Lesson: “God’s Plan To Prosper You”
Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 29:1-23
This week
Today is First Sunday First Fruits. Tables are set up in room 4 for food items.
New adult classes: The class on the book of Ezekiel will meet in the auditorium and the Early Church History class will be held in the fellowship hall.
The First Tuesday Men’s Fellowship and Study Group meets this week at the building beginning at 6:30 p.m. with a meal preceding the study.
Evening worship is 6:00 p.m. today.
Daylight Savings Time is scheduled to start next week, Sunday March 10.
Special Events
The annual Men’s Breakfast is coming up on Saturday March 16 beginning at 8:30 a.m. Please sign up if you plan to attend or can help set up the evening before.
The Bible tells us to pray for one another, and that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much (James 5:16). The Caring Ministry invites you to be a faithful part of praying for your brothers and sisters in intercessory prayer. Join us March 17, after worship services, for Mugs and Muffins. Our brother Kevin will offer a prayer, followed by muffins and beverages, and a mug exchange. Sign up is on the Caring Ministry bulletin board (the one adorned with hearts in the hall outside the offices). Bringing a mug to exchange is optional.
Club 55 is planning a presentation about our missions in Wisconsin, the U.S. and around the world on Saturday March 30 at 10 a.m. Join us in sampling foods from our mission locations where we invest our time, funding and prayers. Please see Linda Stanger for details.
The No Debt No Sweat seminar on getting out of debt and Christian money management is planned over three meetings: Sunday March 31, 9:00 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.; and Monday April 1, 6:30 p.m. Childcare is to be provided, friends and neighbors are welcome.
The Brentwood church (6425 N 60th St.) has planned meetings of the Alzheimer’s Support Group, on selected Fridays at 6:00 p.m. Please contact Linda Stanger if you plan to attend. The next meeting is planned for April 5 – How to deal with fear. Future dates and topics:
June 7 – Communication, medicine and baths, August 2 – Coffee conversation and a little more, October 4 – Holiday stress with your loved one, December 6 – Caregivers break for the party.
Information
Group leaders; please contact the church office to update your current studies on the information Board.
When planning events, don’t forget to check the calendar in the back hallway by room 9 for conflicts and enter your own events. This is for events that involve use of the building and/or for a majority of the congregation.
Southside has an email list that is used to send congregational news to those subscribed. Please join us by emailing
ssidechurch-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
from the email account you wish to receive at and stay up to date with everything happening at Southside. This automated mail list is used for church related matters such as general announcements, prayer requests, the bulletin, and other items of interest to the congregation. Please see Laurie Giombi for details.
Mid-week Life group meetings are planned in several locations:
Ketterhagen’s home, Tuesdays, 7:00 p.m., “Believe”
Werner’s home, Tuesdays at 7:00 p.m., “Vanishing Grace”
Building, Wednesday, 7:00 p.m. classes for children, Acts
Santana’s home, Wednesday 7:00 p.m., “David who?”
Morrill’s home, Friday 6:30 p.m., “Faith that Works”
Young Adults, Wednesday, 6:30 p.m., dinner and Bible study at 2121A W. Tripoli Ave., Milwaukee (upper duplex).
We have an attended nursery for small children during morning worship periods in room 2. We also have a training room at the rear of the auditorium where parents can stay with their little ones while worshiping.
A children’s worship is scheduled to begin near the start of the worship lesson time. Children’s Worship is intended to provide a time of worship for children age 3 thru Grade 3 and to encourage families with children. Everyone is asked to begin worship in the auditorium (adults and children). Parents should accompany their smaller children to the basement as well as children who have not attended before. Before you return upstairs, be sure to indicate to the people at the door if you would prefer us to keep your young person till you return to get them or if it is alright to let them go after the adult worship is dismissed.
Free CD’s of the Sunday morning sermons are available from Joel Ribar. Be sure to specify the date desired. MP3 copies of sermons are also available at the church web site.
The Library is open after classes and the worship period. Don’t forget to return any overdue books to the library. There is a book return box located in the entry way next to the picture board.
Hodge Podge excerpts
A man should never be ashamed of saying he has been in the wrong, this means he knows more today than yesterday.
It is buried seed that grows – not buried talents.
It is a costly wisdom purchased by experience.
You always know which people have found a bed of roses – you hear them complaining about the thorns.
Why Do We Baptize?
Why do we baptize as a part of our relationship to God and what is this intended to accomplish?
Various types of washing have been required for people to have a relationship with God for a very long time. When the Israelites lead by Moses were camped in front of the mountain in Sinai, they were told to consecrate themselves and wash their cloths before God came down to the mountain (Exodus 19:10-11). Their priests were instructed to wash or be washed with water before offering sacrifices (Exodus 29:4; 30:17-21). Those recovering from an infection were to wash their cloths (Leviticus 13:6) and sometimes their entire body (Leviticus 14:8) before being declared to be clean and allowed to enter the camp and be near other people.
As time went on, washing was poetically mentioned as a way for God to remove the “stain” of wrongdoing, or sin (Psalm 51:2; Isaiah 1:16), but washing alone was not sufficient without a change of belief and behavior (Jeremiah 2:21-23; 4:14).
When the New Testament was first translated into English from the ancient Greek, the Greek word baptizô was usually rendered to be “baptize” rather than translated using the actual meaning in Greek of “dip” or “sink”. This was done to avoid conflicts with the common practice of the time, when the translation was done. Thus when “baptize”, “baptized”, etc. is found in the New Testament writings, it normally means dip or dipped as in immersed.
When John the Baptist started his ministry, he was calling for people to change their belief and behavior (repent), confess their sin, and be baptized to complete their cleaning (Matthew 3:1-6). John needed a lot of water for this (John 3:23), but not everyone was willing to change their belief and behavior (Luke 7:29-30).
When Jesus started his ministry, his followers (disciples) were also baptizing while John the Baptist was still baptizing people himself (John 4:1-2). John the Baptist recognized and admitted that his own ministry was to be replaced with the ministry and teaching of Jesus (Mark 1:7-8; John 3:25-30).
After Jesus had been killed and brought back to life by God (Matthew 28:5-7), he instructed his followers to teach and baptize disciples (other followers) in the name of the three parts of the Godhead (Matthew 28:18-20). We see this taking place throughout the early Christian church as people were taught, believed the teaching, changed their belief and behavior (repented) and were baptized (Acts 2:37-39; 8:35-36; 9:17-19; 10:47-48; 16:14-15; 29-34; 18:8 and others).
The purpose of baptism as Jesus instructed is the final step in removing the “stain” of wrongdoing or sin (Acts 22:14-16). It gives us the clean clothing of Jesus, makes us equal between each other (Galatians 3:27-28), and allows us to have a relationship with God (Galatians 4:4-7). It is a symbolic death and burial with Jesus so that we can also join in with his return to life and be freed from the “stain” of wrongdoing or sin (Romans 6:1-7).
The promise tied to baptism is ongoing indefinitely (Acts 2:37-39), extending to future generations including ourselves. We all need to remove the “stain” of our wrongdoing while receiving the promise of a return to life having a relationship with God, in his house (John 14:1-3) where there will be no death, mourning, crying or pain (Revelation 21:3-4). Thus, we baptize today for the same reason the people mentioned in Acts were baptized when we change our belief and behavior, and take the final step to remove the “stain” of wrongdoing.
Written by Cliff Copass