Bob Rayman Benefit

Bennington volunteer firefighter and lifelong member of the Bennington Community, Bob Rayman, contracted West Nile Virus leaving him with a severe medical condition and extensive medical bills.  Please pray for Bob and his family.  Friends of Bob are planning a fundraiser to help defray the costs of his medical bills.

Sunday November 19, 2017 NOON - 6PM

BENNINGTON FIRE STATION

10801 N 156th St, Bennington, NE 68007

Chili and Wing Feed: $10.00 Adults, $5.00 Children (12 and under )

Live Entertainment, Beer for purchase, Silent auction and 50/50 Raffle every hour

Donations can be made to the Bob Raymank Fund at any Bank of Bennington Location.

Contact Jeannie Carlsen 402-679-1420 or Jodi McCoy at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you are able to donate supplies and/or volunteer for Bob's benefit

• WOWT News store about Bob's situation: Local firefighter in ICU; battling rare complications from West Nile Virus
• Bob's Facebook page.  His family updates his status from time to time

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Published: 03 November 2017 03 November 2017

Last Updated: 03 November 2017 03 November 2017

Who Was Martin Luther? Part 5

This is part four of a series written by Rev. Donavon Riley that originally appeared on the HIgher Things - Dare To be Lutheran website.

Martin Luther wasn't even 22 years old when he approached the monastery door in Erfurt. But he'd made up his mind. He knocked on the door of the Augustinian hermits. Martin asked the prior—the man responsible for running the monastery—to admit him.

Then Luther turned his back on a career in law, his father's expectations, and his friends' concerns. He allowed fear to drive him into a cloistered life. But why?

At the end of the winter semester in 1503, Martin traveled home to Mansfeld. On the way, the ceremonial dagger (a popular affectation amongst students at that time) Luther wore at his side stabbed him in the leg, probably in the femoral artery—a very dangerous, often fatal wound. A friend who had travelled with him ran to fetch a doctor, since they were still in sight of the city walls. While Luther laid there, propped against a tree, feet pointed toward the heavens, he prayed to the Mother of God: "Oh, Mary, help." But that wasn't the event that drove him to seek out the Augustinian hermits in Erfurt. It was, however, the beginning of the end of his law studies.

The second life threatening event, the one that finally drove young Martin into a monastery, happened on July 2, 1505. Caught in a thunderstorm, Luther believed he was about to die (again), and as fear overwhelmed him he cried out, "Help, St. Anne, [and] I will become a monk!" Family and friends tried to talk Martin out of his decision, but it was no use. Two weeks after the storm Luther threw a "going away" party for his friends. The next morning, he went and knocked on the monastery door. "You see me today and never again," he said. He thought that was the last he'd see of the world. But it wasn't to be for Luther. As he later remarked, "To the world I had died till God thought it was time." Some of his friends, like Crotus Rubeanus and Johannes Nathin, compared Luther's conversion to that of St. Paul. But, Martin didn't see it that way, and neither did the Augustinian hermits.

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Published: 27 October 2017 27 October 2017

Last Updated: 27 October 2017 27 October 2017

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A Celebration of the Reformation - Wed Evenings

Look What’s New On Wednesday Evenings

Do you wonder what to do while your children attend Mid-Week or Confirmation on Wednesdays?  Are you looking for a middle of the week Christian education opportunity?  Would you like to know more about the Lutheran Reformation?  Zion is offering just what you are looking for this fall.

Starting Wednesday, September 13, from 5:45 pm to 6:45 pm, Rev. Stephen Bartelt will be offering a 6-week presentation, “A Celebration of the Reformation.” He will be adapting material he originally developed to present to Lutheran students at our LCMS mission in Almaty, Kazahkstan in October 1997.  

* Pastor Bartelt will finish this series on January 10th and 17th, 2018 *

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Published: 10 September 2017 10 September 2017

Last Updated: 11 January 2018 11 January 2018

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LCMS Disaster Response assessment team heads to Texas

By Cheryl Magness (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

An LCMS assessment team led by Director of Disaster Response Rev. Dr. Ross Johnson set out Aug. 30 from the LCMS International Center in St. Louis to Texas following Hurricane Harvey.

