REAL MEN DROP L-BOMBS
Saying “I Love You” and Other Emotional Blessings of Christianity
Read Full Article at https://mbird.com/2021/05/real-men-drop-l-bombs/
You’ve heard the confession countless times before. “My father never said ‘I love you’ to me growing up.” I heard it from a friend yesterday, while we were running together. He explained, “It wasn’t that he didn’t love me or was cold, just that, like most men of his generation, he expressed his love non-verbally, through provision and presence and maybe the occasional hug.”
Read Full Article at https://mbird.com/2021/05/real-men-drop-l-bombs/
Remembering Claude Hessee
Service at Grace. Thursday May 20th at 11am
Service and Visitations
Visitation
Wednesday May 26 5-7pm
Haisley Funeral Home Ft. Peirce
3015 Okeechobee Rd, Fort Pierce, FL 34947
Memorail Service
Thursday May 27th 11am
Grace Lutheran PSL
555 SW Cashmere Blvd. Port St Lucie, FL 32986
Live Stream: https://youtu.be/pc1r2qDqIjc
Graveside
Following Memorial Service
White City Cemetary
More Information Coming
![[Sunday] Physically Empty - Entrusted](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1621627248732-UEAU9R45YTOXJ30ZCOZC/Entrusted+Weekly2a.jpg)
[Sunday] Physically Empty - Entrusted
Those hurtful empty words only bring hurt and harm. They are only shouted to puff up and look important. But we see the words of the Creator bring about physical life and grace to the whole creation.
Questions for the Week
Share a time when someone’s empty words hurt you.
Read 2 Timothy 3:1-17. What does Paul say about those people who use hurtful words? How is the folly of those hurtful people on full display?
How does the voice of Jesus differ from those empty words?
Action Item: Find a way to be physically present with someone and share some hope with them.
Service [above] Sermon releases at 10pm [under]
What Had happened at Grace this week.
![Christmas Dinner at Mission BBQ [photos]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1766111458710-ULPCKS16DAZCMUN7LI93/PXL_20251218_000243197.jpg)
![[Sunday] A Song of Christmas Light - Know Me Better Man Stave 3](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1765482111687-AQYCM4FZQV9BO7JIPL02/Christmas+light+3a.jpg)
ORDINARY FORGIVENESS AND THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
What if the Resurrection is Actually Just the Beginning?
Read the whole article here: https://mbird.com/2021/05/ordinary-forgiveness-and-the-christian-life/
Some have described the Easter season as a journey. And indeed, one can’t help but notice a shift in the trajectory of the Sunday readings. From Easter Sunday to just before Pentecost, the readings slowly move out away from the initial joy of the empty tomb, and especially as we move closer to and beyond the Ascension, the readings return to the Upper Room Discourses in John’s Gospel, the place where we began our journey through the Lord’s Passion and Resurrection on Maundy Thursday.
We’ve turned from the initial Easter Joy to a consideration of what it’s like for us as we live within what Paul Zahl calls the presence of the absence of the Risen Lord. And this Gospel arc will culminate next week with Pentecost Sunday, the birthday of the Church, the beginning of our life as Christians.
![[Bible Study] 1 Peter 4 - Zoom to Scripture](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1621612738458-PD4XL85AS3LT8D82C3VY/Zoom+to+Scripture+%2812%29.jpg)
Grand Opening of Alzheimer's Day Care - Photos
We added more pictures
More photos may come in the future.
![[Sunday] Corners Cut - Entrusted](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1621089309588-879AN4S4APXC29NXOA59/Entrusted+Weekly1a.jpg)
[Sunday] Corners Cut - Entrusted
Backed up against the wall seeming no other way out, it's tempting to cut corners, to make the task easier, to get to the goal faster. But Paul is encouraging us to remember the faith we have been entrusted with, to follow it though and not cut corners.
Questions for the Week
What is something that has been “entrusted” to you? How do you treat that thing that is “entrusted” to you?
