Bulletin Announcement

August 19, 2018

THOUGHTS ON STEWARDSHIP:  Ephesians 5:6-7 – “Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not associate with them.”  The wrath of God is a real thing and we do well to reflect on this.  As the Small Catechism states: God threatens to punish all who break these commandments.  Therefore, we should fear His wrath and not do anything against them.  But He promises grace and every blessing to all who keep these commandments. Therefore, we should also love and trust in Him and gladly do what He commands.

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.

TODAY IS OUR ANNUAL CHURCH PICNIC following the 10:30 Worship Service.  It will be held at Tipton Trails Park in Bloomington.  If you haven’t signed-up, please come out and enjoy the day with your brothers and sisters in Christ.

TODAY is the deadline for items to be submitted for the SEPTEMBER NEWSLETTER.  Janet Evans is our Editor for the church newsletter and any announcements you want to be published in the Newsletter should be submitted to her at goodshepherdblm@frontier.com or you may call her at (309) 838-1552.

LWML LUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF:  It’s that time again to think about purchasing items for Health Kits.  Items needed for each kit: 1) One Bath Towel (dark color); 2) Two Bath Size Bars of Soap; 3) One Comb (Sturdy; No fine tooth comb); 4) One Metal Nail Clipper; 5) One Toothbrush.  here also is a list of items needed on the table in the narthex for you to take with you if you need.  If you have any questions please see or call Joann Hart (309) 310-9205.  Thank you!

FROM THE OFFICE:  If your son or daughter is going away to college or they no longer live at home, please fill out an Information Sheet located on the table in the narthex.  As their church home, we like to stay in contact during these important years by sending them Pastor’s Sermon and the monthly Church Newsletter.  Please return the form to Sandy in the church office when completed.  We lift our young people up in prayer as their spiritual journey continues.

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.

RETREAT SPONSORED BY THE CID LLL AT CAMP CILCA:  Hear again Dr. Joel Biermann, Professor at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, who will share on the topic of “What Lutherans Really Believe About the Two Kingdoms.”  This is the topic for a retreat sponsored by the CID LLL at Camp CILCA on Saturday, September 8, 2018.  The day will begin with Registration at 8:30 a.m.; the day will conclude around 3:00 p.m.  The cost is $10.00 per person which includes the noon meal.  Hear what Luther himself taught about these realms and their relationship.  Dr Biermann will present four sessions considering Luther’s teachings.  1) The Enduring Problem; 2) Luther’s Lively Dynamic; 3) Applying Luther to the church today; 4) Applying Luther to the Christian life, today.  Please contact Deloris Blessman by Sunday, September 2nd,at 24204 ECR 1850N, Topeka, IL 61567; her email is: delorisblessman@yahoo.com to register or contact Herb Renken at 454-2986.

THE PREGNANCY RESOURCE CENTER’S ANNUAL LIFE BANQUET is Thursday, September 27th from 6:30 – 9:00 p.m.  it will be held at the Double Tree Hotel in Bloomington.  Guest is nationally known speaker Janet Parshall.  Call 454-5433, or email at: eorns@hopeforafuture.com to make a reservation.

GOLF OUTING:  The Camp CILCA Whippoorwill Golf Challenge will be Friday, Septmeber 28th at 1:00 p.m. at Hickory Point Golf Course in Forsyth.  The cost of $60.00 covers green fees, cart, prizes, and supper.  If interested, please talk with Pastor by Sunday, September 16th.

THE LUTHERAN HOUR:  “What Is Best” is the topic for next Sunday.  The sermon text will be from Philippians 1:9-10.  Far too many people assume there are differences in commercial products, political candidates and school systems, but these same people believe all religions are the same.  Next Sunday we join with the Apostle Paul in praying people may discern what is best when it comes to their Savior.  The speaker will be Reverend Dr. Ken Klaus.  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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Bulletin Announcements

August 12, 2018

THOUGHTS ON STEWARDSHIP:  Ephesians 4:28 – “Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.”  God gives us honest work to do so that we can be a blessing to others.  That’s how so many of God’s blessings go: He gives to us so that we in turn can be a blessing.  He graciously calls us into the midst of His own work in the world.

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.

FRIDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES is this coming Friday, August 17th at 6:30 p.m.  “GOD’S NOT DEAD 2” is the movie that will be shown.  “When high school history teacher, Grace Wesley (Melissa Joan Hart) is asked a question about Jesus in class, her reasoned response lands her in deep trouble.  The ensuing epic court case could expel God from the classroom – and the public square – once and for all!  “GOD’S NOT DEAD 2″ is a powerful call to action: “WHERE WILL YOU STAND? Join us for a great entertaining movie, good food and wonderful fellowship.  See you Friday August 17th!

NEXT SUNDAY:  Our Annual Church Picnic is NEXT SUNDAY, August 19th, following the 10:30 Worship Service.  It will be held at Tipton Trails Park in Bloomington.  There are two sign-ups on the table in the narthex.  One is the number that will be attending and the other is for main dishes, side dishes and desserts.  The church provides all the other items.

