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Vol. 46, No.
14 SOUTHSIDE ORACLE June
13, 2003
The Bulletin Board
Wisconsin Christian Youth Camp – The
junior session begins Sunday and will conclude June 28th. Since
our list of Southside attendees is incomplete, we plan to list them next
week.
The Sick – Cathy Ribar is recovering
from pneumonia….Duella Thompson is doing well after her eye surgery last
week.
Tween
Events – The summer party for the tweens at the Alexander home last week
was a huge success. Twenty-four attended as many of the tweens brought
their friends. The next event is a bike ride this Saturday at Sheridan Park
beginning at 10:00 a.m. The “tweens” are the pre-teens who are 10 – 12
years old.
Soul Quest at York College will be next
week. Daryl Miller, Evan Stanger, and Tim Williams are attending.
ATTENDANCE RECORD
Two years ago Last
year Last week Goal
Bible
classes 139 114
170 170
Morning worship
222 205 *234 250
Evening worship
50 64 70 80
Contribution
$4068.52 $3310.15 $5362.50 $4200.00
The Thursday morning ladies’ Bible class
met for the last time this week until resuming in September.
Calendar of Events
June 14 – Tween bike ride, Sheridan Park, 10:00 a.m.
June 14 – Ladies’ Day event, Wagner home, 1:00 – 3:00
p.m.
June 15-28 – Junior camp, Wisconsin Christian Youth
Camp, Fallhall Glen
June 15 – 21- Soul Quest, York College
June 24 – 29 – Youth service trip to Menominee,
Michigan
June 29 – Elders’ forum, 6:00 p.m.
June 29 – July 12 – Middle camp, Wisconsin Christian
Youth Camp, Fallhall Glen
July 13 – Elders-deacons meeting, 4:30 p.m.
July 13 – Praise and palate, 6:00 p.m.
August 4 – 8 – Lake Geneva Encampment, Williams Bay
Seeing Jesus
“Sir, we would see Jesus” Some
Greeks visiting Jerusalem.
In one of the lesser known stories in the
gospels, John tells about some Greeks who approached Philip asking to see
Jesus. Since they had gone to Jerusalem for the Passover, they were
probably “God-fearers.” These were Gentiles who accepted the ethical
superiority of Judaism, but were unwilling to embrace its ceremonial
rituals. Cornelius was a God-fearer (Acts 10:1, 2) as were many other early
Gentile converts (Acts 17:4).
We are not told why the Greeks went to Philip.
They simply said, “Sir, we would see Jesus” (John 12:21-A.S.V). After
Philip discussed the request with Andrew, they took it to Jesus. Whether
Jesus gave them an audience, we are not told.
Our interest in this story centers on the
request to see Jesus. Is seeing Jesus not what the Christian faith is all
about? If we cannot see Jesus in the flesh like the Greeks did, we must
“see” him in a spiritual sense if we are to understand the essence of his
teachings. Moreover, as disciples seeking to bring others to the Great
Teacher, we must be certain that it is Jesus himself that we help
them see.
The apostles and early Christian teachers saw
the person and mission of Jesus as the heart of their faith. They did not
just teach facts about Jesus, but spoke of him as one with whom they enjoyed
a personal relationship. Their message focused on Jesus; everything else
was secondary….
The epistles are permeated with language
picturing the total union of the disciple with Jesus. For example, in
Colossians 2:12 – 3:4, Paul seven times uses the term “with Christ” or its
equivalent. The follower of Christ is said to die with him, to be buried
with him, to be raised with him, to be made alive with him, to have his life
hidden with him, and ultimately to appear with him in glory.
Over and over again we are informed that
Christians are “in Christ.” Paul uses the expression thirteen times in
Ephesians 1. This is the theme of Romans 6 which establishes the complete
identification of each believer with Jesus. In Colossians 1:27 Paul
reverses the image by stating that the mystery of God “is Christ in you, the
hope of glory.”….The centrality of Jesus in the biblical message ought to be
evident to every student of the Scriptures.
__Monroe
E. Hawley, “Is Christ Divided” pp. 183-185
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