Worship: Sunday 9:00 AM Bible Class to follow

CONFESSION OF FAITH

If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. - Romans 10:9

Did you ever wonder what made the early Christians willing to confess their faith in Jesus even when it brought persecution and death? Some Christians in the first century were stoned to death. Others were crucified. Still others were thrown to the lions. Yet they died praising Jesus, confessing him as their Lord and Savior.

In the centuries that followed, believers in Jesus continued preaching and teaching about him even at the threat of physical harm. One such man was Martin Luther who lived in Germany back in the 1500’s. Luther boldly preached and taught about Jesus and became one of the most prolific writers about the Christian faith who has ever lived. When the authorities pressured him to take back what he had written, Luther firmly replied, “Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen!” As a result, he was labeled an outlaw and it was open season for anyone who wanted to take his life.

How could Luther and many other Christians confess their faith so boldly even at the threat of physical harm and death? Because they knew that something much better was waiting for them after this life. They knew that Jesus died for their sins and rose from the dead. Jesus’ resurrection meant that God accepted his sacrifice for their sins and they too would rise to live forever in heaven.

Christians still have this hope today. We know this life is temporary. Nothing in this life is going to last. It will all eventually decay and perish. But those who trust in Jesus and confess him as their Lord and Savior will enjoy a perfect life with him that will never end. This changes the perspective and priorities of believers in Jesus. Confident in their eternal salvation through Jesus, Christians confess their faith in the Lord Jesus even to the point of death.

Come worship with us and learn more about what confessing Christians throughout the ages have been willing to die for. Jesus is your Savior who came into this world to die and rise again so that you might live with him forever.

- From the WELS Outreach Newsletter

10203 W. Tieton Drive, Yakima WA 98908 Isaac P. Cherney, Pastorwww.redeemer-yakima.org (262) 204-8027

DECEMBER 2017See http://www.redeemer-yakima.org/#/calendarnews for

most recently updated calendarSun Mon Tue Wed Thur Fri Sat

1 2

3

9:00am Worship10:30am Bible Study – “Creeds”

4:00 PM Auction and Potluck

4

7:00pm Bible Info Class

5 6

7:00pm Midweek Advent Devotion (Grace)

7 8 9

7:00am Elders9:00am“Dying to Live” Study/Bible Info Class

DECEMBER 2017See http://www.redeemer-yakima.org/#/calendarnews for

most recently updated calendarSun Mon Tue Wed Thur Fri Sat10

9:00am Worship(Communion – Stuebs Leader)10:30am Bible Study – “Creeds”

4:00pm – Childrens’ Christmas Service

11

7:00pm Bible Info Class

12 13

7:00pm Midweek Advent Devotion (Grace)

14 15 16

9:00am - Bible Info Class

12:00pm Christmas Caroling!

17

9:00 Worship (Flunker Leader) 10:30 Bible Study

18 19 20

7:00pm Midweek Advent Devotion (Grace)

21

7:00 pmCHURCH COUNCIL

22 23

249:00 Worship (Communion)10:30 Bible Study

7:00pm Christmas Eve Worship

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11:00am Christmas Day Worship (Grace)

26 27 28 29 30

31

9:00 Worship (Communion)10:30 Bible Study

DATE ATTENDANCE MINISTRATIONS -EVENTS OFFERINGS

Sunday, November 5, 2017 81 10 18 - Grace / 22 - Redeemer $3,661.90Sunday, November 12, 2017 93 20 - Grace / 16 - Redeemer $5,161.00Sunday, November 19, 2017 111 21 -Redeemer $3,525.50

Thursday, November 23, 2017 59 n/a $771.00Sunday, November 26, 2017 106 n/a $3,624.00

Alphabet Soup

Matt Johnson

As an older millennial, I have many friends who like to use “text lingo”… even when talking. I was a little slow at adopting technology so the constant stream of letters is sometimes very confusing. “LOL, ROTFL, BRB, TBH, IDK, OIC, and TTFN.” I get lost in it all. However, acronyms are not all bad and confusing. As Americans we use many of them every day. RSVP (Répondez s'il vous plait (French for “respond if you please”)),A.M./P.M., A.D./B.C. (Anno Domini (Latin for "In the year of Our Lord"/ “Before Christ”), DIY (do it yourself), ETA (estimated time of arrival), B.Y.O.B. (Bring your own Bible), PS (post script) and my favorite IKEA (short for the Swedish company Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd). These are common in American culture, but what about in Christianity? Let’s look at a few acronyms that may be helpful in your Christian life.

Daily Bible reading is important in our Christian lives. This is how God talks to us. It is also the Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth (B.I.B.L.E.). However, rushing over verses that are immediately forgotten turns out like the man James talks: “Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like

someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.” (James 1:23-24). So how can we be sure to not forget what we read right away? Most of us use soap in our morning routine and we can use S.O.A.P. in our daily reading as well. I am not saying to apply your hand soap to the pages of your Bible, but rather to read the Scripture and write out any verses that stick out to you. Then, Observe why the verse stuck out to you. This can be a short sentence or a whole book. The third step is Application, write out how you can apply this verse in your daily life. Finally, Pray,

write out a prayer to God based on what you read and ask him to help you apply it to your life today. Now, if you do this on an index card, or in a small notebook you can refer to it throughout the day, which will help you even more. Then, you can be more like the other man James referred to, “But whoever looks intently into the

perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.” (James 1:25)

