FRIENDSHIP INTERNATIONAL A gift of Christian love to international women living in the Lexington area! Newsletter April 09, 2015 Welcome! If you are new to Friendship International, please go to the registration desk first. Regular Weekly Schedule TODAY The Japanese Handbell Choir will play for us today. We also look forward to our choir class’ first public performance! Bible Stories 8:35-8:50 9:00-9:15 9:15-9:45 9:50-10:50 Announcements Coming up… Cultural Show & Tell is next week. You should have signed up with Carol Sue by now. All audio-visual material or internet links are due to her TODAY. Please see her if you have any questions. Thanksgiving and Prayer Concerns We are praying for these people who have physical needs: Ryoko Marlin (lung cancer) Chip Derber's grandson (dealing with Gillian Barre) Paddie Stipp (recovery from knee surgery) Praise: Susan Folsom's husband does not need to have heart surgery at this time. Bus pick up Refreshments Program Class Today we go to Panda Cuisine for lunch. It's located near Trader Joe's at 2358 Nicholasville Rd. The price for most things on the lunch menu is $5.75-6.95. If anyone wants to go but needs transportation they should meet near the registration table. Today, during class time you should receive one or more invitations to FI Sunday. If by chance you do not, please ask your teacher or any volunteer about this. Please consider your invitation or invitations, and respond to each with either a “YES” or a “NO” when we meet next week. In our culture, we do very much want you to accept our invitation, but this will be the only invitation given. So, we do want you to respond to it. Also, in our culture, it is important for the host to know how many people to plan for. She can plan best if you do respond to her and express that you accept OR that you decline. (It’s more polite to decline, than to not respond at all, or to respond with a “yes” and then not come.) If you get multiple invitations, you can respond “yes” to only one, because they are all for the same day. However, if you would like to also go to another church, please tell the host that and she can arrange for you to come and visit at another time. This semester we would like to tell you some of the events that are recorded in the Bible. The Bible is in two major parts (1) the Old Testament and (2) the New Testament. The Old Testament begins with creation and goes through many centuries of God’s revelation and instruction to mankind. The New Testament starts with Jesus and goes through his lifetime and basically the lifetime of his disciples. The Bible is a collection of “books” written by a variety of authors. This semester we will be sharing with you some of the stories from the life of Jesus found in the New Testament. When a scripture passage from the Bible is referenced we will give the name of the book and the chapter and verse number, like Mark 10-1-20. Most often the book name is the name of the author (though not always.) If you have questions about any of these stores, please ask your table hostess, or teacher, or any Friendship International volunteer. Appearances of Jesus after His Resurrection John 20:19-29, 21:1-14 After Jesus death and resurrection, the Bible accounts show that Jesus appeared twelve times to different groups ranging in size from 1 person to 500 people. Today's story shares three of those appearances. When Peter and John discovered that Jesus had risen from the dead, they went back to tell the other disciples. That night, all of the disciples, except Thomas, were at the same house. The disciples locked the door because they were afraid the Jews may try to capture them. While the disciples were there, Jesus went to the house. He showed them the nail marks in his hands and feet. He even ate a piece of broiled fish to prove that he really was alive! When Thomas went back to the house, Jesus already had gone away. The others couldn't wait to tell Thomas what they had seen. When they did, Thomas didn't believe them. He said, “When I see for myself the nail marks in Jesus' hands, then I will believe that he is alive.” The next week, Jesus went back. He walked up to Thomas and showed him his hands and his side. When Thomas saw the nail marks in Jesus' hands, he believed. He said, “My Lord and my God!” Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen me but still have believed.” After this, Jesus appeared to his disciples again. It was by the Sea of Galilee. Here is what happened. One night, Peter, John, and five other disciples went fishing on the Sea of Galilee. They fished all night and didn't catch anything. The next morning they were still in the boat hoping to catch some fish. A man standing on the shore asked the men if they had caught any fish. The disciples said no. Then the man told them to put their net on the other side of the boat. When they did, they caught over 150 fish! The net was so heavy, the disciples couldn't pull it into the boat. John looked closer at the man who was standing on the shore. Then he said, “Look! That man is Jesus!” When Peter heard John say this, he jumped into the water and started swimming toward the shore. The other disciples rowed the boat to shore. They had to drag the fish net behind them. Jesus told the men to bring over some of the fish that they had caught and they would eat breakfast together. Jesus spent many days with the disciples after he had risen from the dead. But the time came when he had to leave the earth. Before ascending to heaven to be with his Heavenly Father, Jesus blessed the disciples and told them they needed to go out and tell others about him. Next week we will hear some of the amazing things the disciples did after Jesus' ascension into heaven.
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