OUR WEEK — JULY 25TH - JULY 31ST

REMINDERS —
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WEDNESDAY, JULY 21ST —
NEW HOMESTEAD WORSHIP SERVICE AT 10 A.M.
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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.≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈
SUNDAY, JULY 25TH —
THIS IS THE 9TH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
COLOR: GREEN

SCRIPTURE READINGS ARE:
HOSEA 1:2-10
(The Message)
The prophet changes today (from Amos to Hosea).His story, his marriage and the naming of his
children connect to the heart of the message hebrings. Hosea obeys God and takes Gomer, a
prostitute, as his wife. She bears children whosenames are prophetic to the relationship betweenIsrael and God. Each child is named for a horror
- past, present, or yet to come. • Jezreel (after an
unjustly bloody battlefield). The battle, led by
King Jehu, was considered so bloody and unjust
that God swore never to leave Jehu's house
unpunished. • Lo Ruhamah (not pitied), an
announcement that God would have no more
leniency on Israel for its past or present atrocities,
nor would God do anything to prevent their
coming exile. • Lo Ammi (not my people), signaled
God's rejection of the people. Though a day of
restoration of some kind would come in time.2 The first time God spoke to Hosea he said: "Find a
prostitute and marry her. Make her the mother of
your children. And here's why: This whole country
has become a whorehouse, unfaithful to me, God."
3 Hosea did it. He picked Gomer daughter of
Diblaim. She got pregnant and gave him a son.
4 Then God told him: "Name him Jezreel. It won't be
long now before I'll make the people of Israel pay for
the massacre at Jezreel. I'm calling it quits on the
kingdom of Israel.
5 Payday is coming! I'm going to chop Israel's bows
and arrows into kindling in the valley of Jezreel."
6 Gomer got pregnant again. This time she had a
daughter. God told Hosea: "Name this one No-Mercy.
I'm fed up with Israel. I've run out of mercy. There's
no more forgiveness.
7 Judah's another story. I'll continue having mercy
on them. I'll save them. It will be their God who
saves them, Not their armaments and armies, not
their horsepower and manpower."
8 After Gomer had weaned No-Mercy, she got
pregnant yet again and had a son.
9 God said: "Name him Nobody. You've become
nobodies to me, and I, God, am a nobody to you.
10 "But down the road the population of Israel is
going to explode past counting, like sand on the
ocean beaches. In the very place where they
were once named Nobody, they will be named
God's Somebody.
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PSALM 85 (UMH 806) (The Message)
1 God, you smiled on your good earth! You brought
good times back to Jacob!
2 You lifted the cloud of guilt from your people, you
put their sins far out of sight.
3 You took back your sin-provoked threats, you
cooled your hot, righteous anger.
4 Help us again, God of our help; don't hold a grudge
against us forever.
5 You aren't going to keep this up, are you? scowling
and angry, year after year?
6 Why not help us make a fresh start - a resurrection
life? Then your people will laugh and sing!7 Show us how much you love us, God! Give us the
salvation we need!
8 I can't wait to hear what he'll say. God's about to
pronounce his people well, The holy people he loves
so much, so they'll never again live like fools.
9 See how close his salvation is to those who fear
him? Our country is home base for Glory!
10 Love and Truth meet in the street, Right Living and
Whole Living embrace and kiss! 11 Truth sprouts green from the ground, Right Living
pours down from the skies!
12 Oh yes! God gives Goodness and Beauty; our land
responds with Bounty and Blessing.
13 Right Living strides out before him, and clears a
path for his passage.
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COLOSSIANS 2:6-19 (The Message)
The subject matter shifts to Christian living that
is grounded in the reality of being baptized into
Jesus Christ. "See to it that no one takes you
captive through philosophy and empty deceit …
in Christ the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily."
6 My counsel for you is simple and straightforward:
Just go ahead with what you've been given. You
received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him.
7 You're deeply rooted in him. You're well constructed
upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now
do what you've been taught. School's out; quit
studying the subject and start living it! And let your
living spill over into thanksgiving.
8 Watch out for people who try to dazzle you with big
words and intellectual double-talk. They want to drag
you off into endless arguments that never amount to
anything. They spread their ideas through the empty
traditions of human beings and the empty superstitions
of spirit beings. But that's not the way of Christ.
9 Everything of God gets expressed in him, so you
can see and hear him clearly. You don't need a
telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope to realize
the fullness of Christ, and the emptiness of the
universe without him.
10 When you come to him, that fullness comes
together for you, too. His power extends over
everything.
11 Entering into this fullness is not something you
figure out or achieve. It's not a matter of being
