OUR WEEK — APRIL 10 - APRIL 16

REMINDERS —
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6TH —
Adair U.M.W. at 9:00 A.M.COMBINED LENTEN WORSHIP SERVICE —
IN CASEY U.M.C. @ 7 P.M.≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈
THURSDAY, APRIL 7TH —
MENLO UNITED METHODIST WOMEN
GUEST DAY
Meeting at 1:30 P.M. with guest speaker:
Reva Drake, Southwest District Vice President
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FRIDAY, APRIL 8TH —
Naomi will be out of the office today.
The office will be closed.
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SUNDAY, APRIL 10TH —
FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT
COLOR: PURPLE
Today is the final Sunday "in" Lent.

SCRIPTURE READINGS:
EZEKIEL 37:1–14
(The Message)
The valley of the dry bones - - and
what God can do with even this!
1 God grabbed me. God's Spirit took me up and sat
me down in the middle of an open plain strewn
with bones. 2 He led me around and among them - a lot of
bones! There were bones all over the plain - dry
bones, bleached by the sun.
3 He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?"
I said, "Master God, only you know that."4 He said to me, "Prophesy over these bones:
'Dry bones, listen to the Message of God!'"
5 God, the Master, told the dry bones, "Watch this:
I'm bringing the breath of life to you and you'll come
to life.
6 I'll attach sinews to you, put meat on your bones,
cover you with skin, and breathe life into you. You'll
come alive and you'll realize that I am God!"
7 I prophesied just as I'd been commanded. As I
prophesied, there was a sound and, oh, rustling!
The bones moved and came together, bone to bone.
8 I kept watching. Sinews formed, then muscles on
the bones, then skin stretched over them. But they
had no breath in them.
9 He said to me, "Prophesy to the breath. Prophesy,
son of man. Tell the breath, 'God, the Master, says,
Come from the four winds. Come, breath. Breathe
on these slain bodies. Breathe life!'"
10 So I prophesied, just as he commanded me. The
breath entered them and they came alive! They
stood up on their feet, a huge army.11 Then God said to me, "Son of man, these bones
are the whole house of Israel. Listen to what they're
saying: 'Our bones are dried up, our hope is gone,
there's nothing left of us.'
12 "Therefore, prophesy. Tell them, 'God, the Master,
says: I'll dig up your graves and bring you out alive -
O my people! Then I'll take you straight to the land
of Israel.
13 When I dig up graves and bring you out as my
people, you'll realize that I am God.
14 I'll breathe my life into you and you'll live. Then
I'll lead you straight back to your land and you'll
realize that I am God. I've said it and I'll do it.
God's Decree.'"
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PSALM 130 (UMH 848)
(The Message)
1 Help, God - the bottom has fallen out of my life!
Master, hear my cry for help!
2 Listen hard! Open your ears! Listen to my cries
for mercy.
3 If you, God, kept records on wrongdoings, who
would stand a chance?
4 As it turns out, forgiveness is your habit, and
that's why you're worshiped.
5 I pray to God - my life a prayer - and wait for
what he'll say and do.6 My life's on the line before God, my Lord, waiting
and watching till morning, waiting and watching
till morning.
7 O Israel, wait and watch for God - with God's
arrival comes love, with God's arrival comes
generous redemption. 8 No doubt about it - he'll redeem Israel, buy back
Israel from captivity to sin.
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ROMANS 8:6–11
(The Message)
Paul contrasts the life of the flesh, which draws
from sin and leads to death, with the life of the
Spirit, which draws from the Spirit of Christ and
leads to righteousness.
6 Obsession with self in these matters is a dead
end; attention to God leads us out into the open,
into a spacious, free life.
7 Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing
on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self
ignores God, ends up thinking more about self
than God. That person ignores who God is and
what he is doing.
8 And God isn't pleased at being ignored.
9 But if God himself has taken up residence in
your life, you can hardly be thinking more of
yourself than of him. Anyone, of course, who has
not welcomed this invisible but clearly present
God, the Spirit of Christ, won't know what we're
talking about.
10 But for you who welcome him, in whom he
dwells - even though you still experience all the
limitations of sin - you yourself experience life on
God's terms.
11 It stands to reason, doesn't it, that if the alive
and present God who raised Jesus from the dead
moves into your life, he'll do the same thing in you
that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself?
When God lives and breathes in you (and he does,
as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered
from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your
body will be as alive as Christ's!
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JOHN 11:1–45
(The Message)
Lazarus is dead . . . long dead.
Jesus is resurrection and life, and he raises
Lazarus from the dead.
1 A man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of
Mary and her sister Martha.
2 This was the same Mary who massaged the Lord's
feet with aromatic oils and then wiped them with her hair.
It was her brother Lazarus who was sick.