[Webmaster's Note] - To listen to the video click the Facebook icon or unmute by clicking on the volume control icon.

Equipped with diapers, wipes, work gloves, face masks, batteries, flashlights and cases of water, they headed for Corpus Christi and Houston, Texas, two of the areas severely affected by the storm.

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Published: 02 September 2017 02 September 2017

Last Updated: 02 September 2017 02 September 2017

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LCMS Response to Harvey

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Published: 31 August 2017 31 August 2017

Last Updated: 03 September 2017 03 September 2017

Solar Eclipse Bible Study Offered

‘Great American Eclipse’ Bible study offered for Aug. 21 solar eclipse.

As we anticipate the total solar eclipse Aug. 21 - called by some “The Great American Eclipse” due to its rarity — Concordia Seminary, St. Louis has created a free Bible study to mark the event titled “The Great American Eclipse and Our Creaturely Sense of Wonder.”

The Bible study, written by Dr. Charles Arand, invites congregations, small groups and individuals to explore our “sense of wonder” in God’s creation through Scripture. It is designed as a one-day study but may be extended into two or three sessions.

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Published: 14 August 2017 14 August 2017

Last Updated: 16 August 2017 16 August 2017

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Higher Things 2017

The Zion junior high and high school youth attended the Higher Things youth conference in Valparaiso, Indiana July 24-28. Some of the services can be seen on the Higher Things Facebook site.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. -Colossians 3

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Published: 31 July 2017 31 July 2017

Last Updated: 31 July 2017 31 July 2017

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Who Was Martin Luther? Part 4

This is part four of a series written by Rev. Donavon Riley that orginally appeared on the HIgher Things - Dare To be Lutheran website.

After four years at the university in Erfurt, Luther had become "magister atrium", which is what we know as a Master of Liberal Arts. He finished second amongst seventeen students who were candidates to receive a degree that year. By the time young Martin was prepared to test for his degree, he'd devoted four years of study primarily to the classic Greek philosopher, Aristotle and all his works on metaphysics, politics, ethics, and economics.

An exciting part of a student's education at that time happened during the last two years at university. Students learned how to interpret and debate important topics, usually from the works of Aristotle. They also were expected to devote more time to the "quadrivium"—music, arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy.

University was intense for any student. Administration and faculty set high expectations for learning and academic achievement. To make sure everyone was focused on their studies, students lived together in what we call "dorms" under strict supervision. Free time or taking a break from studies was not considered to be a part of a student's daily routine. In fact, university life was very much based on a monastic style of life.

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Published: 23 July 2017 23 July 2017

Last Updated: 02 August 2017 02 August 2017

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Hong Kong VBS 2017

These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. - John 20

Nine youth and adults traveled to St. Matthews, a Lutheran elementary school in Hong Kong, to teach VBS. Praise be to God for the week at St. Mathews VBS!

 

Morning of Day 1 VBS at St. Matthews in Hong Kong

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Published: 18 July 2017 18 July 2017

Last Updated: 18 July 2017 18 July 2017

Two Kinds of Righteousness

This 1518 sermon by Martin Luther, full of Scriptural teaching, explains the two ways of justification or obtaining righteousness. The first is in oneself, being and doing good and holy works. The second is only revealed in the mystery of Christ's Gospel: the righteousness of Christ given by faith, so that we are deemed as holy and clean as Christ Himself in the Father's sight. This early writing establishes a clear distinction between internal righteousness (according to God's Law) and external righteousness (by grace through faith) that is fundamental to Lutheran identity.

SERMON ON TWO KINDS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

Brethren, “have this mind among yourselves, which you have in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of god, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped”  [Phil.  2:5-6] 

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Published: 13 July 2017 13 July 2017

Last Updated: 15 July 2017 15 July 2017

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