Read 2 Timothy 1:1-13. Paul uses examples of soldiers, athletes and farmers to show us not to cut corners. In what ways have you tried to cut corners in your life and faith? What has been the result of cutting those corners?
How does the promise that “the word of God is not bound” enable you to live out your faith?
Action Item: When you are stressed this week, don’t try to cut corners and fix it. Pause and notice how Jesus is working.
Service [above] Sermon releases at 10pm [under]
What Had happened at Grace this week.
![[Sunday] A Song of Christmas Light - Pointing to Greatness Stave 4](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1766107074577-MKU6U8LW1N5S1EATE1RW/Christmas+light+4a.jpg)
Updated Covid Restrictions May 17th 2021
Sunday May 16th continues our current covid safeguards.
Grace Building Best Practices for Covid
Masks not required. (keep in mind the unvaccinated)
Keep the Distance. (no overcrowding rooms)
Wash hands upon arrival.
CDC and the state of Florida have been updating guidance pertaining to COVID-19.
We have also been paying attention to how Disney and Universal Orlando have responded and to what they’re telling their guests because they are some of Florida’s leaders in handling customers and employees during this last year’s situation.
Both what the government and big companies are suggesting are important places we use as a guide here at Grace Lutheran PSL in these times.
Some of the leadership at Grace had an impromptu meeting on Friday about our next steps leading out of COVID-19, and we developed a plan.
We will let you know what that plan is on Sunday May 16th during the worship services.
As for Sunday May 16th, our current plans will stay in place.
Wear a mask (no peeking noses)
Wash hands
Physical distance
Max 50 in Sanctuary and 10 in overflow
Thanks so much
Cris Escher
Pastor: Grace Lutheran PSL
![[Bible Study] 1 Peter 3 - Zoom to Scripture](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1621089177786-6M1F82XZ2C5QKP7XWO2R/Zoom+to+Scripture+%2811%29.jpg)
Entrusted - Paul's Final Letter to Timothy
This is the message I’ve been set apart to proclaim as preacher, emissary, and teacher. It’s also the cause of all this trouble I’m in. But I have no regrets. I couldn’t be more sure of my ground, the One I’ve trusted in can take care of what He’s trusted me to do right to the end. Now, go with the faith; you have been entrusted into all the world.
This is the message I’ve been set apart to proclaim as preacher, emissary, and teacher. It’s also the cause of all this trouble I’m in. But I have no regrets. I couldn’t be more sure of my ground, the One I’ve trusted in can take care of what He’s trusted me to do right to the end. Now, go with the faith; you have been entrusted into all the world.
Sermon Playlist
Watch Full Servies & See Bulletins
![[Sunday] Itching Ears - Entrusted](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1622217670457-L7M4NF8J0TMKHSPAM1Y3/Entrusted+Weekly3a.jpg)
Grand Opening of Alzheimer's Day Care. May 14th
Friday May 14th
We are Excited to celebrate the opening of the Alzhimer’s Community care day facility at Grace Lutheran Church
May 14th beginning at 11:30am
AN ODE TO CURIOSITY
This Place of Curiosity — the Very Opposite of Judgement — is Often Where I Experience God.
Read the whole article here https://mbird.com/2021/05/an-ode-to-curiosity/
One of the best scenes in the opening season of the surprise-hit show Ted Lasso is during a darts match in a sports bar. As the game is heating up and a crowd is clustering around him and his opponent, Lasso tells a story in parabolic fashion. While driving his son to school one day, he sees a quote painted on a wall: “Be curious, not judgmental.” The quote reminds him of the people who used to belittle him when he was young. “Not a single one of them was curious,” he recalls. “They thought they had it figured out. They judged.” Little did they know that Lasso did have something to offer (and little does his opponent know that Lasso is a master at darts). The moral here is that curiosity is the opposite of judgment. Where judgment decides, curiosity searches; where judgment closes a door, curiosity leaves it open.
