SERMON NOTES:

PRAYER REQUESTS
JUNE 26, 2011 Y Pray for those in New Orleans who are still impoverished from the hurricane. Y Pray for Heathers friends missionary trip to Indonesia, for safety and build church. Y Pray for a 20-year-old boy who was hit by a semi-truck. Y Pray for persons and process involved in property purchase for COL. Y Pray for Dean Morins Grandpa, as he is having health issues and is in the hospital. Y Pray for Pastor Stevens nephew who is awaiting surgery in Kenya. Y Pray for Gina Morris friends and family who mourn the loss of a daughter, sister and friend. Gina was hit by a truck while jogging and passed away June 16. Y For Samantha Dochniak as she recovers from having her tonsils removed. Y Pray for Tiffany Chopra to have the strength and faith to know that God knows what He is doing with her life. Y Pray for Ben Simmer, a young man just graduated from college and has MS with worsening side effects. Pray for new treatments to become available and a cure. Y Pray for all whom at Chain of Lakes who look for jobs, in

particular, Lee Bliss and Gary Wassam. Y Jane Zech (Barb & Lee Bliss cousin), and her family. Jane is suffering from brain cancer and is in hospice care. Y Pray for Angelica Van Iperens friends, Paula and Ruben, and they struggle with infertility and limited resources to treat it. Y Donna Mc Cullen, Ken Mc Cullen's wife as she goes through more intense chemotherapy treatment.

DEVOTION
Monday, July 4, 2011 Read Deuteronomy 8:11-20 What a great blessing we have! We live in a free land! We have great abundance! In Deuteronomy the writer reminds the people that God brought them out of bondage and blessed them with new freedom and great wealth. The writer, though, issues a caution, dont forget! Dont forget the Lord your God who gave you this great land and blessed you with immense abundance. As we celebrate our free-doms today, let us remember, it is the Lord our God, who has so richly blessed us with this great land and prosperity. List the blessings you have in this free land and praise God for all these blessings, Tuesday, July 5, 2011 Matthew 22:15-22

2 We have much to enjoy in our free land. Jesus calls us to remember that God and government are not in conflict. Rather, God and government require different loyalties. To render unto God means to ask some tough questions about how people are treated. To render unto government means to ask how all the people are being served. As Christians, we are called to bring a theological morality to the issues of government. As Christians, we are called to be faithful citizens of our culture and be obedient to the laws that govern us. How blessed we are to remember that God has blessed this land and people. Think of how you allow God to inform your decisions about the blessings of our government. Pray for our leaders, in the church and in government. Wednesday, July 6, 2011 John 8:31-36 Just how free are we? My freedom should not hinder your freedom and your freedom should not limit my freedom. Thats why we have a government, to protect the freedoms of us all. How-ever, Jesus says something fresh and new about freedom. He connects freedom to truth. If we know the truth, that is the truth about how we are forgiven from sin, we are truly free. In other words, no matter how free we are socially, politically or economically, we are still sinners. True freedom comes when we are free to live in grace, a grace that comes only from a loving savior who forgives and accepts us where we are. We can be slaves to many things but we are still free in Christ Jesus.

3 Consider the schedules and pressures that dominate your everyday living. Then thank Jesus for forgive-ness that in spite of all that keeps you captured you are still free. Thursday, July 7, 2011 I Peter 2:13-16 Yesterday we considered how the truth of Christ can free us to live joyful lives, not be defeated by the schedules and pressures that demand our attention. Today, Peter calls us to accept our subjection to the authorities over us but to be free enough to live as servants of God. We live as free people because the love of Christ far exceeds the demands of the culture and the authorities. Remember Nelson Mandella, although in prison for over 20 years, he was truly free through his faith in Christ. The more we serve, the more freedom we know through faith. Think about how the legal system punishes and pro-tects. Praise God for those in your life who taught you to obey authority but shared love with you. Friday, July 8, 2011 Galatians 5:13-16, 22-23 Paul says by living in the Spirit, we live in freedom. That means we are free to love one another, to get beyond our selfishness, our personal needs to allow the fruits of the Spirit to bring out the best in us. The more we experience the freedom that comes through love the more we discover love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

4 gentleness, and self-control. The Spirit produces in us a freedom that results in good deeds and joyful living. So live in the Spirit and let the fruits develop in you. Think of ways you can treat those around you with a greater sensitivity that will produce the Spirit in you. Thank God for them as they help renew your free spirit in Christ.

Saturday, July 9, 2011 Free at last! Free at last! Thank God, Im Free At Last! Those were the powerful words of Martin Luther King, Jr., when he saw the grip of racism falling away in our culture. The black community knew what it meant to be slaves to a system and feel help-less to cast off the pains and limitations of captivity. The freedom God offers us in Jesus is to recognize that we might be slaves to many things that capture our time and effort, but in Christ, we are free in the midst of these limitations. It is as if in the midst of a hurricane, we stand in the center, the calm in the middle, because we are free in Christ. Free at last, free at last. Thank God, we are all free at last! Pray for God to continue to free you through the forgiveness and acceptance of Christ.