Inside this issue: God Provides page 1 Our Stewardship of Time page 4 The Preschool Year in Review page 6 Opportunities to Grow in God s Word page 10

Transcription

1 May 2018 Inside this issue: God Provides page 1 Our Stewardship of Time page 4 The Preschool Year in Review page 6 Opportunities to Grow in God s Word page 10

2 On the Cover All around us we see evidence of God s hand. It takes an enormous amount of time to fully grasp the beauty in a single orchid blossom. So it is with all of God s creation and in his people as well. Though we live in a sinful and fallen world, of which we are part, God s glory still shines through. Take time each day to consciously observe these singular points of beauty with a thankful heart. They are a constant reminder of God s care for his creation and his love for his people Merle Ave., Modesto, CA Phone: FAX: Website: stpetermodesto.org Pastor Daniel Schroeder ( dan7schroeder@gmail.com) St. Peter Lutheran Church Mission Statement As people saved by God s undeserved love, we want to share the Word of forgiveness and tell of Jesus Christ. Remembering Jesus love, we seek to strengthen and serve each other and our neighbors daily, acting through faith in our Lord Jesus, as guided by the Holy Spirit. Sunday Morning Worship: 9:00 am Bible Class and Sunday School: 10:30 am Saturday Evening Worship: 6:00pm (First Saturday of the month) Slate, April 2018 Edition

3 God Provides In our Sunday morning Bible study, we ve been looking at God s Providence. In other words, the ways that God provides for us and takes care of us. So far we ve studied how God preserves His creation and how he directs our steps. One of the Bible verses that stood out in my mind was this verse from Deuteronomy: The Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything. - Deuteronomy 2:7 It s amazing to think of how God led the nation of Israel through the desert, providing for them every day for forty years. And as it says in that verse, during that forty years, the Israelites lacked nothing. Considering how large the nation was at that time and the desert area that they wandered in, it was only by a miracle that each day God provided food, drink and protection for all those people. God provides for daily needs As the Israelites wandered in the desert, there is no way that they could have foraged for enough food or brought enough livestock to sustain their nation on a daily basis. So God used miracles to provide for them. God provided manna for them, a heavenly bread, that was able to give them all the nutrients that they needed for daily life. Of course, the Israelites complained that they were tired of manna so God, out of his goodness, provided them with quail. Coninued on page 2 Slate Page 1 May 2018

4 Coninued from page 1 God also miraculously produced water from a rock. God also provides for our daily needs. He provides us with jobs and families that in turn provides us with food, water, and shelter. While these may not seem like miracles to us, it is a miracle that he continues to sustain us with these things. As Paul said in his letter to the Philippians (4:19), My God will meet all your needs. While he may not always give us what we want, we always have more than we need. God guides God took care of the Israelites by guiding them. He provided a pillar of cloud during the day and a pillar of light at night. God continually guides us through miracles as well. The miraculous way that he guides us is through his Word. Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. Psalm 119:105. Through his Word, God instructs us how we should live our lives and then guides us by the Holy Spirit. God protects It s amazing to see how God protected the Israelites. He protected them from Pharaoh and the Egyptian army coming out of Egypt which must have left the Israelites thinking, Only by God s grace. The army had the Israelites pinned against the Red Sea with nowhere to escape. But God provide a path through the waters and demolished the Egyptian army with those same waters. Multiple times God delivered enemy armies into the hands of the Israelites without the Israelites doing any of the work. We know that God will protect us also as promised in Psalm 34:7, The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. While we may not see the miracle of God protecting us with his angels and his power, we know from his promises that he will do so. Coninued on page 3 Slate Page 2 May 2018

5 Coninued from page 2 God takes care of spiritual needs The most important need that God takes care of is our spiritual needs. With the Israelites, God provided the Ten Commandments and the promise of the Messiah. With God s commands, the Israelites saw how they fell short of what God expected. With the worship life and traditions of the Jewish people, God kept them focused on the promise of the Messiah. With us, we know that Jesus is the Messiah through what we have heard and learned in the Bible. We know that Christ lived the perfect life, died and lives again so we may have eternal life. Ephesians 1:7 tells us, In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God s grace. Only by God s grace do we have eternal life. God also takes care of our spiritual needs through the Holy Spirit. We know that he strengthens and preserves us in the one, true faith, until life everlasting, as 1 Peter 5:10 encourages us, And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. All of these miracles that we see in the Bible and in our lives tells us that we have nothing to worry about. After all, Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans, He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? If we worry, we need to go back to God s Word and be reassured by his promises. And in that peace of knowing that God has taken care of everything for us in regards to eternal life through his Son, Jesus Christ, we can in full confidence go about our daily lives and share this good news with others! Deacon Schroeder Slate Page 3 May 2018

