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FAMILY NEWSAREA-WIDE WORSHIP: “The East Main church in Benton Harbor is having an area-wide get-together for singing, fellowship, and a message from God's Word on Sunday, March 29 at 2:00 P.M. We encourage everyone to go and support this effort at unity. Light food will be served.” The address of the building is 1451 E. Main St., Benton Harbor. SPECIAL DAY on MAY 26. We need 20 workers to be here on the 26th for a community food give away. Everyone can help with this, but we need the workers to greet and hand out the food. Save the date. We need you! JULY 11 & 18 — FAMILY FUN FAIR and AREA SINGING HERE. Mark these dates on your calendar. We need 100% participation in these two programs. The idea is that we will set up the tents and facilities for Family Fun Fair and then leave them up to use again for the singing. CASS COUNTY RIGHT TO LIFE is having their annual Mother's Day Flower Sale. They are selling roses, begonias, impatiens, marigolds, ageratum, and snap dragons. Payment has to be in by March 31 and they will deliver them the Saturday before Mother's Day. See John Clayton for the order form if you are interested.
TODAY'S LESSON
INTRODUCTION
A. Who did Jesus reach out to in his ministry?
And why did this produce such a following?
I. WHO DID JESUS REACH OUT TO IN HIS MINISTRY?
B. How did he answer John the Baptist?
1. Matthew 11:2-11 2. What attracted people to John? 3. Why did Jesus give his labor quote? A. Luke 4:16-21 quoting Isaiah 61:1
II. WHO DID JESUS MINISTER TO?
1. Luke 4:25-28 — The history of God’s actions.
B. Luke 6:20-38 — The blessings of the poor, the challenge of wealth (Luke 11:39-46)2. Why did his listeners react so violently? C. What we are doing is right!
1. See THE BACK PAGE below.
2. Using our resources for ourselves - wrong. A. Matthew 9:10-13 — Who did Jesus minister to in his day?
III. WHAT DOES ALL THIS MEAN FOR THE CHURCH NOW?
B. Luke 14:12-24
1. Our feast is the food pantry, the May 26 event. 2. Our feast is our potlucks, Timbers. A. Deliberate ministries to those in need — Galatians 2:9
IV. WE ARE NOT A COUNTRY CLUB, BUT A HOSPITAL.
B. This can be hard — can make us uncomfortable.
1. Peter struggled — Galatians 2:11-18.
C. Acts 20:352. Glynn, Tim, fringers* in the community. D. Romans 15:1 A. 1 Corinthians 9:22-23 — Our fellowship is open, not closed. B. This does not mean compromise — 1 Thessalonians 5:14. C. James 2:2-8 — How do we treat visitors? D. If you feel out of place here, please forgive us. We pray for forgiveness from God. * fringer: “Anyone who hangs around, but doesn't get involved” (JC); “One who is a member of a fringe” (https://www.merriam-webster.com/). THE BACK PAGEDOING WHAT IS RIGHTOne of the amazing things that we see in the life of Christ is how the Jewish leaders responded to Christ. In Luke 13:10-16 for example, there was a woman who was crippled so badly she could not stand straight, and Jesus healed her. The ruler of the synagogue was furious with Jesus because he had healed the woman on the Sabbath day. In Luke 6:1-11 we see the Pharisees deliberately setting Jesus up to perform a miracle on the Sabbath, and when he healed a man “they were filled with madness and began to plot how to kill Jesus” (Luke 6:11). In John 5:1-18 Jesus heals a man who had been an invalid for 38 years, and when Jesus heals him he tells the man to “take up your bed and walk.” The Jews attack the man who was healed because he was carrying his bed on the Sabbath! The Jews sought to slay Jesus because he had done these things on the Sabbath day. Jesus pointed out the hypocrisy of legalism in these incidents. In Matthew 12:11-12 he points out that if his attackers had a sheep fall into a pit on the Sabbath they would pull it out, and he asks “how much more is a man worth than a sheep?” In Mark 2:23-28 his disciples pull wheat grains and eat them on a Sabbath day and Jesus points out to them that “the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.” In our day there have been some who have criticized those of us who operate food banks with food stuffs we get from government agencies. We have had those who criticize using our building to prepare, serve, and eat food or operate a blood bank or have fellowship activities that involve recreation. I recently was told I was sinning because I was part of people playing games in the building. I was recently asked what passage in the Bible I used to justify us having a float in the Dowagiac Christmas parade. I responded by saying it was in the same chapter where congregations were instructed to own a church building. (It is not there). Our support of Shults-Lewis Children's Home has been criticized by some. Several of our members have told me about being challenged by people about these kinds of activities. In Jesus' day his critics were legalists who did not do anything themselves, but criticized those who did, and that is true today. Galatians 6:9 and 2 Thessalonians 3:13 warn us “let us not be weary of doing what is right, for after a while we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t get discouraged and give up.” — 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 |
