OUR WEEK — JULY 18TH -JULY 24TH

REMINDERS —
WEDNESDAY, JULY 14TH —
PRAYER BREAKFAST @ HAPPY CHEF - 7 A.M.
Adair Vacation Bible School @ 9 A.M.
Casey Vacation Bible School@ 6 P.M.
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THURSDAY, JULY 15TH —
Adair Vacation Bible School @ 9 A.M.
Deborah/Mary Circle - Casey U.M.C. @ 2 P.M.
Casey Vacation Bible School@ 6 P.M.
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FRIDAY, JULY 16TH —
Adair Vacation Bible School @ 9 A.M.
"COME TO THE FAIR" GUEST DAY FOR U.M.W.
at GREENFIELD U.M.C. beginning at 1:30 P.M.65th anniversary of first Atomic Bomb explosion.
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SATURDAY - JULY 17TH —
ANGEL FOOD MINISTRY ORDERS DUE TODAYCHUCK WAGON DAYS IN ADAIR — LUNCH WILL BE SERVED DIRECTLY
AFTER THE PARADE —
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SUNDAY, JULY 18TH —
EIGHTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
COLOR: GREEN
Casey VBS will have a program this morning
during regular worship time.
SCRIPTURE READINGS ARE ~ ~ ~
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AMOS 8:1-12
(The Message)
This reading names the reasons for the judgment
and impending destruction: abusing poor farm
workers, short-shrifting on the Sabbath to have
more hours for sales, fraudulent weights and
scales, putting the poor into indentured servitude
and selling what should have been left for gleaners
to take for free to feed their families.

The charge here appears to be that these evils had
now become standard business practice, the way
the economy routinely worked.

Everyone's labor was to be fairly rewarded, the
Sabbath was to be observed, weights and scales
were to be accurate, slavery and even indentured
servitude were forbidden, and the "sweepings" of
the harvested part of the field were to be left on
the ground so the poor could gather grain if they
could not afford to buy it.

This God rescued them from slavery in Egypt and
gave them a land more than able to support all.
Creating an economy that oppressed the poor at
every turn, was an affront to the very character of
their God. God would not allow this abomination
to stand.

Amos is graphic about what God was about to do.
Earthquakes would break the earth and divert the
rivers. Festivals would become death traps. They
would suffer horribly, and God would be silent.
Armies of Assyria destroyed the Northern Kingdom
beginning in 721 BC. Buildings were burned,
roads destroyed and much of their land ruined. It
was genocide and utter desolation. After 721, what
had been the Northern Kingdom produced no
"words from the Lord" that have survived.
1 My Master God showed me this vision:
A bowl of fresh fruit.2 He said, "What do you see, Amos?" I said, "A bowl
of fresh, ripe fruit." God said, "Right. So, I'm calling it
quits with my people Israel. I'm no longer acting as if
everything is just fine."
3 "The royal singers will wail when it happens." My
Master God said so. "Corpses will be strewn here,
there, and everywhere. Hush!"
4 Listen to this, you who walk all over the weak, you
who treat poor people as less than nothing,
5 Who say, "When's my next paycheck coming so I
can go out and live it up? How long till the weekend
when I can go out and have a good time?" Who give
little and take much, and never do an honest day's work.
6 You exploit the poor, using them - and then, when
they're used up, you discard them.
7 God swears against the arrogance of Jacob: "I'm
keeping track of their every last sin."
8 God's oath will shake earth's foundations, dissolve
the whole world into tears. God's oath will sweep inlike a river that rises, flooding houses and lands, And
then recedes, leaving behind a sea of mud.
9 "On Judgment Day, watch out!" These are the words
of God, my Master. "I'll turn off the sun at noon. In the
middle of the day the earth will go black.
10 I'll turn your parties into funerals and make every
song you sing a dirge. Everyone will walk around in
rags, with sunken eyes and bald heads. Think of the
worst that could happen; your only son, say, murdered.
That's a hint of Judgment Day - that and much more.
11 "Oh yes, Judgment Day is coming!" These are the
words of my Master God. "I'll send a famine through
the whole country. It won't be food or water that's lacking,
but my Word.12 People will drift from one end of the country to the
other, roam to the north, wander to the east. They'll go
anywhere, listen to anyone, hoping to hear God's Word -
but they won't hear it.
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PSALM 15 (UMH 804)
Psalm 15
(The Message)
1 God, who gets invited to dinner at your place?
How do we get on your guest list?
2 "Walk straight, act right, tell the truth.
3 "Don't hurt your friend, don't blame your neighbor;
4 despise the despicable. "Keep your word even
when it costs you,
5 make an honest living, never take a bribe. "You'll
never get blacklisted if you live like this."
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COLOSSIANS 1:15-28
(The Message)
Paul is writing this in Rome, from prison. He offers
a Christology that reflects the depth of growth in
the knowledge of God he has previously prayed
for the Christians in the region of Colossae. Jesus
is the image of the invisible God, the source and
destiny of creation itself.
15 We look at this Son and see the God who cannot
be seen. We look at this Son and see God's original
purpose in everything created.
16 For everything, absolutely everything, above and
below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank
of angels - everything got started in him and finds its
purpose in him.
17 He was there before any of it came into existence
and holds it all together right up to this moment.
18 And when it comes to the church, he organizes
and holds it together, like a head does a body.
19 So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of
God finds its proper place in him without crowding.
20 Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated
pieces of the universe - people and things, animals
and atoms - get properly fixed and fit together in
vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his
blood that poured down from the Cross.
21 You yourselves are a case study of what he does.
At one time you all had your backs turned to God,
thinking rebellious thoughts of him, giving him trouble
every chance you got.
22 But now, by giving himself completely at the Cross,
actually dying for you, Christ brought you over to
God's side and put your lives together, whole and holy
in his presence.
23 You don't walk away from a gift like that! You stay
grounded and steady in that bond of trust, constantly
tuned in to the Message, careful not to be distracted
or diverted. There is no other Message - just this one.
Every creature under heaven gets this same Message.
I, Paul, am a messenger of this Message.
24 I want you to know how glad I am that it's me sitting
here in this jail and not you. There's a lot of suffering
to be entered into in this world - the kind of suffering
Christ takes on. I welcome the chance to take my
share in the church's part of that suffering.
25 When I became a servant in this church, I
experienced this suffering as a sheer gift, God's way
of helping me serve you, laying out the whole truth.
26 This mystery has been kept in the dark for a long
time, but now it's out in the open.
27 God wanted everyone, not just Jews, to know this
rich and glorious secret inside and out, regardless of
their background, regardless of their religious standing.
The mystery in a nutshell is just this: Christ is in you,
therefore you can look forward to sharing in God's glory.
It's that simple. That is the substance of our Message.
28 We preach Christ, warning people not to add to the
Message. We teach in a spirit of profound common
sense so that we can bring each person to maturity. To
be mature is to be basic. Christ! No more, no less.
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LUKE 10:38-42
(The Message)
"Martha, Martha, you are fretting and distracted."
38 As they continued their travel, Jesus entered a
village. A woman by the name of Martha welcomed
him and made him feel quite at home.
39 She had a sister, Mary, who sat before the
Master, hanging on every word he said.40 But Martha was pulled away by all she had to
do in the kitchen. Later, she stepped in, interrupting
them. "Master, don't you care that my sister has
abandoned the kitchen to me? Tell her to lend me
a hand."
41 The Master said, "Martha, dear Martha, you're
fussing far too much and getting yourself worked
up over nothing.42 One thing only is essential, and Mary has chosen
it - it's the main course, and won't be taken from her."
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MONDAY, JULY 19TH —
This is Pastor Lynn's and Naomi's day off.
Office is closed today.
Pastor Lynn's grandchild is due to make an
entrance today. Repeat after me, "We will not get
impatient, anxious, or agitated!"
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WEDNESDAY, JULY 21ST —
NEW HOMESTEAD WORSHIP SERVICE AT 10 A.M.
T.T.T. #2 Meets 9:30 to 10:00 A.M.
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SATURDAY, JULY 24TH —
ANGEL FOOD DISTRIBUTION FROM
11 A.M. 'TIL NOON — CASEY U.M.C.
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FOCUS ON THE FUTURE —
July 25th - Naomi leaves for Turkey Hill Ranch
in the great state of Missouri.Pastor Lynn is scheduled to take vacation on
July 27th and 28th.
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Today the reading from Amos discusses making
choices. It seems history can turn on a dime. Making
good choices might have stemmed the destruction of
the entire country. We are constantly faced with choices
that seem insignificant on the surface, but may make
a huge difference to the future.

God Bless and Keep You,
Pastor Lynn