Bulletin Announcements March 15, 2020
THOUGHTS ON STEWARDSHIP: Exodus 17:3 – “But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, ‘Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?’ ” Even the Israelites who saw miracles with their own eyes fall into unbelief and fear. From this distance we can see how foolish their worry is. How foolish will our worries appear from the distance of eternity? The Lord cared for them, and He will care for us.
TODAY: We thank Will Fredstrom, a member of Christ Lutheran Church in Normal, for preaching and conducting Bible Class. Will is in his 2nd year of study at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis and he will receive his vicarage assignment at the end of April. He also is engaged to be married to Charlea Schueler. Please keep Will and all these changes in his life in your prayers.
FAITH IN ACTION OF BLOOMINGTON/NORMAL: One ride, one visit, one Senior at a time. Need a ride? Want to volunteer? Need more information? Call (309) 827-7780; or email: office@bnfia.org or contact Barry Hamlin at (309) 750-9424.
THE ADULT BIBLE CLASS will meet in the basement at 10:15 a.m. and will be led by Seminarian Will Fredstrom.
OUR LENTEN WORSHIP this Wednesday is at 7:00 p.m. The theme of our Lenten messages is: “The Seven (Deadly?) Sins”. The men and women of your Evangelism/Stewardship Board are looking forward to showing off the skills they have learned from the Cooking Channel. They will present their finished products ar 5:30 p.m. in the basement of the church before our Lenten Worship. The free-will Offering will help the Missions of our Central Illinois District—LCMS.
GOOD SHEPHERD LUTHERAN FRIDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES is this coming Friday, March 20th at 6:30 p.m. We will be showing the movie, YESTERDAY. Jack Malik was just another struggling songwriter….but that was yesterday. After a mysterious blackout, Jack discovers he is the only person on earth who remembers The Beatles! As he rockets to fame by passing off the Fab Four’s songs as his own, Jack risks losing Ellie – the one person who has loved him and believed in him from the start. Before the door to his old life closes forever, Jack must decide if all he needs is love, after all. Join us for another great movie, wonderful fellowship and some great food.
NEXT SUNDAY is the deadline for items to be submitted for the APRIL NEWSLETTER. Any announcements you want to be published in the Newsletter should be submitted via email to: office@goodshepherdblm.org, mail, hand-delivered, or you may call (309) 662-8905. Thank you!
FOOD COLLECTION: We will collect food for the Home Sweet Home Mission until Easter Sunday, April 12th. The newly decorated box is in the narthex. We will continue our food collection for Thanksgiving/Christmas later in the year, but this gives us an opportunity to help out when donations are not as prevalent.
THE LENTEN DEVOTIONS BOOKLETS Titled: “DELIVER US: JESUS SETS US FREE” is available on the table in the narthex. Pick up your copy today.
MY DEVOTIONS: The March—May 2020, My Devotions, the Daily Readings for Young Christians are available on the table in the narthex. Pick up your free copy today.
LUTHERAN WITNESS: It’s time to renew your subscription to the “Lutheran Witness”. If you are currently receiving the Lutheran Witness and wish to continue; or if you do not wish to continue; please notify the church office. Also, if you are not currently receiving the Lutheran Witness and would like to subscribe, please notify the church office. We must notify Lutheran Witness Circulation prior to Monday, April 20, 2020. The cost to receive the magazine for one year is $15.96. Please make your check payable to: Good Shepherd Lutheran Church and include it with your contribution. Please indicate on the memo line: “Lutheran Witness”. Thank you.
FELLOWSHIP HOSTS: We have two separate sign-ups: Donut Pick-up and Coffee Set-up. We would like to encourage you to sign-up for one or the other. You may also sign-up for both if you wish. The sign-up sheet is by the door by the north stairwell.