NEXT SUNDAY is the deadline for items to be submitted for the SEPTEMBER NEWSLETTER.  Janet Evans is our Editor for the church newsletter and any announcements you want to be published in the Newsletter should be submitted to her at goodshepherdblm@frontier.com or you may call her at (309) 838-1552.

LWML LUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF:  It’s that time again to think about purchasing items for Health Kits.  Items needed for each kit: 1) One Bath Towel (dark color); 2) Two Bath Size Bars of Soap; 3) One Comb (Sturdy; No fine tooth comb); 4) One Metal Nail Clipper; 5) One Toothbrush.  here also is a list of items needed on the table in the narthex for you to take with you if you need.  If you have any questions please see or call Joann Hart (309) 310-9205.  Thank you!

FROM THE OFFICE:  If your son or daughter is going away to college or they no longer live at home, please fill out an Information Sheet located on the table in the narthex.  As their church home, we like to stay in contact during these important years by sending them Pastor’s Sermon and the monthly Church Newsletter.  Please return the form to Sandy in the church office when completed.  We lift our young people up in prayer as their spiritual journey continues.

RETREAT SPONSORED BY THE CID LLL AT CAMP CILCA:  Hear again Dr. Joel Biermann, Professor at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, who will share on the topic of “What Lutherans Really Believe About the Two Kingdoms.”  This is the topic for a retreat sponsored by the CID LLL at Camp CILCA on Saturday, September 8, 2018.  The day will begin with Registration at 8:30 a.m.; the day will conclude around 3:00 p.m.  The cost is $10.00 per person which includes the noon meal.  Hear what Luther himself taught about these realms and their relationship.  Dr Biermann will present four sessions considering Luther’s teachings.  1) The Enduring Problem; 2) Luther’s Lively Dynamic; 3) Applying Luther to the church today; 4) Applying Luther to the Christian life, today.  Please contact Deloris Blessman by Sunday, September 2nd,at 24204 ECR 1850N, Topeka, IL 62665; her email is: delorisblessman@yahoo.com to register or contact Herb Renken at 454-2986.

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.

PORTALS OF PRAYER:   The July – September 2018 Portals of Prayer are available on the book rack located in the narthex. 

THE LUTHERAN HOUR:  “In Your Light We See Light” is the topic for next Sunday.  The sermon text will be from Psalm 36.  Meditation is time to think, and Christian meditation thinks about God in the light of Jesus Christ.  It is “a lamp to our feet and a light to our path”.  The speaker will be Reverend Dr. Dale A. Meyer.  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.

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, August 5. 2018

August 5, 2018                                                                            Text:  Exodus 16:2-15

 

Dear Friends in Christ,

 

All right people of Israel, what are you going to do next?  You’ve been enslaved in Egypt for 430 years.  You heard Moses cry to the Lord, “Let my people go!”  Pharaoh has told you over and over no.

People of Israel, what are you going to do next?  You’ve seen the plagues from hail destroying to frogs inhabiting.  You’ve heard the wailing throughout the night as the firstborn died.

So, people of Israel, what are you going to do next?  You’ve followed the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night.  You’ve walked on dry ground with the wall of water to the right and to the left.  You’ve seen the Egyptians who pursued you swept into the sea.  So, people of Israel, what are you going to do next?

They are going to . . . grumble!  “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” (v. 3)  Grumble, grumble, grumble.  Moses and Aaron have to be thinking, “You bunch of whiners!”  The Lord heard the grumbling too.

Of course, you don’t grumble.  No, never you.  But you do!  You grumble when the price of gas is too high.  You grumble when it rains too little.  You grumble when it rains too much.  You grumble when your spouse won’t have sex on a regular basis or when they won’t listen to you.  You grumble when your kid won’t pick up their room.  You grumble at the four-way stop when the person whose turn it is won’t go.  You grumble when you are bored and you grumble when you are too busy.  I could stand in this pulpit all day with this little exercise.  Shall I go on?  Goldilocks, hello.  Our porridge is too hot.  Our porridge is too cold.  We would make wonderful Israelites, wouldn’t we?

So, what does the Lord do with these ungrateful complainers?  “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you.” (v. 4)  Later in the chapter, “When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another.  ‘What is it?’  For they did not know what it was.  And Moses said to them, ‘It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.’” (vs. 14-15)  Feeling a little sheepish about your grumbling?

“OUR GOD RAINS . . . FOR YOU!”

Would you look out the window?  Why, it’s raining…pitchforks!  Never heard that one.  Why, it’s raining…stair rods!  Never heard that either.  Why, it’s raining cats and dogs!  Ahhhh…I’ve heard that one Pastor.

