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ST. ELMO PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH Presbyterian Church in America

June 28, 2020

Online bulletin

Our purpose is to know, live out of, and proclaim the wonder of God’s grace in Jesus.

Rev. Cal Boroughs, Pastor

4400 St. Elmo Avenue l Chattanooga, TN l 37409 423-821-1424

http://www.stelmopres.org

CCLI Music License #418158

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Music Welcome and Announcements GATHERING FOR WORSHIP Almighty and everlasting God, You govern all things both in heaven and on earth: Mercifully hear the supplications of Your people, and in our time grant us Your peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. Music We Praise You, Lord

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L – You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him Who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. P – Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us. I Peter 2.9-12

(Continued on p. 4)

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Prayer (including The Lord’s Prayer) Our Father Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

Sharing of Thanksgiving ............ Music * Offering of Our Gifts (see note on page 7) Our Return to God Our Savior Prayer of Confession

ALMIGHTY and most merciful Father; we have erred, and strayed from Thy ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against Thy holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; and we have done those things which we ought not to have done; And there is no health in us. But Thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders. Spare Thou those, O God, who confess their faults. Restore Thou those who are penitent; According to Thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord. And grant, O most merciful Father, for His sake, that we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life, to the glory of Thy holy Name. Amen. Silent Prayer Assurance of God’s Pardon: Hebrews 10.19-25 L — Since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that He opened for us through the curtain, that is, through His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, P — Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. L — Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He Who promised is faithful. P — And let us consider how to stir one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

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Prayers of Intercession

Asa Nichols Ezra Nichols Joseph, Amy, Marlow, Eliot, and Gemma Nichols Jessica Novikoff Building and Grounds Ministry Group Family Promise Chattanooga Christian School Frank and Cindy Sindler: Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East President Trump and Vice-President Pence Pray for the Persecuted Church in IRAQ (15) Continue in prayer for: Our faithfulness in being witnesses to our neighbor

Proclamation of God’s Word Sermon: Ephesians 2.19-22 19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

Outline: 1. A New Identity 2. A Sure Foundation 3. A Dwelling Place of God Hymn #644 — May the Mind of Christ My Savior (see p.7)

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Benediction L — Having heard the Gospel, P — Let us go forth to serve the world as those who love our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. ALL — Thanks be to God!

*Tithes and Offerings (4 options) During COVID-19

1. This option works really well: Send a check to the church at the church's street address 4400 St. Elmo Ave, Chattanooga, TN 37409. Please address the envelope to St Elmo Presbyterian Church ATTN: bookkeeping.

This will ensure privacy and security, as these envelopes will be stored securely and dealt with according to our accounting policies ensuring proper handling. The church mailbox has a lock on it.

2. Another option that works really well is to set up a "bill pay" check through your bank's website. Most banks have a bill pay feature where you can log into your account online, find the bill-pay feature, add the church as a payee using the church's street address, and then schedule one-time or recurring payments to be sent to the church. You may need the church phone number for this when you set up the account: 423-821-1424. If it asks for an account #, use: Offering, Deacon’s Fund, General Fund, or something similar.

3. If one of these options does not work well for you, another option for making a donation to the church is online through

the church's Square account. The link to this, found in the FAQ section of the church website, is

https://st-elmo-presbyterian-church.square.site. When you get to this page, remember to scroll down. There are many options. We are glad to receive donations in

this way if it is the best option for you. If mailing a check or bank bill pay work for you, those two methods are preferred for us, for the sake of avoiding processing fees, and due to the advantage of less complicated processing for bookkeeping.

4. Write your check and drop it off at church during the week. But call/text first to make sure we are here.

If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail Mark Slavovsky at mslavovsky@gmail.com. Thank you all for your faithful financial support of the church. Mark

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Frank and Cindy

Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East

Praise

God is using the constraints of the pandemic for the growth of His kingdom!

We are learning to use a variety of technologies to meet and do training and spread the Word!

Prayer For our missionaries and local partners to be safe during the pandemic, even with very limited access to medical

care.

For Burkina Faso to remain stable as the country faces the added challenge of Covid19.

For support to remain strong for our missionaries and ministries in spite of the economic hardships in the US

That the internet and the bandwidth we need to use technologies to connect will remain strong for the duration of this crisis.

Prayer support. Where there is fruit and ministry, there are always spiritual attacks. We rely on your prayers to keep going.