THE LUTHERAN HOUR: “They Bloom Later” is the topic for next Sunday. The sermon text will be from Exodus 9. A weed is a stubborn thing, pushing its way up through a crack in the sidewalk. The human heart is a stubborn thing, insisting on going its own way. The speaker will be Reverend Dr. Michael Zeigler. Hear his message on The Lutheran Hour on WGN (720) at 6:00 a.m.; WJWR (104.7 FM) and WJWR (90.3 FM) both on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. Also, if you can receive Lincoln, IL radio station WLLM (1370 AM) the program is broadcast two times on Sunday at 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. Tune in! You can also listen to The Lutheran Hour on your personal computer at RealAudio, www.lhm.org.
FROM THE CHURCH OFFICE: If you miss church, please be reminded that copies of the previous week’s sermon are available on the table in the narthex. Also, the sermon will be available on our web site at www.goodshepherdblm.org. Thank you.
INFORMATION REQUESTED: Please notify the church office if someone in the congregation or any family or friends are ill or hospitalized.
PRAYER CIRCLE: If you have a prayer request please submit them by email to Mary Anne Kirchner at makirchner@yahoo.com or you may phone a Prayer Request to Mary Anne; her cell phone# is (309) 532-2582. The Prayer Request box is on the table in the narthex for any written requests.
Sermon Text 3.8.2020 — Born From Above
March 8, 2020 Text: John 3:1-17
Dear Friends in Christ,
The book Born Free tells of an orphaned lioness adopted by Kenyan game warden George Adamson and his wife Joy. If they hadn’t cared for her, the cub they name Elsa would have died. Elsa grew into a strong, healthy, active adult. In a way, the Adamson’s gave her new birth as a huge house cat.
Elsa’s life depended on human care; she couldn’t survive in the wild. She never hunted or defended herself or interacted with other lions. Her new life so countered the actual life of a lion that she could never live free. The choice was either a zoo for Elsa or turning her loose to die – unless they gave Elsa another new birth and restored her true nature, her true “lioness.”
George and Joy taught Elsa to stalk and strike. They cut back on their time with her, weaned her from human dependence, and taught her to look to lions instead of humans for companionship. Finally, they restored the domestic cat to her true nature as a free, living lioness.
Somewhat like Elsa, we are trapped with natures unlike God created us to have. Corrupt from birth, we can’t live with God and we can’t escape the devil. Left alone, we would be even more helpless than the out-of-place Elsa. However, the Lord intervened, sending down his Son to give us rebirth, replacing our fallen state with the nature He intended at creation, and restoring us to a free and natural life as God’s children.
Christ came down from heaven so we can be . . .
“BORN FROM ABOVE”
What do you remember about your birth? Nothing, right? You had no choice in the matter. You were conceived by your parents, carried by your mother and brought out of the womb – all without your giving consent. We could not conceive ourselves. The mystery of our spiritual birth is every bit as profound. We had no more choice or opportunity to become God’s children than we did in becoming our parents’ children.
The reason we needed to be reborn from above is because we were born spiritually dead. This is what Jesus is telling Nicodemus. We would not think about God. We could not move toward God. We had no place in our hearts for God.
We had to be reborn from above because we could not raise ourselves up to God. As the psalmist says, we stood helpless and confused before this world’s troubles until “the Lord, who made heaven and earth,” came to our rescue. (Ps. 121:12) Like Abraham, we had no idea of a new and better place to live until Christ came and called us to new life. Like the Israelites dying of snakebites in the wilderness, we were doomed until God raised up His Son to die on the cross (vs. 14-15).
Being reborn from above means we live a new life. Martin Luther wrote about this in the Small Catechism Baptism section. “The Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.”
The Bible verse proof text is Romans 6:4 – “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”
Being reborn from above sets us on the path of eternal life with God. He loved us that He gave His only Son so that through believing in Him we would live.
Babies in maternity wards and neonatal units wear wristbands or ankle bands to identity who they are and which family they belong to. This is to make sure that no child goes home with the wrong family. The band lets us know as parents that that baby is ours.
Jesus taught the same thing to Nicodemus. Our baptisms are an outward sign of the home and family we belong to. Baptism is a sign that indicates, “This person belongs to the triune God.” Our heavenly Father sees the sign of Baptism on us and says, “You are mine.” We rejoice at the sign of our Baptism, because it gives us absolute assurance and confidence that we are truly children of God and that the day will come when He will take us Home with Him. Our Baptism assures us there will be no eternal mix-up. We will go to the home that is ours. We will go home to live with our true Father because you and I have been Born From Above.