6 Our Stewardship of Time When we think about our time, we think of how valuable it is. Whether it s the time we spend with our families, or the time we go to work or even the time to relax and maybe read a book or get some things done around the house. Whatever it is that takes up our time, it is understandable that we would want that time to be taken up by things that are dear and valuable to us. We can, however, be stressed from things that take up a lot of our time, especially if there is a laundry list of them and hardly any time in the day to do it! Because these things can demand so much of our precious time, we can become stressed and even anxious over them. In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus Himself tells us to not be anxious about the things we need on a daily basis, because He will take care of them: Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? (Matthew 6:25 ESV) On the flip side of this topic, the opposite would be if we misuse our time for things that are either not important, or specifically take us away from the responsibilities we have in each of our vocations (being a Christian, a spouse, a parent, employee, and so forth). These things that distract us are harmful, not necessarily because they are bad in and of themselves but for the reason that Continued on page 5 Slate Page 4 May 2018

7 Continued from page 4 they keep us from managing our time well in order to best serve our neighbor. With all this in mind, we also see the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount about Him speaking of the time of His second coming: Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come (Mark 13:33). As Christians, in anticipation of Christ s return, we ought to view the time God has given to us as precious, spending it wisely by proclaiming His Word to this world. Let us not neglect the time we have to carry out our responsibilities, through which we serve our neighbor, and at large the Church. Knowing that time is a gift from God, we reflect on the fourth petition in the Lord s prayer: give us this day our daily bread. Of this, Dr. Martin Luther says in his Large Catechism that in this way, God wishes to show us how He cares for us in all our need and faithfully provides also for our earthly support. Let us not take up our time being anxious about how much time we have to do this or that, but let us use our time to serve those around us knowing that God has promised He will take care of all our needs. Jared Johnson, Stewardship Elder Editor s Note: This is the first installment of a series of articles by our Stewardship Elder, Jared Johnson. In the upcoming month you can look forward to at least two more installments on talents and treasures. We want to thank Jared for these timely articles addressing our Christian stewardship. Martin Luther College If you go to the home page of MLC, you can view photos of activities on the campus and watch videos, including live streamed worship, from links at the bottom of the page. Slate Page 5 May 2018

8 The Prechool Year in Review As this school year comes to a swift close, I would like to give you a summary of our year in pictures and words. Looking back through the year it is wonderful to see how the preschoolers have grown physically, emotionally, socially, academically and spiritually. Physically It was amazing to see children grow physically by using their large motor skills to conquer climbing, throwing and catching. Running, hopping, skipping and even galloping was quite often done on our playground and in our room. Each child had to also use their small motor skills by grasping pencils, using tweezers, pinching clothespins and stringing beads. Emotionally Children grew emotionally as they learned how to control their emotions while saying goodbye to mom and dad in the morning. It was wonderful to see preschoolers gradually learn to use their words when they were upset, sad, or mad. Socially In the beginning of school, the preschool room was full of solitary play and maybe a few groups of children playing together. As the year ends, many friendships have developed or deepened. It was wonderful to see growth in this area, as children learned Continued on page 7 Slate Page 6 May 2018

9 Continued from page 6 how to problem solve in social situations, ask friends for help and have friends join them in play. Academically Our highscope curriculum allows children to grow in all developmental areas at their own rate. It has been exciting watching each child develop their God-given intellect. Children are natural scientists and this year we found ourselves being drawn to God s amazing creation like lizards, snails and other insects. We also explored plants, rocks and seasons changing. We experimented daily with ramps and cars trying to figure out why some cars went further than others. We continued to work on our writing as we used meaningful ways to convey messages. We wrote undercover as we went under the table to draw. At recall time, the preschoolers wrote down what they played with to review what they did at work time. Our structures in the block area grew more detailed throughout the year. More items, like toy people or animals, were added to the block structures. We learned about different art techniques, tried them ourselves and showcased our art work in the art show. Spiritually Best of all, these children have grown in God s Word! Each week they Continued on page 8 Slate Page 7 May 2018

