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April 1, 2018

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 AND TIMBERS TODAY: We know that many families have special family activities going on today, but we have a responsibility as a congregation to worship with the seniors at Timbers Nursing Home. Several of us have brought food for a potluck as we usually do the first Sunday of each month. After the potluck we will go to Timbers for a worship service. You are invited to the potluck — we have plenty of food — and we would appreciate you coming to Timbers at 2:30 P.M. to help with the worship service there.

SENIORS TUESDAY: The first Tuesday of every month seniors from all over the area meet at Golden Corral in Mishawaka at 11:00 A.M. for a fellowship brunch. Remember that on April 17 we will have our senior devotional at Claytons' at 7:00 P.M. Everyone is welcome to these area-wide meetings.

HIGHWAY CLEANUP APRIL 14: Please plan to be at the church building on April 14 at 10:00 A.M. to help in our highway cleanup. The more people we have the faster it goes, and the first one after winter usually finds us picking up a lot of trash so we really need you. See Richard Hoyt if you have any questions about this project.


TODAY'S LESSON

EASTER 2018

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John Clayton
INTRODUCTION
A. Easter has an interesting history. See THE BACK PAGE below.
B. Numerous traditions have sprung up around it.
1. The Easter bunny — Easter eggs
2. Palm Sunday — local traditions
3. Gute Fritaq — Holy Friday
4. Transubstantiation
C. We need to know why we do what we do.
I. DOES IT MATTER WHAT DAY WE CELEBRATE EASTER?
A. Jesus said to do it, not when — 1 Corinthians 11:23-26.
B. We have the example of the first century church.
1. Worshiped on the first day of the week — Acts 20:7
2. Gave contribution on the same day — 1 Corinthians 16:2
C. Jesus gave the command at the Passover meal — Luke 22:13-20; Matthew 26:26-30;
....Mark 14:22-25.
D. We celebrate Easter every Sunday.
II. THE BREAD WE USE IS SIGNIFICANT.
A. Easter unleavened bread emulated the Passover.
1. Celebrated the exodus from Egypt — Leviticus 23:6
2. Leaven was fermented — implied corruption.
a. Leviticus 2:11
b. 1 Corinthians 5:6-8
B. Christ was a pure sacrifice.
III. THE “FRUIT OF THE VINE” WE USE IS SIGNIFICANT
A. Matthew 26:26-28
B. “Fruit of the vine” is oinos — new, unfermented
1. Greek sikera refers to strong drink — Luke 1:15.
2. Distillation was not known at this time.
IV. WHO IS QUALIFIED TO CELEBRATE EASTER?
A. 1 Corinthians 11:27-29 — What is “unworthily?”
1. Not the Greek word ouk exios of Acts 13:46 meaning to be of merit.
2. Unworthily means a careless, flippant, attitude.
B. The elements are not sacred — crackers and juice.
Meaning of Easter is sacred!


THE BACK PAGE

EASTER

Today is a special day in the Christian denominational world — Easter. The word “Easter” comes from a Germanic festival of the vernal equinox. The equinox is when the Sun is exactly over the equator so there are 12 hours of daylight (Sun) and 12 hours of night. This is considered to be the start of spring. The barbaric tribes that existed at that time in Europe dressed up in their best clothes and had a feast, a celebration. The word “Easter” is only found in Acts 12:4 in the King James Version. The Greek word (pascha) that was translated “Easter” actually means “Passover.”

The Passover was “The Feast of the Unleavened Bread” of Exodus 23:15. This was one of three annual festivals and was held on the 14th day of the first month of the Jewish calendar. Unleavened bread was eaten for seven days and sacrifices were made on the first and last days of the festival (Numbers 28:16-25 and Deuteronomy 16:1-8). Right before Jesus was crucified he was observing the Passover (Luke 22:1-7).

The Catholic church put Easter with the Passover to be Easter Sunday (Passover Sunday). “Good Friday” would always be the Friday before the Passover and Easter would always be the Sunday after Good Friday. This was accurate and was a way for early Christians to celebrate the events of the death and resurrection of Christ without being conspicuous to the opponents and persecutors of Christianity.

Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter are all valid historically. All of the events surrounding the crucifixion and resurrection are factual, so should we celebrate Easter? The Church of Christ has maintained that the events that Easter represents should be celebrated every Sunday. The communion was established to assist us in doing that (1 Corinthians 11:23-30). The first century church worshiped every Sunday, and giving (1 Corinthians 16:2) and the Lord's Supper remembering the death and resurrection of Christ were done every Sunday (Acts 20:7). We copy their example.

— John Clayton


Our sign by the street!

Hallelujah, what a Savior! He is risen!




Scripture links/references are from BibleGateway.com.