circumcised or keeping a long list of laws. No, you're
already in - insiders - not through some secretive
initiation rite but rather through what Christ has
already gone through for you, destroying the power
of sin.
12 If it's an initiation ritual you're after, you've already
been through it by submitting to baptism. Going under
the water was a burial of your old life; coming up out
of it was a resurrection, God raising you from the
dead as he did Christ.
13 When you were stuck in your old sin-dead life, you
were incapable of responding to God. God brought
you alive - right along with Christ! Think of it! All sins
forgiven,
14 the slate wiped clean, that old arrest warrant
canceled and nailed to Christ's Cross.
15 He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe
of their sham authority at the Cross and marched
them naked through the streets.
16 So don't put up with anyone pressuring you in
details of diet, worship services, or holy days.
17 All those things are mere shadows cast before
what was to come; the substance is Christ.
18 Don't tolerate people who try to run your life,
ordering you to bow and scrape, insisting that you
Join their obsession with angels and that you seek
out visions. They're a lot of hot air, that's all they are. 19 They're completely out of touch with the source of
life, Christ, who puts us together in one piece, whose
very breath and blood flow through us. He is the
Head and we are the body. We can grow up healthy
in God only as he nourishes us.
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LUKE 11:1-13 (The Message)
The disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray.
Jesus gives them a prayer (The Lord's Prayer --
Luke's version) and a story of persistence in
prayer. "Lord, teach us to pray" meant, "Lord,
give us a prayer to speak."
1 One day he was praying in a certain place. When
he finished, one of his disciples said, "Master, teach
us to pray just as John taught his disciples."
2 So he said, "When you pray, say, Father, Reveal
who you are. Set the world right.
3 Keep us alive with three square meals.
4 Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil."
5 Then he said, "Imagine what would happen if you
went to a friend in the middle of the night and said,
'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread.
6 An old friend traveling through just showed up,
and I don't have a thing on hand.'
7 "The friend answers from his bed, 'Don't bother
me. The door's locked; my children are all down for
the night; I can't get up to give you anything.'
8 "But let me tell you, even if he won't get up
because he's a friend, if you stand your ground,
knocking and waking all the neighbors, he'll finally
get up and get you whatever you need.
9 "Here's what I'm saying: Ask and you'll get; Seek
and you'll find; Knock and the door will open. 10 "Don't bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what
you need. This is not a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek
game we're in.
11 If your little boy asks for a serving of fish, do you
scare him with a live snake on his plate?
12 If your little girl asks for an egg, do you trick her
with a spider?
13 As bad as you are, you wouldn't think of such a
thing - you're at least decent to your own children.
And don't you think the Father who conceived you
in love will give the Holy Spirit when you ask him?"
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Naomi leaves for Turkey Hill Ranch Camp today.Have a good time in the big M - O, Naomi.
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MONDAY, JULY 26TH —
This is Pastor Lynn's day off.
Office closed today.≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈
TUESDAY, JULY 27TH —
Staff-Parish Relations Council Meetingat 6 P.M. in Casey≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈
WEDNESDAY, JULY 28TH —
Worship Service at New Homestead in Guthrie
Center - at 10 A.M.Adair AD Council @ 7 P.M.≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈
THURSDAY, JULY 29TH —
Pastor Lynn plans to take vacation days
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FOCUS ON THE FUTURE —
In August the Adair Bible Study will resume.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 4TH - ADAIR UMW WILL
HAVE A RETREAT AT THE PARK AT LAKE ANITA.
>>>EVERYONE IS WELCOME.<<<• BE AT THE ADAIR CHURCH BY 8:30 A.M.
• BRING BIBLE, LAWN CHAIR AND SACK LUNCH
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A LOOK AT THE PAST
We had wonderful groups for Vacation Bible School
this year. Very bright, exuberant children with this
incredible perpetual energy.A monumental THANK YOU! to everyone who took
part in our bible school week. It is a very big, and
important job - trying to direct all that young energy
for awhile. We certainly do not want to harness it,
only give it direction.
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Keep in mind, many friends and neighbors are being
hammered by severe rain, wind, and hail storms.
Yesterday many southern Iowa towns received five,
six and seven inches of rain. If you do come upon
water over the road, do not try to go through it. Turn
around, or back away from the water. It seems we
tend to say "I have been down this road a thousand
times. I'll be fine." Only many times it doesn't go
that way. Don't take the chance. Stay safe.

God Bless and Keep You,
Pastor Lynn