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FAMILY NEWSPOTLUCK NEXT SUNDAY: Next Sunday is June 2, so we will be having our regular potluck. Please plan to stay and enjoy good food and good fellowship. TIMBERS NEXT SUNDAY: We also have our regular worship service with the folks at Timbers nursing home. We need singers, wheel chair pushers, and encouragers. Be there by 2:15 P.M. and spend an hour serving others. GENERATOR: We have found ourselves with another water issue as the electricity went off because of an tree triming accident on M 51, and our basement sump pumps stopped running. That put a few inches of water in our basement. Several had to come to the building to remove the water and dry everything out. As you all know, we have had a very wet spring and the water table is very high. We have a warning system built into the recent work we had done, but it would seem that we need a system to do more than just tell us there is water in our basement. We can build in a power generator ($5000 +) or purchase a battery-powered system that would function long enough to bring a portable generator in when power failure happens. The cost would be a lot less. Tell Bill Gibson what you think. TODAY'S LESSON
INTRODUCTION — Why is this weekend special?
A. Born of the Civil War — 20,000 dead — 1873
I. THE FIRST PURPOSE — REMEMBRANCE
1. Originally called “Decoration Day”
B. James Garfield — 20th president of U.S.
2. 1922 — Red Poppy remembrance. 3. Became a Federal Holiday in 1971 1. Huge promoter of civil rights
C. As humans we forget so quickly: remember Vietnam, Bay of Pigs, Hitler, Korea, Memorial Day?2. Member of Disciples — a restoration church 3. Based Decoration Day on the Lord's Supper D. There are three purposes to memorials. A. Remember what we have lost — a thanksgiving, not a pity party.
II. THE SECOND PURPOSE — PROCLAMATION
B. Recall what they have left us. C. 1 Corinthians 11:24 — Remember what Jesus did for us. A. Why do we have parades, etc., on Memorial Day?
III. THE THIRD PURPOSE — SELF EXAMINATION
1. Unity, connections to the past.
B. Why do we have funerals?2. Establish identity. C. 1 Corinthians 11:26 — What do we proclaim? Communication is vertical and lateral. A. A personal time of looking at myself
IV. GOD HAS ALWAYS VALUED MEMORIALS
1. Was I a problem at … work, church, family?
B. 1 Corinthians 11:28
2. Am I what God calls me to be? 1. Am I growing?
C. James 5:13 — We act on our spiritual needs.2. Am I stronger? 3. Am I learning? A. Exodus 12:13-14 and 13:9-10
B. Celebrate Memorial Day — Thank God for America! C. Every Sunday — celebrate the Lord's Supper D. Who DOES NOT participate in Memorials? Do you? THE BACK PAGEHOW DO WE TEACH MEMORIALS?One of the interesting characteristics of the Bible is that there is no white wash in what we read. Unlike the politicians of our day, the Bible does not lie, misrepresent, or editorialize what it presents to us. We have gotten so hardened that we do not trust anyone or anything, and that hardening begins when children are very small. In 1 Corinthians 11: 17-34 we see a congregation that has gone completely away from the memorial that Jesus had established. In chapter eleven Paul tells the Corinthians that when they got together the result did more damage than good (verse 17). One of the central problems that this congregation had was their communion service. They met in people's homes, because there was no building where they met. Acts 18 tells us about the pressure that was on the Christians to conform to the popular view of religion. The church there had turned the communion service into a giant party. People brought their evening meal and some brought alcoholic drinks and were actually getting drunk. Others did not have enough to eat and there was no sharing. Paul in verse 20 tells the congregation that they had polluted their time together to the extent that it was not a communion service at all. He then starts to remind them in verse 23 about what the memorial of the Lord's Supper is all about. He does this by reminding them of what Jesus had said and done. How serious is it to profane the Lord's Supper? In 1 Corinthians 11:29 Paul says that what they were doing had caused them to be weak and sick and some had even died spiritually. This is significant because it has eternal consequences. It is important for us as a congregation to be reminded that Communion is one of the most important things we do in worship. We need to be refocused spiritually on a weekly basis and recognizing the sacrifice of the Lord's body is the memorial that helps us do that. As we grow spiritually we can use that growth to teach others. Let us not be mechanical, complacent, or indifferent to the memorial Jesus established. — John Clayton Our sign by the street!
Sign saying from www.sayingsforchurchsigns.com Scripture links/references are from BibleGateway.com. Unhighlighted scriptures can be looked up at their website. www.dowagiaccoc.org |
