Friday, April 24,2026

Aloha, Cousins! That is the typical greeting used in Hawaii to greet both friends and family alike! Today we read some words from the Voice version of scripture in Matthew's Gospel...
 
                 "Disciples: We'll never find enough food for all these people, out here in the middle of nowhere!"   (Matthew 15:33 VOICE)
 
Imagine yourself as one of Jesus' disciples. You follow HIm, as thousands of other people tag along. The Lord is always imparting wisdom, sometimes specifically to your group of twelve, sometimes to you and the accompanying multitude.
   
Jesus takes in the scene: you're all in a remote place, and none of the eager listeners have eaten for a long while. He wants to feed this crowd; you respond in the words of the scripture above. You've never seen anything like what Jesus suggests.
   
Except you have seen this movie before. This is the "feeding of the four thousand"; not so long ago, you actually helped to feed a thousand people more, handing out a young boy's loaves and fishes that Jesus multiplied by His marvelous, mysterious power (Matthew 14: 13-21).
   
How could the Twelve so quickly overlook or forget Jesus' previous miracle? There's no good answer --- but neither is there a good answer when we doubt His power and goodness. All of us have seen God, through Jesus, doing marvelous, mysterious things in our lives. All of us should hold on to those memories in faith, believing that God will do similar or even greater things in our next time of need.  
 
       I know You are good and kind, Lord. Forgive my doubt and strengthen my faith. I thank you in advance for providing for my needs.  Amen.  
  
+++  We gather for worship at 8:30am and 10:00am this Sunday. We will hear from John's Gospel account where Jesus teaches about the Good Shepherd and the sheep. My message, Following the Shepherd's Voice, has me thinking about what voice or voices we listen to in our daily lives. Sometimes there are so many competing voices that we can lose sight of the true voice to whom we should be listening. If you can't be in the Sanctuary with us for worship, join us on the church's Facebook page for our 10:00am "live stream" or after the service is completed on the church's YouTube channel. After a couple of weeks away I can't wait to see you for worship on Sunday!

+++  Our Confirmation Class meets on Sunday from 12:00noon - 3:00pm for our next session on "DOING GOOD". We can't wait to see all of the group and any parents/mentors who might want to join us on our confirmation journey. The confirmands and their families will also be helping to set up for the garage sale from 11:30am - 12:00noon, as well! Thanks to all! 

+++ Check for information about the upcoming Garage Sale activities and times. It takes many dedicated hands to pull off this ministry event and the more hands we can acquire the more we can get done! And don't forget to come and shop for a treasure or two, as well! Thanks!  

+++ Who is going to church camp this summer? Don't forget we have camp scholarship monies to help out with expenses to send Immanuel's kids to camp. Please let the office know by 5/31 so we can get the checks distributed.   
 
Make this day a great day and always pray for an ever increasing faith!   
Pastor Jack