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August 13, 2017

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

ANNUAL SENIORS PICNIC: You are invited to come to the annual picnic for seniors in the Michiana area which will be held this Tuesday at the home of John and Cynthia Clayton. Anyone is welcome. This is an event that has gone on for many years where the Tuesday night devotional is held the third Tuesday of every month. We will have ham and barbecued pork sandwiches, and everyone brings a potluck type of dish — it is always a great feast. We plan to eat at 6:00. If you do not know how to get to the Clayton's, see John. The address is 1555 Echo Valley Drive, Niles 49120 and the phone is 269-687-9426.

REMEMBER THE BLOOD DRIVE which will be held here on September 9 from 10:00 AM to 2:45 PM. There are flyers available to put in stores or at work. Please take some and put them out throughout the community. This not only plugs the blood drive, but it is wonderful advertising for the congregation that meets here. We want to have a significant number of donors to serve the community and meet the needs of hospitals in the area. See Tracy Brewer if you have any questions.


TODAY'S LESSON

HOW DO YOU CHANGE ATTITUED?

 Sound on icon

John Clayton
INTRODUCTION (John mentions the solar eclipse on August 21, 2017 with a reference to
....this chart.)
A. Have you ever heard, “I don't like your attitude?”
B. Webster — many definitions:
1. A position assumed for a specific purpose
2. A mental position or feeling, an emotional state of being
3. A negative or hostile frame of mind
4. A cool, cocky, defiant or arrogant manner
C. The Sermon on the Mount deals primarily with attitude — how do we control it?
I. DEVELOP AN ATTITUDE TOWARD SELF.
A. Matthew 5:3 — “Poor in spirit”
1. Look at the cosmos — how much control you have?
2. Look at what you cannot do.
3. Philippians 4:11
4. Humility — 1 Peter 5:5; Philippians 2:8
B. Matthew 5:4 — “They who mourn”
1. Mourn = feel concern for human need
2. Being a part of relief work — here and elsewhere
C. Matthew 5:5 — “the meek” — meek is not weak — willing to get their hands dirty
II. DEVELOP AN ATTITUDE TOWARD GOD.
A. Matthew 5:6 — “hunger and thirst after righteousness” — What do you spend your
....“search” time on?
B. Are we like the Bereans? — Acts 17:11
C. Matthew 5:8 — “Pure in heart” How? Do we work on impurities?
III. DEVELOP AN ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHERS.
A. Matthew 5:7 — “Merciful”
1. Tied into forgiveness — Matthew 6:12
2. Tied into kindness — even to the guilty
B. Matthew 5:9 — “Peacemakers” — People are crazy.
C. Matthew 9:25 – 26 — Is this your view of the world?
IV. YOU CAN CHANGE WITH GOD'S HELP
A. Romans 6:3 – 5 and Ephesians 4:22 – 27
B. Go back to Webster's definitions. What fits?


THE BACK PAGE

THE GREAT AMERICAN ECLIPSE

Next Sunday I will be presenting a lectureship in Elizabethtown, Illinois, on Sunday, and on Tuesday I will be conducting a community viewing of a total eclipse. To help you understand what this is all about there is an insert in today's bulletin of the sheet we will be distributing in that viewing. Here in Dowagiac the eclipse will be a partial eclipse (about 85% coverage). The sun will not be completely covered by the moon, but a large percentage of it will be. When that happens strange things will take place. The temperature will drop, crickets will start chirping, cows may start walking toward the barn, and under trees there will be an image of the sun and the moon projected on the ground. Where I will be at the very south end of Illinois the sun will be completely covered, dropping its brightness by a factor of a million.

First, a word of warning: DO NOT STARE AT THE SUN DURING THIS TIME EVEN THOUGH IT IS DARKENED. X-rays and ultraviolet light are emitted by the atmosphere of the sun and that radiation can damage your retina. Get special glasses or project the image on a sheet of paper with a card with a hole poked in it. The news media will be full of instructions about this.

So why is this event in this church bulletin? First, it is a beautiful demonstration of God's constant work to promote beauty and wonder in his creation. The design of the size of the moon and its position in space allows this to happen. The moon is just exactly the right size to exactly cover the sun. You can view this as an accident or as another expression of God's love for beauty and order in the cosmos. Secondly, from a historical standpoint people have attached all kinds of religious significance to eclipses. Babylonians believed the solar eclipse predicted the death of their king. Hindu teaching is that the Hindu demon Rahu chased the sun and occasionally swallowed it.

People have tried to explain the darkness of Matthew 27:45 as an eclipse, but eclipses last a few minutes — not hours and at that time of year for the Passover, there would have been a full moon and not a new moon, as with a solar eclipse! Enjoy a view of God's creation that does not happen very often, but do not attach religious significance to it.

— John Clayton

Our sign by the street!

PLAN AHEAD, RED CROSS BLOOD DRIVE, SEPT. 9.