Bulletin Announcements – January 24, 2016
† Bulletin Announcements †
January 24, 2016
THOUGHTS ON STEWARDSHIP: I Cor. 12:16: “And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.” The Lord has called each of us individually and given each of us unique gifts. He has made our whole lives holy in our Baptism and has called us to a life together in the Church, His body. You are a part of that body, and that body needs you and the gifts the Lord has given you. This is your holy calling from the Lord.
THE ADULT BIBLE CLASS, led by Pastor Lueck and meeting in the church basement at 9:15 a.m. is studying “Lutheran Doctrine and Practice Today”.
TODAY IN SUNDAY SCHOOL: “The Visit of the Wise Men,” as told in Matthew 2, is the Bible story in Sunday School today. This Bible story teaches us that the Savior came into the world for the salvation of all people. Just as the Wise Men came to Bethlehem to see the Savior and honor Him, so we come to church to see the Savior in His Word and Sacraments. With these gifts, He both honors and blesses us. Consider discussing, “How are we sometimes like Herod? How are we like the Wise Men?”
TODAY is the deadline for items to be submitted for the FEBRUARY NEWSLETTER. Mandy Kluender is our Editor for the church newsletter and any announcements you want to be published in the Newsletter should be submitted to her at mgkluender@hotmail.com or you may call her at (309) 838-9868.
FORT WAYNE SEMINARY COOP COLLECTION: John & Paula Hardy will be traveling to Concordia Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana again this year. Please bring in any lightly used clothing or household items that you wish to donate for the seminarians and their families. The CoOp provides these items to the seminarians and their family free of charge and really helps in making their time at the seminary more affordable. Please have your donations to the church on or before this coming Thursday, January 28th. We will be packing up, and depending on weather, leaving on Friday, January 29th.
FROM THE OFFICE: If you do not receive the Church Newsletter by email, please pick up your copy of the January Newsletter on the table in the narthex. This is only for the month of January. Thank you!
WINTER WEATHER PLAN: If bad weather is likely, the Elders will send an email reminder to the Newsletter email list the night before services reminding you to check WJBC or email to see if church is cancelled. If you do not receive the Newsletter email and want to receive cancellation emails, subscribe to the Newsletter email at: http://www.goodshepherdblm.org/about-us/contact-us/
PORTALS OF PRAYER: The January – March 2016 Portals of Prayer are available on the book rack in the narthex. Pick up your free copy today.
FELLOWSHIP HOSTS: The sign-up for help with coffee/doughnuts is posted on the wall by the north stairwell. We need an individual/family to sign-up each week to pick up the donuts and make the coffee. If no one is signed up by Friday of each week, the order will be cancelled. We thank everybody who continues to help with this part of our church fellowship.
LUTHERANS FOR LIFE FISH FRY: Pastors Joe Burns of Eureka and Bruce Scarbeary of Roanoke are sponsoring a Lutherans For Life Fish Fry. It is a dinner for up to twenty people with the proceeds going to a local Lutherans For Life Chapter. They are taking “bids” until March 13, 2016 at 2:00 p.m. If you would like to bid on this group outing, please place your bid and information on the sheet in the narthex. The current high bid is $500.00
THE LUTHERAN HOUR: “If Jesus Had Stayed” is the topic for next Sunday. The sermon text will be from Luke 4:42b-43. God wants us to love Him in response to His love for us. The speaker will be Reverend Gregory Seltz. Hear this Sunday’s 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 home # is (309) 661-6522; her cell phone# is (309) 532-2582. The Prayer Request box is on the table in the narthex for any written requests.
† † † † † †
Bulletin Announcements – January 17, 2016
† Bulletin Announcements †
January 17, 2016
THOUGHTS ON STEWARDSHIP: John 2:3: “When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.”” Behold the faith of Mary: she sees a problem and simply lays it before her Son and Lord, “They have no wine.” She does not offer a proposed solution, she does not demand, she simply states her need and waits for the Lord’s response. She trusts that the Lord is a giver and she knows that He always provides. May such a faith be ours!
THE ADULT BIBLE CLASS, led by Pastor Lueck and meeting in the church basement at 9:15 a.m. is studying “Created – Redeemed – Called: A Foundational For Life Bible Study”.
TODAY IN SUNDAY SCHOOL the lesson is “The “Presentation of Jesus” in the temple. Already in His infancy, Jesus was fulfilling the Law for us and for our salvation. Ask your children, “What happened and who was in the temple waiting to see the promised Savior? What does this text tell us about who we find in God’s house?
FROM THE OFFICE: If you do not receive the Church Newsletter by email, please pick up your copy of the January Newsletter on the table in the narthex. This is only for the month of January. Thank you!
FORT WAYNE SEMINARY COOP COLLECTION: John & Paula Hardy will be traveling to Concordia Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana again this year. Please bring in any lightly used clothing or household items that you wish to donate for the seminarians and their families. The CoOp provides these items to the seminarians and their family free of charge and really helps in making their time at the seminary more affordable. Please have your donations to the church on or before Thursday, January 28th. We will be packing up, and depending on weather, leaving on Friday, January 29th.
