February 2 0 1 5 T ^j^g \/\/QtQfrs christian Pellows trip Rodney W WiMund-Senior Pastor la.fast we Are Here pray For our TO serve Y Nation! StS; Reminders Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday 1 2 3 8 9 10 • 10:00 AM Worship * 10:00 AM Worship 15 Bob & Deb Cilbertson * 10:00 AM Worship 10:00 AM Communion Today «»10:00 AM Worship 16 -6:00 PM CROUP PRAYER 17 11 18 ASH WEDNESDAY! PRESI DENT'S DAY! -6:00 PM CROUP PRAYER .6:00 PM Jail Ministry 22 -6:00 PM CROUP PRAYER Thursday 4 23 24 ^(. -6:00 PM CROUP PRAYER 25 Friday Saturday 5 6 12 13 »7:00 AM Men at Minnard's "7:00 AM Men at Minnard's «6:30 PM Constitutional Prayer Meeting 19 7:00 AM Men at Minnard's «6:30 PM Women's Meeting 26 «'7:00 AM Men at Minnard's 7 14 VALENTINES DAY! 20 21 -7:00 AM PK Breakfast 27 28 Page 1/1 Happenings At Living Waters in February 2015 i\/len's Fellowship At Minnard's home in Baldwin Thursday mornings, Februarys, 12, 19 & 26th 333 Meadowview Ct Ph 715 688-2608 [email protected] Promise Keepers Breakfast Saturocay Women's Bible Study Thursday Ffihniaru 13th at fi aOnm at thff nffinfi Feb 2015 Children's Church Children's Church Schedule will be announced fice Bob & Deb Gllbertson . Bob & Deb Gllbertson have worked with African Inland Missions in Kenya. They will be sharing with us on Sunday February 15th. Be sure to come and bring some friends along to enjoy their presentation and hear about their mission experiences in Kenya! Remember all of our missonaries in your prayers through the year! . , Jail Ministry Monday Feb16th, 6pm 2150 inmates accepted Jesus since 2002 16 so far through 2015PTL! Contacts: Office Phone 715 273-5726 e-mail: [email protected] Church location and address 253 South Piety Street P O Box 309 (mailing address) Ellsworth, Wl 54011 Office Address: 122 N Chestnut Street Office hours 9am-7pm Wed, Thu, Home Page: //www.lwcfellsworth.org/ Due to calls and emergencies at times, it is good to call Pastor Rod ahead of coming to the office to make sure he is in if you need to talk to him personally , Another Way? Matt 19:1-20:16 Jesus' ideas about greatness are revolutionary. Soon they were contrasted against the ideas of the religious of His day; ideas still popular in our day. And still wrong. The way of the Law (Matt 19:3-15). The Pharisees are still the classic example of those zealous for God who expect to find spiritual greatness by rigid adherence to both biblical and human standards of righteousness. These proponents of strict legalism appeared to test Jesus, apparently bringing up a subject which Jesus had spoken on before. "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?" (v. 3) Jesus' answer goes back to the Creation account. He pointed out that God intended marriage to unite two persons as one; thus divorce is not His intention. Immediately the Pharisees struck back. "Why then did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce?" (v. 7) The Law permitted divorce. Jesus' answer had to be wrong. Christ's response reveals the root of legalism's error. "Moses permitted you to divorce your , wives because your hearts were hard" (v. 8). Yes, God permits divorce to a sinful humanity which so often falls short of His ideal. But the Law is not a way of some higher or superior righteousness! The permission to divorce shows how willing God is to accommodate His ideal in consideration of human weakness and sin! The Pharisees' legalism led them to ask the wrong question. They did not ask, "How can we ; restore the broken relationships which bring such agony into marriage?" No, they asked instead, "When is it all right to permit hurting people to separate?" They did not care about broken hearts, crushed by rejection. The Pharisees took refuge instead in legalism, missing the meaning of the Law by setting up rules as to when it should and should not apply. The disciples also missed Jesus' point. Jesus had been teaching about greatness, and had shown that true greatness is to restore the straying lamb, to exercise patience, and to continue ever , ready to forgive. Others too are God's little ones, and may need years of tender love to help them grow. Failing to relate Christ's teaching on greatness to this legal issue, the disciples blurted out, "In that case, it's better not to marry!" Even they were unwilling to commit themselves totally to another person. Jesus then spoke to the disciples. The choice not to marry is for some, but "only those to whom it has been given" (v. 11). Within marriage, all who can live by the way of greatness should choose it (v. 12). Again Jesus drew children around Him. "Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them," He said to His disciples (v. 14). The incident is significant. A Jewish person became "a child of the Law" - that is, responsible to relate to God through the Mosaic Law - at 12. These "little children" were too young to be under Law, yet they could come to Jesus. What God wants is not legalists, but people in intimate personal relationship with Jesus, who will respond willingly to His voice, (from The Teacher's Commentary. Copyright © 1987 by Chariot Victor Publishing. All rights reserved.) Big SinSy Little Sins Four-year-old Andrew is running through the house. Michelle is on the phone as he flies by the kitchen table. He stumbles, piling into the table and knocking off a plastic cup full of water. Michelle picks him up, makes sure that he is okay and tells him not to worry, it was only water that spilled. He smiles, Michelle smiles, gives him a pat on the head and resumes her phone conversation. Even though Michelle told him not to run through the kitchen a million times before, she doesn't mention that to him this time; after all, it was only a cup of water, and she's in the middle