Bible Verse for Sunday Service Service September 1, 2024
Isaiah 40:29
He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
Announcements:
Paul Ostrander will share the message from the Word today while Pastor Jim and Gaylene are in Gillette for a wedding, continuing on to visit to Nebraska.
Awana begins on September 11. We look forward to having groups from preschool (2 years before kindergarten) through 6th grade, and maybe teens. We will meet every Wednesday night, except holidays from 6:30 to 8:00 PM. We look forward to a great year.
Ladies Bible study will restart on September 10, meeting at the church every Tuesday at 10AM. Thank you Sandy Schlosser for leading this important time of Bible study and prayer.
The deacons will meet to consider the kitchen remodeling project. Any ideas that you have, please share with the deacons so we can put together a proposal. Please review the drawings and ideas that Phil Witschi has put together.
Sermon:
Pastor Jim was officiating at a wedding in Gillette, WY and traveling on to Nebraska so Paul Ostrander spoke to us on Psalm 23 in a sermon he titled “Christ the Shepherd.” As Paul remarked, this psalm is often heard at funerals, but it has much wider applicability. Paul chose to explain the Psalm as Christ taking care of three main areas.
Firstly, Paul shared that Christ supplies our needs. Now, this requires careful consideration. What are our real needs. Our greatest need is for salvation, believing in Him. But, he also supplies contentment. Jesus considers us as we are and meet our needs because of our significance to Him. He also takes care of our basic needs so we can exist. He supplies nourishment. He cleans us up, ridding us of our bad habits. Lastly, in this section he supplies guidance. Paul talked about ruts here. On the Oregon trail, those going west literally followed the ruts left by others. We should do the same, but follow ruts of righteousness.
Next Paul talked about how in this Psalm Christ subdues our fears. He does this by his presence in our lives with us. We cannot flee from Him. He also does this by protecting us. In this section Paul used an agricultural analogy to explain how the protects and helps us. Many Christians are familiar with the analogy of mountain tops and valleys to describe our Christian experience. Paul remarked that while we may prefer to be on a mountain top, there is no soil there for growth. Good soil is found in the valleys. It is in times of stress that we have the good environment to grow.
Lastly, Paul covered how Christ satisfies our longings. He does this by providing for us in times of adversity. We see how we are His possession, and He our portion. And, we have His promises.
Paul asked us in closing is Christ our Shepherd? Are we seeing clearly His love and provision for us?
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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