WINTER WEATHER PLAN: If bad weather is likely, the Elders will send an email reminder to the Newsletter email list the night before services reminding you to check WJBC or email to see if church is cancelled. If you do not receive the Newsletter email and want to receive cancellation emails, subscribe to the Newsletter email at: http://www.goodshepherdblm.org/about-us/contact-us/
PORTALS OF PRAYER: The January – March 2016 Portals of Prayer are available on the book rack in the narthex. Pick up your free copy today.
FELLOWSHIP HOSTS: The sign-up for help with coffee/doughnuts is posted on the wall by the north stairwell. We need an individual/family to sign-up each week to pick up the donuts and make the coffee. If no one is signed up by Friday of each week, the order will be cancelled. We thank everybody who continues to help with this part of our church fellowship.
LUTHERANS FOR LIFE FISH FRY: Pastors Joe Burns of Eureka and Bruce Scarbeary of Roanoke are sponsoring a Lutherans For Life Fish Fry. It is a dinner for up to twenty people with the proceeds going to a local Lutherans For Life Chapter. They are taking “bids” until March 13, 2016 at 2:00 p.m. If you would like to bid on this group outing, please place your bid and information on the sheet in the narthex. The current high bid is $500.00
THE LUTHERAN HOUR: “Not What You’d Expect” is the topic for next Sunday. The sermon text will be from John 2:1-11. Jesus turns water into wine and challenges our notions of what God should or shouldn’t do. The speaker will be Reverend Gregory Seltz. Hear this Sunday’s 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 home # is (309) 661-6522; her cell phone# is (309) 532-2582. The Prayer Request box is on the table in the narthex for any written requests.
† † † † † †
January 10, 2016 – Baptism of our Lord, Text: Romans 6:1-11
January 10, 2016 – Baptism of our Lord Text: Romans 6:1-11
Dear Friends in Christ,
Water can be very relaxing. Lying in a raft floating along a river. Listening to a stream bubbling through the woods. Even relaxation CD’s use water as a sound to find peace and tranquility. Our bodies wound tight by life’s tensions can unwind in water or to the soothing melody of a creek bed of flowing H2O.
Think of Holy Baptism in the same way. The tension of our sin that can bring much misery to our lives is swept down the river so to speak as the waters of Holy Baptism flow down our forehead. How comforting to recall that special day in our lives. We live anew through water and the Word.
“LIVING BY DYING – THROUGH THE WATERS OF HOLY BAPTISM”
As good as all of this sounds, don’t think that everything is a picture of serenity. Satan is always looking for a way to extricate us from our faith in Jesus. He and his minions will stop at nothing until they’ve accomplished their mission. He entices with the thought that if we sin more we will be showered with more of God’s grace. Paul takes up the question in our text: “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?” (v. 1) Continue you living the way you want because The Lord is there with His grace.
We fall for the lie. “I know marriage is supposed to be between one man and one woman, but God’s grace covers that, right? I don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings. God wouldn’t really send someone to hell if they don’t repent, would He?”
“I know sex is supposed to be just in marriage, but what we do isn’t like, horrible. We really like each other and we will probably get married someday. God is gracious and loving. He won’t really send us to hell if we don’t repent, right?”
What’s wrong with the picture? Satan is talking, not the Lord. Satan doesn’t listen to Holy Scripture, doesn’t honor Holy Scripture, hates Holy Scripture. He tries to get us to question its authenticity. He will twist the Word so that we will buy into his twisted logic. This never holds water with God and His Word. God’s judgment on unrepentant sin is real and exactly what He says in Scripture: eternal suffering in hell.
Paul says we can’t even think about continuing in sin. We are dead to all this nonsense. “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death.” (vs. 1b-4a) Mankind is satisfied to live and function in this perverse thinking and doing. But Paul reminds the Roman congregation that this kind thinking has no power over us. Our sin has been drowned. We have been set free from these sins, not because they don’t matter, but because Jesus died for them. Forgiven because they were taken to the cross.
Our sexual sins, our sins of silence when we should be defending marriage, our failure to keep our marriage vows, all were nailed to the cross. Therefore, when we turn away from these sins, we no longer bear the punishment they deserve. We are delivered from hell to heaven. “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” Christ’s death was on the cross, ours is in Baptism, which gives the benefits of His work on the cross. New life has already begun for the child of God. When Christ returns our bodies will be raised to life again.
How then does the Church, God’s people, continue to live in this world? How do we not let the world’s authority take over our life? How do we live having ben drowned and buried with Christ in Baptism? It is a matter of “reemerging” to new life.
A Pastor Fuqua tells the story of his work as a scuba diver in Wichita, Kansas. He would sometimes be called to search for a body in the water of a sandpit. He’d gear up, test his regulator and him and a buddy would dive into the dark waters to search for the deceased. It was sad duty. After completing the work, they’d emerge from the dark waters and once again breathe God’s air! Their hope was always that the one who had drowned emerged from death to God’s fresh air of heaven.
Kind of like what happens in Baptism, isn’t it? We dive into the depths but reemerge again to breathe fresh air. We’ve died to sin and are brought back to life. This new life is different because the power of God’s Word has taken over our lives. How we conduct our daily life is different. We will still sin but we will not be taken in by the falsehoods of Satan. We reflect the glory of the Father – made available through a cross and empty tomb. We reflect this new life – like Paul did after his Damascus road experience – and do it gladly and willingly. We don’t live back there. We share the resurrection of Jesus!
Breathe your new life and live it to the fullest in Christ Jesus!
Amen.