Home

Worship Services

Sermons and Classes

Location

Contacts

Bulletins

Links
Bulletin cover

March 24, 2013

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 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 and 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

GLYNN LANGSTON — What a great treat it was to have Glynn with us last Sunday. Remember that his two lessons are on our website (class and sermon) if you were unable to be here. We are talking about contributing to this great and unique missionary work on a monthly basis, and we would like to have everyone's input on whether we should do that and if so, how much we should commit to. We are also talking about a community meeting featuring Glynn sometime in the future.

PLANS — Our highway cleanup date is the last week of April and the first week of May. Keep that period free, and we will find the best date for the most people to clean the highway between just south of our building and the city limits of Dowagiac on highway M 51. This is another way we can serve our community.

The Cass County Fair — is July 28 to August 3. Please block out that week on your calendar, because we will need workers for the booth. Also remember the letter with the design questions you were given two weeks ago to study for the booth. We need to plan the design of the question boards. More later.


TODAY'S LESSON

GOD'S POWER TO CHANGE US

Ezekiel 36:26

INTRODUCTION
Does your faith have any practical affect on your life?
Why are you here this morning?
___Family pressure
___Social Pressure
___Tradition
WE'RE HERE SO GOD CAN CHANGE OUR HEART.
A. Our heart gets contaminated by the world.
1. Matthew 5:19
2. You have to think it to do it.
B. God can change the way we think.
1. Psalm 51:10 – 12 — We have to want to be different.
2. David let himself think as the world does — Psalm 51:1 – 3.
3. Do we let ourselves "watch Bathsheba"?
What's on your TV? On the movie screen?
C. Do we WANT to be different?
1. We need to communicate this to God and others.
2. Psalm 19:14
3. James 5:16
WE'RE HERE SO GOD CAN CHANGE OUR HABITS.
A. Why do people embrace religion?
1. Why do conservative faiths attract?
2. Why did God give the 10 Commandments — Exodus 20:3 – 17.
3. What happens when you have no rules?
B. Matthew 5 – 7 talks about changing our habits
1. Matthew 5:21 – 22 deals with verbal abuse.
2. Matthew 5:27 – 28 deals with sexual unfaithfulness.
3. Galatians 5:16 – 25 deals with breaking bad habits.
WE'RE HERE SO GOD CAN CHANGE OUR HOMES.
A. How precious is your home — what happens day to day.
B. Does love dominate your home — 1 Corinthians 13:1 – 13?
1. God gives us the capacity for an agape type of love.
C. What is read in your home?
1. 2 Timothy 2:15 — is your home full of babbling?
2. What is on your coffee table, magazine rack, or in your bathroom?
3. Psalm 143:10
D. Our homes can change.
ARE YOU OPEN TO GOD'S POWER TO CHANGE?


THE BACK PAGE

BEING MISSION MINDED

Last Sunday we were privileged to hear about a great mission work. When you realize that there are 100 million blind people in the world, and that some 5,000 people every month lose their useful sight in the Unites States you begin to understand the need that Glynn Langston is trying to meet. I do not know of any ministry to the blind in our entire brotherhood except what Glynn is doing.

One question that I was asked last Sunday is “why are we here in Dowagiac being talked to about this work, when we are so small and there are huge congregations out there with far more resources than we have.” There are a number of answers to that question, but for us there are two reasons for us to be considering this work. One is that there are blind and visually impaired people in our area that need access to what Glynn has available. Glynn left some of his brochures with us, and if you know someone who has lost or who is losing their sight you may want to pick one up and get the information to them.

The other point is that we are not the true church that Jesus died to establish if we are not mission minded. Jesus said “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation” (Mark 16:15). Paul said “ ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent” (Romans 10:13 – 15).

I cannot preach to the blind in India, but I can enable Glynn to do that. Our job is not to entertain or to be a social club. Our food bank, our fair booth, our service to the community are all tools to get people interested in hearing the good news about Jesus and willing to live their lives as God calls them to. The first century church was “praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people” (Acts 2:47) and we want to do the same.

— John Clayton