April 19, 2015 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.

STUDYTUESDAY: Our monthly bible study is this Tuesday at 7:00 at Claytons' (1555 Echo Valley Dr., Niles). Bring your Bible and be prepared for an evening of discussion, good snacks, and great fellowship with Christians from all over the Michiana area.

HIGHWAY CLEANUP: I am writing this before the cleanup, so I cannot report anything, but I want to thank everyone who came to help and especially Richard Hoyt for all the time and work he puts into making this run smoothly. The neighbors notice, and we are building some relationships in the neighborhood. Thanks to everyone who helped.

HELP! Remember that we need volunteers to work on the yard this spring. See Bill or Richard if you can help mow, rake, paint, clean or polish!

TODAY'S LESSON

PSALM 119 AND ME
John Clayton

It is a difficult time to be a Christian. Even here in the United States where the forces of Satan have not yet gotten the ability to come into a church building and shoot us, there are huge pressures upon believers. If you believe that the Bible is true and complete (2 Timothy 3:16), that Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father but by” Jesus (John 14:6), and that marriage involves “a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall cleave to his wife” (Genesis 2:24), you stand a chance of going to prison. In the name of protecting the rights of minorities, plain biblical truths can no longer be publicly proclaimed. This is especially odd since Christianity in its broadest sense, is a minority belief in the United States today.

At the present time the opponents of Christianity have been content to use lawsuits, boycotts, and public ridicule to attempt to silence Christians; but the time is coming soon when those professing Christian beliefs will risk being put in prison. Will we be willing to risk that to continue to express our beliefs, or will we allow the opponents of Christ to silence us?

In Acts 4 we read of Peter and John being “commanded not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus,” and their response was “Whether it be right in the sight of God to obey you rather than God, you judge, for we can only speak of the things that we have seen and heard” (verses 18 – 20). We are fortunate to live in a community where there is strong belief in Jesus Christ, but as denominations capitulate to the pressure to be politically correct, we will become more and more vulnerable to persecution and standing for what is right will become increasingly more difficult.

Our sign by the street!

Sign saying from www.sayingsforchurchsigns.com

How Shall the Young Secure Their Hearts

How shall the young secure their hearts, / And guard their lives from sin? / Thy word the choicest rules imparts / To keep the conscience clean / To keep the conscience clean.

'Tis, like the sun, a heav'nly light, / That guides us all the day; / And, thro' the dangers of the night. / A lamp to lead our way, / A lamp to lead our way.

Thy word is everlasting truth; / How pure is ev'ry page! / That holy book shall guide our youth, / And well support our age, / And well support our age.

Song 253 from Praise for the Lord songbook, published by Praise Press, Nashville, TN, 1997

Through It All

I've had many tears and sorrows, / I've had questions for tomorrow, / there's been times I didn't know right from wrong. / But in every situation, / God gave me blessed consulation, / that my trials come to only make me strong.

Chorus

I've been to lots of places, / I've seen a lot of faces, / there's been times I felt so all alone. / But in my lonely hours, / yes, those precious lonely hours, / Jesus lets me know that I was His own.

Chorus

I thank God for the mountains, / and I thank Him for the valleys, / I thank Him for the storms He brought me through. / For if I'd never had a problem, / I wouldn't know God could solve them, / I'd never know what faith in God could do.

[Chorus] Through it all / through it all, / I've learned to trust in Jesus, / I've learned to trust in God. / Throught it all, / through it all, / I've learned to depend upon His Word.

Written by Andrae Couch