10 Continued from page 7 learned a Bible story, verse and song. During the week, we heard a devotion led by Pastor or Deacon. At the end of the week, our Bible verse was posted on the memory treasure wall. Each week we counted how many memory treasures we had we are now up to 30! These children know that Jesus is their Savior from sin, death and the devil. They know that they have life eternal in heaven because of what Jesus has done for them. It s wonderful to hear the preschoolers retell the Bible stories week after week! Praise God for a year filled with amazing growth in all areas of development for these little ones! Most importantly, praise God for the opportunity to bring our preschoolers the good news about their Savior all year long! Rebecca Toepel, Preschool Director Los Modestos Connect Group Los Modestos is open to anyone who wants to practice speaking in Spanish. We have people at all different levels helping each other out. Our next meeting will be on Saturday, May 5, at 10am. We will meet in the fellowship hall for an hour and practice our conversation skills. One of our topics will be la Biblia as we practice for sharing our faith with others. We will take a look at Academia Cristo, a resource developed by our synod. This website offers a Bible Information Class in Spanish and has over a million followers on Facebook. This is a great way to practice Spanish and also practice using vocabulary having to do with your faith. In doing so you will be better prepared to share your faith with others in Spanish. Ven y ve. Slate Page 8 May 2018

11 Upcoming Youth Group and Pioneers Mother s Day Project May 10 The Pioneers will be working on a special project for Mom with Carol Coutrakis on Thursday, May 10, from 3:30-5pm. The cost will be $3-$5. Please let Deacon Schroeder know by May 1 if you plan to attend so we can order supplies. Psst don t tell the moms. It might ruin the surprise. Great Times Together In April the Pioneers studied plants and animals found in Muir Woods. And since we were headed to Muir Woods for an excursion in April, we planned what we should bring. The kids drew backpacks and items to bring on the trip in those back packs. The Youth Group did something different this month from their usual gatherings. We went to Funworks! We had a Five Hour Play Pass and crammed all of that fun into two hours! Taste of Modesto For all the ladies 21 and older the Taste of Modesto connect group is a great opportunity for an evening of fellowship. The next gathering is Tuesday, May 8, 6:30pm at Chefs of New York. For more information contact Linka Schroeder. Slate Page 9 May 2018

12 Opportunities to Grow in God s Word 2nd Quarter Adult Bible Studies God s Providence (Sunday Morning Bible study) Can we be sure that God cares for every aspect of our lives? Why do things happen the way they do? Do we have a free will that determines our destinies, or does everything happen as God directs? What relation does God have with the evil in our world? Deacon Schroeder will lead us in this study that provides certainty and comfort about God s care for us. (This study meets on Sundays at 10:30am, in the Fellowship Hall.) Christianity 101 People Close to God (Sunday Morning Bible Information Class) It s always good to get back to the basics, especially the Bible. It gives you a foundation on which to build. It s a foundation that we want to shore up. If you haven t taken a class in 5 years or more, it will be a good review. For those who are interested in possibly joining St. Peter, this class helps them to check out what we teach. (This study meets on Sundays at 10:30am, in the Fellowship Hall.) More Prepared to Answer (Monday Lay-Led Bible study) Hot button issues or topics can sneak into a conversation quickly and you may have felt unprepared to answer questions about these. This in-home study provides helpful examples for sharing your faith by supplying Scripturebased responses for common objections to Christianity. (This study meets twice a month at the home of Kevin & Monica Hejnal; check the calendar for meeting dates.) Slate Page 10 May 2018

