Bulletin Announcements – September 13, 2015

†    Bulletin Announcements    †

September 13, 2015

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 account of “Joseph’s Troubles” continues the study of Joseph’s life in the Sunday School lesson for today. God was with Joseph; and in Christ, God is with us in all the situations of life, providing, protecting, and forgiving us. As a family, you might discuss, “How do we usually react when we are falsely accused of wrongdoing? How can we learn to trust Jesus to work out all things for our good?”

TODAY, September 13th, will be our first door Offering for our new adopted Seminary student. He is Bradley Ferch who is in his last year of studies at Concordia Theological Seminary in Ft. Wayne, IN. Bradley was born in Iowa and his home church is Trinity Lutheran Church in Litchfield Park, AZ. He is married to Carole and has two daughters, Madison and Lillian. Before studying for the ministry he was a Dental Laboratory Supervisor. We look forward to getting to know his family better throughout this academic year.

LADIES MORNING BIBLE STUDY: We will resume our Ladies Morning Bible Study on the Book “Women of the New Testament” starting this coming Tuesday, September 15th at 9:30 a.m. in the Conference Room at the church. We are on Chapter 5: “The Canaanite Women”, and will begin our Study with a light breakfast. All the Ladies from the congregation are welcome to join the Study and if you would like to know more about it, please contact Jeannette Ross at (309) 662-4622.

NEXT SUNDAY is the deadline for items to be submitted for the OCTOBER 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.

GOOD SHEPHERD’S BLOOD DRIVE is on Tuesday, September 22nd, from 2-6:00 p.m. Sign-up sheets are available in the narthex but if you would prefer signing up online please go to: redcrossblood.org. Enter in our zip code, 61704, find our Blood Drive and let the blood flow. Pastor Lueck will once again kick off our Drive by reaching out his right arm and turning his head. Please join us in fun and church fellowship as we help those in need with this gift of life.

PRAYER SHAWL MINISTRY:   Attention all crocheters and knitters! A new Prayer Shawl Ministry is being formed by Ann Hammond and Laura Kessler so that we may reach out to the needs of others who wish to know or better know Jesus as their Savior! “Threads of Grace” will begin this fall and an initial meeting will be arranged at Laura’s home (due to her mobility issues, she asks that we hold any meetings at her home, but tasty treats will be served!) Don’t know how to crochet or knit and wish to learn? Lessons will be offered! As well, donations of knitting and crochet yarn will be very welcome. Please watch the bulletin for further details. If you have any questions please feel free to call Laura at (309) 310-5607 or email her at dogdiva2@comcast.net. Thank you!

THANK YOU: We would like to thank all who helped make our School Kit Project for the LWML a success.

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.

THE LUTHERAN HOUR: “Tradition, Tradition, Tradition” is the topic for next Sunday. The sermon text will be from Mark 7:1-13. What role do traditions in our relationships to God and each other? 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.

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September Stewardship Corner

What is most striking about the rich man and Lazarus is not their differences but their similarities (Luke 16:19–31). Both men die because both men are sinners, and the wages of sin is death. Both men are beggars, for all men are beggars. But, here is where the most striking difference between them takes shape. Lazarus knows it and lives it. The rich man, however, does not.

Lazarus was a beggar in thought, word, and deed. But, he was God’s beggar. He relied upon God for all that he had and all that he was. He looked to God for all things, in good times and in bad. He went to God in all trouble, sought Him for all help, and trusted in His Word and promises to provide for all that he needed for this life and the next. This is, after all, what his name means: God is my help.

The rich man, too, was a beggar. But he didn’t realize it. His status, his wealth, his clothing and his food all came from God’s gracious hand. But the rich man didn’t recognize it. He thought he had earned it, and that he deserved it. And thus, his trust is not in God, who by His Word and promise gives it, but rather in himself, in what he has done, and in what he has.

And so it is that when death comes to Lazarus and the rich man—as it does for all of us because we have all sinned, and death is no respecter of persons—Lazarus is carried by the holy angels to Abraham’s side; while the rich man is in torment in hell. The rich man forgot God. He despised being a beggar, and thus, despised Lazarus. He despised God and His Word, and refused to have mercy on those whom God placed at his doorstep.

Now, the tables were turned. What the rich man didn’t realize or recognize on earth, he now lived out in torment in hell. He knew what it was to beg. But he still didn’t see himself as a beggar of God. He still didn’t look to His Father in heaven for all good and help in every time of need. He instead appealed to His status as a descendant of Abraham, calling out Father Abraham and not “Abba, Father” (Gal 4:6; Rom 8:15).

We are all beggars. We brought nothing into this world and we will take nothing out of it (1 Tim 6:7). Everything we have and everything we are comes from God’s fatherly divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in us, for He gives everything to us by grace. Thus, we are to love one another and be generous to one another in thought, word, and deed. For you cannot love God and hate your brother. And hating your brother means not to forgive as you’ve been forgiven, to give as you’ve been given to, to love as you’ve been loved.

