Daily Email: Tuesday, February 27, 2018

DEVOTION:  Exodus 20:1-17 English Standard Version (ESV)

The Ten Commandments

20 And God spoke all these words, saying,

² "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

³ "You shall have no other gods before^[a] me.

⁴ "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. ⁵ You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, ⁶ but showing steadfast love to thousands^[b] of those who love me and keep my commandments.

⁷ "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

⁸ "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. ⁹ Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. ¹¹ For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

¹² "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

¹³ "You shall not murder.^[c]

¹⁴ "You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁵ "You shall not steal.

¹⁶ "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

¹⁷ "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's."

 

Yesterday, we heard King David praise God for giving us his laws.  He called them perfect, sure, right, pure,, clean, and true.  Today we get a look at the laws he is talking about.  At first glance we would say the same thing.  These absolutes of God are all good.  As we look closer at them though, we begin to hear Jesus say things like, whoever looks at another person lustfully has already committed adultery.  We hear that even hating a person in our hearts is akin to committing murder.  We begin to understand that missing church just one weekend is breaking the third commandment.  We could go through the whole list. 

                Indeed, God's commands are just, and true, and right.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with them, and so it hurts us that even though we know the truth and the necessity of them, we still don't follow them.  It breaks our hearts, or at least it should, to fully understand the depth to which we have sunk in failing God.  It causes us great grief and shame to think about how we have absolutely failed God's absolutes.  And the truth is, if left up to ourselves, we would remain in those  depths.

                But Jesus absolutely fulfilled those absolutes of the Father.  He never failed.  He never put anything before his heavenly Father.  He never missed a worship service.  He never disobeyed his mom.  The list goes on and one.  He fulfilled all of these laws perfectly and completely and still went to the cross willingly for us. 

                God's law is perfect!  We rejoice when, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are able to love God and love our neighbor.  At the same time, when we fall into sin, which we do daily, we can also rejoice that we have a Savior who picks us up out of the pit and gives us his love and compassion.  Praise the Lord! 

 

Prayer: Lord, thank you for your law.  As I look at it, as I would look into a mirror, thank you for reminding me who I really am, and then for making me who you want me to be by grace through faith.  Amen.

 

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CALENDAR:

Tues- Quilting 9-2; Stephen Ministry 6pm

 

Wed- Oak Pointe Worship 10am; Supper 5:30; Worship 6:30; Choir 7:15

 

Thurs- Alzheimer's support group 1pm; Stephen Ministry 6; Confirmation make up 5:30-6:30; Karate 6:15-7:45

 

Sat- worship 5pm

 

Sun- worship 8:30 and 11; Sunday school 9:45; USHER'S MEETING AT 9:45!!; Basement reserved 2pm

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WORSHIP WORKERS: 

Acolyte- Wed- Cierra Figura; 8:30- Nova Luebke ; 11- Luke Rausch

 

Ushers- Wed- Lew Feldkamp, Rich Boeger, Brett Nordwald, Scott Schulze; Sat-  Bob Linke Sun- Alan Hoffeldt, Tim Linke, Gary Hoelscher, Ben Hoelscher ; 11- Dave Winter

 

Altar- Wednesday candles- Don Hance; Sun- set up- Lucille Luebke; Clean Up- Pam Linke

 

Communion assistant- Sat- Roy Bohning; 8:30- Jason Cluver, 11- Dave Winter

Greeters- 8:30- Dave and Hope Tinnin; 11- Joan Sexton

 

Projectionists- Sat- Perricone; 8:30- Yoder 11- Abby Vossen

Lay Readers- Sat- Marcia Sevier; 8:30- Jennifer Figura 11- Dulci Rahn

 

Organist- Wed- Barb Dreyer; Sun- Patti Golden

 

Pianists- Sat- Kathy Barrow

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YESTERDAY'S QUIZ:  What were children who were born of a forbidden union not allowed to do?

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NEWS:

WE ARE CHANGING THE WAY WE EDUCATE OUR KIDS AND GROW THEM IN THE FAITH AT ST.JOHN'S!!

 

THE TWO MOST IMPORTANT FACTORS TO GROW CHILDREN IN THE FAITH

1. Parents must be involved and take ownership of the faith formation of their children. Gone are the days of just dropping your kids off at Sunday school so that "the church" can teach them the faith.  I don't know about you, but I learned how to live the faith from my parents the most. 
2. The church must be a supplement, help, and encouragement to the parents (not the primary source of faith formation).

 

 

To help parents in their duties as the primary growers of the faith of their children we are going to start two new programs at St. John's. 

 

1. The first is called Faith5.   This is a very simple yet profound thing that families will learn to do together in their own homes each night/day.  The basics are very simple.  It can be done whenever the family can all get together.  The example I'm going to use is right before bed, so the first one to want to go to sleep calls the huddle.  The family then gets together in the bedroom of the person who called the huddle, at the kitchen table, or wherever, and they do these five things

                1. Share- Each person shares the highs and Lows of the day

                2. Read- Bible reading or Story

                3. Talk- Application of reading to the day

                4. Pray- Pray about the day

                5. Blessing- A kiss, a hug, a benediction

 

Although this sounds simple, we want to get the most out of the very short amount of time we have with our kids.  We also always want to be better parents, especially when it comes to the faith upbringing of our kids, so we will have a Faith5 Training for parents beginning on Sunday, April 15 during Sunday school time at 9:45.  PLEASE SIGN UP WITH PASTOR FOR THIS TRAINING!!!!  It will be done on Sunday, May 27. 

