DEVOTION: Luke 3:1-20 English Standard Version (ESV)
John the Baptist Prepares the Way
3 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,
"The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
'Prepare the way of the Lord,[a]
make his paths straight.
5 Every valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and the crooked shall become straight,
and the rough places shall become level ways,
6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'"
7 He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 9 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."
10 And the crowds asked him, "What then shall we do?" 11 And he answered them, "Whoever has two tunics[b] is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise." 12 Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, "Teacher, what shall we do?" 13 And he said to them, "Collect no more than you are authorized to do." 14 Soldiers also asked him, "And we, what shall we do?" And he said to them, "Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages."
15 As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, 16 John answered them all, saying, "I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."
18 So with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people. 19 But Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother's wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done, 20 added this to them all, that he locked up John in prison.
Matthew 3:13-17 English Standard Version (ESV)
The Baptism of Jesus
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" 15 But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him,[a] and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son,[b] with whom I am well pleased."
Matthew 4:1-11 English Standard Version (ESV)
The Temptation of Jesus
4 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread." 4 But he answered, "It is written,
"'Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,
"'He will command his angels concerning you,'
and
"'On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.'"
7 Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'" 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." 10 Then Jesus said to him, "Be gone, Satan! For it is written,
"'You shall worship the Lord your God
and him only shall you serve.'"
11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.
https://www.facebook.com/jeremy.klaustermeier/videos/10156031050278803/
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CALENDAR FOR THE WEEK:
Thurs- Karate 6:15-7:45
Fri- Bible Study at Hendershots 7pm
Sat- Men's breakfast 8am
Sun- Adult Bible Class 8am; Traditional Worship 9; Fellowship, Sunday school and adult Bible class 10:15; Chapel 10:45;
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WORSHIP WORKERS:
Sunday, 9am—
Acolyte- Nova Luebke
Ushers- Lew Feldkamp, Rich Boeger, Brett Nordwald, Scott Schulze
Communion assistant- Al Benton
Lay reader- Kathy Fischer
Projectionist- Schaumbergs
Altar- Ruth Walters
Tellers- Team #3
Sunday 10:45
Acolyte- Haley Rausch
Worship assistant- ????
Projectionist- Terry McKenzie
Monday, 6:30-
Acolyte- Cierra Figura
Worship assistant- ????
Projectionist- Cara Klaustermeier
Altar clean up- Terry McKenzie
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YESTERDAY'S QUIZ: Who were the twelve sons of Jacob? Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher. Genesis 35: 22-26.
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TODAY'S QUIZ: What were Joseph's two dreams about?
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NEWS:
MEN'S BREAKFAST THIS SATURDAY AT 8AM!
Biscuits and gravy
sausage
scrambled eggs
Bible study!
We need more guys to come! Get there! (Let me know if you're coming!)
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SUMMARY OF LAST NIGHT'S STRATEGIC PLANNING MEETING
- We talked about our Mission Statement and made a few minor adjustments to it. It is a work in progress.
- We talked about our strengths and weakness. Our main strength is that we are founded and centered on God's Word and Sacraments. That's what sets us apart and makes us different than most other churches.
- Then we made some goals. These are SMART goals meaning they are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely.
- A 5% increase in Bible study attendance by the end of the year.
- Add two more adult Bible studies on Sunday morning or during the week by the end of the year.
- 10% increase in worship attendance from 2018 to 2019.
- Two additional community outreach events.
These are some great goals to shoot for! The only way these things are going to happen and be done well is if the members of St. John's family get excited about their church family, get out and participate in them and do them.
All that being said, here are some steps to take to fulfill these goals as set forth:
- If anyone is willing to be a host, facilitator, or leader for a Bible study please contact me and we can talk about it. I will give you all the tools and support you need!
- Get to worship and invite people to come with you. It's as simple as that.
- If there is something you'd like to do in the community; whether it be outreach, evangelism, or fellowship please contact me to talk about it and, once again, I will give you all the tools, resources, and support you need.
