Knoxville, TN January 2020

T here are many reasons why you should read the entire Bible, but let me just offer seven of them.

1. If you are going to read one book in its entirety, it ought to be the Bible. It is the most important book ever! It is the

basis of our faith and our Christian culture. Even non-believers ought to read the Bible to be an educated person and to become acquainted with Western culture.

2. The Bible is God’s Word and God wants to speak to us. In reading the Bible throughout the years, I sense God speak-ing to me every time I pick it up. It is truly a miraculous book in which God communicates with believers who have been granted the Holy Spirit.

3. The Bible itself tells us that faith comes from hearing the Word of God. It is a “means of grace.” Through the Word Jesus comes to us with His grace. If you want your faith and trust in Jesus Christ to grow you need to spend time in the Bible.

4. If you read the Bible it will make you personally wise. There is no self-improvement book that even comes close to the Bible in this respect. The Book of Proverbs alone offers more wisdom than you could find in any other book ever written.

5. Reading the Bible will make you more serviceable to your fellow Chris-tians. You can offer them passages of encouragement, guidance, and instruction that can bless their lives.

6. Knowing the Bible will help you understand sermons and Bible classes. By reading the Bible you will know the fuller context of God’s work in this world. You will make more and more connections enabling you to understand messages and apply them to yourselves.

7. The Word of God is good news of how through Jesus, God means to redeem and save people. You will be a far better witness after you have read the Bible.

I will be passing out a simple “Through the Bible in a Year” guide in January. It is my hope that you will join me in reading through the Bible in its entirety in this New Year 2020.

~ Pastor Rich

(Or why you should do it again!)

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GraceNet is published monthly by

Grace Lutheran Church – LCMS

9076 Middlebrook Pike, Knoxville, TN 37923

Phone: (865) 691-2823 Fax: (865) 691-4895

E-mail: glc@visitgrace.org

Reverend Richard M. Elseroad, Senior Pastor

Reverend Danny Anderson, Associate Pastor

Website: http://www.visitgrace.org

Articles for GraceNet are due by the 1st of each month for the

following month’s edition.

GraceNet Staff Debbie Booher, Editor

Linda Jaekel

Nancy May

Joan Scraggs

Email to Editor: dbooher@knology.net

If you have a spe-

cial event you

would like to

have publicized

in GraceNet,

please submit the

information to

Debbie Booher by the 1st of each

month for publication in the follow-

ing month’s newsletter.

Grace Prayer Team Welcomes Requests

T he Grace Prayer Team is up and running! If you have a prayer request that you would like prayed over by the Grace Prayer Team, we welcome your requests. Please contact Kristin McGee at kdmcgee08@gmail.com (865-384-9834) or Ev

Brown (evbrown@gmail.com (865-870-5603). The request will then be passed on to the team. We continue to welcome Prayer Team members as well. If you are interested in pray-ing for the needs submitted by our church family, please contact Kristin or Ev with your in-terest.

Trivia Night!

February 7, 2020 Trivia starts at 7 p.m., EST

Where: The Standard (downtown), 416 West Jackson Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37902

Why: Because it will be fun! Because it’s an opportunity to get to know people in a fun, relaxed way. Because the proceeds (table fee, beverages for purchase, other fun activities, etc.) will be used for the Youth at Grace.

How: Sign up to be a table Owner/Captain or just sign up to attend. (Table Owner/Captains will be announced and pulling teams together soon!)

Cost: $160 per team (8 players per team) or $20 per seat. You can register on line or at the information desk in the lobby of the Family Life Center.

Limited space available as tables fill up fast! You can register online NOW and pay by cash, card, or check later (Deadline: January 15, 2020). Just remember, your spot isn’t confirmed until you pay.

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Grace Lutheran Women in Mission

T he LWML “Chocolate Affaire” Christmas party was enjoyed by 25 ladies at the home of John and Chris McCay. FairTrade chocolate was shared as an illustration of the sweet saving grace of Christ in Ephesians 1:7-8, with a reminder that we can encourage the many people who struggle emotionally with holiday celebrations. Then 22

“White Christmas” gift bags were packed with T-shirts, briefs, and socks, for the mentally ill men living at the Agape Outreach Home in Fountain City. The home was blessed with a total of 99 T-shirts, 75 briefs, and 101 pairs of socks for a VERY Merry Christmas. Thanks to the donations be everyone to help share the love of Jesus.

MITES Make a Difference!!