![[Sunday] Hope Shapes Us - Rise](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1620395851190-UL5OY57JRWAZSFL2434A/Rise+Weekly+5a.jpg)
[Sunday] Hope Shapes Us - Rise
If your house was about to be destroyed, would you clean it? Would you fix the leaky faucet? Would you take care of it. Perhaps our care of creation follows when our hope is in its destruction. But the resurrection gives a new hope, not in destruction, but in a restorative God who's making all things new again.
Questions for the Week
Have you ever seen something that was completely restored? How did you feel about that thing that was restored?
Read Revelation 21:1-8 What does Jesus promise to do? How is making all things new different than making a new thing?
How does having Hope that all things will be restored change how you live today?
Action Item: Take some time this week and think about a troubled place or problem in our world today. Spend some time praying for that place or issue, trusting that God will make all things new.
Service [above] Sermon releases at 10pm [under]
What Had happened at Grace this week.
![[Bible Study] 1 Peter 2 - Zoom to Scripture](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1620398689904-54XOA6G31QROG5B6XQF7/Zoom+to+Scripture+%2810%29.jpg)
A Fresh Breath of Hope
Consider the Lillies of the Field
Read the Whole article Here. https://mbird.com/2021/05/a-fresh-breath-of-hope/
Last year, there was a stunning spring, and I definitely noticed it. The blossoming and blooming of Capitol Hill is always beautiful, but spending my days working from home made for more walks, more gazing out the window, more noticing.
My office told us we’d begin teleworking. I nodded. “Two weeks at most,” I thought. Two weeks would be nice to be home. A little breather from my normal chaotic job. But it wasn’t two weeks, and from my house I watched spring unfold, but not with the normal ease and pleasure.
It was a mercy that while everything else shuttered up, the blossoms still opened themselves to bring our world color and life. As the two weeks wore on, I began to realize this wouldn’t go away. The normal hustle and bustle of the city slowed to a sudden, abrupt stop. The same words were on everyone’s lips: “the pandemic,” “restrictions,” “case numbers.” But amidst the frenzy, a trip to the grocery store delivered the same mercy to me the spring blossoms offered to our scared and shaky world.
Read the Whole article Here. https://mbird.com/2021/05/a-fresh-breath-of-hope/
Confirmation 2021 + Photos
Check out the recording of the confirmation.
Brooklyn Dressler
DJ Vik
Katy Vik
![[Sunday] Live Resurrection - Rise](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1619831513190-WTBVPDL7UKMLFNATBVJO/Rise+Weekly+4a.jpg)
[Sunday] Live Resurrection - Rise
So what will we look like in the resurrection? We can look at Jesus for some hints. But what bearing does that have on us today? Actually, it has a lot because, if we think all this will be thrown away like trash, then we may treat it as trash. But what if this body is eternal?
Questions for the Week
What do you think most people would think the resurrection would be like?
Read 1 Corinthians 15:35-58. What images does Paul use to describe the resurrection?
What are the implications of the resurrection for how you live your life now?
Action Item: This week when you would usually serve yourself, think of the resurrection and how you could serve someone else instead.
Service [above] Sermon releases at 10pm [under]
---- THIS WEEK AT GRACE - Today May 2, 2021
Worship Services 8:30 AM & 10:15 AM
Live-streamed on www.gracelutheranpsl.com 10:15 AM
Zoom into Fellowship Resumes Next Week
Korean Church Worship 1:00 PM
Rest of the week May 3 - May 8, 2021
LWML Monday, 1:00 PM
Olivet School Tuesday, 8:30 AM - 1:30 PM
Cinco de Mayo Wednesday
Individual - Small Group Communion Wednesday, 11AM - Noon
BackPack Packing Thursday, 11:00 AM
Bible Study at church and live streamed Thursday, 11:00 AM
Korean Church Prayer Gathering Saturday, 6:00 AM
ACC GRAND OPENING will be held on Friday, May 14, 2021 at 11:30.
