Bible Verses for Service May 14, 2023
Matthew 11:28-30
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Announcements:
In honor of our Mothers and Mother’s Day, we want to give every mother that is here today a flower. We greatly appreciate the place you have had and continue to have in your family’s lives. May the Lord reward and honor you for your loving service to your family.
Graduates, Meleri Hofer is graduating Shepherd High School on May 21st and Cole Orelup graduated yesterday from MSU in Bozeman
Meleri’s open house is May 20 from 2 to 5 PM at the Hofer residence at 8126 Wade St in Shepherd in good weather. If it rains, the open house moves to 7710 Spear Dr. The graduation ceremony is Sunday, May 21 at 11AM at the Shepherd School.
La Vie’s Baby Bottle Campaign, themed this year as “Change for Hope” runs from May 14 (Mother’s Day) through June 18 (Father’s Day). You can give online, but we will place a large baby bottle in the foyer where you can place your gift. The La Vie pregnancy center provides free and low-cost services to the women in our community. La Vie’s mission is “To empower individuals to embrace hope by providing loving, compassionate care for those facing unplanned pregnancies.”
We will have a deacon’s meeting on May 25th at the home of the Witschis in the Heights.
In preparation for VBS, we will have a meeting May 24 at 6:30 to get organized for the week of VBS. We will go over the daily schedule and responsibilities of each position. If you are planning to help, please do all you can to be there.
Vacation Bible School, June 5-9. Theme: Keepers of the Kingdom. Please be sure to mark your calendars. We look forward to an exciting week of ministering to children. VBS runs from 9AM to 11:45AM. As usual, we need people to help so please let Natasha know if you can give of your time that week.
Sermon:
Again working from Luke, Pastor moved from working linearly through Luke to Luke 11:27-28 in honor of Mother’s Day and preached a sermon on, “Family Ties.” Pastor introduced his sermon in honor of mothers by connecting how this own children had called Gaylene blessed, like the mother in Proverbs 31. And, how someone called Jesus’s mother blessed too. Jesus’s response give us cause to think in that it helps us think of the family we are all in through belief in Christ, and his work on the cross.
In that response, Jesus was challenged about His family and His mother. Jesus chose to use the opportunity to talk about the family of God versus the human family. As the greatest blessing is being related to Christ, Jesus’ answer might sound shocking, but it is 100% correct.
Pastor pointed out that this relationship, being in God’s family is a much higher relationship than human relationships. We are blessed and privileged to have Jesus call us his brothers and sisters, and God the Father call us His children. But, we must remember, how did we get to this point? It was the relationships with other humans, principally our mothers, that influenced us to accept this great blessing of knowing Christ. So lets give thanks for our mothers,and all mothers working to raise Godly children.
Another aspect of Jesus’ answer on family and His relationship to his Mother is that Mary had to learn that this relationship was one to submit to, not control. This is a lesson for us as well as Mary. We can fall into sin in thinking that Jesus owes us, and needs to do things for us. But, of course, it us who must focus on what we have in this relationship and while enjoying it to the fullest, fully submit in all things to Him.
Pastor related two other instances of the mother/son relationship in the Bible that tell us important points about relationship to Him and our mothers. The first of these points is to remember the absolute certainty that comes from being related to Christ. This is illustrated in answers for dilemmas we might experience. John 2 illustrates this point, the wedding at Cana. We see Jesus refer to His mother as “woman.” And, also He seems dismissive about her concerns. Yet, as always, Jesus knows best. He rightly resisted his mother’s desire that he use the occasion to declare himself king.
Besides providing answers to dilemmas, the Bible relates that Jesus showed concern, compassion, in suffering. At the end of His life, dying on the cross, Jesus’ concern was for His mother. Who would look after her in her old age? He appoints John to treat Mary has his own mother. It is hard as a human to understand how any human could in such personal suffering attend to others. But, Jesus does, demonstrating supreme care for His mother.
So this Mother’s day, let us keep hold of the big picture by considering Jesus’s relationship with His own mother. Let’s focus on the best relationship we have that of Jesus as our sibling and each other as our fellow siblings in Christ. This family relationship helps us love our mothers correctly and honor them. We will be blessed if we do.
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.
Due to Chris’s absence, we didn’t record this week’s service. However, Joe has volunteered to help record the service when Chris is not available. We plan to be back to regular recording next week.