January 21, 2018

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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

PLEASE PUT ON YOUR SCHEDULE AND PRAYER LIST.

FEBRUARY 4: Glynn Langston wiil be here to speak at our morning service. That is followed by our usual potluck but the Niles congregation will join us to greet Glynn and enjoy his fellowship. We will have our devotional at Timbers as we usually do, and have Glynn with us for our evening worship, so plan to spend the day with Glynn.

JUNE 1 – 3: Dowagiac Youth Rally with Willie Franklin as our guest speaker. Surrounding congregations will have their young people with us. Willie is a former pro-football player and is a dynamic speaker. We hope to have him preach for us on Sunday as well, so plan to be a part of this. It is still in the planning stage.

JUNE 16: Fun Fair day: here for the community. See last week's bulletin if you were not here last Sunday.

SNOW/COLD EMERGENCIES: We try to let everyone know if it becomes necessary to cancel services, but TV notices are unreliable and phone calls depend on fallible human beings and equipment. If you have doubts about whether services are being held, call 269-782-4564 (Bill or Patty), 269-687-9426 (John or Cindy), or 574-333-1177 (Richard).

TODAY'S LESSON

ADVERSITY
John Clayton

INTRODUCTION: Every day we hear about problems.

A. Personal struggles are number 1.
B. National problems are not number 1 for Christians.

1. Matthew 24:6
2. John 18:36

C. Our attitude affects how we deal with life.

1. Blame God — be bitter towards God.
2. Despair — bitterness, denial, anger
3. Rash response — run out, sell out, go to charlatans.

D. The Bible gives a lot of instruction on this.

I. REALIZE ADVERSITY BRINGS DEPENDENCE ON GOD.

A. Job’s story of Personal adversity
B. Job’s friends try to explain it away.

1. Eliphaz gives a theological solution (Job 4 – 5).
2. Bildad gives a philosophical explanation (Job 8).
3. Zophar gives a political explanation (Job 11).
4. Elihu gives a psychological explanations (Job 31).

C. Job's wife gives up on Job and God (Job 2)
D. Job never gives up. Knows that he will understand.
E. Israel's story — a hard time believing God

1. Kills obedience — Deuteronomy 1:21; Joshua 1:5 – 9
2. “God hates us” — Deuteronomy 1:26 – 28.

F. Total dependence comes with complete adversity.

1. Exodus 14:9 – 14 — “Better to serve than die”
2. Exodus 13:31

G. What does it take for me to depend on God?

II. ADVERSITY IS A MEANS OF SPREADING THE GOSPEL.

A. Acts 7 – Acts 8:4
B. 2 Corinthians 4:8 – 10
C. Fire is needed for Palmeto Pine or Douglas Fir.
D. Why was Paul such an effective evangelist?

1. 2 Corinthians 11:23 – 28
2. 2 Corinthians 4:7 – 18 — We are the earthen vessels.

E. What answer does an atheist have to adversity? “Survival of fittest” — no answer when you are not fit.
F. Philippians 3:10 – 14 — What is your prize?

THE BACK PAGE

LOTS OF PAIN

NUMBER 138 in our songbooks is a song we sing a lot. “Farther along we'll know all about it. Farther along we'll understand why” is the chorus of the song and it speaks of something we have seen often of in this congregation recently. Last Saturday some of us attended two funerals, and all of them were people known to this congregation as well as to many of us personally. Every Sunday and Wednesday we have a long list of people who have cancer, heart problems, grief issues, and serious illnesses. These are not meaningless names of people we do not know, but for the most part the names are people who are known and loved by part or all of this congregation.

In John 9:1 – 3 Jesus comes in contact with a man who was blind from his birth. This man did not know who Jesus was and his blindness was not caused by sin according to Jesus (John 9:3). Having a blind son myself, I can understand to some degree the anxiety of the parents and what the incredible joy of the blind man must have been as he received sight for the first time in his life! February 4 Glynn Langston will be with us. Glynn was blind within a few weeks of birth and has lived over half a century as a blind adult. The more you are around Glynn, the more you realize how much he has endured; and yet, he is full of joy and optimism as he travels by himself all over the world.

It is interesting to watch the reactions of the religious people of Jesus' day in a situation like this. In John 9 the parents are attacked by the religious leaders and threatened. The blind man himself is attacked, but proves to be more than a match for the hypocrisy of the religious leaders. The pain that we are enduring opens doors and provides ways for us to support each other and people in the world who are searching for answers. The last verse of number 138 reminds us that the final answer to our pain is to be with Jesus for eternity, and then, and only then, will we fully understand all we have endured.

There is a lot of pain all around us, but we need to allow that pain to unite us, strengthen us, and draw us closer to God and one another. Read 2 Corinthians 1:3 – 4.

— John Clayton

Our sign by the street!

God is in control, not man!

Sign saying from www.sayingsforchurchsigns.com