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FAMILY NEWSSUNDAY NIGHT SERVICE TO RESUME: Thanks to those who responded to last Sunday's bulletin note about resuming our Sunday evening Bible study. We are planning to start a class on archaeological support of the Bible on September 12. We will be using the Does God Exist? series “Beyond Reasonable Doubt” with John Cooper. John Clayton will be leading a discussion after each viewing. We are also going to advertise this to the community. SHULTS-LEWIS has sent us a letter thanking us for providing peanut butter and jelly/jam for their commodity drive. They say that the cost to them if they had to buy these items would have been around $200.00. We also gave them a separate check for $100.00. Taking care of children who desperately need help is more than most of us can do on our own, but we can pool our resources and meet the needs of young people who are living at a difficult time in a difficult world. FOOD BANK REPORT: Our Food Bank attendance for August was 50 families. There were more couples without kids and more singles than usual, so it was a different demographic than we usually work with. Remember that on September 28 the Food Bank truck will be in our parking lot to be unloaded and passed out to people in the community that need food. TODAY'S LESSON
INTRODUCTION — 2 Samuel 11:1-15
A. Should this story be in the Bible?
I. NEED Number 1 — A GOOD AND CARING FRIEND
1. Yes — Acts 13:22 - “… A man after God's own heart”
B. David had some spiritual needs. So do we.2. You do not have to be perfect to have a good heart. A. Nathan uses a parable — 2 Samuel 12:1-7
II. NEED Number 2 — A HEART THAT CAN BE BROKEN.
B. Note Nathan's wisdom. Galatians 6:1 — Key words — “gently” & “carry”
C. John 13:34-35A. What COULD have been David's response?
III. NEED Number 3 — AN ASSURANCE OF FORGIVENESS
B. 2 Corinthians 13:5 — How do we respond to correction? C. Psalm 51 — Listen to David's spirit. What happened to Saul? What was his heart? A. 2 Samuel 12:13 and Psalm 32:1-5
Is magnitude of sin an issue?
B. 1 John 1:5-10 — A promise from God!C. Luke 15:17-18 — Why did Jesus tell this parable? D. James 5:16 — Public sin vs. private sin — The only sins God will not forgive are the ones we know, will not confess and will not repent of — 1 Timothy 1:15 IV. OUR NEEDS
A. Be sensitive to God's will for your life.
V. OUR NEEDS — RENEWAL — ROMANS 6
1. Know what your purpose is for living.
B. Understand GOD WILL FORGIVE his children.
2. Understand that things are not our real goal. 1. Guilt can do nasty things to us.
C. Realize you have to make a choice — Joshua 24:142. God wants to forgive us — 1 Timothy 2:4 3. God will not force forgiveness. D. Ephesians 4:17-24 — Attitude satiates needs. A. Romans 6:4-7 — Becoming free from sin's control. B. Romans 6:18 — a new life — free. THE BACK PAGEWHAT CAUSES MENTAL ILLNESS?Rarely does a day go by when we do not hear on the news that someone did something tragic to themselves or to someone else because they were mentally ill. I am persuaded that anyone who commits suicide had some form of mental illness that overpowered the strong instinct for self preservation that God has built into us. In my 41 years of teaching I had students I knew well who took their own lives, and I have had friends and classmates who have also killed themselves. If you want to identify the cause of mental illness in one word, that word would be “need.” People who are mentally ill have not had a need met. In some cases it is a medical need. Clinical depression is a medical condition that needs attention. Just like cancer, it will not heal itself. My son Tim was schizophrenic, and it was a medical condition which, because others administered the medications to control it, only became an issue when someone took him off his medications. All of these cases comprise a small percentage of mentally ill people. Most mental illness is human caused. Those of us forced to witness the horror of war frequently have mental illness as a product of our experience. Abuse causes a massive amount of mental illness. Both of these causes require medication and care. A majority of us who struggle with mental issues have brought on these issues by allowing guilt to saturate our existence. This is an illness we can do something about. Jesus came to remove guilt, to help us know what causes guilt, and to establish support for our daily struggle with our sin. Christianity is a guilt-removing religion, and yet some have used it to cause guilt. The Christian message is forgiveness and how to live without regret. We need to follow God's recipe for mental stability and joyous living. When we see a man like David make a horrible mistake and be forgiven, it should encourage us. — 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 |
