June 13, 2021

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THE CHURCH OF CHRIST ON M 51 S

We welcome you to our worship services this morning. We hope that you will be encouraged and uplifted by our time together. We have no creed or set of rules to force on you. We simply rely on the Bible to tell us what to do and try to copy what we read the church in the first century did. We meet here every Sunday, but we also have Zoom available for those who are interested. Just ask and we will include you in our Zoom services. Call Karl Marcussen at 574-514-1400 for information.

We are meeting in our building
for our worship service and a Bible class.
We are trying to follow the CDC guidelines.

FAMILY NEWS

SHULTS-LEWIS has asked us to provide peanut butter and jelly/jam to help their work work with struggling teens and their families. They will be coming to pick up these items and any change cans we may have during the week of July 18, so we need to have the items at the building by the 18th. If you want more information about their work and their needs, their phone is 800-462-0513.

HIGHWAY CLEANUP: Our next highway cleanup is July 17 with the rain date being the 24th. We will be mailing you a “adopt a zone” sheet so that you can select in advance what section of the highway in front of our building you are willing to clean. We are also going to have a provision for anyone who cannot come on the 17th so that you can do your cleanup during the week if Saturday is not a good time for you. We will mail a response sheet to you after July 4th.

THERE ARE THREE KINDS OF PEOPLE IN THE WORLD: (1) those who make things happen; (2) those who watch things happen; and (3) those who wonder what happened. Which of these are you?

THANKS to Lana Fox and Cindy Clayton for all their work on our flower beds. They look great!

TODAY'S LESSON

HELP IN TIME OF CRISIS
John Clayton

INTRODUCTION

A. What do you do with a huge life problem?
B. We are promised problems in life — Romans 8:28.
C. “Pray about it” is a incomplete answer.

1. Christians do not have immunity to problems.
2. God does not always act as we expect him to.

D. How did Paul deal with trouble in life?

1. Not always what he wanted — 2 Corinthians 12:7-8.
2. Sometimes the answer is “no.”

I. PAUL DID NOT RESIST CIVIL GOVERNMENT.

A. Romans 13:1-2 — Corrupt nature is not an issue.
B. Our meeting was not in resistance to COVID rules.
C. We are not asked to violate God's commands.

II. PAUL ACCEPTED THE HELP OF UNBELIEVERS.

A. Paul helped by Publius on Malta — Acts 28:1-7.

1. Food was not kosher — 1 Corinthians 10:27.
2. Romans 14:17 — Church (Kingdom) is not food.

B. Should we accept help from unbelievers?

1. Feeding America, Lions Club, Cass Motorcycles
2. Neighbors, school system, City of Dowagiac

III. PAUL ACCEPTED HELP FROM BELIEVERS.

A. Acts 28:13-14 — Puteoli — for a week.
B. Acts 2:44-45 — Do we follow that example?

1. “Hands of Compassion” — H.O.P.E. prison work
2. Shults-Lewis — help to local members

C. Philippians 4:14-18 — Support of Paul

IV. PAUL ACCEPTED HIS CIRCUMSTANCES IN LIFE.

A. Society pushes us to “be a success.”
B. Philippians 4:11-13 — We have to learn contentment.
C. Why do we learn of Paul's life? — 2 Corinthians 11:20-33.
D. What did the pandemic teach us?

V. PAUL ACCEPTED THE FACT OF DEATH.

A. 2 Timothy 4:6 — Have you accepted the fact you will die?
B. We have help in dying — 2 Timothy 4:8
C. Are you ready?

(At the end John refers to this song: “Anywhere with Jesus.”)

THE BACK PAGE

WHAT CAN CHRISTIANS DO?

We may not all be aware of the needs that exist in our world right now, or how the church has been responding to those needs. As we look at the needs around us the question is “can we help” or maybe “should we help?” The pandemic and the struggles of family, neighbors, fellow members of the congregation, and friends have been so large that we have had tough decisions to make.

Galatians 6:9-10 (The New Testament from 26 Translations) finds God telling us, “Let us not get tired 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. Let us practice generosity to all, while the opportunity is ours; and above all, to those who are our Christian brothers.” There have been those in the past who wished to limit our use of resources to preachers or missionaries. The New Testament concept of “good works” mentioned over and over in the Bible is to everyone.

In the past weeks we have had the opportunity to serve a number of people who had needs. In one case there was a need to repair the roof of a house. We support a prison ministry with regular financial help. Our Food Bank program meets the needs of folks who are not members of the church. We support Shults-Lewis which helps struggling teens and their families. with mental and emotional problems as well as physical needs.

Is our attitude that these people in need made their own bed and need to lie in it? We do not see Jesus or the apostles questioning how people got in the condition they are in. Acts 2:45 does not say that everyone who had needs became needful because they had managed life perfectly and came to need through no fault of their own.

What can Christians do? The answer is anything we choose to do. The fields are indeed ripe to harvest, but let us use all God has given us without worrying about doing something wrong. It is better to do something wrong than to do nothing. Let us be known for our generosity, not for our legalistic judging of who is worthy.

— John Clayton

Our sign by the street!

There is more grace in God than sin in you!

Sign saying from www.sayingsforchurchsigns.com.

Scripture links/references are from BibleGateway.com. Unhighlighted scriptures can be looked up at their website.