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DUE to the COVID-19 pandemic FAMILY NEWSWELCOME TO OUR VISITORS: We are meeting under the trees or on ZOOM in obedience to the requests of medical experts and legal authorities. We ask everyone to keep six feet from others and wear a mask so that no one becomes ill by attending worship. If in the future you wish to participate in ZOOM contact Karl Marcussen at 574-514-1400 and he will help you get on. WEATHER CALL LIST: We have prepared a call list for all who regularly attend services on Sunday morning. A copy of that list is enclosed with this bulletin. If you know someone we missed, please let Karl or John know. We will meet under the trees unless you are called. You will be called if weather makes it difficult for us to meet outside. When the quarantine is lifted we will still use this call system, but only if services are canceled. 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 commodity is 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 on the pew in the lobby of the auditorium. GOSPEL MINUTES: The little four-page periodical mailed weekly by David and Clem Thurman is having financial problems due to the virus. They are soliciting donations so they can continue, but our discussions so far have indicated we probably have reached the point where we need to drop the magazine. Very few are taken and the content is not well suited to a mission field congregation like ours. If you have concerns about this, please let them be known. See one of the men you see leading worship. TODAY’S LESSON
INTRODUCTION — What kind of people does God use?
A. Other religions came from men of money and fame.
I. MOSES — What were his credentials? Exodus 3:10.
1. Buddha — son of a rich family. Sheltered.
B. What about Moses, Joseph, Gideon, Mary, Paul?
2. Mohammed — married a rich widow, opulent life. A. Moses correctly says he is not qualified.
II. GIDEON — Judges 6:11-40
1. Exodus 3:11, 13
B. Moses had good reasons. Do you have these too?
2. Exodus 4:1, 10 — All true statements.
1. I do not want the job.
C. Acts 4:13 — Who led the church in Acts?2. I am not educated in God's laws. 3. I have a bad reputation. I am part of the status quo. D. What was their occupation? Why is this important? A. History — Israel has left God. Enemies take over and impoverish Israel (Judges 6:6).
III. JOSEPH — Genesis 37:18-19 — People let him down.
B. Judges 6:2, 14 — God selects Gideon.
1. Gideon excuses himself just as Moses did.
a. My family is poor.
2. What is your family like?b. I am least in my family. c. I am scared (Judges 6:27) — needs reassurance.
A. His brothers, Potiphar's wife (Genesis 39:7-20), Butler.
IV. MARY, THE MOTHER OF JESUS
B. Who has let you down? Even Christians? A. Everything stacked against her.
V. PAUL — 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 — YOU CAN BE STRONG.
1. A woman, a teenager, lived in a bad place.
B. Do you curse your birth circumstances?2. Pregnant out of wedlock — Matthew 1:19. A. Write down your circumstances and what it has equipped you to do.
B. Use each other's examples. THE BACK PAGEA TOUGH BUT BASIC LESSON FROM JESUSThe biggest problem that this pandemic has brought against the congregation here is the way it has interfered with our teaching of God's Word. Not having a class on Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night means we are not being fed regularly. We all know that our gardens at this time of year reveal how well we have prepared the soil, taken out the weeds, and watered the plants. An unkempt garden speaks loudly about how good we are at taking care of the plants. OUR FAITH IS THE SAME WAY! Not having been fed and watered our faith weakens and we find excuses for not doing what God put us here to do. Last Sunday brother Jim Harasewicz brought us a lesson about the difference between the standards of the world and what our standards should be. His discussion of Luke 16 and the parable of the “unrighteous steward” was outstanding and deep. Do we understand the basic message and apply it? Let me review Jim's great lesson. The “unrighteous steward” is the world in which we live. Read Luke 16:1-4 and notice what has happened. This dishonest, conniving, evil, criminal property manager has gotten caught. His sins have done him in and he is trying to wiggle out of his situation. He does this by writing off the master's property so that the master loses but the steward gains political clout. Luke 16:4 tells us that he plans to go to the creditors as soon as the master fires him and use them to pad his own pocket book. Jesus says of him, you are making yourself a “friend of the mammon of unrighteousness” (Luke 16:9). Jesus is telling his followers that the world in which we live is shrewder and wiser in worldly matters than we are (Luke 16:8). That is why we as Christians need to avoid serving the materialism of this world (Luke 16:13). Do we conform to the world's teachings on these subjects, or listen to and obey God? Please read Psalm 119 this week, and think about Jim's lesson. — John Clayton Our sign by the street! Scripture links/references are from BibleGateway.com. Unhighlighted scriptures can be looked up at their website. www.dowagiaccoc.org |