                 

 

2.The second is called Bible Song Cross Gen.  It is called this, because every lesson revolves around a Bible song that coincides with the lesson for the week.  It will begin on WEDNESDAY, MAY 30 AND WILL BE EVERY WEDNESDAY FROM 6pm-7pm.  Parents are strongly encouraged to stay with their children. 

Here is the schedule:

6:00-6:20-- Bible Song, Skit, and Story

6:20-6:50—Family Group Time (Practicing Faith5 in a church family setting)

6:50-7- Closing

 

As with any good church program volunteers are key!  We need people to step up and take ownership of this program to make it successful!  Here are somethings we will need:

1. Parents stay with kids!!

2. Skit Group (3 or 4) (Sign Up to volunteer to help)

3. Art attack coordinators (2 or 3) (Sign Up with Pastor to volunteer to help)

4. Group Leaders (2 or 3) (Sign Up with Pastor to volunteer to help)

 

 

3.What are we gonna do with Sunday school?

For the most part, it is going to go away, but For parents who still want some adult Bible study time, or just want to get out and do grocery shopping without kids, we'll have a very unstructured and informal time on Sunday mornings.  (Play time, videos, Bible story book.)  Like all the rest of this stuff, it will only be as good as those who take ownership.  Right now, Karin Klaustermeier and Naomi Johnson are the only ones who lead your kids on Sunday mornings.  It would be good to get two or three more trusted adults to lead this, and then each person would only have to do it once a month. (A big shout out should also go to Torre Statler and Taryn Linke for doing a Bible study with the high school kids when they show up.)

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LENTEN MIDWEEK SUPPER WEDNESDAY at 5:30 AND WORSHIP AT 6:30

 

Supper- Turkey, Dressing (Stuffing), green beans, applesauce, dessert.

 

Worship--This year during our Lenten worship we're going to do something different.  We will be doing an interactive message time in which we will all formulate our own versions of the "Gospel in seven words". 

 

If someone were to come to you and ask you to tell them what you believe in seven words or less, what would you say?  In this fast paced, information age, you may not have much more than that to get the Gospel out to someone.  How would you respond to that request? 

 

I am very excited to see how we come up with our conclusions and what our extremely concise profession and confessions of faith will look like!  You'll have to join us on Wednesday to find out what it's all about!! 

YOUTH GROUP STEAK DINNER AND AUCTION IS SATURDAY, MARCH 10!!

Tickets will go on sale at church this weekend after services.

 

AUCTION ITEMS ARE NEEEDED!!

If you have any good items that they youth could use  for the auction, please bring them by church any time we're open!  If you leave something when pastor isn't there just put a note on it saying it was from you!  Thank you in advance!

RETIREMENT SEMINARS SCHEDULED FOR TUESDAY, APRIL 3 AND TUESDAY APRIL 24 AT 6PM!!

Denny Hagan from Eldercare Associates will be here on April 3 to talk about Identity protection and Asset preservation.  And then again on April 24 to talk about Social Security.  ICE CREAM WILL BE SERVED!! 

 

Please sign up on the counter in the narthex or call the church office to let us know you will be there. 

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OFFERING ENVELOPES ARE ON THE SHELVES UNDERNEATH THE CHURCH MAILBOXES IN THE NARTHEX IF YOU HAVEN'T PICKED THEM UP YET! 

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OUR LAST DIRECTORY (Last updated in August of 2016) has a lot of outdated phone numbers.  If your number has changed, please call the office 456-2888 and let Terry know!

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DUE TO SOME TROUBLES WITH OUR CHURCH EMAIL ADDRESS WE HAVE HAD TO GET A NEW ONE

Our new email address is sjwarrlutheran@gmail.com.  Please change it in your address books!!

 

Pastor's email, revklaus@hotmail.com will remain the same.

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LITTLE LAMBS IS STILL SELLING CANDY BARS AND COULD USE YOUR HELP!

If you'd like to help sell a box or two of candy bars as a fundraiser for Little Lambs preschool.  Let Terry or one of the preschool ladies know.  They'll hook you up right quick!

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DO YOU HAVE A THRIVENT FINANCIAL ACCOUNT OR POLICY?

You may be eligible to receive money for Little Lambs or Good Shepherd!!  Go to www.thrivent.com/choicedollars to check it out!

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OPERATION BACKPACK DONATIONS FOR THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY IS CANNED VEGETABLES.

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PRAYERS: 

For DENISE HOOKER (Betty Tameler's daughter) who is recovering from surgery to put a stent in her stomach so she can eat.   

 

For BILL MCKENZIE, (Terry McKenzie's father in law), who is home from the hospital and has been placed on hospice.

 

For LIL WINTER as she deals with heart troubles.

 

For ASHTON, a 3 day old baby who is the grandson of a friend of the Nagels who is recovering from open heart surgery.

 

For GEORGE HOESCHER, GINA BOHNING (Roy Bohning's wife), and BUCK HAMPTON,  as they continue to deal with cancer. 

 

 

PRAYERS FOR OUR MILITARY PERSONNEL:

For COLTON FIGURA deployed to Turkey, SAM HARGROVE deployed in Kuwait and DAN DREYER deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan, that the Lord would keep them safe from harm during their service and bring them home safely.

 

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 lives, jobs, and families to go on duty several times a year.