T hank you all for sharing your change and dollar bills with Luther-an Women in Mission (LWML) on the first Sunday of each month. Together we can make a difference in the lives of many

recipients of LWML Grants. We collected over $2,000 in 2019 and 75% of that stayed in our Mid-South District. The other 25% went on to sup-port National Grants, including the Mobile Medical Mercy Mission BUS for Guatemala for $100,000. This BUS sends Mission Teams and medical supplies out to isolated villages with needed Medical Clinics to help im-poverished children and families. The grant was proposed by Immanuel Lutheran Church in Hood River, Oregon, to provide physical and spiritu-al healing, training for use of medicines, dental care, and Bible school materials. So, if you know of a need anywhere in the world, YOU can propose it to our LWML team of officers (pictured on our Bulletin Board) and watch an idea to help God's children become a grant supported by MITES! Local needs can also be applied for through our district grants.

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1/1 Tammy Meyers 1/1 Randi Ray 1/1 Allen Scraggs 1/3 Diane Chaffey 1/3 Bob Miller 1/3 Kristi Tunstall 1/4 Karl Kennedy 1/4 Jack McGee 1/5 Patrick Angelino 1/6 Kaylen Teague 1/6 Jon Treffert 1/8 Sandie Harjala 1/8 Jim Stoddard 1/10 Harper Knoernschild 1/10 Cole Scraggs 1/11 Lois Rawlins 1/11 Alexis Riggs 1/11 Carter Turner 1/12 Tiffany Hoppe 1/13 Lee Baker 1/13 Samuel Stoddard 1/14 Simon Calcutt 1/14 Shawna Hembree 1/14 Cassie Hencke 1/15 Sandra Beeler 1/16 Kristin McGee 1/17 Patricia Dehmlow 1/19 Jack Baker 1/19 Laurie Martin

1/20 Robin Carow 1/20 Chris Dodson 1/21 Ava Anderson 1/21 Carolyn Beech 1/21 Margaret Ferraro 1/21 Thomas Holden 1/21 Lilah Vesser 1/22 Linda Dreke 1/23 Lisa Smith 1/24 Paige Harter 1/24 Will Jones 1/24 Ethan Roettger 1/24 Tracey Spencer 1/24 Wyatt Tunstall 1/25 Bill Brye 1/25 Abigail Bush 1/25 Emma Bush 1/25 Deborah Stegner 1/27 Barbara Collet 1/27 Natalie Dodson 1/27 Jerry Geithman 1/27 Randy Heath 1/28 Katelyn Frostholm 1/28 Benjamin Murphy 1/28 Anna Wilson 1/29 Claire Roettger 1/29 Rosalyn Turner 1/30 Peter Early 1/30 Annabelle McCay

1/7 Paul & Tisa Mees 1/10 Jay & Tammy Myers 1/12 Marlene & Jerry Landon 1/17 Kenny & Holly Blankenship 1/19 David & Denise Hart 1/24 Tom & Phyllis Klindt 1/28 Glen & Carmita Wright 1/31 Pastor Danny & Sarah Anderson

January Scripture of the Month

Bible Quiz

Answer: A and B (see Matthew 3:13-17)

According to Matthew, who was present at Jesus’ baptism? (Choose as many as apply.) A. John the Baptist B. The Spirit of God C. Jesus’ mother, Mary D. His first disciples

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think

about such things. ~Philippians 4:8

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DATE THEME VERSE

January 5 Jesus is God’s Son. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)

January 12 Jesus is our friend. Yet to all who received Him, to those who be-lieved in His name, He gave the right to become children of God. (John 1:12)

January 19 Jesus wants everyone to

follow Him. Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)

January 26 God blesses us when we

choose His ways.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things. (Philippians 4:8)

I n an attempt to connect the adults and children of Grace just a bit more, I will be letting people know the theme and verse of the week in our children’s Sunday school classes. I would love it if the adults would join in memorizing or at least talking about it to the children as they see each other in the halls. Listed

below are the themes and scripture for January.

~ Frieda Guthrie

January Children’s Curriculum Themes

At Home With God

O f all persons, the Christian should be best prepared for whatever the New Year brings. In Christ he has disposed of a thousand enemies that other men must face alone and

unprepared. He can face his tomorrow cheerful and unafraid be-cause yesterday he turned his feet into the ways of peace and to-day he lives in God. The man who has made God his dwelling place will always have a safe habitation.

~ A.W. Tozer

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HealthLine

P lease note that everything written in this column will be backed by research, various studies, and facts. There will be no personal opinions.