We need more workers. The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. We are now starting our 7th pastor training center and we need more teachers for 1 - 2 week courses.

We continue to need personal support but also new projects that need funding:

New Pastor Training Program in Sierra Leone: We are starting a training program for pastors and church leaders in Sierra Leone where civil wars and Ebola have left many churches without trained leaders. We spent time there in January and the first course was done by distance just a few weeks ago. We have matching funds to help get this new program started. We need to raise $19,500 for this. We are excited to let you know we have a 1:2 matching grant where for every $10 given $5 will be matched to it. So we will need to raise about $13,300 to have the total $20,000 needed. Please consider giving at: SL Pastor Training Here are some personal prayer requests Pray for meetings we are hosting with eight organizations connected to the PCA that do training in Africa. Pray that

God will use the meetings to foster collaboration and mutual help in the great task of training pastors in Africa. Pray for several new potential missionaries we have been talking with about ministry in West Africa to take steps to

join with us in the ministry. Pray for Frank as he works on writing a course on prayer for the seminary program we use in West Africa. Pray the

materials would be effective in encouraging deeper kingdom focus throughout the churches.

Upcoming

July 5 Projected Re-opening of Worship Services at SEPC — Live-streaming will continue July 26-31 Donations accepted for the Boy Scout Yard Sale August 1 Annual Boy Scout Yard Sale TBD Annual Church Business Meeting

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ZOOM Meetings

Women’s Book Study and Prayer: Tuesdays 10am and 6:30pm Contact Lynn Hall, 423-645-1812, ldh5050@gmail.com/Shelley Madueme, 205-746-5474, shelleymadueme@gmail.com

Monday Night Bible Study (Precepts Ministry, Inductive Bible Study) at 7:15pm

Contact Jim Lees, jimlees88@epbfi.com, 423-544-5073. Visitors welcome! You can sit in, even if you’ve missed the previous lessons.

For the first time we will have an afternoon class. The options are 1 PM or 7:15 PM. Then we will continue for the next 3 weeks with discussion of the homework. Workbooks ($6.75) are available from Precept Ministries either online or by phone (423-892-6814). For more info contact Jim Lees, 423-544-5073 or jimlees88@gmail.com.

Meal/Prayer and Fellowship — 2nd and 4th Sundays of the month for meal usually right after morning worship. Darrell and Margaret Stewart at dcstewart77@gmail.com or mlstewart51@gmail.com.

The ladies’ group will meet June 30 to conclude our study of The Gospel of Ruth & all our welcome to join us for this conclusion. Please email me, Lynn ( ldh5050@gmail.com) so I can send a Zoom invite.

Tuesday, July 7 we will begin a new study, Heal Us, Emmanuel (Heal Us, Emmanuel: A Call for Racial Reconciliation, Representation, and Unity in the Church which can be found on Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/yb3e36cf Please join us either for the 10-11:30 AM or the 6:30-8 PM time for this new study. Shelley & I would so enjoy your presence & participation. Please email me with any questions etc. In Him, Lynn Hall Shelley Madueme

Pray for the Persecuted Church in IRAQ (15)

C M E B S

Source: Opendoorsusa.org, June 24, 2020

At 9.30 p.m., somewhere in the Middle East, all that John* (all names have been changed) had prayed against was happening. At the border, a customs officer had stopped him. John waited, hoping they wouldn’t tell him to open his suitcase. But they did. Hours later, he was sitting in a police station jail cell in a country hostile to his faith and his mission. At one point, at least five officials interrogated him about the 50 Bibles he had attempted to bring to secret believers. Nothing was going right for the modern-day Bible smuggler. The books had been confiscated. They had his phone. And now he was behind bars. Failure, it seemed, was guaranteed. In his jail cell, John started talking with the officer who oversaw the prisoners. “[You’re] different than the others,” the official told John. In a vulnerable moment, the guard shared with John that his father was seriously ill. What happened next is a powerful reminder that our God is working behind the scenes in unseen ways to rescue and redeem His creation—even in places where Christians are persecuted in His name.

Read what happened here

Or follow this link:

h ps://www.opendoorsusa.org/chris an-persecu on/stories/confessions-of-a-middle-east-bible-smuggler/

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Which song from today’s service is your favorite?

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Why is the church important? _________________

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DWELLING

IDENTITY

CITIZENS

HOUSEHOLD

GIFT

CORNERSTONE

INCLUSION

PICKPOCKET

FOUNDATION

Words from the Sermon