T HE MAN C HESTER C H URC H OF C HRIST, MAN C HESTER, N H Ap r 29, 2009

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Back to the BasementTHE BULLETIN

Manchester Church of Christ66 Mammoth Rd.

Manchester, NH 03109

603.623.5559

mht_church@comcast.net

www.mhtcoc.org

Elder’s Link: MayLarry Glass – 887-1741

larrycalling@yahoo.com

Lee Davis – 547-8876

ladnlad@comcast.netIf you have any concerns that the

elders should be aware of, or need to speak to with them, please

contact Lee or Larry this month.

Our Worship ServicesSunday AM: 8:30 & 11:00

Bible Class: 10:00

Sunday PM: 6:00

Small Groups:

West Side Small Group: 6:15PM at Doug Paul’s

Merrimack Small Group: 6:00PM at Stuart Peacock’s

Nashua Small Group: 6:00PM at Paul Mosier's

Wednesday PM Devotional/Bible Classes: 7:00

News Items? Please submit before 11AM each Tuesday.

We were finally able to utilize our church basement, fellowship hall, and Bible class rooms this past Sunday. Hooray!

It took a lot of behind the scenes work to get workmen on site, choose replacements, and then (Saturday) to do the final clean-up and preparation. Thanks to all who made a contribution in whatever way to the completion of this project and helped close the

book on this chapter of the Manchester church's history -- “the sewer back-up incident”.

Now that the basement is usable again, our usual church rhythms can resume -- the Wednesday evening supper before Bible class, Monday Night for the Master (May 4th), and our regular places for Bible classes for children, teens, and adults.

This Sunday morning is our monthly “elders' pulpit” and Barry Fogal will be preaching. Park will be helping to fill a vacant pulpit in Worcester, MA.

The Sunday evening assembly at the church building will be a Bible class forum after our short devotional and

communion service. Barring any special questions you might bring with you-- I always encourage you to bring questions to the Bible class forums-- I'll be talking about a few interesting archaeological discoveries in the news and some other religiously related headlines (and what the Bible says about them).

“So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household,” Ephesians 2:19, NAS95.

T HE MAN C HESTER C H URC H OF C HRIST, MAN C HESTER, N H Ap r 29, 2009

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Our FamilyOur Family

Prayer Concerns

Health: Doreen Lee, Pat Arel, Bill Waisnor, Rosemary Landry, Deniza Chase’s niece, Marge Simon, Penny Ranger, Manley Jones, Michael Anderson's brotherLeadership: Ministers, Elders, DeaconsEvangelism: Bible studies in progress, our website, MNFM, food pantryReturn to the Lord: Brethren who have forsaken the assembly

Worship LeadersSunday, May 3, 8:30AMSongs ......................... Stuart P.Prayers .................... Ken B. & Larry G.Scripture .................... Mark E.Lord’s Supper ............ Duane C.Coordinator ............... Ken B.

Sunday, May 3, 11:00AMSongs ........................ Gerry M.Prayers ....................Pete S. & Lee D.

Scripture ..................... Rick G.Lord’s Supper ............. Earl M.Coordinator ................ Ken S.

Sunday, May 3, 6:00PMSongs.......................... Mark E.

Wednesday, May 6, 7:00PMSongs.......................... Stuart P.

Coming up in April...

Reminder Tonight is a song night. We will be devoting our usual Bible class time to singing praises to our almighty God.

Canned Food Drive This past Sunday(April 26) was the official relaunch of our congregation’s pantry ministry. If you were unable to bring your food items or if you haven’t signed up yet, the sign up sheet is in the foyer.

What else?

MNFM Now that the remodeling in the basement is complete, we can meet again for Monday Night for the Master. We will be meeting next Monday, May 4th.

Dinner will be served at 6pm followed by prayer time, visiting and writing cards of encouragement. The menu is ham, scalloped potatoes, vegetable, bread and dessert. Please join us.

Youth Rally The Manchester youth rally is quickly approaching!! Mark your calendars for May 29th-31st. See Linda Paul if you

are willing and able to house some teens.

Prayers needed Doreen Lee is still at CMC (room C119). Although the new treatment was beneficial to her, it didn't go as well as they had hoped. Please keep her in your prayers and let her know you are thinking of her through calls, cards and visits (she really enjoys seeing people).

Wednesday Night Supper The Wednesday Night Supper is starting up again. Please remember to sign up on the sheet in the back of the auditorium if you plan to attend.

This and that...

Note from Dick Dick Potter will be head cook 4th week at Gander Brook this summer and he is looking for a few people to help. You can give him a call at 432-5685. He also says we could use some potholders and kitchen towels and washcloths for the kitchen downstairs.

Gander Brook's work and w0rship week is scheduled for June 27

through July 4. There is much work to be done to get the camp ready for the summer so please consider helping out. Registration forms are in the foyer.

Ladies Day The Northern Valley church in Lancaster, NH will be hosting a ladies day on Saturday, May 16th. More details can be found on the bulletin board in the foyer.

Celebration There is a graduation announcement and picture posted on the bulletin board in the foyer for Adam Chilcote. (Ellen Horion's son) Check it out.

