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FAMILY NEWSTHE WEDNESDAY NIGHT BIBLE STUDY TIME CHANGES APRIL 3 unless we hear from you that starting at 7:00 will not work for you. Speak up now or be forever silent on this if changing the time will make it hard for you to attend. HIGHWAY CLEAN UP ON APRIL 6 will be the first highway clean-up of the year due to conflicts many families had with the 13th. Please plan to be a part of this. The more workers we have the faster it goes. Be here at 10:00 A.M. Grabbers, gloves, and bags are provided, but you can use your own equipment, if you wish. CONSTRUCTION DONE: This past week was tough for this building. The company workers said it was the toughest job they had ever experienced due to water and land slides. Our thanks to Bill Gibson, Richard Hoyt, and Karl Marcussen for working so hard on this project and making sure it was done right. Now we have some real challenges. The building is full of dirt, sand, and gravel. Walls are bare, everything is dirty, and we need to get carpet back in place, and things need to be painted and, displays need to be put back. Outside we need to rake, smooth, seed, etc., and rebuild the fence. Please plan to help. TODAY'S LESSON
The song “Purer in Heart, O God” is referenced by John Clayton
INTRODUCTION
A. Pollution is a major issue in our world today.
I. WE GET POLLUTED WHEN CONTAMINANTS ARE NOT CONTAINED.
1. Asbestos and mercury in Lake Michigan
B. Spiritual pollution is even worse and catastrophic.
2. Flint water supply 3. Plastic in the ocean 4. St Joseph River — then and now 5. Potomac — hormone wastes and sex changes 1. A baby is born pure, unpolluted.
C. How do you personally deal with pollution? Both kinds — Do we ignore them both?
2. Matthew 18:2-4; Matthew 19:14 A. In agriculture — pesticides, herbicides, DDT, arsenic
II. POLLUTION HAPPENS IF WE ARE NOT PREPARED.
B. In spiritual matters 1. 1 Corinthians 15:33 — Evil feeds evil.
2. James 3:6 and Ephesians 4:29 3. 1 Thessalonians 5:22 A. Proverbs 22:6 — note in King James version “TRAIN.”
III. WHAT DOES POLLUTION DO?
B. Ephesians 6:4 — note literal translation. C. 2 Timothy 3:14-17 — pollution cause — poor nutrition A. Clouds your view and gives bad data.
IV. THE CURE FOR POLLUTION
B. Spiritual pollution gives bad view of what matters — marriage, having children, relationships. C. Pollution causes malignancy. D. Spiritual pollution causes unhealthy behavior — 1 Corinthians 15:33; Galatians 5:19-21 — a list of pollutants. E. Pollution wastes resources — physical and spiritual. 1. Physical — oil spills, plastics, thalidomide, lead, etc. 2. Spiritual — violence, abuse, mental illness, divorce A. Genesis 28:18; Exodus 30:22; Acts 10:38; 1 John 2:20
B. 1 John 2:27 — Have you been annointed? THE BACK PAGETRYING TO PLEASE EVERYONE PLEASES NO ONEI have been a member of the church for 64 years and for most of those years I have been in charge of something having to do with the Lord's work. When Phyllis and I moved to South Bend in 1959 we started attending a congregation that had three wonderful elders. We went to the elders and asked them what work we could do. They said they did not have the slightest idea what we could do, but the first Sunday we were at worship we heard a plea for someone to teach the teenagers and another plea for someone to visit the jail because an inmate had requested a visit. Within a month I found myself in charge of the teens and in charge of the jail ministry. For 63 years I have been working in those two areas and for 63 years I have heard why whatever I wanted to do would not work. I learned early that if you prayed about it, listened to concerns, ignored the inevitable criticism, and then went ahead with it, God would make good things happen no matter what we did. We took a group of 30 teenagers to Three Rivers and conducted a VBS with teens teaching all of the classes, running the devotional, and doing the follow-up. Many adults were horrified and gave me all kinds of possible disasters that could happen, but God did great things with that effort. We wrote a series of correspondence courses on how we know there is a God and the Bible is his word. Because I do not have a college degree in Bible, I was told it would be a colossal failure and would bring disgrace on our work, but today I have 4,000 students in prisons all over the country and we have a number of workers grading the nine courses we offer. All of this is not to brag about what I have done, but to show what God has done. He will do great things if we just get busy and do it. Several of our ladies are trying to get an outreach started to bring other women in contact with them and with the Lord. We cannot please everyone, but if we sit back and do not do anything because of possible problems, we will do nothing. That displeases God, and that is a far greater mistake than whatever might complicate our efforts. Go for it ladies! DO IT! — John Clayton Our sign by the street!
Sign saying from the hymn, "Purer in Heart, O God!" Scripture links/references are from BibleGateway.com. Unhighlighted scriptures can be looked up at their website. www.dowagiaccoc.org |