13 Jesus I Am Statements (Tuesday Men s Breakfast Bible Study) Jesus made some big claims in his I am statements in John s gospel. Jesus uses these memorable statements to describe himself and illustrate the promises that are ours through him. Grow with Christian men in this study that takes place at Perko s on Tuesday mornings. (This study meets every Tuesday at 6:30am at Perko s Restaurant, 3500 Oakdale Rd., Modesto.) Engage (Tuesday & Friday Women s Bible study) Faith, uncertainty, hope, grief, joy, loneliness, love we all experience them. In this video-based series, unpack real stories that will challenge the way you think and may even question the way you feel, but with a purpose: so that you learn more about the profound love God has for you through his Son. (This study will meet through April and May in the Fellowship Hall, Tuesday s study is at 6:30pm, Friday s study is at 10:30am) Unraveling Revelation (Thursday Morning Bible study) Have you wanted to read Revelation, but didn t know where to begin with all the numbers and strange pictures? Have you heard people say, It s SO confusing and SO hard to make sense of!? It doesn t have to be. Our study will help us see how God comforts his people in their struggle against Satan and the forces of evil. We will see triumph because of God s love and care for us. (This study meets every Thursday at 9:30am in the Fellowship Hall.) Escaping the Deathtraps (Words Bringing Wisdom Facebook Study Group) With so many different Christian churches just in the Modesto area, we might wonder if there is a big difference. Using a story, Escaping the Deathtraps is a book that will help us answer questions like why does there have to be so many different kinds of churches? Does it matter that they teach different things? Read about 30 pages a week, respond to questions in a private Facebook group, and grow in understanding what can be a difficult topic. To participate, you will need to purchase a copy of this book from Northwestern Publishing House. (The study begins on May 6. Ask Pastor Schroeder to be admitted to this private Facebook group.) Slate Page 11 May 2018

14 Care Committee The Care Committee is looking for volunteers to be visitors. We have about 16 members of our congregation that would love to have visitors and not enough volunteers to visit them. Read the following testimony by one of our committee coordinators, Renda Barnett: I met a special friend about two years ago, Ines, who is one of our shutins. I loved listening to her stories of El Salvador, of her coming to the states and building a life here, and her travels through Europe. At times we share a meal, explore Scriptures, or talk about family and our faith. I m not sure who benefits the most by our visits. Ines and I invite you to check out the Care Committee. Find your special friend and share the blessings. If you are interested in participating in this program, please talk to our Care Committee Coordinators Renda Barnett and Nancy Gillis or Pastor Schroeder. Vacation Bible School and Soccer Bible Camp Registration Registration is underway for our two summer camps and they are quickly filling up. We already have about 35 kids registered for Soccer Bible Camp and 10 signed up for Vacation Bible School. If you are planning on registering your child, please do so soon as space is limited! Registration is done via the church s website at stpetermodesto.org. The cost for the camps is $20 until the end of April and $25 starting in May. Slate Page 12 May 2018

15 Vacation Bible School and Soccer Bible Camp Volunteers Needed Vacation Bible School and Soccer Bible Camp Homes needed for Volunteers from Martin Luther College Jesus saving work is vital for souls of all ages. In our Soccer Bible Camp we connect with families in our community and share the good news of our Savior. We had a great turnout for our Soccer Bible Camp last year. In order to serve those who may not be interested in soccer, this year we will also offer a Vacation Bible School at the same time. There are numerous ways you can be part of this important outreach program. A signup sheet for volunteers is located at the back of church. No soccer knowledge is needed to help since we have volunteers coming from Martin Luther College to help with the soccer stations. Please talk to Deacon Schroeder if you have any questions. Another way that you can participate in our Evangelism efforts is by providing housing or transportation to our volunteers from Martin Luther College. Housing is needed for the three males and two females. Students will arrive on June 2 and leave on June 9. The volunteers need a place to sleep and breakfast each day. If you are able to help with housing volunteers, please talk to Deacon Schroeder. Coming Next Month Look forward to an article with pictures about the Israel trip taken by Pastor Schroeder, Kevin and Monica Hejnal, and Walt and Darci Luihn. We will hear from them then. Slate Page 13 May 2018

16 Festival of Freedom and Friendship July 1 Festival of Freedom and Friendship is only two months away so it s time to start making preparations for the meal. Serving Circle #6 is in charge of this event and will be planning the decorations, food, set-up and clean-up. The captains will be calling members of Serving Circle #6 to get everyone involved. Sandra Hodge Coen Sarwanoke Robert Sarwanoke Talise Sarwanoke Lydia Smith Terry Smith David Stepanovich Vickie Stone Alicia Tablit Gregory Tablit Jamie Tablit Matthew Tablit, Jr. Matthew Tablit, Sr. Rene Tablit Trenton Tablit Bonnie Teel Jason Toepel Rebecca Toepel Amber Vasquez Paul Vasquez Special Dates to Remember Afternoon of Music Saturday, May 5 3:00 to 5:00 pm in the sanctuary Church Picnic Sunday, May 20 Home Missions Approves New Mission Starts On April 13, the Board for Home Missions approved support for seven new mission congregations as well as support to enhance missionminded ministry at seven other congregations. Read the entirety of this article at Slate Page 14 May 2018