10-11-15 A World of Differents

Scripture:  1 Peter 2:9-10

READING: First Church of the Blessed Clique

Good evening.  We’d like to welcome each and every one of you to First Church of the Blessed Clique.  Kindly bear with me as I make a few announcements concerning the week’s activities.  You’ll note that we offer programs for every type of personality.

The “Suit and Tie” group will be meeting tomorrow evening at seven o’clock in room 3.  Dress code will be strictly enforced.  Our “The Lord Loves Me Just the Way I Am” class will meet in the church fellowship hall, and, as usual, it’s a “come as you are.”

The “Those of Higher Education” class will be meeting on Tuesday night in Room A, while the “Glory Be to God, I Made It Out of High School by the Skin of My Teeth” group will be meeting in Classroom D….minus.

Our “Pro-growth” group will be meeting on Tuesday evening for door-to-door evangelism, while the “Our Church Is Big Enough As It Is” class will meet in the church basement.  Password will be required, and doors will be locked promptly at 7 p.m.

On Wednesday evenings we have several different groups meeting.  The “King James Only” class will meet in the main sanctuary, while the “Pretribulation,” “Midtribulation,” “and “Posttribulation” groups will each be meeting in their regular classrooms. Meeting times for those three classes…are well…try your luck.

         The “Higher Income Bracket” group will be meeting this Thursday in the third floor chapel, aka as the penthouse.  Last year’s W-2 forms will be required for admittance.

Also, meeting on Thursday evening will be the “Isn’t It Time You Got a Haircut?” men’s group.  They’ll meet in Room 4, while the “Samson Got a Haircut and Look What It Did for Him” class will be meeting in the fellowship hall.  Positively no barbers or seductress beauticians will be allowed.

On Friday evening, the “I Wish Your Grandchildren Were As Perfect as Mine” seniors group will meet in the church annex.  A display table will be provided for pictures and awards.  However, space is limited and must be offered on a first come, first served basis.  Please note: Latecomers who remove trophies to make room for their own grandchildren’s trophies will be immediately ousted from the group.  Surveillance cameras will be in operation.

Also meeting on Friday evening is the “Long Prayers” group.  They’ll meet in the prayer room from 7 till 10 p.m..or later.  The “Make It Quick – Dinner’s Getting Cold” prayer group will meet at the front doors from 7:00 pm to 7:05 pm.  Don’t be late or you will miss it.

The “T.W.H.H.” group (“Those Who Hate Hugging”) will meet in Room 5.  The “Huggers” class is planning to crush, uhhhhh, I mean crash the meeting.

Throughout the week, feel free to attend the group meeting of your choice.  Whatever you do, though, don’t miss our Sunday worship.  We are in the middle of a preaching series “Kumbaya: Working as ONE for the cause of Christ.”  (Pause)  And you thought your job was tough!

MUSIC STARTS

John 17:20-23

"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

 SONG: Let us be one sung by Mike Dawes (Jump Drive)

We are on a Unique Journey – Peculiarly Individual – Particularly in Unity

James 2:1-10

My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism. 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, "Here's a good seat for you," but say to the poor man, "You stand there" or "Sit on the floor by my feet," 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? 6 But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong? 8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing right. 9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.

Deuteronomy 7:5-6

This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols in the fire. 6 For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.

OT get rid of the external symbols / NT get rid of the heart issues

OT God loves you as a particular people / NT God loves you as a peculiar person.

1 Peter 2:1-8

Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. 4 As you come to him, the living Stone — rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For in Scripture it says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame."  7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, "The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone,"  8 and, "A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall." They stumble because they disobey the message — which is also what they were destined for.

1 Peter 2:9-10

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God (KJV a peculiar people), that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

GOD CHOSE YOU / US

John 15:16

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit — fruit that will last.

We are on a Unique Journey – Peculiarly Individual – Particularly in Unity

1. We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord,
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord,
And we pray that all unity may one day be restored.

Chorus
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love,
Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.

2. We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand,
We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand,
And together we’ll spread the news that God is in our land.

3. We will work with each other, we will work side by side,
We will work with each other, we will work side by side,
And we’ll guard each one’s dignity and save each one’s pride.

4. All praise to the Father, from whom all things come,
And all praise to Christ Jesus, his only Son,
And all praise to the Spirit, who makes us one.