02-11-2018 Announcements

IN YOUR PRAYERS - this week please remember those who are recovering from surgery and illness, those in cancer treatment programs, our shut-in and inactive members and at least 2 family members or friends in your life who do not know Christ as they could, that they would accept the invitation to come to Church with you to hear God's Word preached in its purity, and see the Sacraments rightly administered.

THE LORD’S SUPPER at St. Paul Lutheran Church is administered in accordance with the Holy Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions.  It is celebrated in the confidence that we receive – in, with and under the consecrated bread and wine – our Savior’s true Body and Blood for the forgiveness of our sins.  All who commune at this altar are making this public confession of the faith that we believe and teach as is written in the Holy Scriptures.  If you are not a member of St. Paul Lutheran Church and yet desire to receive the Sacrament, please speak with the Pastor before the worship service.

MAIN STREET LIVING –February 18:  Worship Service-Rev. Steven Weispfennig of St. John's Lutheran Church in Yankton, SD brings us today's message “Tested” based on Genesis 22: 1-18.

AED TRAINING – Matt Rigo will hold AED training today, during the coffee hour for anyone interested in learning how to use it.

 

SIGN UP TODAY FOR THE STEAK SUPPER next week. Friends and families welcome.  The Youth Group will be having their Valentine’s steak fundraiser on Sunday Feb 18th. If interested in supporting the youth by having a delicious meal (lettuce salad, steak, potato, vegetable, and cheese cake) Please sign up Today on the bulletin board so we can order everything accordingly. Thank you.

THE MENTOR/ MENTEES will be helping the youth with the Steak Supper this month so there will not be a meeting on Feb 25th.

WE NEED VOLUNTEERS TO HELP WITH FLOWERS ON THE ALTAR, if you are willing to furnish flowers, put them on the Altar and then remove them after the service please sign the sheet on the bulletin board in the fellowship hall. We need volunteers for these months, June and July of 2018 and January 2019.

WE ALSO NEED A FEW VOLUNTEERS TO GO AND VISIT with our members that are at the Salem Home for the Aged, the Nursing Home and also some that are still in their own homes but unable to be out and about anymore. If you are willing to be a Visiting Helper, please sign the sheet on the bulletin board; the months available are April and August of 2018 and February 2019.

THRIVENT no longer mails a yearly reminder to its members concerning their Thrivent Choice Dollars.  Please call 1-800-847-4836 before Mach 1^st.  Unfortunately, this directive must be made each year or Thrivent decides which nonprofit organization it chooses to send your money to.  We, the Thrivent Committee of St Paul’s, are hoping that you will call give our church those funds to benefit our causes and needs to home thank you.

COFFEE HOUR DATES THAT ARE OPEN:  The dates that are open there is a sign-up sheet on the bulletin board if you are interested in help fill in the dates that are empty. 

USHERS NEEDED please sign up on the bulletin board as of right now there is only one person that has signed up.

ATTENTION DARTBALL PLAYERS:  This week’s game is Mitchell at Freeman on Monday, Feb. 12.  Game time is 7:30 pm

Now Jesus^[a] was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” ² And he said to them, “When you pray, say... (Luke 11:1-2a)  The Lord's Prayer (sometimes called the Our Father) is the third chief part of Luther's Small and Large Catechism and it is both the antidote and immunization for life in our spiritual warfare on this earth.  Come, grab a friend and join us for the Lenten Midweek services as we dig deep into this great gift from Son of God every Wednesday at 7:00 until Holy Week.  - Pastor Makelin
Note: For a video review of the Small Catechism, you may go to the website address at: http://higherthings.org/resources/video/catechism/introduction

FROM HIS DEATH BED A PASTOR DICTATED A LETTER TO A CLASSMATE. “I am leaving the land of the living and will soon be with the dying.” Then he quickly changed his mind. “No, write instead, ‘I am leaving the land of the dying and will soon be with the living.’” We live in the “land of the dying.” It is the wages of sin (Romans 6:23a). We also live with dying if we have a chronic or terminal disease, or if we care for someone who does, or know someone who does. We cannot avoid living with dying. But Christians can do this as no one else because we know:

·        The value of life does not depend upon what we are able to do but upon what God has done—created, redeemed, and called us (Isaiah 43:1).

·        Death is a cruel but defeated enemy in Christ (1 Corinthians 15:26).

·        The assurance of God’s love is found in Christ’s suffering on the cross, not in the absence of suffering in our lives (1 John 4:9-10).

·        Because of His love, He will not abandon us in our suffering, but work in it (Romans 8:28, 32).

·        To “die is gain,” but the time of our death is in God’s hands (Job 1:21; Psalm 31:15).

·        The unspeakable glories that await us (Romans 8:18).

These truths guide our end-of-life decision making. Based on these we know: We can allow the dying to die. (“Dying” here meaning bodily functions are shutting down.) We should never intend for the death of the living. We base decisions about treatment on the worth of the treatment—whether it sustains life or merely prolongs the dying process—not on the supposed worth of the person. As long as God gives life, He gives life meaning and purpose. We should always care and never kill. 

Be a Gospel-motivated voice for life and please consider a donation and joining Lutherans For Life.  Forms are located in the rack and on a fellowship hall table.