Bible Verse for Sunday Service October 13, 2024
1 Corinthians 2:9
But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”
Announcements:
A men’s breakfast on October 19 at 9AM! We will meet at the church for a hearty breakfast and time of fellowship. We need to know how many to plan for, so if you are going to join us please let Pastor Jim or John Klier know.
We are planning the annual Thanksgiving Dinner for November 17 were we look forward to a delicious meal and a special musical treat. During both the morning worship service and after the dinner, the Gospel quartet “Next Journey” will provide the music. Please sign up on the foyer table if you plan to come and for what food you can bring.
Just a reminder that we will again be participating in the Samaritan’s Purse Christmas Child Box program. So, we will need items for the Awana children to pack in the boxes in November. In the foyer, you will find a sign up sheet with items you could provide by purchasing them. Also, if you prefer, you can support the program by contributing funds instead.
After due consideration, the deacons decided to send an offering to help with Samaritan’s Purse relief efforts for those people hit by the recent hurricanes. We decided to send $5000 from the money that is allocated to missions’ projects and needs.
Sermon:
Pastor Jim spoke to us on Esther 6-7 in a sermon he titled “Well-Timed Events.” In this sermon, Pastor reminded us that our God is always able to organize events to provide His people what they need. To illustrate this, Pastor told the story of someone who found the exact amount that they needed during Hurricane Katrina to get to a place of safety. That amount, $366, was behind a picture that framed in 1942. Similarly, God, who never sleeps looked after Esther and the Jews
Pastor related how God engineered this by providing insomnia to the king. In an effort to sleep, the history of his reign was read to him. He heard of the good deed done by Mordecai five years earlier. Had anything been done to reward Mordecai the king inquired. No, nothing was the answer. These verses illustrate that while we sleep, He does not.
Next in our story in Esther, we learn how in wanting to reward Mordecai, the king consults Haman who in recommending the reward thought only of himself. Of course he was shocked when the king rewards Mordecai instead. Pastor remarked this is a classic example of God humbling the proud.
God also works through courageous people, which is illustrated by queen Esther. She confessed that she was Jew, and asked the king for her life, and the life of her people. Through circumstances, God then engineered the death of Haman as the king believed that he was assaulting the queen. This shows that God is working for His chosen people, the Jews.
To introduce us to the ideas to today Pastor gave us a quote from Corrie Ten Boom: “Never be afraid to to trust an unknown future to a known God.” He closed with this quote too. Once we understand how God works, continually through people who love Him, we should have no fear of the unknown.
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. It starts a little later as we had difficulty with our camera at the start of the service. 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.