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January 15,
2012We 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 for which we have a Bible basis. 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 the members. Thank you for worshipping with us.
FAMILY
NEWS
THE SPEAKER SYSTEM. Our thanks to Karl Marcussen who has worked with Crookston Audio to give us a sound system that makes it easy to hear and understand everything that is said. We have to get used to using it, but in addition to giving everyone an easier time of hearing, we have individual audio units that a person can wear if they need something special to hear clearly what is said. See Karl for your unit if you have any trouble hearing.
BUG QUESTION. We are trying to plan what to do for our fair booth next summer. Getting people into the booth is the challenge. We had the idea of allowing people to "eat what John the Baptist ate" (locust and honey) and have some prices on locusts which are safe for consumption. We are probably talking $1,000 to buy enough locusts for the fair in conservative use. In addition we would have to purchase honey. That may be more than we want to do, but we need to start working on other ideas if this one is not a good one. Let Bill Gibson, Bill Salmons, or John Clayton know what you think.
TODAY'S LESSON
INTRODUCTION
RESPONSES
It has been a while since we have had as many people react to a sermon as we did last Sunday in our discussion of "The Minimum Christian." A lot of us had the same reaction to what we see when we actually figure out what we do with our time. Kamoka looked at the hours that she gets demanded of her by her work and how much of the 168 hours we have given to us by the Lord each week and said it well--"This is ridiculous." One couple stared at the hours spent in front of the television and said the same thing. I know when I did this 50 years ago it had a major impact on my life. My family was being neglected and my work for the Lord was woefully inadequate, and I did not even recognize it until I looked at what I was doing with my time. If we understand that every minute we live is a gift from God and one that can be taken away in a heartbeat, then we will want to make better use of our time.
Let me encourage you to not only look at how the time you have been given is used, but prayerfully make a real effort to change it. If work is consuming you, find a way to reduce how many hours are spent on the job. If television is consuming a disproportionate amount of your time, use the off button and make what TV you do watch real quality material that you would be willing to watch with the Lord sitting next to you.
More important than all of this however, is to look at the amount of your time you give back to the Lord. If you were willing to give a time tithe it would be 10% of your 168 hours you have each week. That would be 16.8 hours or 16 hours and 48 minutes. Make that a goal! Spend time visiting people who need a visit. Send cards and make phone calls to shut ins and people struggling with family problems. Volunteer to help with our food bank or to help with caring for children or provide transportation for people who need help getting to a doctor, the grocery, or services. Make a part of your time tithe a time of study and prayer. Come to our classes and take some of the free Bible correspondence courses we have available.
It is important to establish a budget to manage our finances, and that budget needs to be established prayerfully and carefully. Budgeting our time is no different.
THE
DEVIL IN THE MODERN WORLD
1
Peter 5:9
INTRODUCTION
Does
Satan exist?
ACTIONS
"In a
universe of blind physical forces
and genetic replication, some people
are going to get hurt, and other
people are going to get lucky, and
you won't find any rhyme or reason
to it, nor any justice. The universe
we observe has precisely the
properties we should expect if there
is, at the bottom, no design, no
purpose, no evil and no good,
nothing but blind, pitiless
indifference." Richard Dawkins
What do you visualize when you think
of Satan and evil? Man in
a red suit with a pitch fork?
Satan is referred to by name 43 times
in the Bible.Satan--Hebrew
word. Greek is Satanas
Means
"adversary"or "accuser"--Job 1:6; 1
Chronicles 21:1; Psalm 109:6
Devil- diabolos or Beelzeboul
Matthew
10:25; 12:24, 27; John 14:30;
Ephesians 2:2
1 John
3:8--"Sinning from the beginning"--2
Peter 2:4; Jude 6; Job 1 and 2
1 John 3:8--Jesus appeared to destroy the Devil's work
SATAN
IS NOT A PHYSICAL BEING, BUT IS A
SPIRITUAL ONE.1 John 3:8--Jesus appeared to destroy the Devil's work
Hebrews
2:14-15
2 Corinthians 11:14--Transformed into an angel of light
Jude 9--conflict of celestial beings
Matthew 16:23--Satan can use Christians.
Luke 22:3--Can enter people--John 13:27; Acts 5:3
Takes people as his children--1 John 3:1
2 Corinthians 11:14--Transformed into an angel of light
Jude 9--conflict of celestial beings
Matthew 16:23--Satan can use Christians.
Luke 22:3--Can enter people--John 13:27; Acts 5:3
Takes people as his children--1 John 3:1
Ephesians
6:12-18; 3:10-11; 2 Corinthians 11:14;
Job 1 & 2
UNDERSTAND
SATAN'S METHODS--Matthew
13:24-30Satan
uses seed methods--we need "Preen"
Weeds recognizable at harvest
Satan is a coward--James 4:7.
1 Corinthians 10:13--God provides ways of escape.
Ultimately Satan will be destroyed--Matthew 13:49.
DO NOT
UNDERESTIMATE SATANWeeds recognizable at harvest
Satan is a coward--James 4:7.
1 Corinthians 10:13--God provides ways of escape.
Ultimately Satan will be destroyed--Matthew 13:49.
How bad
can evil be--look around.
We are
not helpless, Where does Dawkin's
statement take you? Where does Jesus
Christ take you?
Revelation 21:3-4--ultimate promise
Revelation 21:3-4--ultimate promise
RESPONSES
It has been a while since we have had as many people react to a sermon as we did last Sunday in our discussion of "The Minimum Christian." A lot of us had the same reaction to what we see when we actually figure out what we do with our time. Kamoka looked at the hours that she gets demanded of her by her work and how much of the 168 hours we have given to us by the Lord each week and said it well--"This is ridiculous." One couple stared at the hours spent in front of the television and said the same thing. I know when I did this 50 years ago it had a major impact on my life. My family was being neglected and my work for the Lord was woefully inadequate, and I did not even recognize it until I looked at what I was doing with my time. If we understand that every minute we live is a gift from God and one that can be taken away in a heartbeat, then we will want to make better use of our time.
Let me encourage you to not only look at how the time you have been given is used, but prayerfully make a real effort to change it. If work is consuming you, find a way to reduce how many hours are spent on the job. If television is consuming a disproportionate amount of your time, use the off button and make what TV you do watch real quality material that you would be willing to watch with the Lord sitting next to you.
More important than all of this however, is to look at the amount of your time you give back to the Lord. If you were willing to give a time tithe it would be 10% of your 168 hours you have each week. That would be 16.8 hours or 16 hours and 48 minutes. Make that a goal! Spend time visiting people who need a visit. Send cards and make phone calls to shut ins and people struggling with family problems. Volunteer to help with our food bank or to help with caring for children or provide transportation for people who need help getting to a doctor, the grocery, or services. Make a part of your time tithe a time of study and prayer. Come to our classes and take some of the free Bible correspondence courses we have available.
It is important to establish a budget to manage our finances, and that budget needs to be established prayerfully and carefully. Budgeting our time is no different.