February 21, 2010-Bulletin.html

February 21, 2010

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

CONSTRUCTION. Bill Gibson has been leading a major renovation of our classroom area in the basement. If you have not looked at what is going on, we encourage you to do so. Walls have been moved, a storage room has been built. It has been rewired and will be painted soon. After getting our water problems solved, we have greatly improved our facility, and our capacity to serve the community has been greatly expanded. Our thanks to Bill and the hard work he and others have done.

RECORDINGS. We are recording worship services so that people who are teaching the children's worship and people who are ill and miss services can hear the lessons and participate in the worship. If you or someone you know wants to listen to the services, let us know and we will make copies for you. We can also tape classes if anyone wishes to listen to them. This is not only for our shut-ins, but for anyone who has a use for them. The recordings are on cassette, and if you do not have a cassette player, we do have machines. If you are interested, check with John Clayton or Karl Marcussen.

CLASSES. It is so important for us to grow in our knowledge of God's word. One of the best ways to do that is to attend the classes we have regularly here. The book of James is our Sunday morning class at 10:00, and the book of Romans is our subject on Sunday and Wednesday nights. After the night classes we meet for snacks and fellowship. Join us and grow!

TODAY'S LESSON

BEING A PEACEMAKER
Matthew 5:9--"Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God."

INTRODUCTION

We are called to be people who get along and help others get along.

--Is this the reputation of Christians?
--Are we peacemakers at home?
--Are we peacemakers at work

This lesson is a practical list of some things to do.

LET PEACE RULE YOUR HEART--Colossian 3: 15

--are you a lover or a fighter?
--How do you drive your car?
--At family reunions, what is your objective?
--At church business meetings, what do you want?
--When people hear your voice on the phone, what is their response?

Do you strive to be part of the solution to every problem?

UNDERSTAND ALL CHRISTIANS ARE OF EQUAL VALUE

--1 Corinthians 12:13
--Galatians 3:26-28
--Phil Rosebury story
--Funerals in different cultures
--1 Corinthians 9:22--today's culture

ACCEPT DIFFERENCES OF OPINION

--Romans 14 - A whole chapter on peace

1. Verse 1-4--Food
2. Verse 5--Special Holy Days
3. Verses 15-19

--Matt 22:21--Political question

Romans 13:1-7
What do you think about Obama? Bush? Bayh?
Suggestion: Don't like any of them!

--Ephesians 4:3
--Romans 12:18; 14:19

BE MINISTERS OF RECONCILIATION

--Philippians 4:2
--Acts 10:36

How do you get peace in marriage?
How do you get kids to resist violence?

--Romans 5:1

THE OLD AND THE NEW

We live in a part of the country where there is a great deal of confusion about what day of the week we should worship. There are many churches in our area that worship on the Sabbath, and many people do not seem to understand that Sunday is not the Sabbath. The word "Sabbath" in the original language meant rest. It was established in the Old Law as a Holy Day (see Exodus 20:8; 31:14). While the model came from God resting on the seventh day during the creation week, there were many Sabbaths added under the old law. In Leviticus 25:1-4 the land itself was given a Sabbath in which no cultivation was done for a year. Some Sabbaths were high Sabbaths that lasted for several days. All of this was a part of the highly complex law system God gave the Israelites.

When Jesus came and the Christian system was established all of the laws and special days were done away with. Colossians 2:14 says it wonderfully "having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross." The Jewish system which was impossible to keep and horribly laborious was done away with--all of it. God's promises to Israel had always been conditional on their obedience, and Israel had been disobedient and God gave them up to their enemies. Jesus came to re-establish a new covenant with man--one that would include all of humanity, not just one culture. In today's sermon we have a variety of passages that point out that there no longer would be Jew or Greek or slave or free--that all of mankind would be one in Christ Jesus.

We do not follow the Old Testament, we follow the New Testament. That means that all of the Old Testament laws are done away with. We do not sacrifice animals, we do not have dietary restrictions, and we do not observe rest days. The first century church met on the first day of the week. In Acts 20:7 we see that the church came together on the first day of the week. In 1 Corinthians 16 the Corinthian congregation is told about part of their worship on the first day of the week.

It is important to know that being free from the Old Testament does not mean that there were no longer any restrictions. The New Testament not only tells Christians not to commit adultery or murder etc., but also goes beyond that and tells Christians how to avoid the thoughts that would lead to those actions. Many times the scriptures tell us to "rightly divide the word of Truth," and a major part of that is understanding the difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament.