Wednesday, October 1st —
Adair U.M.W. is holding a Guest Day
Salad Supper starting at 6:30 P.M.
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Thursday, October 2nd —
Casey U.M.W. is holding a Guest Day Program at 2 P.M. Men and women are invited to hear Rev. Dr. Larry Somner speak about Bidwell-Riverside. Coffee and dessert will be served.
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Sunday, October 5th — Twenty-First Sunday
after Pentecost. Our color is green.
Choir Practice will be at 8:30 A.M. in Casey and 10 A.M. in Adair.
Sunday School in Casey will be at 10:30 A.M.
THIS is WORLD COMMUNION SUNDAY. World Communion Sunday was founded in (1940). This is a "Special Sunday" with a denominational offering in The United Methodist Church that supports three *Scholarship Funds.WHERE THE MONEY GOES - *Half of the offering provides Crusade Scholarships for International and U.S. racial- and ethnic-minority graduate students. Thirty-five percent of the receipts support Ethnic Scholarships for undergraduate students. Fifteen percent funds Ethnic In-Service Training Program scholarships for racial- and ethnic-minority persons seeking second careers in church-related vocations.
Extraordinary insight from a lady who could neither see nor hear:"The highest result of education is tolerance. Men have fought and died for their faith, but it has taken ages to teach them the other kind of courage - the courage to recognize the faiths of their brethren and their rights of conscience. Tolerance is the first principle of community. It is the spirit which conserves the best that all men think. No loss by floods, no destruction of cities or temples by any hostile force of nature, has deprived man of so many noble lives as those which his intolerance has destroyed." — Helen Keller
Our Scripture readings for today are:
Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20
In the hearing of the frightened people of Israel, Moses received the TEN COMMANDMENTS. God speaks many ways to the children of men; by conscience, by providences, by his voice, to all which we ought carefully to attend; but he never spake at any time so as he spake the TEN COMMANDMENTS. This law God had given to man before; it was written in his heart; but sin so defaced it, that it was necessary to revive the knowledge of it. The law is spiritual, and takes knowledge of the secret thoughts, desires, and dispositions of the heart. Its grand demand is love, without which outward obedience is mere hypocrisy.
Amplified Bible (AMP) Exodus 20:1-4 1 THEN GOD spoke all these words:
2 I am the Lord your God, Who has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3 You shall have no other gods before or besides Me.
4 You shall not make yourself any graven image to worship it or any likeness of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;
Exodus 20:7-9
7 You shall not use or repeat the name of the Lord your God in vain [that is, lightly or frivolously, in false affirmations or profanely; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
8 Earnestly remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy (withdraw from common employment and dedicate it to God).
9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work.
Exodus 20:12-20
12 Regard (treat with honor) your father and mother, that your days may be long in the land the Lord your God gives you.
13 You shall not commit murder.
14 You shall not commit adultery.
15 You shall not steal.
16 You shall not witness falsely against your neighbor.
17 You shall not covet your neighbor's house, your neighbor's wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.
18 Now all the people perceived the thunderings and the lightnings and the noise of the trumpet and the smoking mountain, and as they looked they trembled with fear and fell back and stood afar off.
19 And they said to Moses, You speak to us and we will listen, but let not God speak to us, lest we die.
20 And Moses said to the people, Fear not; for God has come to prove you, so that the reverential fear of Him may be before you, that you may not sin.
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Psalm 19 (UMH 750) (Amplified Bible) (AMP)
1 THE HEAVENS declare the glory of God; and the
firmament shows and proclaims His handiwork.
2 Day after day pours forth speech, and night after
night shows forth knowledge.
3 There is no speech nor spoken word from the
stars; their voice is not heard.
4 Yet their voice in evidence goes out through all the
earth, their sayings to the end of the world. Of the
heavens has God made a tent for the sun,
5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of hischamber; and it rejoices as a strong man to run his
course.
6 Its going forth is from the end of the heavens, and
its circuit to the ends of it and nothing yes, no one is
hidden from the heat of it.
7 The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the whole
person; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making
wise the simple.
8 The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the
heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure and
bright, enlightening the eyes.
9 The reverent fear of the Lord is clean, enduring
forever; the ordinances of the Lord are true and
righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold, even than
much fine gold; they are sweeter also than honey
and drippings from the honeycomb.
11 Moreover, by them is Your servant warned,
reminded, and instructed; and in keeping them there
is great reward.
12 Who can discern his lapses and errors? Clear
me from hidden and unconscious faults.
13 Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous
sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then shall
I be blameless, and I shall be innocent and clear of
great transgression.
14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of
my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my firm,
impenetrable Rock and my Redeemer.
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Philippians 3:4b-14
This is one of the places in Scripture where we find Paul's "pedigree." Here we learn of his tribe and some of his many earthly accomplishments. Nothing that Paul has done in the past is as important to him as knowing Christ. Philippians 3:3-14 (New International Version) (NIV)
3 It is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh—4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more:
5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee;
6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.
7 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.
8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ
9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.
10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
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Matthew 21:33-46 - New International Version (NIV)
Jesus told the parable of the wicked tenants. After a farmer had leased his farm to tenants, they refused to recognize anyone he sent to collect his produce. They even went so far as to kill his son when he came to them. Jesus quoted the Psalms and Isaiah when he told his detractors that the "stone that the builders rejected" has become the cornerstone.
The Parable of the Wicked Tenants
33 "Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey.
34 "When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.
35 "The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.
36 "Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way.
37 "Last of all, he sent his son to them. 'They will respect my son,' he said.
38 "But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him and take his inheritance.'
39 "So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.40 "Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?"
41 "He will bring those wretches to a wretched end," they replied, "and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time."
42 "Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures:
'The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone;
the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes'?
43 "Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.
44 He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed."
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus' parables, they knew he was talking about them.
46 They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.
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Monday, October 6th —
This is Pastor Lynn's and Naomi's scheduled day off.
Quilting Group meets at Casey U.M.C. this afternoon.
Casey U.M.C. Disciple Study will meet from 6:30 P.M. to 8:30 P.M.
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Tuesday, October 7th — Prayer Shawl Ministry - Adair UMC at 3 PM
Adair U.M.C. Disciple Study will meet from 9:00 A.M. to 11:00 AM.
Adair Office Hours today: 11 A.M. til noon and 1 P.M. til 4 P.M.
Casey Office Hours today: 9 A.M. til noon
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Wednesday, October 8th —
Confirmation Class will be in Casey UMC from 6 P.M. till 7:30 P.M.
S.P.C.R. Meeting in Casey UMC at 7:30 P.M.
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The INSTALLATION SERVICE for Bishop Julius Trimble on Sunday, October 5 at Ankeny First UMC beginning at 4 P.M. The church is located at 206 SW Walnut St. in downtown Ankeny . 4 U.M. college choirs, the Ankeny Church choir, Instruments of Peace Orchestra, African Drums and Liturgical Dancers all will assist us in worshipping God as we welcome Bishop Julius Trimble and his wife, Racelder to the Iowa Annual Conference.
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Thank you for your participation this week. Carrying the ball and running interference - big jobs, and without the whole team nothing would happen.
God bless and keep you,
Pastor Lynn