Bible Verses for Sunday Service August 20, 2023
Psalm 46:1
God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble
Isaiah 44:22
I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud
and your sins like mist;
return to me, for I have redeemed you.
Announcements:
We have a pavilion reserved for a picnic on Sunday afternoon, August 27. We will meet there right after church and enjoy an afternoon of fellowship and recreation. Food provided by the church includes the meat and buns for barbecue sandwiches. The For the rest, potluck. Please bring a salad, dessert or side dish to share. Besides the fun, we could also have baptisms in the lake if anyone wishes. Please contact Pastor Jim if you want to be baptized.
With the approach of school starting, we need to focus on our children’s ministry that will begin in the fall. Again, we plan groups for preschoolers and elementary age children. In addition, we plan a teen group this year. We trust that all those who have served previously will consider serving again. Anyone who is interested in serving, please let Pastor or Gaylene know. August 30 at 6:30 PM is our organizational meeting, for an opening night of Sept 13.
We will be sending out emails with the prayer requests from the service each week to those who have given us their email address. If anyone wants to be included, be sure to let us know your email. Also, we will include a response card in the bulletin. This card gives you an opportunity to share a request that we may include in the prayer request email. You can drop the card into the offering plate or leave it on the foyer table.
Special:
The Weschenfelders and Bree Hofer sing “Good Old Gospel Singing” during Sunday service, August 20, 2023. They sung the song as a medley of Gospel favorites. Here is a link to video on Rumble.
Sermon:
This Sunday Pastor preached to us on Luke 10:38-42 in a sermon he titled “Two Sisters.” Pastor used Oreo cookies to illustrate the idea if we have two choices, usually one of them will be the best, and we would do well to chose that. In his example with the cookies, he was thinking about the wafer or the filling. But, in this famous example of Mary and Martha, he was thinking of the two attributes of our love for Jesus, service and worship. In this context, and perhaps for us in life, which one is best?
In first exploring this famous interaction between Jesus and the two sisters, Pastor focused on the differences in the sisters. He remarked the first difference was in personalities. Martha perhaps was a widow, and she was more dominant. She was the lady of the house. Mary for her part was more of a student, a learner. Besides this difference in personalities, they were different in priorities. Martha focused on an elaborate meal for Jesus and the disciples. Mary preferred to sit at the feet of Jesus. In the story, things start to fall apart for Martha. She was not putting the Lord first.
Next, Pastor explored the distraction of Martha. She simply had too many tasks going on in the preparation of the food for everyone in the house, plus Jesus and the disciples. It sounds like things went wrong, Martha had too little control over events in the kitchen, and asked Jesus to order Mary to help. Notably is the special tenderness in Jesus’ reproof of her, “Martha, Martha.”
For the last part of his sermon, Pastor chose to focus on Mary’s decision. It was the right decision, the good choice in choosing to be with Jesus. Mary gave Jesus the right place in her life. She chose worship over service to Him. We too must make this choice. Moreover, if we don’t chose well, nothing comes out right. Pastor reminded us that in choosing ourselves, we should give Christ the greatest Joy from our life. We need to lift up our love for Him, praise Him, and Worship Him.
In concluding, Pastor shared an anecdote about President Abraham Lincoln, a lady just wanted to share some cookies with him, provide a gift too him. We should be inspired to serve Jesus in love, just like this lady served her president, expecting nothing in return. Let’s not be double minded, loving Christ, but also loving the world, so not having the right heart of devotion.
Accessing the Service, Bulletin and Sermon Outline:
Here are the pages from the bulletin, click on the images below to see them full size:
If you would like to have the sermon outline, you can download it here, a pdf file.
If you would like a link to this service you can find it here. Perhaps you would like to share it with your friends. You could also share that link on social media, if you use any of the providers. We use Rumble, a safe alternative to Google’s YouTube.