Emanuel Happenings

King David explains, “The earth is the LORD’s and everything in it” (Psalm 24:1). That word “everything” doesn’t leave any wiggle room, does it? That word “everything” means that your home and all its furnishings, your vehicle and all that’s in the trunk, your bank account, the twenty-eight dollars in your wallet, the wallet itself, and the pocket in which you carry your wallet all belong to God. Everything you have was given to you by your good and gracious Father. We need to understand that. But it is just as important that we understand why God provides for our physical needs. As we have seen throughout this worship series, God has called us to ministry. He asks us to reflect his love in meeting the physical and spiritual needs of others. Believers want to serve others in those ways. By providing for us, God meets our need to meet others’ needs. This week Jesus promises that he will provide the resources necessary to conduct meaningful ministry. Want to hear more? See you this weeke

 

In the ancient Middle East, a shepherd needed certain skills to do his job well: knowledge of edible grasses, ability to trim hooves, capacity to fend off predators, and competency to birth lambs. However, the greatest qualification of a shepherd is much simpler. A good shepherd needed to care for his sheep. Without that, none of those other skills would be fully utilized. In Scripture, meaningful ministry is often pictured as a compassionate shepherd caring for his sheep: Jesus’ care for us; a spiritual leader’s care for his “flock.” Certainly, gospel ministry requires specific skills: the ability to actively listen to people, the aptitude for applying the gospel to someone’s situation, etc. But ultimately, meaningful ministry requires a compassionate heart—a profound caring for others. An individual might know God’s Word backward and forwards. But if they lack compassion, they will not fully perform meaningful ministry. Today, we ask the Spirit to see how Jesus models a compassionate

  Welcome to our team, Luke Zeamer, Stephen Berg, and Anna Laabs! We're thrilled to have you join our school community. Mr. Zeamer will be inspiring young minds in 4th grade, Mr. Berg is bringing his math expertise to our middle school students, and Mrs. Laabs will be guiding our students toward success as our new Guided Studies Director. We can’t wait to see how the Lord will bless you, your students, and Emanuel this coming school year!

Our Building Your Faith construction site is in full swing! Day two of Vacation Bible School at Emanuel Church was a blast! Our young builders are hard at work, learning about the solid foundation that faith can provide. From hammering out Bible truths to building incredible crafts, the kids are having a blast. Our amazing VBS leaders are laying the groundwork for a strong spiritual foundation. Our little construction workers are already sharing their excitement. We couldn't do it without our incredible volunteer crew! Their hard work and dedication are the steel beams holding up our VBS.  Want to join the construction crew? It's not too late! Bring your hard hat and enthusiasm to Emanuel. Visit our website  for more details. 

 To see all of our Forward Progress photos, visit our  gallery . 

Emanuel Lutheran School is seeking a part-time piano teacher for the 2024-2025 school year to join our growing team of private lessons teachers. The teacher would be an independent contractor providing one-on-one lessons to students once a week during the school day. For more information and to apply, please contact Music Director Kate Tiefel at ktiefel@emanuelnl.org.

When a child asks a sibling to do something there isn’t much certainty as to the results. The sibling might simply ignore the request. However, if that same child goes to a brother or sister with “Dad said so,” it’s a very different story! Now the father’s authority is behind the child’s request. As believers carry out gospel ministry, encouraging others to turn to Christ in repentance, people might push back. “What gives you the right?” Maybe we ask that question ourselves. “I’m far from perfect. So, what gives me the right to talk about things like sin?” This week we are given the answer to that question. “Dad said so.” When our God calls us to do ministry, he also gives us authority. In calling us to ministry, God isn’t asking us to share our advice or our opinion or even our values. We are sharing God’s own authoritative Word. Gospel ministry is conducted by believers but with God’s own authority behind the effort.  Want to hear more? See you this weekend: Saturday at 5:15 p.m. • S

Emanuel Lutheran School has two upright pianos and an electronic practice organ that are no longer needed for ministry and need to find new homes. These are available for purchase for a free-will donation. The buyers are responsible for moving the instruments. Please stop by the church office or contact Music Director Kate Tiefel for more information at ktiefel@emanuelnl.org.

 

If ministry involves serving others with love and compassion, you would think that people would respond only with glee and gratitude for the help they received. Sometimes, but not always. If you offer to help a family member who is having trouble paying his bills, he might be offended, wondering if you are implying that he is not a good provider. Likewise, if you try to share the gospel with someone, he might resent the message that he is a sinner in need of salvation. You are trying to minister to this man’s greatest need. Your intentions are loving. Yet he responds with rejection and resentment. When our ministry efforts are met not with glee and gratitude but rejection and resentment, we are in good company. The prophets, apostles, and even Jesus himself all had those who responded negatively to their ministries. When that happens to us, it doesn’t mean our ministry is no longer meaningful. For if others do not appreciate our efforts to serve them, God still appreciates our efforts

“Ministry” is one of those churchy words that is often used, yet perhaps not fully understood. Ministry comes from the Latin word for “service.” Ministry involves serving others with love, compassion, and empathy. Helping someone with physical needs is sometimes called “compassion ministry.” Helping someone with their spiritual needs, sharing the good news of Christ, is generally called “gospel ministry.” We misunderstand ministry if we think of it as something only ministers do. While pastors are called to perform gospel ministry on behalf of others, ultimately every believer is called by God to reflect Christ-like love and share the message of salvation as God provides those opportunities. In this worship series we will see our efforts to meet the needs of those God brings into our sphere of influence as meaningful ministry. In our service to them, those people see God’s love and God sees our faith. Our worship follows this pattern: Seventh Sunday after Pentecost— Not Glee and Gratit