We do, indeed, have a wonderful church family! I am so proud of my family! We do a lot of things in the community, at our jobs, and throughout the world. We do have our faults, everyone does, but we can certainly tell that God is present in, with, and among us! Go out and brag on your church family and get to work accomplishing these goals!
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NEW MEMBER LUNCHEON JANUARY 27, AT NOON!!
We want to welcome all of the new members we received in 2018, and help them to feel at home at St. John's. Please plan on attending the new member luncheon to do so, along with the new members, The RSVP sheet is on the counter in the narthex or you can call the church office to let us know you're coming.
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NEW WORSHIP, SUNDAY SCHOOL, AND BIBLE CLASS SCHEDULE
Adult Bible Study- 8am (on Genesis) and 10:15am (On Angels) both in the overflow
Sunday school- 10:15-10:45—Get your donut and juice from overflow and then meet in Sunday school area.
Worship- 9 and 10:45 on Sunday and 6:30 on Monday (all in the sanctuary)
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FREE CONFLICT RESOLUTION AND RECONCILIATION COURSE AVAILABLE ONLINE
Are you in a conflict with a brother, sister, parent, spouse, or friend? Do you want to end that conflict and gain back loved ones and friends? Do you want to mend fences and rebuild bridges? Do you want to get rid of all the bitterness, anger, and resentment that you have toward others or that someone might have toward you? Do you want to do what GOD wants you to do in your broken relationships, but you don't know where or how to start?
Ambassadors of Reconciliation has some great tools that will help to teach you and guide you through a process of doing just that at https://www.aorhope.org/ .
You can receive access to a free online course called "Conflict Resolution vs. Reconciliation" at https://www.aorhope.org/aor-gift because I sponsored your scholarship. Simply go to that link to access this on-line course about biblical reconciliation. It is excellent.
I took a challenge to sponsor scholarships for several people at St. John's, because I want as many people as possible to take this course and learn to go and be reconciled to one another! If you think it is helpful you can take the challenge yourself and nominate others!
Let me know if you take the course, so I can know how many people my donation has helped!
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LITTLE LAMBS IS STILL COLLECTING PLASTIC CAPS FOR THEIR BENCH!!
Any plastic lid will do! They need 300lbs total! There are boxes in the narthex and in Little Lambs.
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OPERATION BACKPACK CONTINUES!!
There are hundreds of kids in need in Warrenton. Many of them go to homes without food, especially on weekends. The food that is collected from us gets put into kids backpacks discreetly on Fridays and sent home with them on Fridays. This month's collection is canned fruit.
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PRAYERS:
For JOHN MORRIS, father in law of Elise Morris, who has stage four lung cancer.
For TONI MAUCH'S BROTHER RAY, who is suffering with lymphoma for over a year and it keeps coming back despite the doctor's best efforts.
For GEORGE HOELSCHER, PASTOR RON LEHENBAUER, MARY BREUER, MARI GILB, and many others who are all dealing with cancer.
For BETTY SUTOR who is in the nursing home but is dealing with severe weakness.
For FAITH, a baby of one of Karin's bus driving friends who has kidney failure.
For DIANNE FELDKAMP'S SISTER, DONNA MAYES, who has been diagnosed with ALS, and her other sister, DEBBIE BURGER, who has been sick for 7 weeks and the doctor's are unable to determine the cause. She is in the hospital now.
For FRANCIS ABBAN, pastor's sister Mary's boyfriend, as his brother, Mike, died in a house fire Sunday night in Nigeria.
PRAYERS FOR OUR MILITARY PERSONNEL:
For COLTON FIGURA AND DANNY DREYER who are both home but remain on active duty in the military.
For CONNER FIGURA going through tech training for the Air Force. .
For DAVID TATE stationed in Japan, and ALEX WALTERS, stationed in Tennessee. That God would bless their service to our country and keep them safe as they all await possible deployment.
For CALEB FIGURA AND VINCE MASTERS who are both serving our country in the National Guard and take time out of their