of a conversation. The next day Michelle is again at her kitchen table talking on the phone. This time, however, she is cleaning her fine crystal stemware. Andrew again races through, stumbles, piles into the table and knocks a piece of her fine crystal to the floor, where it shatters. Andrew looks up with a small smile, expecting the same result as yesterday. Instead, Michelle hangs up the phone and angrily tells Andrew that he has really done it this time. "How many times have I told you not to run in the house? Now look what you've done! Do you know how expensive that was?" Andrew starts crying. He is confused. Yesterday, what seemed to be the same thing was treated as if it didn't matter. Today, he is a monster. Yesterday, a little sin was overlooked. Today, a big sin is punished.. Big sins, little sins. . What was the difference between the two events? The first time the only apparent damage was spilled water, certainly nothing to engage in discipline over. The second time the damage was a shattered piece of treasured crystal. But think about this with me. What was the real sin? Was it not Andrew running when he was told not to? Yet Michelle is concerned enough to discipline only when a major loss of crystal occurs. You see, the wrong comparison here is the shattered crystal and the spilled water. Both are the results of Andrew's disobedience and Michelle's failure to require obedience. Ordinary things are too important to Michelle. Whatever is important to God is holy. If you distinguish this way between little sins and big sins, your thinking is not holy, but ordinary. If Michelle had been concerned about the seriousness of disobedience, Andrew would have been disciplined the first time. Not for spilling the water, but for running when he was not supposed to. Perhaps the second incident with the shattered crystal would never have happened if Andrew had been properly challenged the day before. It is dangerous to judge the seriousness of sin by the consequences. Parenting Tip • • -.-^ Be Careful of B e h a v i o r Modification Sandra is four years old. You can often hear her monn make statennents like this. "Sandra, clean up your toys so you can have a snack." "Finish getting dressed so you can go out and play." Monn has learned that if she tells Sandra that she'll get a reward, then Sandra is more likely to do the task. The problem is that Mom is appealing to Sandra's selfishness in order to get things done. It may be easy to get a preschooler to do what you want by giving some kind of reward but as she gets older you have to increase the value of the reward to get the same response. You can motivate a preschooler with a quarter, but you'll need a dollar by the time she's seven, and five dollars by the time she's ten, and you'll be paying her $20 at thirteen. If you continue to use the same system, by the time she's in high school you'll have to promise her a car to get her to graduate. The reason is clear. Behavior Modification requires that you give a reward that's greater than the desire to do something different. You're simply creating an incentive that motivates kids to do something they'd rather not do because of something that they want instead. Behavior Modification works because it appeals to the selfishness in a child's heart. But, unfortunately, kids grow up asking the wrong questions, "What's in it for me?" "Are you going to pay me for this?" ' • Check your words. If you tend to overemphasize rewards and punishment in your parenting, you might want to make a change. Kids need to learn that we do what's right because it's the right thing to do, not just to get a reward. The articles in this month's Calendar deal with our relationships within our family and also with marriage relationships in that same context. Pastor Rod has been teaching on these relationships the past few weeks and these articles simply confirm what he has been teaching! We all need to consider how our conduct each day affects our family relationships^ both parents and children! Make it an effort this year to walk in love and forgiveness! WATCH YOUR TONE!!!! Blessings, jHlmuml Living Waters Contact and Information Page Web page locations are as follows: 1. Homepage; http//www. I wcf e 11 s wo rt h. o rg/ February 2015 Once you are on tfie fiome page you can cfioose many different areas to look at. Enjoy browsing on our web page! There are several ministries you can take advantage of at Living Waters all through the week. Men meet at Minnard's home in Baldwin every Thursday morning at 7am for Bible Study. coffee, goodies & good fellowship (715) 688-2608 or (612) 419-5704 ..t-r-^r.^ ^ V i, . e-mail: [email protected] February 5. 12. 19 & 26th , ' ^' ' . , ^ Promise Keepers Breakfast Saturday February 21st 7am at the office JAIL BIBLE STUDY AT ST. CROIX JAIL IN HUDSON Monday February 15th 6pm Corporate Prayer Wed evenings at 6pm at the office . ^ . ( : ' WOMEN'S BIBLE STUDY Thursday February 19th, 6:30pm at office Please make it a dally commitment to lift our Nation and Its leaders In prayer! Remember Mark 11:23-26 .. J Speak to the mountain and walk In Love & Forgiveness! , God"s plan for a Kingdom Family! ^ 0% ^"^ ^'Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and Pthe two shall become one flesh." This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, ^let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she ''respects her husband. Eph. 6:1 ^Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ^ ^"Honor your father and mother" (this is the first commandment with a promise), ^ "that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land." ^ Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, ^but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.