090207-Bulletin.html

September 2, 2007

TO OUR VISITORS

The family of God here at Dowagiac Church of Christ wishes to extend to you a warm welcome. If you have questions about our worship services and why we do what we do, we will be glad to give you a biblical answer. The uniqueness of the church of Christ is that we are trying to restore to the best of our ability those things that we see the first century church doing. We are also working hard at building the spirit, unity, and love that Jesus taught and prayed for. We have no clergy, but are working together as equal co-workers trying to serve one another and the area in which we live. Come study with us, grow with us, and serve with us as we strive to do God’s will in all things.

FAMILY NEWS

Potluck Today. The first century church met together regularly, eating together and growing in their love and appreciation of each other (Acts 2:46). We do this in many different ways, but one of them is to enjoy a Sunday noon meal together on the first day of each month. We urge you to stay today and enjoy our potluck. We always have extra food, so if you did not bring anything, do not let that stop you. There will be plenty, and we really want you to stay.

Family Concerns. Dave Pickens is to undergo a triple bypass on Thursday of this week. Doctors say his heart is healthy, but that he has a significant number of blockages. Let us all pray for Dave this week, that he will have a successful surgery and a rapid recovery. Marianne Slack continues to struggle with pain and has been limited in her ability to get out because of it. Keep Marianne in your prayers. Phyllis Clayton is having some gastrointestinal problems and is going to the doctor this week to see if they can figure out why. Patty Gibson’s mother is slowly recovering from reconstructive surgery on her shoulder and has been in a lot of pain. Patty and Bill are looking after her, and she is gaining. Chris Lang is doing OK and is getting ready to go back to work after his surgery. Wanda Kirst has been getting injections to help her with her knees, but has been unable to get out for a while. Leon Forbes has gotten a grant to go to Southwestern Michigan College for nurses training. Congratulations, Leon!

TODAY’S LESSON

HEAVEN
Revelation 22

The purpose of the book of Revelation:	__________________________________________________________________
Pictures of Heaven: 21:4-8	__________________________________________________________________
The New Jerusalem	__________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER 22
Verse 1--River	__________________________________________________________________
Verse 2--Tree with 12 fruits	__________________________________________________________________
Verse 2--Leaves for healing	__________________________________________________________________
Verse 3--No curse	__________________________________________________________________
Verse 5--No night	__________________________________________________________________
No more choices when heaven comes: Verses 10 - 17
Who you associate with now is your association forever.
Adding or subtracting from God’s message--How? Why?
See the next article below.
Can you repeat verse 20--Loudly ?
COME, LORD JESUS !!!

DANGEROUS REVELATION

Today we conclude our summer study of the book of Revelation. It is tragic that there are those who have turned a book of encouragement and promise into a book of politics and war. We have worked hard all summer to show that Revelation is clear if you look at who wrote it, who it was written to, and why it was written. Every figure, symbol, and word picture fits what John said the book was about in Revelation 1:1 when he said the events of the book would “… shortly come to pass.” Rome was persecuting the Church. People were being killed if they believed in Jesus. The loving, peaceful, compliant, serving Christians were being thrown into arenas with wild animals, beaten, cut to ribbons with swords, and tortured in sadistic ways. From chapters 4-19, John tells that God will destroy Rome and Christians will be victorious.

In today’s world of politics and nationalism, we have had people who would twist the symbols of Revelation to modern times. Symbols of Rome are changed to symbols of China, Russia, and Moslem countries. Pictures of Satan are twisted to pictures of Bin Laden or some other political figure. Passages like Joel 2:28-32 are used to support this picture even though Peter in Acts 2:16-21 said clearly that Joel’s prophesy was being fulfilled at the establishment of the Church. Pictures of heaven are twisted to fit some supposed political kingdom in which Jesus will rule from Jerusalem and ancient Israel will be physically restored as a political entity. This even though Jesus clearly said “my kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36).

All of this has been done to enable men to sell books and get recognition, and because Americans are ignorant of the Bible, they buy into it 100 percent. This is affecting national policy, causing people to ridicule the Bible, and endangering the spiritual health of millions of people. Our study of Revelation has been designed to answer much of this. We urge you to keep studying, come to Bible class, grow with us, and know how “to give an answer” to the challenges of our day.