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Bulletin cover

March 7, 2021
CORONA VIRUS ISSUE 40

FAMILY NEWS OF
THE CHURCH OF CHRIST ON M 51 S

This is the church bulletin for the congregation of the Church of Christ that meets in Dowagiac, Michigan, on M 51 just south of the city. Ordinarily we meet on Sunday morning for Bible study and worship and also on Sunday evening and Wednesday night for a Bible study. Since the pandemic forced us into not having meetings at our building we have been meeting via Zoom on our smartphones, tablets, and computers. After almost two months of worship under the trees we have moved into the building with our Zoom meetings for those who are not able to meet in person. Everyone is welcome to participate in this worship service at 11:00 on Sunday morning. If you want to participate with Zoom, contact Karl Marcussen at marcusen@michiana.org to get the information to join us.

DUE to the COVID-19 pandemic
and government mandates we
will not have Bible classes until further notice.

FAMILY NEWS

This bulletin is distributed in a variety of different ways. It is distributed during our worship services at the church building; it is made available on the web at our dowagiaccoc.org website; and it is sent by e-mail/messaging in connection with our Zoom broadcast invitations. However you receive it, we hope it will be informative and encouraging. We are not a denomination, but a local effort to encourage people to follow what the church was like in the first century. We have no man-made creed and only follow the Bible. We do not have religious titles and do not solicit donations. Come and learn more by visiting with us, e-mailing us, or calling us.

READ YOUR PRAYER LIST! There have been a lot of things going on recently among our family.

POWER FOR TODAY for April, May, and June is available at the church building.

BESIDES OUR MEETINGS IN THE BUILDING we have these meetings on Zoom:

  • Sunday @ 11:00 A.M. our Sunday worship service
  • Wednesday @ 7:00 P.M. our Wednesday Bible study
  • Thursday @ 1:00 P.M. the ladies prayer time

Contact Karl Marcussen (574-514-1400) for Zoom information on any of these.

CHEER UP — SPRING IS ON ITS WAY! John mentioned last week about the signs of spring. Here are some others that God provides us to let us know that spring is on its way.

  1. Birds are singing!
  2. Trees are budding, sap is flowing!
  3. Peepers are peeping!
  4. Fresh, soft scents
  5. Butterflies and bumblebees return
  6. With snow melting we find the holes, mounds in our yards and we see the potholes that our winter weather has produced!

Thank God for the signs of spring!


TODAY'S LESSON

WHAT WE ALL NEED

 Sound on icon

John Clayton
INTRODUCTION — We all need four things.
A. Love, value, forgiveness and hope.
B. God has provided these in every relationship.
I. MARRIAGE
A. LOVE — Ephesians 5:25, 28 — Not a sexual reference
B. VALUE — Ephesians 5:31; — Genesis 2:18
1. What is a “help meet”? — Ephesians 5:33 — “Reverence”
2. Titus 2:3-4 — What do aged women teach?
C. FORGIVENESS — Matthew 6:14-16; 18:21-22
D. HOPE — For future oneness; No stale marriages
II. FAMILY
A. LOVE — Bible tragedies are rooted in love — Genesis 37:3, 4.
What happens to an unloved child?
B. VALUE — Older brother in Prodigal Son story
Do we tell our child how precious they are?
C. FORGIVENESS — Prodigal son — Luke 15:20
D. HOPE — What does Luke 15 say about the future?
III. CHURCH
A. LOVE — John 23:35 — What do we show the world?
B. VALUE — Philippians 2:3-4 — Each member has value.
Romans 12:10 — Where do we go in trouble?
C. FORGIVENESS — 1 John 1:7; Luke 23:34 — Our example
D. HOPE — Romans 8:24-25 — Lesson of effect
IV. GOD
A. LOVE — John 3:16; 1 John 4:16
B. VALUE — Why did Jesus die on the cross?
C. FORGIVENESS — 1 John 1:7; Luke 23:34
D. HOPE — Why we sing, “Won't It Be Wonderful There”?
V. THOSE WHO REJECT GOD'S PROVISION MISS THESE.
A. Living selfishly you do not give or receive real love.
B. “Survival of the fittest” means lesser value in life.
C. Forgiveness is not part of a dog-eat-dog world.
D. Life without God means no ultimate hope.
E. God's Spirit helps us fulfill these needs.
1. “Save yourself from this perverse generation.”
2. Acts 2:40 is as true today as on Pentecost.

THE BACK PAGE

“SAVE YOURSELVES FROM THIS PERVERSE
GENERATION” ACTS 2:40

The words in our title come from Peter as he preached the sermon on the day of Pentecost. Your KJV Bible will say “untoward” which means desperately searching for meaning. In the day that Peter spoke those words, there was huge unrest among the people. The government ruled by Rome was forcing moral standards that conflicted with what Moses had given the people. There were riots and rallies and people making all kinds of claims which turned out to be no more than a way of making money and fame for themselves. The Bible says Jesus “was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd” (Matthew 9:36). The Greek word translated “fainted” is ekluo meaning to have no way to meet their basic needs, to abandon any solution to their problems.

Has anything changed? Our government has abandoned the moral standards of our forefathers and the teachings of Jesus. We not only have abortion, but an endorsement of any lifestyle, a sanctioning of recreational drugs, a rejection of the meaning on the sanctity of marriage, and government interference with legitimate efforts of the church to help others. Suicide and domestic violence of all kinds has reached record levels.

So what do we common people do? The answer is that we should do what our brothers and sisters in the first century did. Read Acts 2:41-7 and Matthew 25:31-40 and notice what they did not do and what Jesus did not command. Christ did not organize a march on Rome. He did not advocate a military uprising against the oppression and moral collapse of the Roman government. What he did and commanded, we can do, just as the congregations did in the first century. We are not helpless and we can make a difference — starting here and now. Today's lesson goes into that concept more deeply.

— John Clayton

Our sign by the street!

Start your year with God. He makes all things new!

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
04/22/2021