Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Sorted by date Results 326 - 350 of 511
1 Peter 4:8 “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” These last few weeks... no, months, have made 2020 one for the history books. Not only do we have a virus that has almost shut our country down, now riots have hit the streets and people are loudly protesting the injustices in our world. I’ve watched the news and scrolled social media, all the while wondering what can I do to help. How can I make an impact in our world when it seems to be spinning too fast around me? Last week I wrote about pra...
“Make your life a prayer.” 1 Thessalonians 5:17 TPT The Lord has been teaching me about prayer, a lot, lately. Prayer is a subject I think we can become ambivalent or casual towards. We know the spiel, “it’s important, it works, and it’s how we communicate with God.” But do we really understand the power of prayer? How by simply asking, God can change his mind and alter the future of a people, a nation and the world. The world has become a crazy place and seems to be getting crazier by the day. We watch the news and see anger, violence, r...
If our mind is filled with a world of thoughts that are contrary or even dishonorable to God, how can there be room for us to concentrate on His goodness, peace, and hope? When Mary was about to give birth and there was no room in the Inn, God was also allowing us to see that many people in this world have no room in their life for Jesus. Their heart and mind is filled with carnality, selfishness, arrogance, and negative influences. This is why the enemy of our soul has created many obstacles an...
What is the meaning and purpose of life? This is a question I would not have been able to answer a few years ago. At that point, my biggest worries were enjoying life and managing what other people thought of me. Going into college, I was so hung up on this question of identity that I took a class about it my first semester. Goals, Drives, and the Search for Identity. Interestingly enough, it was not this class that helped me figure it out. About halfway through my freshman year, I began a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Through...
Something that God has been continuing to teach me lately is how to better love people. Simple, but far from easy. The other day, I read through Luke 6:27-36. This passage is quoted from one of Jesus’ sermons and is about love for enemies. “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” (27-28) God knows that our natural, sinful desire is self-interest. We worry about people being unfair, treating us poorly, and saying terrible things about us. Yet, we are called to love these...
Be still. It is said several times throughout the Bible, and is quite a popular phrase among the home décor section of Hobby Lobby. He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still. Exodus 14:14 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Psalm 37:7 It seems we have heard God’s call for us to be still, but are we actua...
“The Centurion’s Faith” Over the course of his three years of ministry, Jesus interacts with many different people. Obviously, religious leaders, fishermen and his disciples; but also prostitutes, tax collectors and many other people. Some of them had faith in Jesus, some did not. But across the board, only once does he seem surprised by a person’s faith. That person was not a religious leader, or a faithful blue-color fisherman, or even a Jew, but a Roman soldier. A man whose name is not recorded, but rank of centurion is. The story goes th...
Christians like to talk a good game. We love to brag about how this is a Christian nation. We champion conservative causes. We claim victories when abortion laws get passed. We’re proud of how in North Dakota, Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings are still kept mostly clear for church activities. Let’s be honest, we consider New Rockford to be a by-and-large Christian community, don’t we? I suppose I can’t speak for the world, but I can say from my life experiences, Midwestern Christians have a lot of pride. And the root of that confide...
New Rockford church goers took to the streets to celebrate Palm Sunday. Whereas normally church parishioners, often youth, proceed through church aisles waving palm branches while singing, this year church buildings were closed due to COVID-19 restrictions. Ministerial members and congregants refused to let social distancing get in the way of their celebration though. Locals made paper palm fronds, waved pom poms, and attached tree branches to their vehicles and drove up and down the streets of...
These last couple of weeks have been tough for a lot of us. While few (if any) of us have actually been touched by COVID-19, we’ve seen our schedules go up in flames. High school events, church services, community events, family gatherings, all sorts of things have been sacrificed on the altar of social distancing. The upheaval has been wide spread and dramatic. In this time of clear schedules and ‘shelter in place,’ I want to point to Jesus’ words as recorded by Matthew. “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust des...
And let us consider how to stir up 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. Hebrews 10:24-25 For years, it has been easy to do as the author says and continue to gather together and encourage one another. Our culture almost shuts down on Sundays, and there are many churches to choose from. Most of the churches utilize the efforts of paid professionals, comfortable church buildings, and plenty of chairs to sit in....
“I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, . . . then you shall know that I the Lord, have spoken and will act, says the Lord.” — (Ezekiel 37:14) There is a lot to unpack in this story of the valley of dry bones found in Ezekiel 37:1-14. This story of a place of dry bones, of a slaughter from long ago, an attempt to eradicate a people and the memory of that people, can lead us to a number of messages. And I think one central message is this: real life begins with the Spirit of God. The imagery of the valley of the dry bones is a pow...
