Bible Verses for Sunday Service July 30, 2023
Psalms 92:1
It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
Announcements:
Next Sunday is Fellowship Sunday. We should have good treats, fresh baked bread, between Sunday School and Church. So please be here with your friends, bring them, around 10:10.
We will have a chance to see Mae and Jonathan Helberg’s new baby on August 5. Proud mom and dad will bring Andrew Nathan to the church between 2 and 5PM. Mae would like you to RSVP if you plan on attending, by calling or texting her 406 702 6142. You can also email her at [email protected]. She says “no gifts required.”
The deacons will meet at the home of Phil and Rosemary Witschi on August 17.
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. Besides the fun, we could also have baptisms in the lake if anyone wishes. Please contact Pastor Jim if you want to be baptized.
Sermon:
Today, Pastor sp0ke to us on Luke 9:57-10:2. He titled his sermon “Difficult Demands for Discipleship.” In exploring these verses Pastor covered how Jesus chose disciples. To introduce us to this topic, Pastor recounted a humorous cartoon that offered “church lite,” 25% less commandments and sermon time. He used this to point out that Jesus adopted a far more rigorous approach to those that he would accept as disciples. Pastor broke his coverage into three parts.
In the first part of the sermon, Pastor covered Jesus’ requirement for discipleship, that a disciple follow the leader, Jesus. In these first verses, Jesus turns down three applicants for discipleship because they don’t appear to be wholeheartedly ready to follow. Put another way, as followers these three did not show a willingness to be led. Each of the three had conditions before they would agree to follow. Besides these conditions, the three did not show a willingness to be without the comforts of life. These wanted to be disciples had not accurately counted the cost of being disciples of Jesus. But, Jesus helped them calculate correctly. Pastor remarked that Paul, a true disciple of Jesus was happy in any circumstance following Jesus, Phil 4:11-12. Similarly, Pastor remarked how a true disciple hears Jesus and is guided by His words, like sheep is guided by a shepherd, John 10:3-4.
In the second part of the sermon, Pastor covered how these applicants to discipleship with Jesus rejected it through their actions. Firstly, these disciples had the wrong priorities. In each case, Jesus was not first. Each failed disciple had other, more important priorities. Next, some offered only delayed obedience. Perhaps a disciple didn’t say no, but rather I’ll get to discipleship in time. Another way of looking at this is in terms of divided allegiance. As Jesus remarks, a man cannot serve two masters, God and money. James also talks about the problems associated with being double minded.
While these verses chronicle three potential disciples who didn’t make the cut, they also cover Jesus sending 70 disciples out in pairs. So many successful disciples who did meet Jesus requirements were in His service. These disciples looked ahead and kept their eyes on Christ. This life may not have been easy, but Jesus provides and helps. He helped them and He will help us. To conclude Pastor asked to consider and choose. Are we in our hearts one of the three? Or are one of the seventy? We can and we will, let’s be part of the seventy.
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.
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