For complete calendar information, go to www.gracelutheranpsl.com/calendar
ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS THIS WEEK: None Listed
BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS THIS WEEK: George Tsikoudis & Jay Horton - 5/02, Kent Bowen & Blanca Cuellar - 5/03, Paxton Becker-Sauber & Corbin Callender - 5/04, Richard Harms - 5/05, Linda Gannon -5/06, Steven Choung - 5/08.
THE FLOWERS ADORNING THE ALTAR are given by John & Melinda Linderman in memory of their sister Anita.
CONFIRMATION SUNDAY - TODAY we have three youths, D.J. Vik, Katy Vik, and Brooklyn Dressler, who are being confirmed during the 10:15 service.
THE LWML meets tomorrow, May 3rd, for its last meeting until September. We will be using the ‘LWML Spring Quarterly’ Bible study, page 20 & 21, “Life is Like Swiss Cheese,” for our study. If you don’t have a Quarterly, please pick up the Bible study handout today. Bring your Bible. Bring a friend! Meet at 1 p.m. in ACC.
GRACE SHIRTS - NEW We are now selling and taking orders for a “Grace Lutheran” blue golf shirt. Cost will be $25.00. See, e-mail, text or call Ed Bock or Kevin Garbers for information.
PLEASE CALL PEOPLE: The COVID quarantines began over a year ago and many of our members have health conditions which have kept them isolated at home. So that we all don’t descend into madness, let’s call and talk to each other regularly as well as sending cards or notes through the mail. Phone and address directories are available for your convenience on the counter by the office door.
COMMUNION ON WEDNESDAY: If you, or someone you know, would like to celebrate Holy Communion but prefer a small group or unable to attend Sunday service, Pastor Cris has set aside Wednesday’s to celebrate the meal in small/family groups. Please come by on Wednesday at: 11:00, 11:20, 11:40 or 12:00 (noon) and partake of this wonderful meal.
BIBLE STUDY FOR ALL! Pastor Cris is conducting a Bible Study on Thursday’s at 11 AM and you are welcome to attend in person! Seating is with social distancing along with wearing a mask. The Bible Study is also “live streamed” through ZOOM as well for you to participate from home. (www.GracelutheranPSL.com) Also, recorded for your future viewing if you would like.
SEE YOUR GRACE FAMILY ON ZOOM: Coli, along with Pastor, will be hosting Zoom to Coffee at NOON, TODAY, for those who would like to join in fellowship “virtually” to see and chat with Grace members and friends. All are welcome! www.GraceLutheranPSL.com
GIVING: We are here to provide “Grace and Peace in this Chaotic and Lonely Time” to those in our church and community. Thank you for your past and continual prayers and financial support to Grace and your community. We have added Paypal for online donations. If you would like to give through Paypal, please go to: www.GraceLutheranPSL.com and click the “GIVE” button on the upper right side of the page.
What Had happened at Grace this week.
On Controversy
Your aim, I doubt not, is good; but you have need to watch and pray for you will find Satan at your right hand to resist you; he will try to debase your views; and though you set out in defense of the cause of God, if you are not continually looking to the Lord to keep you, it may become your own cause, and awaken in you those tempers which are inconsistent with true peace of mind, and will surely obstruct communion with God.
Dear Sir,
As you are likely to be engaged in controversy, and your love of truth is joined with a natural warmth of temper, my friendship makes me solicitous on your behalf. You are of the strongest side; for truth is great, and must prevail; so that a person of abilities inferior to yours might take the field with a confidence of victory. I am not therefore anxious for the event of the battle; but I would have you more than a conqueror, and to triumph, not only over your adversary, but over yourself. If you cannot be vanquished, you may be wounded. To preserve you from such wounds as might give you cause of weeping over your conquests, I would present you with some considerations, which, if duly attended to, will do you the service of a great coat of mail; such armor, that you need not complain, as David did of Saul’s, that it will be more cumbersome than useful; for you will easily perceive it is taken from that great magazine provided for the Christian soldier, the Word of God. I take it for granted that you will not expect any apology for my freedom, and therefore I shall not offer one. For method’s sake, I may reduce my advice to three heads, respecting your opponent, the public, and yourself.
