Bulletin Announcements
November 25, 2018
THOUGHTS ON STEWARDSHIP: Isaiah 51:6 – “For the heavens vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment.” The things of this earth that hold our attention, that cause us worry, that tempt us away from the Lord: they are all passing away. They will vanish like a garment. They are not for us to worry over, but rather to use for the Lord’s purposes. The things of this world are not ends in and of themselves, but only means to be used wisely by the children of the Kingdom that has no end.
OUR SUNDAY SCHOOL meets at 9:15 a.m. in the Choir Room which is located on the 2nd level (the west side).
THE ADULT BIBLE CLASS meets in the basement at 9:15 a.m.
THE EVANGELISM/STEWARDSHIP BOARD is sponsoring a “Decorate the Church for Advent/Christmas” gathering after the 10:30 Worship Service NEXT SUNDAY, December 2nd. The Board will provide lunch, you provide muscle and jolliness!
GOOD SHEPHERD’S MIDWEEK ADVENT SERVICES will be on Wednesday’s at 7:00 p.m. on December 5th, 12th, and 19th. We will serve a meal from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. each evening. The sign-up for the meals is on the table in the narthex. The free-will offering on December 5th will go to Wittenberg Lutheran Center.
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 BABY FOLD SHARING TREE is up in the narthex. Please have your un-wrapped items to church by NEXT SUNDAY, December 2nd. If you wish to give a monetary donation please make your check payable to Good Shepherd Lutheran Church and indicate on the memo line “Baby Fold”. If you have any questions please see Paula Hardy or Toni Lueck. Thank you!
FELLOWSHIP HOSTS: In order to get more people involved in our Coffee/Donut Fellowship for 2018 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 is by the door by the north stairwell.
YOU ARE INVITED to Christ Lutheran Church, 311 N. Hershey Road in Normal, on Sunday, December 9th from 5-7:00 p.m. for “Journey to the Manger”. Free Tours include: live drama and animals; singing and music; indoor and outdoor scenes and hot chocolate and cookies. A meal will also be available for purchase from 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. If you have any questions please call the church at (309) 452-5609.
EARN A RETURN AND HELP OUR LCMS CHURCHES: The Central Illinois District Church Extension Fund (CID-CEF) provides resources to churches in our Central Illinois District that wish to grow God’s ministry through building or expansion. We are able to do this because of conscientious LCMS members like you who support our churches by investing in the CID-CEF – we need your continued support and investments! As an added blessing for your investment, we are now offering a 24-Month SPECIAL RATE of 2.35% (minimum investment $500) to you as well as our church organizations to support the LCMS ministry. Please contact Chris Anderson or Susan Short at the CID-CEF: phone: (217)793-1802, e-mail cef@cidlcms or visit our website www.cidlcms.org, (see link in lower left corner) for this special interest rate and other recent rate increases for our investment options. Thank you for investing in the future of our LC-MS!
THE LUTHERAN HOUR: “Reality Therapy” is the topic for next Sunday. The sermon text will be from Ruth 1-2. The Book of Ruth deals with unimportant people and unimportant matters, but deals with them in such a way as to show that God is active in ordinary lives—like yours and mine. Ruth’s story became an important part of the story of Jesus. Listening to God’s work in her life can rescue us from dead-end delusions and bring us into what is most real—a Jesus-centered reality. The speaker will be Reverend Dr. Michael Ziegler. 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.
NEED A RIDE? If you are unable to drive to church, we have an option that is available. Please speak with Pastor who has the details. Thank you.
PRAYER CHAIN: 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.
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.
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Bulletin Announcements
November 18, 2018
THOUGHTS ON STEWARDSHIP: Hebrews 10:14 – “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” Our Lord Jesus has provided the one offering for sin. What we offer to the Lord is not a sacrifice for sin; we cannot buy our way into heaven with our money, works, or effort. Rather, what we give to the Lord’s work in the Church is a thank offering, a sign of our dependency on God and all He has given us.
NEED A RIDE? If you are unable to drive to church, we have an option that is available. Please speak with Pastor who has the details. Thank you.
OUR SUNDAY SCHOOL meets at 9:15 a.m. in the Choir Room which is located on the 2nd level (the west side).
THE ADULT BIBLE CLASS meets in the basement at 9:15 a.m.
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.
TODAY is the deadline for items to be submitted for the DECEMBER NEWSLETTER. Any announcements you want to be published in the Newsletter should be submitted via email to goodshepherdblm@frontier.com, via mail, hand-delivered, or you may call (309) 662-8905 or (309) 838-1552. Thank you!
OUR THANKSGIVING EVE WORSHIP SERVICE WITH HOLY COMMUNION is this coming Wednesday, November 21st at 7:00 p.m. The message is: “Is Your Face Hiding?”
THE EVANGELISM/STEWARDSHIP BOARDS is sponsoring a “Decorate the Church for Advent/Christmas” gathering after the 10:30 Worship Service on Sunday, December 2nd. The Board will provide lunch, you provide muscle and jolliness!
NEW TODAY: New on the table in the narthex: “Who Is Jesus?”; and “Why Did Jesus Die?” Pick up your copy today!
NEW BOOKLET: “SCREEN-WISE KIDS” is a new booklet for kids (and older) located on the table in the narthex. It’s no secret kids love to play on computers; tablets; and cell phones….and anything with a picture on it. In “Screen-Wise Kids”, they’re reminded that while this is fun, even educational, it’s easy to overdo. To help youngsters expand their horizons, grownups can set screen time schedules, review what they watch, and remind kids there’s a big, beautiful world out there—just waiting for them to explore.
