Serving Schedule

If you are unable to keep your scheduled serving day, please contact the church at least a few days before the service so there is time to find a replacement. Thank you!

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Statistics for Last Week

Financials

• Regular Offering: $3,127.00
• Online Giving: $100.00
• Non-Budget: $0.00
• Memorial: $20.00
• Scholarship: $0.00
• Building Fund: $0.00

Attendance

• Worship Attendance: 38
• Sunday School: n/a
• Youth Group: n/a
• Midweek Bible Study: n/a
• Men’s Bible Study: 2

Please make every attempt to have your kids in Sunday School each week, and your teens in Youth Group.

Important News & Announcements

NEED PRINTED ANNOUNCEMENTS?

Please ask Pastor if you would like a printed copy of the announcements. Thank you.

Noisy Offering THIS SUNDAY!  Bring your loose change to church and the children will come by before the service to collect.  Loose change goes to support our Scholarship fund for high school graduates who go to college.  Thank you!

Stewardship Thought for This Week

Matthew 9:9 – “As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he rose and followed him.” When Jesus talks, Matthew listens and acts. Jesus says, “Follow me,” and Matthew follows. What does this tell us about Matthew? It tells us that he believes in Jesus. Our actions flow out of our faith. Show me what a man does, and I’ll tell you what he really believes. Our sinful actions uncover our false beliefs and our need for repentance and a return to the forgiveness we find in Jesus. Our godly actions display our faith in Jesus. What kind of faith (or false belief) do your financial actions display?

Sunday School/VBS News

Children’s and Youth Sunday School is over for summer, but children and youth are always encouraged to attend adult Bible Study.  Instill a good habit of churchly participation!  Bring them to Bible Study.

Vacation Bible School is slated for Monday, August 14 – Wednesday, August 16^th in the evenings.  We need adults and older youth to participate and help lead.  More information will be coming soon.

Summer Bible Study Opportunities

There is no time like the present to be in the Word, studying and growing in Christ.  To that end, we will continue to have our Thursday morning class where we study the Book of Concord.  As Lutherans, we believe the Book of Concord is a correct exposition of the Holy Scripture and thus it’s important we are familiar with it.  Join us Thursdays at 9:00 am and bring your Book of Concord with you.  If you don’t have one, speak to pastor about getting one for you.

Adult Bible Study continues this Sunday at 10:30 with a multi-week study on the Lord’s Supper.  Today we will talk about some foundational matters: theology and the proper way to read and interpret the Scripture.  Join us, and bring a bible if you have one!

Men, join us Thursdays at 6:30pm for Men’s Bible Study.

Lifetree Cafe is coming in August…

Morning Prayer

Join us at the church or online every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 7:30 for morning prayer, a short service of responsive prayers, hymns, and readings.

Senior Social Day

Seniors, why not come to the church every 2nd Thursday at 10am for a time of good fun, fellowship and games, coffee and treats, and to meet other Milaca seniors? We’ve got a good group of people but would love it if you could come too! Bring your favorite board game or card game with you.

We will not have a monthly Newsletter during the summer months. Important announcements, schedules, and meetings will be printed in the weekly news.

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Subscribe to the official newspaper of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod! Visit reporter.lcms.org to get regular updates, notices, synodical news, and more!

Pastor Carlson has been publishing a daily devotion online and emailing it to subscribers. That’s right! This is a great way to start of your day in the Word and prayer. Simply go to stpaulsmilaca.org/subscribe or speak to Pastor, and you’ll start to receive a devotion every weekday in your email inbox.

The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, 68th Regular Convention is July 29 through August 3. Pastor Carlson, along with a lay delegate from our circuit, will be attending the convention and representing St. Paul’s and our circuit. The convention is in Milwaukee, WI at the Wisconsin Center/Arena.

Pastor will spend a little time at the next quarterly voters meeting detailing the convention and provide for you a list of matters which will be voted on.

To keep up with the convention timeline, to read the overtures, and to learn about the various candidates who will fill positions nationally, please visit LCMS National Convention – The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Also, please pray for safe travel for all who are preparing to head to Milwaukee in late July.

SPIRITUAL WELL-BEING & MENTAL HEALTH OF LUTHERAN LAITY… Issues, Etc., a radio talk show and podcast produced by Lutheran Public Radio, will have Rev. David Fleming and Dr. Beverly Yahnke of Doxology respond to your questions and comments about the spiritual well-being and mental health of Lutheran laity.  You can submit your question via email: talkback@issuesetc.org, Facebook: facebook.com/issuesetc, or the Issues, Etc. Comment Line: (618) 223-8382.  You can listen to the interview at your convenience at issuesetc.org, the LPR mobile app and your favorite podcast provider.

SCRIPTURE: “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.” – John 15:7

This is a miserable world for unbelievers. They work and work and accomplish nothing. They may pray much to all sorts of gods and idols, search the world for answers, and even knock on many doors to find whatever they are looking for. But they knock on the wrong door, search in the wrong places, and pray to the air. For everything they do is without faith and thus they cannot really pray.

Prayer is a work of faith alone. Only believers can truly pray, and they do so not of their own merits, but in the name of the Son of God, in whom they have been baptized. Believers know that their prayers please God because God has commanded them to pray in the name of Christ and assured them that He will hear their prayers. Unbelievers don’t know this. They pray in their own names, merits, or by their own qualifications and believe, through much meditation, through drinking the right teas or coating themselves in ointments and oils that their prayers will be heard. They read, study, learn, and think they can make themselves smart enough to say the “right” type of prayer so to unlock heaven to them. They say, “I’ve prayed, but who knows if anyone heard my prayers.” What sort of prayer is that?

But Christians do not approach prayer in such a way. We pray because God commands us to pray, and because He promises to hear and answer. We pray in the name of Christ, and this means that what we ask for will be given to us. We experience God’s help in all sorts of situations, but if relief doesn’t come right away, we still know that our prayers are pleasing to God. God has answered, because God has given us the strength to endure.

“People hate the truth for the sake of whatever it is they love more than the truth.  They love the truth when it shines warmly on them, and hate it when it rebukes them.“

— St. Augustine of Hippo (AD 354 – 430)