 We are all beggars. This is true. But we, like Lazarus, are God’s beggars. He not only gives us what we need for this body and life—food and clothes, house and home, husband, wife, and children—but He also blesses us with His Word and Spirit, so that we will enter into paradise in the life to come. He claims us as His own by water and the Word in Holy Baptism. In this washing, rich in grace, He gives to us what His Son, Jesus Christ, won for us on His cross: forgiveness of sins. And where there is the forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation. He puts His own name on us, thereby giving to us the right of children, the right to call Him Father and the right to His inheritance as His beloved sons. He gives us a seat at His table, in His house, in His kingdom, which has no end.

Yes, indeed, we are beggars. This is true. But we are beggars of the God who loves us, the God who created us from His love, the God who redeemed us by His love in the sending of His Son to die so that we would live and have life to the full. This is His promise. It’s what Moses and the prophets longed to see and of what they spoke. They see it now, not in a mirror dimly, but face to face, just as you shall on the last day.

And as God’s beggars, we have mercy on those who would be beggars of us, who rely upon our giving, even as we rely upon the gracious giving of God. We give to our family, our society, our church. He gives; we receive. Thanks be to God. We give; they receive. Thanks be to God. We count it all a joy to give as He has given to us.

Bulletin Announcements – September 6, 2015

† Bulletin Announcements †

September 6, 2015

THOUGHTS ON STEWARDSHIP:  Deuteronomy 4:6: “Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’” There is no wiser, more fulfilling life than a life lived according to the Word of God. We should be encouraged by this when the world tempts us to think that the Word of God is harmful to us. Our Father loves us; so all His Word is meant to bless us.

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: This final week of “I Spy Salvation’s Story”, students investigate “The Case of the Wind and Fire: God Sends the Holy Spirit.” God sends His Spirit to establish, unite, sustain, and expand His Church. Parents could ask, “How did the Holy Spirit change the disciples on Pentecost? How does the Holy Spirit help the Church today?”

TODAY: In our prayers today we include Jordan Doddek and Heidi Bliese who will be united in Holy Matrimony next Saturday afternoon, September 12th, at 3:30 p.m. here at Good Shepherd.

NEXT SUNDAY, September 13th, will be our first Door Offering for our new adopted Seminary student. He is Bradley Ferch who is in his last year of studies at Concordia Theological Seminary in Ft. Wayne, IN. Bradley was born in Iowa and his home church in Trinity Lutheran Church in Litchfield Park, AZ. He is married to Carole and has two daughters, Madison and Lillian. Before studying for the ministry he was a Dental Laboratory Supervisor. We look forward to getting to know his family better throughout this academic year.

LADIES MORNING BIBLE STUDY: We will resume our Ladies Morning Bible Study on the Book “Women of the New Testament” starting Tuesday, September 15th at 9:30 a.m. in the Conference Room at the church. We are on Chapter 5: “The Canaanite Women”, and will begin our Study with a light breakfast. All the Ladies from the congregation are welcome to join the Study and if you would like to know more about it, please contact Jeannette Ross at (309) 662-4622.

GOOD SHEPHERD’S BLOOD DRIVE is on Tuesday, September 22nd, from 2-6:00 p.m. Sign-up sheets are available in the narthex but if you would prefer signing up online please go to: redcrossblood.org. Enter in our zip code, 61704, find our Blood Drive and let the blood flow. Pastor Lueck will once again kick off our Drive by reaching out his right arm and turning his head. Please join us in fun and church fellowship as we help those in need with this gift of life.

PRAYER SHAWL MINISTRY:   Attention all crocheters and knitters! A new Prayer Shawl Ministry is being formed by Ann Hammond and Laura Kessler so that we may reach out to the needs of others who wish to know or better know Jesus as their Savior! “Threads of Grace” will begin this fall and an initial meeting will be arranged at Laura’s home (due to her mobility issues, she asks that we hold any meetings at her home, but tasty treats will be served!) Don’t know how to crochet or knit and wish to learn? Lessons will be offered! As well, donations of knitting and crochet yarn will be very welcome. Please watch the bulletin for further details. If you have any questions please feel free to call Laura at (309) 310-5607 or email her at dogdiva2@comcast.net. Thank you! 

THANK YOU: We would like to thank all who helped make our School Kit Project for the LWML a success.

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.

THE CAMP CILCA GOLF OUTING is Friday, September 25th, at The Rail in Springfield, with shotgun start at 12:30 p.m. The cost of $55.00 includes golf, cart, food, and prizes. If you are interested in playing please speak with Pastor Lueck TODAY.

THE LUTHERAN HOUR: “There Is Something More” is the topic for next Sunday. The sermon text will be from Isaiah 50:4-10. God has something more in store for all who put their faith in Him. 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.

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