THE BABY FOLD SHARING TREE is up in the narthex. Please have your un-wrapped items to church by Sunday, December 2nd. If you wish to give a monetary donation please make your check payable to Good Shepherd Lutheran Church and indicate on the memo line “Baby Fold”. If you have any questions please see Paula Hardy or Toni Lueck. Thank you!
FELLOWSHIP HOSTS: In order to get more people involved in our Coffee/Donut Fellowship for 2018 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 is by the door by the north stairwell.
EARN A RETURN AND HELP OUR LCMS CHURCHES: The Central Illinois District Church Extension Fund (CID-CEF) provides resources to churches in our Central Illinois District that wish to grow God’s ministry through building or expansion. We are able to do this because of conscientious LCMS members like you who support our churches by investing in the CID-CEF – we need your continued support and investments! As an added blessing for your investment, we are now offering a 24-Month SPECIAL RATE of 2.35% (minimum investment $500) to you as well as our church organizations to support the LCMS ministry. Please contact Chris Anderson or Susan Short at the CID-CEF: phone: (217)793-1802, e-mail cef@cidlcms or visit our website www.cidlcms.org, (see link in lower left corner) for this special interest rate and other recent rate increases for our investment options. Thank you for investing in the future of our LC-MS!
THE LUTHERAN HOUR: “Birth Pains” is the topic for next Sunday. The sermon text will be from Mark 13:1-37. Lutheran Hour Message by Reverend Dr. Michael Ziegler. 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.
PRAYER CHAIN: 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.
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Sermon Text for Sunday, November 11, 2018
November 11, 2018 Text: 1 Kings 17:8-16
Dear Friends in Christ,
What are some things in your life that you would never want to be empty? If you had your way they would be perpetually full. How about your bank account and gas tank? How many of you would like your energy to always be full? What about your faith? Victories in your favorite teams win column? Your coffee or hot chocolate cup? Love you have to give, love you can receive.
Has any of this actually happened? None of us drive with the tank always full. Who has endless energy? Our bank accounts aren’t empty, but we still get nervous, don’t we? Even with free refills the cup does not always runneth over. Our teams lose. Experience shows us that eventually things run out. We live day in and day out with the cold reality that there never seems to be enough. As you sit in the pew today what are you thinking when it comes to . . .
“ARE YOU FULL?”
The widow from Zarephath in our text would have an easy time answering that one. Full? She was barely hanging on. The food available to her and her son was about to be empty. Enter the prophet Elijah.
Elijah had been sent by God to pronounce judgment on King Ahab and his land. This led Elijah to go into hiding and to have his every need met miraculously by the Lord. He now comes to the widow and her son, whom God had instructed to feed him.
He finds the widow gathering sticks. He asks for water and a morsel of bread. She responds with, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug.” (v. 12) Here we learn the gravity of her situation. She has little to offer. She is living in a land of scarcity. She is preparing a final meal for herself and her son “that we may eat it and die.” (v. 12) She is miles away from being full. She is hanging by a thread.
Logic tells us that if you are down to your last supper, you don’t give it away. Like the widow we can be guilty of a little hyperbole when it comes to being full. We think that God understands our scarcity. Yes, he does. The problem isn’t with him; it’s with us.
We want to protect and preserve. That is what logic tells us to do. It is easier to feed the poor when the cupboards are full. Tithing can be more comfortable when the account is overflowing. When things are full, life is good. When the unexpected happens, what are we going to do? When you reach the year of both kids in college and one of those kids has a two-day hospital stay to begin the school year are you feeling full? When the job you were hoping for or the relationship you didn’t see ending enters your life, do you feel empty? When you deal with the same problems over and over and over do you feel like life is hanging by a thread? Are you literally down to a last meal spiritually and emotionally?
These are all questions we ask ourselves because we trust in our own abundance. If we do this then we miss the movement of God in our lives. Logic is good but if it gets in the way of what God is trying to teach us then we lose out.
In our text God uses scarcity as a doorway to trust. Trust in the Lord and his provision is the only way this account makes sense. A widow obeys, she feeds Elijah and she and her household ate for many days.
God has been using scarcity to lead his people to trust for a long time. He provided manna in the desert. He brought water from a rock. He fed large groups of people with the scarcest of provisions. Then there were leftovers. With Jesus there is always enough. A lesson we struggle to learn but one that time and time again points us to the cross.
Jesus emptied himself on the cross to fulfill the full price of our sin. His mission was not about multiplying food to fill our stomachs but about ransom and restoration to free our souls and fill us to overflowing with grace and forgiveness. The writer to Hebrews reminds us that Christ came so we might be full of salvation: “He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”
Are you full? Sure you are. We are the fullest, blessed people on earth. I know a little about the family with the college kids and the hospitalization. We felt challenged but never empty. We were blessed by God’s provision. We still have half a year to go but we know the sufficiency of Christ is enough. I pray you see it the same. You have been crowned with Christ’s glory. You are loved with a never-ending love.
As God’s redeemed children, we need not fear scarcity because our Father is a God of rich abundance. When we put our trust in the Lord, when we put our trust in Jesus, we can be sure, no matter the circumstances, there is always enough. We are full.
Amen.