It was good to be back in church after two Sundays at Make-A-Wish with a TFC chapel, then only going to Sunday school on the day of the Hershey Reunion
Because of wedding and reunion pictures, I didn’t post the notes from Sunday school on May 19. Teacher – John Diffenderfer
“Called to Mutual Acceptance”
All have sinned
All people of this world need a savior
All who come to Jesus by faith are accepted by God – by grace.
Are we reflecting Christ to all people?
No one is superior or inferior in Christ.
Sunday, May 26 – Sunday school – Alexander Martin
“Called to Be Transformed”
Make it your mission to present your body to God as a living sacrifice.
Be plugged in to what God is calling you to do.
A butterfly proves that it has been transformed from a caterpillar to a butterfly by flying and no longer crawling on the ground.
If you have been transformed by God, prove it by flying in His victory and no longer crawling in defeat.
Worship – Dave Wenger – The book of Philemon
Paul prayed that Philemon’s faith would be effective. Is your faith effective?
Restitution: Part of coming to faith in Jesus Christ and being effective is restitution – making things right with those to whom we have sinned – through stealing or otherwise.
Imputation: Paul offered to pay the debt of Onesimus – that is called imputation – when someone pays your debt. Jesus paid our sin debt by His death on the cross.
Forgiveness: If we can realize how lost we are without God’s forgiveness it helps us understand our need for forgiveness and to give forgiveness.
Forgiving is difficult, but unforgiveness will destroy you.
Forgiveness means you will not feel a need to hang out the other person’s dirty wash. It means you will not need to get even.
Forgiveness is not a once and done deal.
Tony Evans likens the ringing of a bell in a bell tower to forgiveness. As long as you ring the bell, it will keep ringing. Forgiveness is letting go of the bell rope. Unforgiveness is keeping the bell ringing. You are responsible to stay away from the bell rope.
Stop pulling the bell rope of unforgiveness.
Unforgiveness will sap the life out of you – meaning you will go nowhere spiritually.
Nine Teen Challenge men closed morning worship.
John – shared a bit about the work of Teen Challenge and their work with those who are struggling with drugs and alcohol. They have 400 centers in the USA and 1,200 worldwide.
His challenge: Be sober, be vigilant, for the devil is like a roaring line.
James – shared his testimony – He is 41 years old and was raised in a family who struggled with drugs and alcohol. He grew up with a warped view of love and turned to alcohol to numb the pain. It took him to a place where he didn’t want to be. At one point he was so discouraged and suicidal that he placed himself on a train track to end his life. The train ran over him, but only took off his right hand.
After healing he went back to the same thing. He sought for help spiritually and started going to church, got married and had children, but his problems weren’t solved and after a divorce, he when back to drugs and alcohol.
Teen Challenge is teaching him that serving God is not about what God can do for him but what he can do for God.
The nine men closed our worship service by singing “Jesus Lover of My Soul.”