One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see. — John 9:25 Time after time as I have visited with people, I have been told that sometimes an experience is so powerful that it supersedes all rational thought. I think a major theme in the story of Jesus healing the man born blind recorded in John 9 is the difficulty that everyone had with the experience of this blind man. It began with the disciples trying to answer the theological question of whether the man’s blindness was the result of his own sinfulness or that of his parents. Since...
Please check back as changes will be updated here regularly. First Lutheran Church New Rockford Pastor Doug Nemitz No services, bible study, SMASH or ABC until further notice. Services are broadcast every Sunday at KDAK 1600 AM Carrington at 10 a.m. This week's broadcast is in memory of Leo Laube's 89th birthday, by Janet Laube. Office will be open M-TH 10 a.m. -4:30 p.m. Sheyenne- Oberon Area Ministry Pastor Jeff Halvorson No worship services St. John's Catholic Church New Rockford Father Reese Weber Church open for prayer Confession by appoin...
On Sunday, March 1, Joyce (Mrs. Bill) Starke was recognized by the First Congregational Church. She began her musical career when she and her family moved to New Rockford in June of 1947. She sang in the choir and performed solos at the church. She was honored to sing at her graduation from New Rockford High School in 1949. She sang in the community choir and was the director of the New Rockford- Carrington Music Club. She became the choir director at the First Congregational Church and then...
O come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! — Psalm 95:1-2 In a democratic society, it appears to me that individualism reigns supreme. Each man and woman is trumpeted as master of his or her destiny and is free to pursue happiness as their hearts would lead them. It is this kind of cultural assumption that lies behind the question that gets asked of every six-year-old, “What do you want to be...
We all have problems occasionally and there are times when we feel like we’ve been punched in the gut. I felt like this a couple of months ago when one morning I went into my office to start the day and my computer would not wake up. I realize hard drive failures are not the worst things that could happen. For someone who writes several hours a day, it’s discouraging to say the least. In the big picture of crisis issues, this is actually pretty far down the list. As I grow older, I want to be...
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” — Genesis 12:1-3 As I reflect on God’s call of Abram, I am struck by the fact that the call came before God made a covenant with Abram, before God renamed him Abraham,...
“Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.’” — Genesis 3:1-3 This scene between the couple and the serpent might be one of the most famous scenes in all of the Hebrew Scriptures. It is well known even by many who don’t see the Bible as sacred writings. Often when I reflect on this story, I remember o...
Division. No, I’m not speaking of a function of mathematics. And I am not speaking of a grouping of sports teams that get scheduled to play against each other. Neither am I talking about a large military unit like an Infantry or Armored division. While elementary school children might not agree with me, none of these definitions of division are a bad thing. We need to learn how to divide one number by another. It can be a source of pride to win one’s division in sports. NDSU has become very successful in winning it’s division champ...
Here it is February already. Can winter really be half over? Didn't we just celebrate Christmas? That seems like so long ago doesn't it. Time does move on and the older we get, it seems as if it goes by faster, but spring is on the way. We've had some very nice weather this past week but those of us who have lived here for any length of time at all, we know there is a lot of winter yet to come. We have just observed Groundhogs Day. Legend would have it that because Phil didn't see his shadow, we will have an early spring. Don't count on it....
I don't know how it all started, but someplace along the line the people on Madison Avenue in New York City decided that it would make an easier sell to have somebody important touting their products. Madison Avenue in New York is to advertising like Wall Street is to stocks and bonds and finance. Personally I don't care who endorses a product. It might be a world-famous athlete, the world's richest person, or the world's most beautiful woman I don't care. If I like something I buy it, if I don't, I won't. Simple as that. I've met some very...
This is from the devotional, “God is in the Manger” by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German Lutheran pastor who was imprisoned and executed for participating in a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. In an incomparable reversal of all righteous and pious thinking, God declares Godself guilty to the world and thereby extinguishes the guilt of the world. God himself takes the humiliating path of reconciliation and thereby sets the world free. God wants to be guilty of our guilt and takes upon himself the punishment and suffering that this guilt bro...
This is from the devotional, “God is in the Manger” by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German Lutheran pastor who was imprisoned and executed for participating in a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. God becomes human, really human. While we endeavor to grow out of our humanity, to leave our human nature behind us, God becomes human, and we must recognize that God wants us also to become human— really human. Whereas we distinguish between the godly and the godless, the good and the evil, the noble and the common, God loves real human beings witho...
