Update for Sunday, August 23rd

Lesson: Return to the Task
August 23, 2015


Acts 13:1-3, 44-52

The keys to the lesson are this:

1. We, as individual Christians, should return to the task of sharing with others (believer and non-believer) God's grace through the sacrifice of His son, Jesus Christ. (The Great Commission)
2. We, as the Church, should return to the tasks of teaching and uplifting the congregation, evangelizing to all, and providing help and comfort to those in need.

To "Bring'em in - Build'em up - Send'em out"

The following is shared from a Pastor's blog.....

Could it be that God is crossing your path today with people you need to meet and facilitate connecting them to Christ? Let me encourage you to live on SOUL PATROL! Look for people who are looking for Jesus. God could be orchestrating divine appointments that you are missing. Ask the Lord to open your eyes so that you can see the people around you as He sees them. Then be ready in every circumstance to share your witness for Christ. (1 Peter 3:15) Fill you daily experience with divine encounters by looking for people who need Jesus.

I was recently in an airport in Louisville, Kentucky and my Delta flight was delayed. After a quick lunch, I met a young soldier named Robert sitting in a broken massage chair in the airport concourse near my departure gate. I asked if the other vibrating chair was broken, and he affirmed it was also busted, but it was still real comfortable. So, I sat down and asked him some questions about his life and listened to his story. Then I shared with Robert how Christ changed me and asked him if he was connected to Jesus. He said, “Not really but my Mom is a strong believer.” We looked together at the ABC’s of the Gospel brochure and Robert told me he wanted to receive Christ as his Savior!!!


 I have discovered that people are more ready to hear the Gospel than we are to share the Gospel.  People like Robert are all around us. Ask God to open your eyes and experience the divine appointments that surround you!

Update Wednesday, August 19th

Recap of Sunday, August 16th

Lesson from ACTS 4: 31-37

I came across this and I feel it best sums up what the lesson's focus was.

           From: This is Discipleship - Acts 4:31-37 .... www.truekingdon.org

• Conservatively speaking, the Church was now about 20,000 strong, and Luke says they were of "One heart and soul"­this is unity!

• 20,000 believers from various backgrounds and social status, and they are all of one heart and soul. How? 
• Jesus prayed that His followers would be one: "....that they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me. 22  And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given to them; that they may be one, just as We are one;" (John 17:21-22 NASB)

• Christian unity is not organizational, it is spiritual. The words "as" and "just as" speak of the nature of our unity. It is to be like that of Jesus Christ and the Father­'s common life; a unity of will, purpose, and goal. It's not people being united because they are in the same container organizationally. It's people who are attracted to each other because they are pulled by the same power. 

• If you take a bunch of ball bearings and put them in a box, they have a unity caused by the container: an organizational unity. If the box breaks, they all go everywhere. Our unity is to be like that caused by an electro-magnet that holds all the ball bearings together because they are all pulled by the same external force which is spiritual. We are pulled together by the power of Christ.

SOMETHIN' EXTRA

Contagious Christianity 
Dr. Jay Wolf - FBC Montgomery

I heard some disturbing news recently about Kermit the Frog. Evidently, Kermit the Frog has acquired swine flu. And apparently, he got it from Miss Piggy!

Well, that's a humorous way to take you to an important topic and that is the issue of being contagious. We all know that physical disease is transferred from one person to another person. I've discovered that there is a type of Christianity that is transferable or contagious. For instance, in Acts 4, Peter and John appeared before their adversaries in the Sanhedrin. The disciples of the Risen Christ were in trouble for healing a crippled beggar and proclaiming that there is salvation in Jesus Christ alone. The Bible tells us when the Jewish leaders saw the courage of Peter and John, they realized that they were "unschooled and ordinary men who had been with Jesus." Peter and John's close contact with Jesus produced a raging case of the Christian faith and made those disciples extremely contagious! Peter and John passed on their contagious Christianity to everyone they encountered. Consequently, in the first century the Christian faith spread like a positive and liberating epidemic throughout the world. Your job is exactly the same - develop a full-blown case of authentic, contagious faith in Christ which comes as a result of intimate contact with Jesus and then pass it on!

APOLOGY!!!!

I apologize to Mrs Pat. Last Sunday I said I had posted on our blog, but upon further investigation, I was wrong. I had a blog ready to post but never posted it! So, to the class and Mrs. Pat, I apologize.

In an attempt to catch up, here are some notes:

• Update from Sunday, Aug 2nd, 2015

1. Thanks for the wonderful breakfast items brought on the First Sunday of the Month.... 
2. Great lesson on that day from Nehemiah 1:3-10, the focus being: "Move forward by returning to prayer." 

• Many times we grumble and fuss about our conditions (social, physical, spiritual). We feel helpless in making the situations right. 
• That is the perfect time for us to worship our God through prayers of submission, intervention, praise, and glorification. 
• Lift your prayers to Him!

• Update from Sunday, Aug 9th, 2015
  

1. Charla is updating the class roll and care groups. If your contact numbers, street address, electronic address, or name has changed within the past two years, please let her know. Her phone # is 347-4342 or email her at   csadkison@hotmail.com  . 
2. Our lesson this past week was from Nehemiah 8:1-8. 

• It portrayed what the Israelites did after they completed rebuilding the temple and the wall of Jerusalem.
• After being in exile, they had lost the practice of turning to God's Word. The Law of Moses had become a faint glimmer of their history. In exile they had intermarried and mingled with other nations and religions. With the rebuilding of the temple and the wall, God came upon them and planted a desire to renew their understanding of God's Word.
• They called forth to Ezra to bring the scrolls of the "Torah" and read it. From daybreak to noon, Ezra read from the Torah. They worshiped and prayed to God.
• Return to God's Word.... How do I do that in today's society. 
• I gave a sheet to the class from James MacDonald's bible study, "AUTHENTIC." This sheet focused on how to renew and sustain a study of God's Word. This sheet came from the Wednesday Night Bible Study blog. You can click on the link to see that sheet. http://wnbsatfbce.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-discipline-of-personal-bible-study.html 
• Three thing to return to God' Word: 
• Pick It Up - you have to have it in your hand
• Size It Up - Look for scripture about God's Word through a concordance or Goggle it.
• Eat It Up - Jeremiah 15: 16  &  Ezekiel 3:3

Have a great week .... Lesson for next Sunday comes from Acts 4:31-37. With the focus being: "Walking with Christ brings us together in unity and purpose."

See you next Sunday!

If you want to read a touching story, click on the link below: it is something to which we can all relate.
http://wnbsatfbce.blogspot.com/2015/07/the-man-next-door-young-man-learns.html