Home Worship Services Sermons Location Contacts Bulletins Links |
DUE to the COVID-19 pandemic FAMILY NEWSREMEMBER — ZOOM SERVICES SUNDAY AT 11:00. Gerry Bundle will be our speaker. We are working on having an outside worship service soon to supplement our ZOOM service. More later. SENIOR ACTIVITIES are still on hold, so the Golden Corral brunch and the devotional at the Claytons' will not be held in July. SHULTS-LEWIS COMMODITY DRIVE. Shults-Lewis has moved our date to October for them to pick up the commodities to use in their work with children. Our commodities are paper towels and canned fruit. We encourage you to get these items when you can and eventually get them to the building. If no one is there when you come, put them in the pew in the lobby of the auditorium. POWER FOR TODAY: The quarterly booklet Power for Today for July, August and September has arrived. I tried to give one to everyone working at the food truck project, but if you did not get one let me know (John Clayton at 269-687-9426) and I will get a copy to you. TODAY’S LESSON
INTRODUCTION: PERSONAL. Amos Rice stories
A. South Pacific “You've Got to Be Carefully Taught.”
I. JESUS CHRIST DEALT WITH PREJUDICE CONSTANTLY.
B. Are we all “racists”? “I jewed him down.” Definition. A. The Samaritan Woman — John 4
II. SO WHAT IS THE MESSAGE FOR US IN DOWAGIAC?
1. Samaria — the center of idolatry — 2 Kings 19:29
B. The insane man — Luke 8 — the guy in the tombs.
2. Jesus goes through Samaria — Luke 17:11. 3. Talks with a Samaritan woman — communication. 4. She was a taboo to any Jew. 5. The lesson for us — there are no Christian taboos. 1. My experience with a handicapped son.
C. People are easily led by slick talking salespersons.
2. Locals ask Jesus to leave. (Luke 8:35-37) 3. The healed man goes to 10 cities. Tells his story. 4. Lesson for us — use your talent. 1. Matthew 21:7-11 — Jesus enters Jerusalem.
D. The early church faced incredible prejudice.
2. Matthew 26:47-50 — Chief Priest and Elders come. 3. Matthew 27:22-25 — Same people say “Crucify!” 4. Willful blindness! a. How did Germans allow Hitler to murder?
b. How did people allow George Floyd to die? c. How do we not see what our black friends have to endure? — Last Sunday. 1. Acts 6 and 7 — The stoning of Stephen
a. Notice they “stopped their ears.”
2. Acts 19:24-29 — Demetrius in Ephesus A. PRAY. Satan thrives on predjudice.
B. Education, like the Gadarenes and Acts 17:22-34. C. Engage in service without expected payback. 1. Acts 2:42-47 — Why we do what we do.
D. Show complete unity — Galatians 3:24-28.E. Understand Satan will fight us — 1 Corinthians 1:6-8. 1. 1 Corinthians 11:18-2
2. Galatians 1:6-8. THE BACK PAGEIS THERE ANY HOPE?Today war is nothing but a struggle for the riches of nature. By virtue of an inherent law, these riches belong to him who conquers them. … “This is one of the hardest lessons for humans to learn. We cannot admit that things might be neither good nor evil, neither cruel nor kind, but simply callous — indifferent to all suffering, lacking all purpose.”† Richard Dawkins is considered the number one atheist in our world today. Slavery was justified by saying that Caucasians were the most fit, and that monkeys, gorillas and Negroes were less fit and should be exploited by those who are more fit. The justification for segregation was to maintain that people of color were inferior and needed training to serve, not education. The list of prominent scholars who supported these views is huge — Nietzsche, Crick, Watson, Skinner, Brooks, Newkirk, Adler, etc. So here we are in the summer of 2020 and a man named George Floyd has been murdered by a policeman. I was moved to tears as I listened to a young mother saying she just wanted her child to grow up knowing that they would not be killed just because their skin was black. The politicians seem to be paralyzed and the words of the atheists and tyrants seem to be what the world believes. So is there any hope for the future? Have you ever wondered why Jesus Christ did not just throw up his hands and give up? Why did he not just return to the Father and let the Earth burn? In Matthew 26:53 when Jesus tells Peter to put away his sword he says, “Do you think that I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” If it was me, I would say, “DO IT!” Destroy them all! But that is a weak human talking, not Jesus Christ. God will take this man-made mess and make good come out of it. Maybe America will wake up from its drift to atheism and secularism and our land will be preserved. If not, there is a better place reserved for us who love God and each other — no matter who we are, how weak we are, or what color of skin we have. — John Clayton Scripture links/references are from BibleGateway.com. Unhighlighted scriptures can be looked up at their website.  Jo Noel-Hartley, June 1 at 5:33 AM, on Facebook said, “For all those arguing all lives matter: Jesus in Luke 15: 100 sheep, but one goes missing. Jesus leaves the 99 and goes after the one. The 99: ‘But … what about us don't we matter?’ Of course the 99 still matter, but they're not the ones in danger. The one is.” (This cartoon has appeared on Facebook several times. It is from David Hayward as the NakedPastor at https://www.nakedpastorstore.com/ ) *Hitler's Table Talk 1941-1944: Secret Conversations by Adolf Hitler. Enigma Books, New York, 2008, p. 41. www.dowagiaccoc.org |
