Home

Worship Services

Sermons and Classes

Location

Contacts

Bulletins

Links
Bulletin cover

April 7, 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

POTLUCK TODAY: This is the first Sunday of the month, and our tradition is to have a meal together. We are FINALLY headed out of winter, and we have had a ton of sickness among our number. Stay and enjoy a meal together and celebrate the fact that we are beginning to see evidence of spring.

IMPORTANT BUSINESS MEETING TODAY: We have not had a congregational meeting for a long time, and we need to make some important decisions. Last Sunday we had an outline in this bulletin of the things that need to be decided. I hope you have read and prayed about these things. Please plan to stay and participate (and volunteer) for some of these things that we need to do to advance the work of the Lord's body here.

WEBSITE HAS SERMONS: On the front of this bulletin is our web address. The web site has this bulletin on it, but it also has a audio recording of special lessons and sermons. When you are sick or unable to attend for some reason you can still hear the lesson by just going to the sermon button and clicking on the lesson you want to hear. Use it, and refer others to it.

TODAY'S LESSON

ADMONITIONS FROM JESUS

 Sound on icon

MATTHEW 6:24 – 34
INTRODUCTION
A. The “Sermon on the Mount” is about life.
1. Superior to every other human document
B. God (John 1:14) is telling us how to live.
YOU CANNOT SERVE GOD AND MONEY (Key word is serve).
A. Ananias and Sapphira tried in Acts 5:1–10.
1. Laid at Apostle's feet means show total sacrifice.
2. ”Kept back“ means “keep for show.”
3. Problem was not that they did not give all.
4. Issue was lying to promote social position — serve.
B. Rich young ruler of Luke 18:18 – 23
1. He was very moral — followed all the rules.
2. Lacked one thing — verse 22
3. It is not that you cannot be rich, it is a priority issue.
C. 1 Timothy 6:6 – 11 and 17 – 19 — being content
MINIMUM FAITH PRODUCES MAXIMUM ANXIETY.
A. We need to constantly build faith.
B. 2 Corinthians 1:8 –10 — Believe God will work things out.
WORRY IS WORLDLY — PART OF THE ANXIETY.
A. Philippians 4:6 — Turn it over to God.
B. Psalm 37:1– 3 Evil people reap consequences
PUT GOD FIRST AND YOUR NEEDS WILL BE MET.
A. Do we rob God of his share of our time and resources?
1. Malachi 3:8 – 10 — Money is not the primary issue.
2. God gave you 168 hours this past week.
What did you do with it?
B. Psalm 37:25 — A true observation
1. One reason is the church is there to serve.
WHO IS JESUS TALKING TO?
A. Revelation 1:3 and 3:20 — “Blessed is the one who reads these words of prophecy and
blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, … Here I am. I stand at the door and knock.”
B. We need to listen to Jesus and act on His words.


THE BACK PAGE

OUR BENEVOLENT WORK

We have had several incidents that have taken place in our benevolent work in the community that make it necessary for us to inform everyone about what we do in our benevolent work, how we do it, and why we do it, and what we do not do.

The most fundamental reason that we do benevolent work is to obey the instructions God gives us in his word. Galatians 6:10 tells us “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of be!ievers.” The first century church in Acts 2:45 “gave to anyone as he had need.” Again, the members of the church were the ones that got the most attention. In James 2:14 –16 we are told that our faith is of no worth if all we do is wish brothers and sisters in need well, and do not meet their needs. As Christians, we do our best to follow God's instructions and the example of the first century church. That means we do good to all people with special attention to members who are in need. Our work in the community also is done with an eye to bringing people to Christ. In Acts 2:47 we see that the church was “enjoying the favor of all the people.”

Recently, we have had calls from people who wanted money to buy a headstone, to make a payment on rent that was for a luxury apartment, and to pay a lawyer. It has been our decision not to take the limited money that we have for these purposes. We have also had people want to get food from our food pantry to take to someone, but they would not tell us who the person was and would not let us go with them. We will take food to anyone, but we want people to know that God is working through the church here to relieve their need. We also need to be responsible in who we give money to. People have been known to get food from a food pantry, sell it at a reduced price and use the money for recreational purposes. If you have a question, see one of us, but I hope this clears up any confusion on this issue.

— John Clayton