Bible Verses for Sunday Service September 17, 2023
Ephesians 6:10-11
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
John 5:14
Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.”
Announcements:
Phil & Rosemary invite you to their home to meet missionary Alan Knowles on Thursday September 21 @ 7PM. Alan and his family are missionaries to South Africa, and will share the work they have done. The Witschis live at 1230 Grubstake Circle.
Please contribute items to the annual Christmas Child Boxes ministry by Samaritan’s Purse. Our Awana children will pack these boxes on Nov 8th. You will find the list of desired items in the foyer. Please indicate what you can provide.
We are blessed to have a visit from a missionary that proposes to teach in Peru and is seeking support. Andy Streit and his family will be with us to present his ministry on October 1. He will speak both during the Sunday School hour and during the morning service. We will have a pot luck after service to facilitate getting to know the Streits and their ministry.
Our ladies are planning a time of fellowship for October 28th at 11AM that will have a pineapple theme. A luncheon is also planned. Please make sure to mark your calendars and plan on joining us.
Special:
The choir sang “Heaven Came Down and Glory Filled my Soul” during service today. This hymn is relatively new, composed in 1961. Inspired by testimony at the Montrose Bible Conference, it is a wonderful testimony to God’s grace. You can watch the video directly here.
Sermon:
Pastor spoke to us on Luke 11:29-36 in a sermon title “Turning on the Light.” For his introduction, Pastor reminded us that Jesus was a master at making his points through using the everyday circumstances of the average first century Jew. This section of Luke is no exception. Here he used the contrast of light and dark to make the point that He is light, and the person who walks in His light by believing can really see. Pastor covered this under four headings.
Firstly, Pastor covered Jesus making the observation that light is necessary for sight. And, by extension He is necessary, a belief in what He says, in order for us to see clearly and make our way in the this world. We are free to choose to respond to Him rightly. If choose wrongly, we can ignore the His light, but we cannot hide it or destroy it.
Next he covered how eyes are necessary for sight. So a healthy eye can see things as they really are. A diseased eye cannot let in the light, and therefore cannot perceive the world correctly. We are really blind before we have God’s truth in Jesus. With Jesus, we can see everything from God’s perspective.
Pastor next covered the contrast Jesus employed. While light is good, it is important not to confuse darkness with light. We see this in Jesus’ criticism of the leaders, they believe and say that they have light, knowledge of how to live, but they are deceived. It is the same today. Popular culture provides many examples, with the prevalent lies like transgenderism. But, such deception is not restricted to the world. Sometimes Christians deceive themselves. Pastor provided several examples. Perhaps a Christian might be hurt by careless remarks of another. Rather than forgiving, that person holds a grudge, and even justifies holding it.
Lastly, Pastor provided comfort for us in reminding us that light in our souls cannot be hidden. If we live correctly, believing in the One He sent, Jesus, we become full of light and enjoy the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy and peace. Our light will be visible from the outside. We should organize our lives for more light, receive from our heavenly Father.
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.