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FAMILY NEWSTHANK YOU! We want to thank everyone for their prayers and involvement in the move of Cynthia's son and his family from Thailand to the United States. Dane, Mok, and Deacon Gift and their poodle arrived safely on January 12 after 22 hours of flying plus a four hour layover in Vienna, and while all of them had some minor infections, they are in good shape. They will be living with us until Dane finds work, and we are enjoying having them with us. Join us in making them feel welcome whenever they are able to be with us, and thank you again for joining us in petitioning God on their behalf. John and Cindy Clayton CONGREGATIONAL MEETING. It has been a long time since we have had a congregational meeting to discuss the work here, find out what we have done, what our finances are, and what we have planned for 2017. Please read the article on the back cover for more information on this meeting. Plan now to stay and bring your ideas. We need everyone here, because we can be sure that Satan will try to stop us. Discouraging people from getting involved is Satan's most effective technique. Do not let that happen! TODAY'S LESSON
INTRODUCTION
A. We live in an age of discontent.
I. CAUSE NUMBER 1 — LACK OF A FUNCTIONAL FAITH
1. Suicide rates are very high.
B. A major benefit of Christianity is contentment.
2. Activism is extreme. 3. Mental illness is a major issue. 4. Drug use is extreme — alcohol, meth, marijuana. 1 Timothy 6:5 – 6; Hebrews 13:5
C. Philippians 4:11 — What has Paul learned? Can we learn it?
A. We all have faith in something — a cause, a person.
II. CAUSE NUMBER 2 — A FAILURE TO EMBRACE HONESTY
1. Not all faiths lead to contentment.
B. Faith in God leads to contentment — Matthew 17:20
2. Atheism/Agnosticism give no contentment — Psalm 53. 12 Step programs are a good beginning
C. Luke 17:5 — “Increase our faith!” What response?
1. Look at what faith does — Matthew 7:77; Hebrews 11:6.
2. Look at evidence — Romans 1:20; Psalm 19:1; and the Does God Exist?program. A. IRS — A billion dollars in guilt money every year
III. CAUSE NUMBER 3 — LACK OF MORAL INTEGRITY
B. Deception is part of “Survival of the fittest.” C. Acts 24:16 — We have to strive at honesty. D. 2 Corinthians 8:21 E. We learn to be honest and God helps us. A. We all know Galatians 6:7 is true.
IV. CAUSE NUMBER 4 — TRUTH
1. Hebrews 13:4 — What keeps you awake at night?
B. The Bible plan for contentment — called justification
2. Galatians 5:19 – 26 — Compare 19 – 21 & 22 – 26. 1. 2 Peter 1:5, 9 — Build integrity
C. Christianity is a guilt relieving religion.2. Justification — Romans 5:1, 9; 8:30; 1 Corinthians 6:9 – 11 A. We live in an age of relativism — John 18:38; define.
B. John 17:17 and John 14:6 John 1:1 – 17 C. God will not force Truth upon you — Romans 1:21 – 25. THE BACK PAGETIME TO SPEND SOME MONEYOn February 5 we plan to have a congregational meeting after our monthly potluck. We do not want that meeting to be a marathon, but some decisions need to be made. There is an outline of the meeting that has been distributed to every family that is in regular attendance here, and if you have not gotten one see John Clayton to get one. That outline is divided into three general areas: (1) A review of current projects of the congregation with decisions about whether to drop them, increase them or change them; (2) Facility issues. We are blessed with a debt free facility, but we need to maintain it and some purchases are needed to do that; and (3) We need to think about the future. What do we need to do now to insure that the congregation will be alive and vibrant ten years from now. This bulletin gives us a way to discuss and explain some of these things so that we do not have to “plow new ground” on February 5. (1) We have discussed the Food Bank in an earlier issue of this bulletin. (2) What we mean by building up an inventory of coats is to buy and store coats during spring sales so that we are not scrambling to find a wholesaler who will sell coats to us at cost. Our previous supplier of coats is no longer available to us. (3) What we mean by “Kids to Indogan” is that in the past we have paid for young people to attend the Bible camp at Camp Indogan. For some of our young people, that is the only intense training in God's word they will get. Some of these kids have families that cannot or will not pay for them to go to camp. (4) Our presence on the web needs to be increased. Karl and Mandy have the ability to expand our web presence through Facebook and our website. We have to enter the 21st century, and that means using technology to let people in the area know who we are, where we are, and what we do. We need to set up a budget to do this. Our facility needs some major investments. (1) Our chairs in the fellowship area need replacing. Several have broken, and they are all a little dangerous. We need non-folding chairs that can stack, and save our folding chairs for special events. Bill has found a chair that fits our needs and would be about $25.00/ chair. We need a minimum of 30 chairs which would be an investment of $750.00. (2) We desperately need a new mower. Bill and Richard have been nursing our current mower (which was donated by David Pickens) along, but it is getting to be a problem to keep it going. I can tell you as the one using the mower most of the time that we need a new one. This is perhaps a $5,000 investment. (3) We need heat duct covers in the fellowship room and one classroom in the basement. They have been missing for many years, and they do pose a hazard. (4) We need an ice maker or a repair on the one that is in our fridge. (5) Some of our carpeting needs attention. Let us talk about it now and vote on these things on February 5. — John Clayton Our sign by the street!
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