Wednesday Night Menu

roast turkey

stuffing/potatoes

squash/green beans

bread

dessert

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Life After Life (Final Part) Park Li nsc o m b

I’m hopeful that the past several articles on what happens after this life is over for us (individually and collectively) has been helpful. I think we need to think more about what does come after this life as a way to keep ourselves committed and energetic in the service of our Master. After all, the Lord didn’t give us all this information just to help fill out the Bible to proper number of pages or proper heft for an eternally important book; God's revelations to us about the hereafter are intended to motivate us. And this last installment of this series on eschatology (study of the last things) is given to us by God as an important motivator during hard times in our Christian walk, and especially if we happen to be found alive during the last days of the “Last Days”. Let’s talk about last days of the Last Days.

What do I mean by the last days of the Last Days? Well, the Scripture is clear that the Christian era is considered to the “Last Days” (Acts 2:17; Heb. 1:2; James 5:3). And when you consider the sweep of Bible history — the Patriarchal era (Adam to Moses), the Mosaic era (receiving the Law through Christ’s death on the cross), and the Christian era — the Christian era is the “last days”. But, of course, the Christian era has been quite long from a human standpoint, a little over 2000 years; so, to our way of thinking, these Christian era “last days” haven’t exactly been “the countdown”. But there will, naturally, be some last days that will truly be a “countdown”. And the human question has always been, “And exactly when will these days be?”

Before I get any further into this study, do not get the impression that I am in any way making any sort of an attempt to predict the end of the world. Let me make it clear that the Lord left all vagueness and guess work in the dust, when He said, "But of that day and hour [of Christ’s second coming

and the end of the world] no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone." Matthew 24:36, NAS95. Yet sadly, there are still plenty of folks that try to discover the exact date of the Lord’s final end to this world; some of their flyers and claims fill a file folder in my file cabinet titled: “Religious Nuts” — yeah, I know, real professional — oh, well. But God — think of Noah’s flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, the destruction of Israel and Judah and Jerusalem — tends to wait until things are so bad that His great patience can wait no more for judgment. This is to say, simply, that God probably doesn’t have a date circled somewhere on His great calendar in the heavens; that the end will be less determined by an arbitrary terminal date set by God as it will be determined by the enormity of the earth’s sin, the lack of goodness in the world, and the nexus of man’s sinful choices that God has chosen as His flashing red light (e.g., the level of depravity of “Babylon”, the killing of the witnesses (Rev. 11), the abomination of desolation (Mt. 24:15), whatever they may turn out to be).

Anyway, despite the fact that we will never know the day or hour of Christ’s return, that it will be a complete surprise to everyone, there are some general things that we can and should know for the sake of our souls. Jesus speaks of them in Matt. 24 and continues talking about them in Revelation: in the last days of the “Last Days” the world will become incredibly sinful (e.g., Rev. 18:5), Christianity will be almost completely extinguished (e.g., Rev. 11:7-13; Lk. 18:8), persecution will become stronger and stronger (e.g., 2 Pet. 3:3-7; Rev. 13:16-18), disciples of Jesus will defect to follow the world (e.g., Mt. 24:9-13). They will be difficult days, indeed!

And the whole point of the writing of Revelation seems to be anticipation of such “difficult” times (2

Tim. 3:1), not only in the latter portion of the first century in which persecution was growing, but also in the last days of the “last days”.

“("Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.")" Revelation 16:15, NAS95.

And…"I heard another voice from heaven, saying, ‘Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues; for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Pay her back even as she has paid, and give back to her double according to her deeds; in the cup which she has mixed, mix twice as much for her.’" Revelation 18:4-6, NAS95.

The essence was to say, “No matter how bad things look, that only the way they look; that’s not the way they really are. Hang on tight, hang on with your fingernails, if you must, but hang on. Things are going to look terrible, like all is lost, but it is not! God wins, and you want to be on the right side, when Armageddon (a metaphorical reference to a battlefield in which the good guys are terribly outnumbered) happens.”

The point for us is simply this, we do not know when it will happen, but we must get ready, stay ready, and remain ready through even the worst of situations.

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Tee n N e w s Y o u n g A d ults

T he M a n c h ester c h u r c h o f C h rist

66 M a m m o t h R d.

M a n c h ester, N H 03109

Our StatisticsSunday Morning Worship (combined) 164

Contribution $5,238.53

Our Congregational CalendarSunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

26

Happy Birthday: Leah Chandler

Lee Davis

27

Happy Anniversary:

David & Sandy Hazelton

28

Happy Birthday:George Abood

29Bible class 7PM

Happy Birthday: Steven Bell

30 1 2

3

Happy Birthday: Matthew

Karafelis & Wendy Plybon

4 5

Happy Birthday: Peter Lauzon

Happy Anniversary:

Carl & Beth King

6Bible class 7PM

Happy Birthday: Sue Bell

7

Happy Anniversary: Patrick & Deb

Garven

8

Happy Birthday: Kaylee Daggett

9

Happy Birthday: Mary Roukey &

Elizabeth Hoggard