"I first lay down these two propositions, concerning spiritual liberty and servitude: A Christian man is the most free lord of all, and subject to none; a Christian man is the most dutiful servant of all, and subject to everyone." ~ Martin Luther
In this issue . . .
- De-Decoration Help Needed!
- Builders Teaching Theme: An Undivided Heart
- Sunday Preview
- 10 Ways to Encourage a Missionary
- 4 Minutes in Mark
- 2 Graphics for You to Consider
De-Decoration Help Needed!
Sarah Fehrman could really use your help. Specifically, she could use your help on
this Saturday at 10:00 AM in the church sanctuary. Specifying even more, she needs your help to tear down and put away the Christmas decorations that have so pretty-fied our church for the past several weeks.
Guys, we need you for the Christmas trees.
Personally, I think we should leave up the Christmas decorations year round, don't you? But if we must take them down, lets get them done quickly and amongst friends. And maybe with donuts.
Builders Teaching Theme: An Undivided Heart
I'm super-stoked about our theme for this next semester. The plan is to take January through May to look at our hearts through the lens of Scripture. Here's how it'll break down:
- We'll start off by looking at Biblical worship, which is all about seeking after God with all of our heart. I'll take 4 weeks on this topic, beginning this Sunday.
- Next, Mikel will help us understand idolatry - what our sinful, fractured hearts naturally seek after. He'll take 6 weeks for this discussion.
- For the rest of the semester, we'll work through the book of James. While it can be hard to see a clear overall theme for the book, James does present a vivid picture of what a person with a whole, undivided heart looks like. We'll take around 11 weeks for this book study, and our goal is to have teachers from around the church help lead us.
That's the plan that we have. We'll see if God allows us to stick to it :-) I'm looking forward to learning and growing with you!
Sunday Preview
Remember that we're back to the regular service schedule - worship services at 8 & 10:45 AM, and Adult Bible Fellowships at 9:30 AM.
- Builders ABF - I'm beginning a 4-week series on Biblical worship, tentatively titled "Everybody worships (whether they know it or not)". Look for the t-shirt soon.
- Corporate Worship - Pastor Whipple is continuing in Philippians 2:12-18, looking at what we should be working hard at in the new year.
10 Ways to Encourage a Missionary
From Mark Rogers at the
Gospel Coalition Blog:
"In an effort to learn how we can best encourage missionaries, I emailed some and asked how they would most like to be served and encouraged. This list is drawn from their responses, including many direct quotes."
- Pray for them and let them know that you are doing so frequently.
- Send "real mail."
- Pray for the people the missionaries serve and not only for the missionaries and their families.
- Recruit others to pray for the missionary's area of service (city, people group, etc.) or for the missionaries themselves.
- Go visit them with the purpose of serving and encouraging them in their work.
- Send them updates and pictures of you and your family (by mail or email).
- Ask questions about their work.
- Continue to be a Christian friend and continue to minister to them.
- Support them financially.
- Seek to encourage them when they are on stateside assignment.
Read the full list plus explanations
here.
Just think of how blessed you are: you can try some of these things out on people at our church! By jove, you can try these out on people in our very class!
4 Minutes in Mark
Are you looking for some resources for your devotional life? Tired of all those devotionals written by people you don't even know? Are you hungry for some Biblically meaty, Kossuth-grown Gospel goodness? Then look no further. Pastoral Intern Dave Nannery (famous for his
blinding and unassailable logic) is starting a new feature on his blog: 4 Minutes in Mark. Here's how he describes it:
"The gimmick is that I'm going to work my way through the gospel of Mark, writing articles that should take the average person four minutes to read. I saw somewhere that the average reading speed is 200-250 words per minute, so that comes out to around 800-1000 words per article. Of course, I don't feel at all tied down to these numbers, but they do give a ballpark figure."
The plan is to start this coming Monday with Mark 1:1. You should definitely
tune in!
3 Graphics for You to Consider
I ran across these three random graphics during my "blog jog", and I figured if I got a kick out them, you would too, right? RIGHT?