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April 25, 2010TO 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
THANKS: Larry and Lana Fox have done a lot of work around the building to improve the looks of our facility and let our neighbors and friends know that we are good citizens and part of the Dowagiac community. They have built and planted the raised flower gardens you see, and have installed the hose hook on the side of the building. Our thanks to the Foxes for the hard work they have done.
CLASSES. It is so important for us to grow in our knowledge of God's word. We all know that children do
not grow if they do not get the right foods on a regular basis. Junk food will not help kids grow, and binge eating is bad for them. In the same way we cannot grow spiritually if we do not get spiritual nourishment from God's Word. Every day we get junk nourishment from the world--TV, newspapers, and even the people of the world that we are around feed us stuff that is not good for our spiritual growth. The ONLY way we can mature is to get a regular diet of good information, and the Bible is the only place that can come from. Starting next Sunday Jim Harasewicz will begin a series of classes on self image and God. This is a wonderful opportunity to grow in understanding of how God can help us in our view of ourselves and in how we can find stability and purpose in life. Come and grow with us as we discuss what God has to say about how we should think about life and how we deal with our role in it.
TODAY'S
LESSON
WHAT GOD WANTS FOR YOU
INTRODUCTION--
Why do you exist? "what is man that you are mindful of him? Heb 2:6-8--Our insignificance.
We need to understand what God wants for us and why
WHAT GOD WANTS FOR YOU
INTRODUCTION--
Why do you exist? "what is man that you are mindful of him? Heb 2:6-8--Our insignificance.
We need to understand what God wants for us and why
God wants the best for us.
ChristIamty is a guilt freeing religion.
It is not what we cannot do, but what will bring us the very best things in life.
GOD HAS CREATED US FOR A PURPOSE.ChristIamty is a guilt freeing religion.
It is not what we cannot do, but what will bring us the very best things in life.
We are all special in God's
image.
Job 42:5
Ephesians 6:12--NIV has best translation--"Against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly realms."
Ephesians 3:10--God's purpose in creating us.
Only sentient beings can participate in this war.
GOD WANTS EVERY ONE OF US TO BE SAVED. We are not just physical
beings like animals.
We do have spirit (life) like animals.
We have a spiritual component--our soul.
We have a role in a spiritual war because of our soul We do have spirit (life) like animals.
We have a spiritual component--our soul.
Star Wars, Frankenstein,
Avatar, Harry Potter, et al.
Job 1 & 2 Job 42:5
Ephesians 6:12--NIV has best translation--"Against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly realms."
Ephesians 3:10--God's purpose in creating us.
Only sentient beings can participate in this war.
Matthew 18:14
2 Peter 3:9
Luke 13:34
John 3:16-17
THE MESSAGE OF THE CROSS IS THAT GOD WILL SAVE. 2 Peter 3:9
Luke 13:34
John 3:16-17
1 Corinthians 1:18
2 Corinthians 4:3
Who is "The god of this age."
What veils us--blinds us?
Are you blinded? What is your belief?
WE CAN BE SECURE IN OUR FAITH IN GOD2 Corinthians 4:3
Who is "The god of this age."
What veils us--blinds us?
Are you blinded? What is your belief?
We do not need to doubt
God's existence.
We do not need to question which god is God.
John 1 0:27
Romans 6:1-6
The struggle of Romans 7:15ff is answered in 8:1.
1 John 1:5-10
God calls us to faithfulness, not to be perfect.
We do not need to question which god is God.
John 1 0:27
Romans 6:1-6
The struggle of Romans 7:15ff is answered in 8:1.
1 John 1:5-10
God calls us to faithfulness, not to be perfect.
SUMMER
IS
COMING
We talked last Sunday about what a
wonderful time this is to be alive. The beauty of spring is a good time
to think about God's creation and the beauty He has built into
everything we see in the natural world. Summer brings warm weather, our
beautiful state of Michigan has the best weather in the world during
summer, and our lakes, rivers, and woodlands continue to speak to us
about all God has done for us.
Summer should also be a time for unique opportunities for the church. We always have visitors who are on vacation who come and worship with us, and we need to strive to let them know where we are and invite them to come and be with us. When we are on vacation we need to find brothers and sisters to worship with as well.
This summer we have a couple of special days that we want you to mark on your calendar and keep free. On Sunday, July 11, we will have an area-wide singing here at our building. We will invite all of our sister congregations to join us for an afternoon/evening of singing, eating, and fellowship. Typically we have over 100 people for this event, in fact our record attendance was a singing like this. Our next potluck/planning day is next Sunday, May 2. We need to decide how to advertise this event in the area, how to feed everyone, and how to conduct the singing. We need everyone to be here and volunteer to take on a role in making this a success.
Another special summer event is our participation in the Cass County Fair which will be August 1-8. We plan to do the same booth we did last year, as all of the literature, signs and boards were saved from last summer, and we had a theme that drew a great deal of attention. There is a lot of work involved in this booth. We will have all of the materials and signs prepared, but we need people to set up on Sunday, August 1. We will then need people to serve as hosts at the booth every day from roughly 10:00 in the morning until 10:00 at night with each person working a 3- or 4-hour shift. This is something everyone can do. You are not expected to carry on any discussion of the Bible and we are not there to debate anyone. Our purpose is to let people know who we are, what we do to serve the community, and how to get in touch with us. You need to know how to smile, greet people, and give them free materials.
We are still getting e-mails from people we met at the fair last summer. There have been several benevolent cases that came from our work at the fair. The city of Dowagiac has recognized us from the work we have been doing. Save these dates and be a part of our summer outreach. We need everyone to be a part of the work here.
Summer should also be a time for unique opportunities for the church. We always have visitors who are on vacation who come and worship with us, and we need to strive to let them know where we are and invite them to come and be with us. When we are on vacation we need to find brothers and sisters to worship with as well.
This summer we have a couple of special days that we want you to mark on your calendar and keep free. On Sunday, July 11, we will have an area-wide singing here at our building. We will invite all of our sister congregations to join us for an afternoon/evening of singing, eating, and fellowship. Typically we have over 100 people for this event, in fact our record attendance was a singing like this. Our next potluck/planning day is next Sunday, May 2. We need to decide how to advertise this event in the area, how to feed everyone, and how to conduct the singing. We need everyone to be here and volunteer to take on a role in making this a success.
Another special summer event is our participation in the Cass County Fair which will be August 1-8. We plan to do the same booth we did last year, as all of the literature, signs and boards were saved from last summer, and we had a theme that drew a great deal of attention. There is a lot of work involved in this booth. We will have all of the materials and signs prepared, but we need people to set up on Sunday, August 1. We will then need people to serve as hosts at the booth every day from roughly 10:00 in the morning until 10:00 at night with each person working a 3- or 4-hour shift. This is something everyone can do. You are not expected to carry on any discussion of the Bible and we are not there to debate anyone. Our purpose is to let people know who we are, what we do to serve the community, and how to get in touch with us. You need to know how to smile, greet people, and give them free materials.
We are still getting e-mails from people we met at the fair last summer. There have been several benevolent cases that came from our work at the fair. The city of Dowagiac has recognized us from the work we have been doing. Save these dates and be a part of our summer outreach. We need everyone to be a part of the work here.