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July 31, 2011

WELCOME! WE'RE GLAD YOU'RE HERE

We are a group of believers who simply try to follow the Bible as a guide for all we do. Everything done in our worship service is something we have a Bible basis for. You are welcome to participate as much or as little as you wish. We will sing hymns together and we will observe the Lord's Supper or Communion together. We will also have an opportunity to give to the work of God in this area. This collection is for the members here, and if you are visiting you should not feel any pressure to give. Our lesson time will be divided into two groups. The young children will go to our classroom area in the basement where they will be taught the Bible at a level they can understand. The adults will stay in the auditorium for a lesson at an adult level. We do try to serve the community, and if you have some needs that we can help you with, mention it to one of our members. Thank you for worshipping with us.

FAMILY NEWS

FAIR EXHIBIT--PLEASE SIGN UP! We desperately need everyone to sign up to help operate our booth at the Cass County Fair, August 1-6. There are sign-up sheets on the bulletin board in the lobby. You can work as many shifts as you would like. Those of us who have flexible schedules will fill in times when no one is available, but please do not leave us with massive amounts of time to cover.

SINGING: August 14 is the date of the area-wide singing here. We will need help on Thursday morning to clean the building and Saturday morning the 13th to set up the canopies and get the fellowship area ready for food. The singing starts at 5:00 on Sunday. If you can bring food and have not let anyone know, be sure to check with one of the ladies about what you should bring.

NEXT POTLUCK: August 7 will be the next potluck. Plan to join us for a wonderful meal together.


TODAY'S LESSON

FAIR WORKERS--THE ENCOURAGERS

"Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnanbas (which means Son of Encouragement)" (Acts 4:36).  The church in Jerusalem "sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord" (Acts 11:22-24).

INTRODUCTION
--this is our Fair Booth for this year.  We are not there to preach, debate, argue. Only to encourage.
AN ENCOURAGER IS A BIBLICAL CHRISTIAN.
A. John 3:3-5
B. Matthew 9:36--same people we are after.
C. Luke 11:35--Can you weep? Stoic is not manhood.
AN ENCOURAGER HAS AN OBEDIENT SPIRIT.
A. Matthew 22:36--can be hard. Barnabas was not a preacher
B. An encourager does not make himself number "1." Matthew 16:24; Philippians 2:3-5; Matthew 20:28
C. Colossians 3:1-3--encouragers focus on "things above."
AN ENCOURAGER THRIVES ON SPIRITUAL FRUIT.
A. Colossians1:10-11--we can bear fruit. How important to you is what we are doing?
B. Hold out changes in your own life Romans 6:12-14. Are you willing to share?
AN ENCOURAGER HAS A NEW LIFE.
A. Romans 6:3-4
1. Baptism brings us to bury our old person.
2. That means our old life is behind us.
3. How is your life "new"?
B. Radiating joy is because we have something new!

WHOSE MIND DO WE CHANGE?

Every time we do a public outreach there are questions raised about how we change people's minds about doctrinal issues. In our Cass County Fair booth work, there will be people visiting that "Already have their own church." In past decades there have been unpleasant confrontations and even debates over issues such as baptism, names, worship activities, prophesy, politics--the list is huge.

The last two years we have had a booth which emphasized education. We have promoted apologetic approaches and biblical studies, but these have not involved doctrinal or worship issues. This year we are specifically reaching out to brothers and sisters in Christ who have become discouraged, have messed up their lives, and feel they are no longer welcome, or have been hurt by the way they have been treated by people who claim to be Christians.

I am sure there are those in the area who think we should have a booth on doctrinal issues, and you could certainly have a booth on the necessity of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, for example. Who would you attract by such a booth? Who would you convince? Would people stop because they saw smiles, friendly handshakes, an postive greetings or would they stop (if they stopped at all) to argue? It is not that an issue like this is not important, but rather there is a time and a place for such a study and the 4H Fair is not it. We want to let people know we are kind, loving, caring, friendly, supportive people who follow the Bible and try to live as Jesus Christ has called us to live.

There are too many places where the Church is known for its opposition to other churches in the area. In such places Christians are viewed as judgmental, exclusive, arrogant, uncooperative, unpleasant hypocrites, and congregations like that are dying. We want to knock down those stereotypes of what the Church of Christ is about, and let people know that we are here to serve, to teach, to help, to support, and to cooperate with every good work.

We want to change people's minds about what Christians are like, and urge them to join us in serving our God and one another. Be a part of our oureach as we strive to bring all men and women closer to God.