Consider Your Opponent
As to your opponent, I wish that before you set pen to paper against him, and during the whole time you are preparing your answer, you may commend him by earnest prayer to the Lord’s teaching and blessing. This practice will have a direct tendency to conciliate your heart to love and pity him; and such a disposition will have a good influence upon every page you write.
If you account him a believer, though greatly mistaken in the subject of debate between you, the words of David to Joab concerning Absalom, are very applicable: “Deal gently with him for my sake.” The Lord loves him and bears with him; therefore you must not despise him, or treat him harshly. The Lord bears with you likewise, and expects that you should show tenderness to others, from a sense of the much forgiveness you need yourself. In a little while you will meet in heaven; he will then be dearer to you than the nearest friend you have upon earth is to you now. Anticipate that period in your thoughts; and though you may find it necessary to oppose his errors, view him personally as a kindred soul, with whom you are to be happy in Christ forever.
But if you look upon him as an unconverted person, in a state of enmity against God and his grace (a supposition which, without good evidence, you should be very unwilling to admit), he is a more proper object of your compassion than of your anger. Alas! “He knows not what he does.” But you know who has made you to differ. If God, in his sovereign pleasure, had so appointed, you might have been as he is now; and he, instead of you, might have been set for the defense of the gospel. You were both equally blind by nature. If you attend to this, you will not reproach or hate him, because the Lord has been pleased to open your eyes, and not his.
Of all people who engage in controversy, we, who are called Calvinists, are most expressly bound by our own principles to the exercise of gentleness and moderation. If, indeed, they who differ from us have a power of changing themselves, if they can open their own eyes, and soften their own hearts, then we might with less inconsistency be offended at their obstinacy: but if we believe the very contrary to this, our part is, not to strive, but in meekness to instruct those who oppose. “If peradventure God will give them repentance to the acknowledgment of the truth.” If you write with a desire of being an instrument of correcting mistakes, you will of course be cautious of laying stumbling blocks in the way of the blind or of using any expressions that may exasperate their passions, confirm them in their principles, and thereby make their conviction, humanly speaking, more impracticable.
Consider the Public
By printing, you will appeal to the public; where your readers may be ranged under three divisions: First, such as differ from you in principle. Concerning these I may refer you to what I have already said. Though you have your eye upon one person chiefly, there are many like-minded with him; and the same reasoning will hold, whether as to one or to a million.
There will be likewise many who pay too little regard to religion, to have any settled system of their own, and yet are preengaged in favor of those sentiments which are at least repugnant to the good opinion men naturally have of themselves. These are very incompetent judges of doctrine; but they can form a tolerable judgment of a writer’s spirit. They know that meekness, humility, and love are the characteristics of a Christian temper; and though they affect to treat the doctrines of grace as mere notions and speculations, which, supposing they adopted them, would have no salutary influence upon their conduct; yet from us, who profess these principles, they always expect such dispositions as correspond with the precepts of the gospel. They are quick-sighted to discern when we deviate from such a spirit, and avail themselves of it to justify their contempt of our arguments. The scriptural maxim, that “the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God,” is verified by daily observation. If our zeal is embittered by expressions of anger, invective, or scorn, we may think we are doing service of the cause of truth, when in reality we shall only bring it into discredit. The weapons of our warfare, and which alone are powerful to break down the strongholds of error, are not carnal, but spiritual; arguments fairly drawn from Scripture and experience, and enforced by such a mild address, as may persuade our readers, that, whether we can convince them or not, we wish well to their souls, and contend only for the truth’s sake; if we can satisfy them that we act upon these motives, our point is half gained; they will be more disposed to consider calmly what we offer; and if they should still dissent from our opinions, they will be constrained to approve our intentions.
You will have a third class of readers, who, being of your own sentiments, will readily approve of what you advance, and may be further established and confirmed in their views of the Scripture doctrines, by a clear and masterly elucidation of your subject. You may be instrumental to their edification if the law of kindness as well as of truth regulates your pen, otherwise you may do them harm. There is a principle of self, which disposes us to despise those who differ from us; and we are often under its influence, when we think we are only showing a becoming zeal in the cause of God.
