October 29, 2023

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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.

FAMILY NEWS

COMMUNITY “TRICK OR TREAT:” Tracey Brewer has been able to find a spot near where Leon and Lisa used to live where we will set up a booth for the Dowagiac “Trick or Treat” evening this Tuesday. If you are willing to wear a costume and help, see Tracey. Tonight after class we will be making up some 400 + bags of candy to distribute.

REMEMBER SINGING HERE NOV 12: at 2:30 P.M.

SUNDAY MORNING CLASS: Let me encourage everyone to come to our Bible class on Sunday morning. Surely getting to class by 10:00 A.M. is not a big challenge for any of us. We have just finished a class on Basics which was a class many of us need. Assuming we know why we do what we do and believe what we believe, the next obvious area of the study is how to live the Christian life. The issues we will study are the Christian response to racism, gender, capital punishment, divorce and remarriage, serving in the military and being a conscientious objector, insurance, euthanasia and end of life options, church buildings, etc. We will not do these items in this order, but these are things that we as Christians need to study and understand. Please come!

TODAY'S LESSON

AWAKENING
John Clayton

INTRODUCTION: ISAIAH 51-53

A. Ephesians 5:14-16 — We need to “redeem the time.”
B. Romans 13:11 — We need to shine.
C. Romans 15:4 — The purpose of the Bible is given.
D. 1 Corinthians 10:11 — We can learn how God works.
E. Isaiah had three awakenings to help us learn.

I. ISAIAH 51:9-10 — GOD'S EMPOWERMENT AWAKENS.

A. Habakkuk 3:2 — Have you ever felt this way?

1. God's ways are not the same as human ways.
2. God is not limited by time as we are.

B. Isaiah 59:1-3 — Mankind's actions and sin.

1. What do we expect of God in today's world?
2. God will not violate our free moral choice.
3. God will not interfere with human sinful desire.

II. ISAIAH 59:15-18 — PERSONAL REPENTANCE

A. Repentance means thinking differently.
B. Romans 2:21-24 — Hypocrisy needs repentance.
C. Hebrews 12:11-13 — How do we deal with pain?

1. We are not talking about physical pain.
2. The passage deals with discipline.
3. Paul's “thorn in the flesh” may not be physical.
4. Emotional, spiritual, mental pain is worse.
5. Are we “trained” (exercised)— 1 Timothy 4:7?

D. Luke 13:34-35 — Take out Jerusalem, insert America.

We have to think differently to see results.

E. We need to get out of God's way.

III. ISAIAH 59:1 — CONFIDENTIAL EXPECTATION

A. This is a picture of a broken people.

America is a broken people.

B. Isaiah 30:9-10 — Does this sound familiar?
C. Remember last week's lesson on the Gospel.

Acts 3:19 — Why say “times of refreshing”?

D. Ephesians 3:20 — God can use us to do great things.

1. This is true of us as a congregation.
2. This is true of us individually. YOU decide where you will spend eternity.

THE BACK PAGE

ARE YOU AWAKE OR ARE YOU SLEEPING?

Today's lesson is a challenge to us all. I hope you are understanding that we are not talking about those who might take a nap during the sermon. All of those passages that talk about waking up are passages dealing with our spiritual awareness. You have 168 hours given to you every week by God. How many of those hours are spent advancing your spiritual health?

The world in which we live is pushing us to ignore the teachings of Jesus. It is almost impossible to turn on your television and not have nudity, abusive language, sexual content and materialism brought into our home. There are very few movies that do not depict violence, and the video games our children watch glorify war and domestic terrorism. Even our newscasts push the evil that is in the world and make it impossible to learn exactly what happened because each channel slants their reporting to whatever view or political party that channel has chosen to support.

So what do we as Christians need to do about all of this? What do we expect God to do about it? Joshua faced a very similar problem in his day. Like all of the history of Israel, God's people had been lulled to sleep by the success of the past. In Joshua 24:15 he challenges the nation of Israel saying, “If it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you will serve, … But for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

It is easy for us to feel that coming to the church building once a week is like paying taxes. You pay taxes because you know you should, and coming to church because you or someone else thinks you should, and that is where it ends. You do not want the IRS breathing down your neck, and you may view God the same way. God wants all of us to be active every day, all the time. Look again at Ephesians 5:14-16 and act. Get involved in God’s work. Turn off the TV or at least be selective about what you watch. Wake up from spiritual sleep!

Our sign by the street!

One of God's blessings is the beauty of Fall!

Sign saying from www.sayingsforchurchsigns.com.

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