In the early 1700s, Jonathan Swift published a satire in which one of the characters fears that it’ll rain cats and dogs.  We don’t know the origin.  We do know that the other phrases – pitchforks and stair rods were popular at the time.

Wherever it comes from, we do know the meaning.  The rain is really coming down.  The Lord used an equally strange line:  “It’s going to rain bread.”  I wouldn’t mind hearing that from the Lord, how about you?  Any chance of cinnamon and sugar on a loaf?  See, we still want it our way.  Israelites, we are right there with you!

Not only did the Lord provide the Israelites with bread he made it a meal by covering the camp in quail.  God provides so much from the skies above.

God brought angels who filled the skies and proclaimed, “Fear not, for behold I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Lk. 2:10-11)

God commands the skies there on Calvary’s hill.  “It was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light had failed.  And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.  Then Jesus calling out with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!’  And having said this he breathed his last.  Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, ‘Surely he was the Son of God!’” (Lk. 23:44-47)

God commands the skies above.  As the darkness lifted from the skies, the morning of the third day, the women went to the tomb and found it empty.  “Why are you looking here?  Jesus is among the living!” (Lk. 24:1,5)

God commands the skies above.  Our God rains . . . for you.  He still rains down daily bread in spite of our grumbling.  He rains down clothing and a place to live.  He gives us money and possessions.  He blesses us with spouses and children.  In spite of our grumbling . . . good government and faithful rulers and good weather and peace and health and friends and neighbors.

Even more than that, He gives us the Bread, the Bread of life, the Bread “who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” (Jn. 6:33)  He gives us Jesus.  So see, you have nothing to grumble about, for God says, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you.”

Amen.

Text Version for the Sermon for July 29, 2018

July 29, 2018                                                                          Text:  Ephesians 3:14-21

 

Dear Friends in Christ,

 

Whenever we know someone who is going through difficult times we may something like, “You are in my prayers” or “I’ll be praying for you.”  We have probably had a Christian brother or sister say this to us.  But what about those folks who say this to us, “you are in my thoughts.”  Does that help you at all?  Do they have any power to change things?  Of course not.  Does their thought make the chemo easier?  Does it make your trip feel safer?  Can it change the challenge with your children?  Does it give you the words to talk to the obnoxious co-worker?  Their thoughts are really meaningless.  We need more.

This section of Scripture, which is our text for today, is entitled “Prayer for Spiritual Strength” in my Bible.  Isn’t that something we all need?  Where can you use added strength from our Lord in your life?  Isn’t it a spiritual pick me-up when someone says to you . . .

“YOU ARE IN MY PRAYERS”

The Apostle Paul spent more time with the Ephesian congregation than any other mission church so he has great concern for their spiritual welfare.  He is telling them, “You are in my prayers.”  He prays that the Ephesians “be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts.”

The people needed to be renewed in their Christian nature so that they could battle their sinful nature.  Paul is praying that Christ would continue to dwell in them through their baptism and that they would trust in the Lord.

We need those same things in our prayers.  We battle our sinful nature.  We need the reminder that Christ is dwelling with us.  In Baptism His indwelling took root and we are his children.  Pray for one another that we can trust the Lord and His direction.  Christ brings peace, forgiveness, life, and salvation to those who are troubled by any fear or anxiety.  “You are in my prayers.”

Paul then takes it a step further.  He prays these brothers and sisters in Christ “may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (vs. 18-19)

Knowledge of Christ is praised in this Letter, but the human mind cannot fully comprehend Him.  This is how sinful man always gets into trouble.  Everyone wants to figure out who the Lord is.  They think they can completely know Him.  Some think they can be Him.  Some feel He doesn’t exist even though in their argument they are proving just the opposite.  Why fight so hard against something that you say isn’t even real?  God must laugh and laugh at the foolishness of His creation sometimes.

The more important thing than knowing Christ is Christ knowing you.  There may be times in this vast world that we feel insignificant but you are important to the Savior.  It was for fallen humanity that God sent Jesus to set things right between himself, all creation, and us.  The fate of all human history reached its climax when Christ died in that little insignificant patch of land called Israel.  His love didn’t end there.  He sent missionaries throughout the world to get the word of life out.  He saw to it that faithful parents, grandparents, or friends spoke that love to generations of people.  “You are in my prayers.”

With these bold requests, does Paul exceed the limits of prayer?  Is he asking God for too much?  Should we be cautious in what we expect?  That is not how the Apostle Paul sees it when he writes, “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.  Amen.” (vs. 20-21)

God is not limited in how He can answer our prayers.  He is God and we need to never forget that.  We limit his help when we aren’t taking our problems to Him.  Talk to Him and tell him about that ache in your heart that won’t go away.  Bow your head and explain the help you need to get out of a tunnel where you see no light ahead.  Hit your knees and give the Lord that hurt that won’t leave your thoughts.  Then also ask your Christian brothers and sisters for their help and with it their words to you, “You Are In My Prayers.”

Amen.