Amen.
Bulletin Announcements March 8, 2020
FAITH IN ACTION OF BLOOMINGTON/NORMAL: One ride, one visit, one Senior at a time. Need a ride? Want to volunteer? Need more information? Call (309) 827-7780; or email: office@bnfia.org or contact Barry Hamlin at (309) 750-9424.
THE ADULT BIBLE CLASS is doing a study in conjunction with our Lenten theme. We will take an in-depth look at “The Seven (Deadly?) Sins”. The class, led by Pastor Lueck, meets in the basement today at 9:15 a.m.
THOUGHTS ON STEWARDSHIP: John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” This is perhaps the most well-known and well-beloved verse in the New Testament – and for good reason. This simple Gospel message is the foundation for our whole life, including our new life in Christ. This new life is characterized by thankfulness and devotion to our Father, who has provided for us so lavishly in Christ.
TODAY, is our door Offering for Seminary Student Aaron Wendorff and family.
PASTOR’S SCHEDULE: Pastor will be out of town tomorrow (Monday, March 9th) for the burial of David McEleney.
WEDNESDAY LENTEN SERVICES will continue this week at 7:00 p.m. The theme of our Lenten messages is: “The Seven (Deadly) Sins”. The fine men and women of your Church Council are preparing a delectable feast, which you can partake of beginning at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday evening. The free-will Offering will go to our adopted Seminary Student Aaron Wendorff.
NEXT SUNDAY, March 15th, Seminarian Will Fredstrom, a member of Christ Lutheran Church in Normal and attending Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, will be with us to preach and conduct Bible Class. We will also have a door Offering for Will.
GOOD SHEPHERD LUTHERAN FRIDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES isFriday, March 20th at 6:30p.m. We will be showing the movie, YESTERDAY. Jack Malik was just another struggling songwriter….but that was yesterday. After a mysterious blackout, Jack discovers he is the only person on earth who remembers The Beatles! As he rockets to fame by passing off the Fab Four’s songs as his own, Jack risks losing Ellie – the one person who has loved him and believed in him from the start. Before the door to his old life closes forever, Jack must decide if all he needs is love, after all. Join us for another great movie, wonderful fellowship and some great food.
THE LENTEN DEVOTIONS BOOKLETS Titled: “DELIVER US: JESUS SETS US FREE” is available on the table in the narthex. Pick up your copy today.
FELLOWSHIP HOSTS: We have two separate sign-ups: Donut Pick-up and Coffee Set-up. We would like to encourage you to sign-up for one or the other. You may also sign-up for both if you wish. The sign-up sheet is by the door by the north stairwell.
THE LUTHERAN HOUR: “Gracious Confiscation” is the topic for next Sunday. The sermon text will be from Exodus 7-8. The speaker will be Reverend Dr. Michael Zeigler. Hear his message on The Lutheran Hour on WGN (720) at 6:00 a.m.; WJWR (104.7 FM) and WJWR (90.3 FM) both on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. Also, if you can receive Lincoln, IL radio station WLLM (1370 AM) the program is broadcast two times on Sunday at 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. Tune in! You can also listen to The Lutheran Hour on your personal computer at RealAudio, www.lhm.org.
FROM THE CHURCH OFFICE: If you miss church, please be reminded that copies of the previous week’s sermon are available on the table in the narthex. Also, the sermon will be available on our web site at www.goodshepherdblm.org. Thank you.
INFORMATION REQUESTED: Please notify the church office if someone in the congregation or any family or friends are ill or hospitalized.
PRAYER CIRCLE: If you have a prayer request please submit them by email to Mary Anne Kirchner at makirchner@yahoo.com or you may phone a Prayer Request to Mary Anne; her cell phone# is (309) 532-2582. The Prayer Request box is on the table in the narthex for any written requests.