Keep her on your prayer list daily.

GIFTS THAT CANNOT BE IMPROVED
2 Peter 1:2-21

 
This is another question from the question box, and it is a good one. What about all these other churches, are they not also Churches of Christ? Can we arrogantly claim to be the only true Church and condemn everyone else?

Before we start this discussion let me make it clear that we nor anyone else is the judge in this matter. There have been those who have tried to condemn others and who would make the claim that everyone else is going to hell and we are not. I have a Baptist friend who says "That attitude may be the one thing that will send you to hell" and I understand where he is coming from. We are all frail, stumbling, bumbling, weak, pathetic, inept, human beings. No one has all the answers, and no one is sinless or perfect.

Having said that, we do need to understand that there are some fundamental issues involved here. In our lesson today we will see many scriptures that talk about the importance of not following men and their made up tales. It is critical that we follow what Jesus said and what the Bible teaches on all issues--not the opinions of some great scholar or prominent historical figure. The Greek word "Church" is "ekklesia" and literally means "That which is called out." The Church of Christ literally means those who are called out of the world by Christ. In 1 Corinthians 1:2 and 2 Corinthians 2: 1 the term used is Church of God. That would also be a valid description of what the followers of Jesus should be.

In the twenty-first century we have seen a variety of other names used to indicate what the congregation is all about. Some groups call themselves "Bible Church" or "Congregational Church" to indicate that they follow the Bible or to indicate that they are not part of a religious hierarchy. Some will adopt a story from the Bible and use it as a focus of the group embodied in the name. In 1 Peter 2:1-10 there is a discussion in which Christians are called "living stones" and some of us here know a congregation in South Bend that is called "The Living Stones Church." We do not wear our name arrogantly or self-righteously, we just want to be known as the "called out" of the world by Jesus.