● January 2025 "The Mountain Top Messenger" Newsletter
(please click on above link to open current newsletter)
God's blessings to you this New Year. Here we are entering into the year 2025. As I think of this year
I am amazed. In just a few more days I will hit 70, yet another of those milestone birthdays that end
with a Zero. I am both amazed and thankful to have made it this far. As I have gotten older I hear of
and know more and more people who haven't made it this far. I thank the Lord daily for allowing me
to continue my journey this side of His eternity. While I do look forward to Eternal Life at peace with
the Lord, I think there is still work here that he has for me to do, and I thank Him for that opportunity.
I have to mention here that one of the things we have accomplished recently is that the Monday
morning Bible study group has just finished reading through the entire Bible. It took 12 years and
made it through the delay of a pandemic but we finished in the Book of Revelation the week before
Christmas. I want to thank all of you who have persevered for so long to achieve this goal. I spoke
with Pastor Hyvonen to let him know we are finishing up as he was the one who initiated the study
and he asked me to pass on his congratulations for all of those who finished up. We have been in
discussions on what to tackle next and I believe we are going to take a look at the Augsburg Confession to start.
If you would like to join us we start at 10:00 AM on Monday mornings and the study
runs for an hour to an hour and a half.
I also wish to take a moment to thank all of you who shared Christmas Cards and gifts with June and
I. We are very grateful and will do our best to thank each of you individually, but in the hustle and
bustle of the season sometimes we miss someone. Thank you again and I pray that all of you had a
Merry Christmas as well.
Just a reminder on our Wednesday evening services, which will be resuming on January 8th, the services
will be starting 6:00 PM. Please join us if you have the opportunity.
On a closing note, I have been a little lax the last couple of months in the scriptural study content in
my newsletter covers. I am sometimes challenged to find topics that might be of interest to all of you.
So I have decided to help elevate some of the stress and taking on a topic that will get us through
the upcoming year. Starting in February and for the next ten months, we are going to take a look at
the Ten Commandments from both views of Dr. Luther in the Catechism and how those commandments
conflict with the world view today. I think it will be an interesting study and will be helpful to us
all. Let me know what you think, not only now as a teaching choice but as we go forward so I can
have some feedback as to whether or not it is an informative study. I am excited for the research,
presentation, and response. So as we prepare for this study, feel free to pull out four confirmation
books and read through the Ten Commandments. If you have any particular questions please feel
free to get them to me and we can address them in the study. If you don't have a copy of the small
catechism, there is one located in LSB hymnal in the pews, I have a few extra in my office, I think
there may be a couple in the library in the conference room, or I can certainly print off for you the
sections regarding the Ten Commandments any time. Let's get to it in the New Year!
I pray the Lord bless you in this New Year.
The Lord Bless you and keep you, the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you,
the Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace.
Amen.
Pastor Rick
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