3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, "Master, the one
you love so very much is sick."
4 When Jesus got the message, he said, "This
sickness is not fatal. It will become an occasion to
show God's glory by glorifying God's Son."
5 Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus,
6 but oddly, when he heard that Lazarus was sick,
he stayed on where he was for two more days.
7 After the two days, he said to his disciples, "Let's
go back to Judea."
8 They said, "Rabbi, you can't do that. The Jews
are out to kill you, and you're going back?"
9 Jesus replied, "Are there not twelve hours of
daylight? Anyone who walks in daylight doesn't
stumble because there's plenty of light from the sun.
10 Walking at night, he might very well stumble
because he can't see where he's going."
11 He said these things, and then announced,
"Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep. I'm going
to wake him up."
12 The disciples said, "Master, if he's gone to sleep,
he'll get a good rest and wake up feeling fine."
13 Jesus was talking about death, while his
disciples thought he was talking about taking a nap.
14 Then Jesus became explicit: "Lazarus died.
15 And I am glad for your sakes that I wasn't there.
You're about to be given new grounds for believing.
Now let's go to him."
16 That's when Thomas, the one called the Twin,
said to his companions, "Come along. We might as
well die with him."
17 When Jesus finally got there, he found Lazarus
already four days dead.
18 Bethany was near Jerusalem, only a couple
of miles away,
19 and many of the Jews were visiting Martha and
Mary, sympathizing with them over their brother.
20 Martha heard Jesus was coming and went out
to meet him. Mary remained in the house.
21 Martha said, "Master, if you'd been here, my
brother wouldn't have died.
22 Even now, I know that whatever you ask God
he will give you."
23 Jesus said, "Your brother will be raised up."
24 Martha replied, "I know that he will be raised up
in the resurrection at the end of time."
25 "You don't have to wait for the End. I am, right
now, Resurrection and Life. The one who believes
in me, even though he or she dies, will live.
26 And everyone who lives believing in me does not
ultimately die at all. Do you believe this?"
27 "Yes, Master. All along I have believed that you
are the Messiah, the Son of God who comes into
the world."
28 After saying this, she went to her sister Mary and
whispered in her ear, "The Teacher is here and is
asking for you."
29 The moment she heard that, she jumped up and
ran out to him.
30 Jesus had not yet entered the town but was still
at the place where Martha had met him.
31 When her sympathizing Jewish friends saw Mary
run off, they followed her, thinking she was on her
way to the tomb to weep there.
32 Mary came to where Jesus was waiting and fell
at his feet, saying, "Master, if only you had been
here, my brother would not have died."
33 When Jesus saw her sobbing and the Jews with
her sobbing, a deep anger welled up within him.
34 He said, "Where did you put him?"
35 Now Jesus wept.
36 The Jews said, "Look how deeply he loved him."
37 Others among them said, "Well, if he loved him
so much, why didn't he do something to keep him
from dying?
After all, he opened the eyes of a blind man."
38 Then Jesus, the anger again welling up within
him, arrived at the tomb. It was a simple cave in
the hillside with a slab of stone laid against it.
39 Jesus said, "Remove the stone." The sister of
the dead man, Martha, said, "Master, by this time
there's a stench. He's been dead four days!"
40 Jesus looked her in the eye. "Didn't I tell you
that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"
41 Then, to the others, "Go ahead, take away
the stone."
42 I know you always do listen, but on account
of this crowd standing here I've spoken so that
they might believe that you sent me."43 Then he shouted, "Lazarus, come out!"
44 And he came out, a cadaver, wrapped from
head to toe, and with a kerchief over his face.
Jesus told them, "Unwrap him and let him loose."45 That was a turnaround for many of the Jews
who were with Mary. They saw what Jesus did,
and believed in him.
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MONDAY, APRIL 11TH —
Pastor Lynn's and Naomi's day off.
Office is closed today.
BIBLE STUDY @ CASEY U.M.C. - 6:30 TO 8:30 P.M.≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈
TUESDAY, APRIL 12TH —
Morning Bible Study in Adair U.M.C.
from 9 to 11 A.M.≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13TH —
Prayer Breakfast at Happy Chef - 7 A.M.
COMBINED LENTEN SERVICE IN
ADAIR U.M.C. @ 7 P.M.
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THURSDAY, APRIL 14TH —
• • • BIBLE STUDY • • •
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FUTURE FOCUS —
NEXT SUNDAY, APRIL 17TH, IS PALM SUNDAYAfter 9:00 service, Casey U.M.C. will host a brunch.
After 10:30 service, Adair U.M.C. will host a luncheon
with guest, District Superintendent Rev. Brian Milford
talking with our ABC congregation.
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• Thank you all who attended our Ciela's baptism
and stayed to meet my family afterward. You
certainly helped make it a most memorable day
for all of us.
To keep up with Ciela's growth, check in to the
Bate's website "Our Charmed Life" located at:
www.thekwajbates.blogspot.com.

God Bless and Keep You,
Pastor Lynn