~ Sheila Wittke

Three Studies About the Benefits of Coffee

D rinking coffee, especially dark roasts, can lower a person’s risk of developing the neurological conditions Alz-heimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. This study, conducted by the Krembil Brain Institute, tested light roast, dark roast, and decaffeinated dark roast types. The caffeinated and decaffeinated dark roasts protected

the brain the best, indicating the protective effect is not due to caffeine. However, the research suggests that the brain benefits may be due to a group of compounds known as phenylindanes, which develop during roasting. These compounds prevent both beta amyloid and tau, two protein fragments common in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s from clumping in the brain. In a Rutgers study, two compounds found in coffee caffeine and EHT, appear to combine to slow brain degenera-tion. When given together, these compounds increased the activity of a catalyst that helps prevent the accumulation in the brain of abnormal proteins, such as amyloids, which are associated with Parkinson’s disease and Lewy body dementia. The study suggests that coffee caffeine and EHT may be able to slow or stop the progression of these dis-eases. In the third study, drinking a cup of coffee can stimulate “brown fat,” the type of fat that burns calories. Scientists at the University of Nottingham found that coffee stimulates brown fat, acting as the body’s own fat-fighting mecha-nism. Earlier research had found that adults have brown fat mainly around the neck. It mainly generates body heat by burning calories, as opposed to “white fat,” which is created from excess calories and builds up around a person’s waist and thighs. Potentially, the component in coffee responsible for stimulating brown fat to burn calories, could be used in weight management and glucose regulation to help prevent diabetes.

Love in Action

M artin Luther King Jr., whose life and legacy we honor this month, spoke often about the power of love. In fact, he equated the practice of nonviolence with “absolute commitment to the way of love.”

Love, declared the minister and activist, “is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.” And, he said, anyone who’s “devoid of the power to love” is “devoid of the power to forgive.”

King distinguished between true love and “empty sentimentalism,” however. He taught — and showed — that love is “the active outpouring of one’s whole being into the being of another.”

Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross is the ultimate “active outpouring” of love, and we can choose to follow his example dai-ly. “Because of Calvary I’m free to choose,” writes Max Lucado in When God Whispers Your Name. “No occasion justifies hatred; no injustice warrants bitterness. I choose love. Today I will love God and what God loves.”

Page 7 January 2020

Good Bible Resources

T here are some very good free Bible resources available for download. One everyone should consider is e-Sword at e-Sword.net. It is the product of a former IBM programmer who is also a Sunday School teacher in Franklin, Tennessee. I regularly gave it to confirmation class students and showed them how to use it.

e-Sword has numerous Bible versions for display and use. Most are free. Some, like the New International Version, have a fee attached. Many are quite recent, like the English Standard Version, God's Word to The Nation's, or Good News for Modern Man. Quite a number of Bibles in other languages are available. Some of these are modern languages. Greek, Hebrew, and Latin texts are available, too. Several versions have a plus sign after their name, indicating words in that version are keyed to Strong's Numbers (a system for identifying the translated root word so that the user can trace occurrences of a concept without including passages based on a synonym). A simple command allows assembling all passages in which a particular root word oc-curs. This is important because words mean what they mean based on how they are used more than what a dictionary says about them. But, searches can also be done based on a word in an English Bible. There is a Bible dictionary window that can be linked to the Bible text in use. Click on a word in the Bible text win-dow and an article from the Bible dictionary appears. Click on a special button and the small Bible dictionary window fills the whole screen. Bible references in any window appear as a hot link. Click on the reference and the Bible win-dow goes to that passage where the user may read it in context. A verse trail feature allows a slightly confused user to get back to a par-ticular previous passage quickly and easily. There is also a Commentary window. Included commentaries are older works in the public domain, but still good and very useful. The Commentary window also includes the TSK (Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge), which is a system of cross references to other passages helpful for understanding a particular passage. The TSK is keyed to the King James Version and address-es phrases in a verse. If Lincoln's Gettysburg Address were in the Bible, you would see, "Fourscore....(references), Our....(references), Dedicated....(references)." "Fourscore" stands for "Fourscore and seven years ago...." At times it is necessary to compare the version you are using with the King James to find the cross references you want. The user may make personal notes in the program and recall or edit them later. Quite a number of modules may be added to the program, but too many modules can slow your computer. e-Sword survives on donations, but with each donation you will receive a disc with the program and numerous modules on it. I could have purchased expensive Bible programs, but always found e-Sword very adequate.

~ Rev. Phil Bohlken

Inclement Weather Closings

I n the event that our church services are cancelled due to in-clement weather, you may check the WBIR website for con-firmation of our closings. Church closures will only be dis-

played at wbir.com—not on WBIR-TV. For those with smart phones, the church closures will also be listed on the WBIR app which you can download to your phone.

You can also check the Grace Lutheran website or by calling the church office where you will hear a recording regarding the sta-tus of the services.

Thanks and be safe!

“Connect ~ Grow ~ Serve”

TO:

Grace Lutheran Church-LCMS 9076 Middlebrook Pike Knoxville, TN 37923-1557 (865) 691-2823 Fax: (865) 691-4895 E-mail address: glc@visitgrace.org Sunday Worship: 8:00 a.m. (Traditional) and 9:30 a.m. (Blended)/11:00 a.m. (Contemporary) Wednesday Worship: 6:30 p.m. (Blended) Sunday School & Bible Classes @ 9:30 a.m./11:00 a.m.

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