I readily believe that the leading points of Arminianism spring from and are nourished by the pride of the human heart; but I should be glad if the reverse were always true; and that to embrace what are called the Calvinistic doctrines was an infallible token of a humble mind. I think I have known some Arminians, that is, persons who for want of a clearer light, have been afraid of receiving the doctrines of free grace, who yet have given evidence that their hearts were in a degree humbled before the Lord.
And I am afraid there are Calvinists, who, while they account it a proof of their humility, that they are willing in words to debase the creature and to give all the glory of salvation to the Lord, yet know not what manner of spirit they are of. Whatever it be that makes us trust in ourselves that we are comparatively wise or good, so as to treat those with contempt who do not subscribe to our doctrines, or follow our party, is a proof and fruit of a self-righteous spirit. Self-righteousness can feed upon doctrines as well as upon works; and a man may have the heart of a Pharisee, while his head is stored with orthodox notions of the unworthiness of the creature and the riches of free grace. Yea, I would add, the best of men are not wholly free from this leaven; and therefore are too apt to be pleased with such representations as hold up our adversaries to ridicule, and by consequence flatter our own superior judgments. Controversies, for the most part, are so managed as to indulge rather than to repress his wrong disposition; and therefore, generally speaking, they are productive of little good. They provoke those whom they should convince, and puff up those whom they should edify. I hope your performance will savor of a spirit of true humility, and be a means of promoting it in others.
Consider Yourself
This leads me, in the last place, to consider your own concern in your present undertaking. It seems a laudable service to defend the faith once delivered to the saints; we are commanded to contend earnestly for it, and to convince gainsayers. If ever such defenses were seasonable and expedient they appear to be so in our own day, when errors abound on all sides and every truth of the gospel is either directly denied or grossly misrepresented.
And yet we find but very few writers of controversy who have not been manifestly hurt by it. Either they grow in a sense of their own importance, or imbibe an angry, contentious spirit, or they insensibly withdraw their attention from those things which are the food and immediate support of the life of faith, and spend their time and strength upon matters which are at most but of a secondary value. This shows, that if the service is honorable, it is dangerous. What will it profit a man if he gains his cause and silences his adversary, if at the same time he loses that humble, tender frame of spirit in which the Lord delights, and to which the promise of his presence is made?
Your aim, I doubt not, is good; but you have need to watch and pray for you will find Satan at your right hand to resist you; he will try to debase your views; and though you set out in defense of the cause of God, if you are not continually looking to the Lord to keep you, it may become your own cause, and awaken in you those tempers which are inconsistent with true peace of mind, and will surely obstruct communion with God.
Be upon your guard against admitting anything personal into the debate. If you think you have been ill treated, you will have an opportunity of showing that you are a disciple of Jesus, who “when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not.” This is our pattern, thus we are to speak and write for God, “not rendering railing for railing, but contrariwise blessing; knowing that hereunto we are called.” The wisdom that is from above is not only pure, but peaceable and gentle; and the want of these qualifications, like the dead fly in the pot of ointment, will spoil the savor and efficacy of our labors.
If we act in a wrong spirit, we shall bring little glory to God, do little good to our fellow creatures, and procure neither honor nor comfort to ourselves. If you can be content with showing your wit, and gaining the laugh on your side, you have an easy task; but I hope you have a far nobler aim, and that, sensible of the solemn importance of gospel truths, and the compassion due to the souls of men, you would rather be a means of removing prejudices in a single instance, than obtain the empty applause of thousands. Go forth, therefore, in the name and strength of the Lord of hosts, speaking the truth in love; and may he give you a witness in many hearts that you are taught of God, and favored with the unction of his Holy Spirit.
While the Ghost points to the grave our ambition digs, Jesus answers by becoming the humble Child who enters that grave to raise us to new life.