August 15, 2010-Bulletin.html

August 15, 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.

THANKS! This has been a busy month for this church family. The Cass County Fair booth was a great success with lots of visitors, lots of materials distributed, and a number if contacts made. We are so thankful for everyone that worked the booth. Some of our members were there every day, and some came even when they were not feeling well--Larry Fox nearly was crawling by Saturday due to cold symptoms. Thanks to everyone for being a part of this outreach. We also want to thank Dave Pickens for jumping in to the Wednesday night class while Bill and Patty picked up John Clayton in Chicago.

Cynthia is in Hong Kong and will be visiting her son in Bangkok, Thailand, this week. The Claytons had a draining series oflectures with 41 presentations in 15 days in four cities. The program in Dundee was run with $15,000 in advertising which had "Why I Left Atheism" posters some 15 feet long on the sides of city buses. Around 150 visitors attended the programs. the best visitor participation the Church has ever had in Scotland. John will have more on that in his lesson this morning and in the editorial on the back page of this bulletin.

The rest of our lectures were in Livingston, Scotland, just outside of Edinburugh and in Aberdeen in northeast Scotland. They too had record crowds with some 39 visitors in Livingston and 57 in Aberdeen. The camp session was Camp Tayside and had some 60 or so young people from all over Scotland. It was held in an old radar post from World War II. The North Boulevard Church in Murphreesboro, Tennessee, had a team of 40 workers that helped with all of this, and they are going to consider helping us here. Some exciting things are happening stay tuned.

TODAY'S LESSON
THE WATCHMAN AND HIS MESSAGE
EZEKIEL 3:16-22 AND 18:21-32

INTRODUCTION--THE RESPONSIBILITY OF A WATCHMAN

- Key figure in ancient security systems
- God calls Ezekiel to be a watchman.
- He is to give a warning from God.
- Cleared himself when the message was delivered (verse 9)
- We are the watchmen of our day

Scotland--the history
Churches turned into pubs, night clubs and bars
6,000 Euros/year/person on alcohol
Hospitals just dealing with alcohol problems
Cohabitation, marriage breakdown
Unhappy people
America--much of the same

RESPONSIBILITIES OF HEARERS

-It is individual--Ezekiel 18:21-32
-God is fair, does not want anyone lost--2 Pet 3:9
-Philippians 2:12
-2 Timothy 2:15
-Luke 13:5
-Warnings are individual (Ezekiel 3:18; Ezekiel 18:30, 17
-Note "house of Israel" references. Nation fell

THE RESPONSE THAT GOD DESIRES

-TURN--Ezekiel 3:19, 21; 18:21, 24, 26
-Acts 2:38

Notice the purpose
Notice the promise
Ezekiel 18:21--New heat, new spirit

-Will we be successful?

Is that question relevant?
Why do we have a fair booth?

WHAT RESPONSE DO YOU MAKE TO THE WATCHMAN?

Will you sound the warning?
Will you heed the warning?

SCOTLAND

Most of you know that Cynthia and I spent the past month in Scotland doing public lectureships and working with congregations in Scotland. The first week we did three presentations every day at a camp just outside of Dundee that had some 60 young people. The camp ended on Friday and that night we started a three-day progream with the Livingston congregation, a group of about 30 people just outside of Edinburgh. The program was in their buildmg which we do not recommend, but we had about 100 people each evening including some 37 visitors. Monday we started a series of six sessions in Aberdeen in a hotel which ran three days and had long question-answer sessions running late into the night. They too have about 30 members, but we had over 100 people each evening, 59 of whom were visitors. After one day of rest we started in Dundee.

The Church in Dundee had a major campaign going on with the North Boulevard Church of Christ in Murphreesboro, Tennessee helping with some 40 workers and some financial help. The program was in a public gymnasium and was highly advertised with 17,000 colorful brochures passed out to people on the streets and 15-foot-long banners attached to public buses. Some $15,000 was spent in advertising and the whole Church worked at getting everyone in Dundee personally invited to the program. The Dundee Church has about 30 members, but the room was packed every night and some 159 visitors were registered to have attended. We have studies going on with a number of people, and some very good contacts have been made for the Church.

I am pretty used to confrontational meetings, so the hostility of the audience in Dundee did not bother me. We did have some wonderful things happen and a variety of people who attended. One was an elderly Catholic priest who informed me that he had become an agnostic because he could not resolve the issues atheism brings to people in today's world. Across from the gymnasium where I was speaking was a beautiful old Church of Scotland cathedral. Plastered across the front was a huge banner which read "Welcome to the Dog House." The Church had been converted into a night club, and as Cynthia passed out leaflets in front of the building she found most people walking by too drunk to talk with or study with. Romans 1:16-25 certainly described Dundee, Scotland, well.