Another important part to our daily Christian lives is prayer. Believe it or not, even the disciples had trouble praying and had to

ask Jesus to teach them to pray: “One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.’” (Luke 11:1) This interaction is how we have been blessed with the Lord’s Prayer and the more familiar phrasing found in Matthew 6: 9-13. The disciples also found it hard to pray sometimes, as we see from them falling asleep in the garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:32-42). A good acronym for prayer is P.R.A.Y. Praise God for all he has done for you. Repent of sins you are aware of. Ask God to provide for your daily needs, and any other burdens you need to lay down, and then Yield to his will. In yielding I do not mean to imply a half-hearted, “Lord, let your will be done.” Rather, earnestly seeking God’s will to be done in your life, and yielding your own wants and desires to pursue His will being done. This is what is meant by, “Whatever you ask in my name will be given to you.” We’re not implying

the condition “In Jesus’ name…” will guarantee you the Corvette you just prayed for, but when you pray as Jesus did for the Father’s will to be done, that prayer will always be answered.

The final acronym also has to do with prayer as well. We see in the parable of the persistent woman (Luke 18:1-8), and in Elijah praying for the rain (1 Kings 18:41-46), that you have to P.U.S.H. when praying. That is Pray Until Something Happens. Do you have an unsaved family member? Pray for the Holy Spirit to bring them to faith, until something happens. Have a family member addicted to drugs? Pray until they stop. Do you have a problem with sin? Pray until the temptation goes away. There you go! Brush off your WWJD (What would Jesus Do) bracelets and grab a cup of C.O.F.F.E.E (Christ Offers Forgiveness For Everyone Everywhere) and get out into the world and share some of these useful tips.

My Grandfather’s “Spirit of Christmas”

A Selection from John Hardison’s Under God’s Sky

Every December, we hear people talk about the “Spirit of Christmas,” but I’m not sure many really know what that means. I learned the meaning from my grandfather.

Gramp was a quiet Christian worker who kept the Spirit of Christmas all year-

around. Most Sundays he could be found in the inside seat of the last pew at the back of the church. He regularly helped at church picnics, and on several

occasions, he went on weeklong trips to work in a mission field. But the Spirit of Christmas was revealed most in the quiet things he did behind the scenes. Without being asked, he

selected, bought, and delivered several large sacks of groceries to a desperate family with 11 children. He quietly slipped money for food and rent to the wife of a disabled veteran temporarily out of work. A college student Gramp had never met was working 40 hours a week to support his family. When the student couldn’t come up with enough money to complete his degree, Gramp supplied the money. He sponsored another student through a couple of years of college when he found out she would have to drop out for lack of funds. And I can’t count how many family members he helped with encouragement, wise counsel, and sometimes material gifts when a hand-up was needed.

In December 1967, a medium-sized, handmade, wooden crate arrived in the mail, with Gramp’s name on the return address. When I pried it open, I found inside a miniature, handmade stable to be used with a nativity set. Each piece of wood had been carefully cut, stained with dark walnut stain, and lovingly nailed in its proper place. The design was ingenious. A light shines up through a hole in the roof, illuminating a handmade star, and also down on

the baby Jesus. That light reminds us of our twofold job in this world: to let the world know about the newborn Savior and to give all glory to him. That manger scene is still the first decoration I put up and the last I take down.

My grandfather passed away on November of 1977 and I can’t tell you how much he is missed. But his Christmas spirit lives on in the work he did. Over the years he quietly made and gave away more than 130 of those stables. In all those homes, the little lights continue to shine on the One who gives meaning to the Spirit of Christmas. The many people who received one of his miniature stables or to whom he offered a helping hand remember a man who understood what it meant to keep the Spirit of Christmas all 365 days of the year.

May God bless us all with the desire to use our talents and possessions to keep the Spirit of Christmas alive throughout the year. Through our lives, may others always see the one who came to be our Savior.

“So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.” – Luke 2:4-7

Q & AIsaac Cherney

Question: How do we understand and use the idea of living in a “state of grace”?

Answer: A phrase like “state of grace” is only as good as the object of comfort to which it points. The sinful human nature would love to imagine that it can arm-wrestle itself into God’s grace and take up residency indefinitely with no chance of getting the boot. But the apostle Paul says that ejecting yourself out of this “state of grace” is very

much possible and we should take note from those who have “shipwrecked their faith” and rejected God’s gracious plan for them (1 Timothy 1:19).

So if shipwrecked ejection from the “state of grace” is possible… what good is it? This is the core issue. Living in or out of God’s grace is determined 100% by the work of Christ, forgiveness. Knowledge and appreciation of this most precious gift, distributed by the Holy Spirit, is

how we exercise our faith and life within a “state of grace.”

To simplify things, keep in mind this simple lesson: All Christianity can be reduced down to two truths: Law and Gospel, “Do” and “Done.” The commands to live a godly life in every expression is God’s will for us… so “do” it (Matthew 5:48)! But the notion of a state of grace is the simple acceptance of the fact that God “did” it all for us, every command fulfilled and full forgiveness won by Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1, 2). His attitude and love, his grace, are what guarantee that this price paid is enough for now and always.

God’s grace ought never be a matter of “achieve it! earn it! improve it!” These notions are impossible. Enjoy the gift of grace shown in God’s forgiveness and redemption offered freely and fully in Jesus!

- Pastor Cherney