September 8th - Christ's Love Our Calling - Love Speaks Week Three

7/29/2019 September 8th - Christ's Love Our Calling - Love Speaks Week Three

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As He did at Pentecost, we ask the Holy Spirit to continue to infuse the hearts of His faith-ful people with a fiery zeal to share the life-giving Gospel with a dying world. The Liturgi-cal color is red. It is the color of fire, fervor, blood, martyrdom, and the shining truth of the

Christian faith based on the blood of Christ.

September 8th, 2013CLOC: Love Speaks Week Three

Welcome in the Name of Christ!We pray that you enjoy your time with us and that your spirit is enriched as we together sit

at the feet of our Savior. Gods richest blessings be on you!

Bathrooms are located in the north and south side of the entryway as you go down into thebasement. The mens is on the north side and the womens on the south side.

A small Nursery with a changing table and rocking chair is in the back of church on thesouth side; a carpeted play area is found in the basement; and black activity bags are available

in the entryway.

If you would like talk to Pastor about anything, catch him after worship or give him a call at507-648-3601 (Cell: 507-276-5225).

Order of Service The Common Service on Page 15Sermon Text Philippians 3:4-11

Sermon Theme Love Speaks SacrificiallyHymns 465, 428, 477, 311, 452Psalm 19 on Page 70

Service NotesNormally, green banners and paraments would adorn our Sanctuary this time of year. Thered color helps us set off these weeks as being part of our special worship focus.

This week we continue our fourth and final year of the Fall worship emphasis: ChristsLoveOur Calling. This years theme is Love Speaks; this weeks theme is Love Speaks

Confidently. More information can be found each week on the purple insert in the bulletin.

The Lords Supper at ZionThe Lords Supper is truly a most high and intimate expression of unity. Paul writesin I Corinthians 10:16-17: Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a

participation in the Blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participationin the Body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, forwe all partake of the one loaf. Those who celebrate the Sacrament together are ex-pressing unity with both each another and Christ Jesus their Savior. When the faith

publically confessed by the participants is unified, what God gives us in the Sacramentis pure Gospel and a truly a blessed communion and union with one another and ourGod. But if there is disagreement concerning Gods Word underlying a celebration ofthe Sacrament, its intended purpose is spoiled and those involved are improperly de-

claring unity where unity does not fully exist.

Our practice as it involves the Lords Supper is based on a deep reverence for God andHis Word; it is based on our profound respect for the purpose of the Sacrament; andit is based on a deep desire to in every way honestly, accurately, and clearly confess allof Gods Word to the world. Therefore, those who are not yet fully united to us arecordially invited and encouraged to speak with Pastor or an Elder so that we may

work together for the truth (III John 8); for when spiritual unity is achieved on thebasis of Gods Word, outward unity can and will be joyfully celebrated. Those whohave declared their unity with us, either by their membership here or by their member-ship in another congregation with which we are unified, are cordially invited to express

that unity at the Lords Table.


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First Lesson: Genesis 12:1-8 The Lord had said to Abram, Leave yourcountry, your people and your fathers household and go to the land I will show you. I will makeyou into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a bless-ing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples onearth will be blessed through you. So Abram left, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went withhim . Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran. He took his wife Sarai, hisnephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran,and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there. Abram traveled through the landas far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the

land. The Lord appeared to Abram and said, To your offspring I will give this land. So hebuilt an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him. From there he went on toward thehills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There hebuilt an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.

Second Lesson: Philippians 3:4-11 If anyone else thinks he has rea-sons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people ofIsrael, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal,persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. But whatever was to my profit Inow consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared tothe surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. Iconsider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of

my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christthe righteousnessthat comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrectionand the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow,to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Gospel Lesson: Luke 14:25-33 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus,and turning to them he said: If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, hiswife and children, his brothers and sistersyes, even his own lifehe cannot be my disciple.And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Suppose one ofyou wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he hasenough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyonewho sees it will ridicule him, saying, This fellow began to build and was not able to finish. Or

suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consid-er whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twentythousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off andwill ask for terms of peace. In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he hascannot be my disciple.

SundaySeptember 8thGreeters Kory SchenkYouth Jim & Becky Rogotzke8:45 am Morning Bible ClassLove Speaks: Week 38:45 am Sunday School Begins!10:00 am Sunday Morning Worship ServiceLove Speaks: Week 3After Church Special Voters Meeting to Discuss Bat Removal7:00 pm NO Evening Bible ClassHow Can They Teach That?

Tuesday10:30 am NO Worship Service at Cottonwood Ridge in SpringfieldWednesday10:30 am Worship Service at Cottonwood Ridge in Springfield4:00 pm Televised Worship Service (Springfield Channel 8)7:00 pm Regular Midweek Worship Service

Thursday10:00 am Valley View Worship Service in Lamberton4:00 pm Televised Worship ServiceLamberton Channel 68:00 pm Church Council Meeting in the SchoolFriday4:00 pm Televised Worship ServiceSpringfield Channel 8

SundaySeptember 15thGreeters EichtensYouth Katelyn Rogotzke

8:45 am Morning Bible ClassLove Speaks: Week 48:45 am Sunday School in the School Building10:00 am Sunday Morning Worship ServiceLove Speaks: Week 47:00 pm Evening Bible ClassHow Can They Teach That?

Opportunities to Grow and Serve

Altar GuildRoxy Cohrs & LaVonne Reese

Councilman on DutyJim Kosel

UshersNoel Pidde, Curt Schenk, Terry Schenk, Cary Fredrickson, Jim Zim-merman


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Minnesota River Valley and Mankato Joint Pastors Conference: Sunday afternoonthrough Tuesday afternoon Pastor will be out of town at a Joint Pastors Conference inTrego, WI. If there is an emergency that requires immediate pastoral care, please donthesitate to give him a call on his cell phone: 507-276-5225.

Sunday School Teachers: This week we also want to take a moment to thank our Sun-day School teachers for their service this upcoming school year: Becky Prell, KarleeEichten, Deb Fredrickson, Jenny Eichten, Sharon Leopold, Merrilee Rogotzke, EvelynRogotzke, Jan Steffen, and Mary Fennern. Most of these teachers have been involvedfor many years and are to be commended for their faithful service to and love for Godschildren.

Thank You: Thank you to Adam Kosel who, at the request of the Church Council, ac-quired a new video camera for recording church services. Thank you also Adam fortaking the time to set it up and testing it, the improvement will be significant!

Fall Time Change: Beginning September 8th worship are switching back to 10:00 am.Bible Class and Sunday School will be at 8:45 am.Catechism: If you have a child in 6th-8th grade this coming school year, Pastor will becontacting you concerning the start of Catechism classes for the 2013-2014 SchoolYear. If you have not yet heard from him, either wait for a phone call or feel free tocontact him. The first week of Catechism will be Wednesday, September 18th; unlessthere are conflicts, well plan on Catechism beginning at 6:00 pm as last year.

Sunday School: September 8th, we will be starting up Sunday School for the 2013-2014 school year. Start time will be 8:45 am on Sunday mornings and there are twosinging dates scheduled so far for the kids: Christmas Eve and Palm Sunday. Infor-mation/Invitation sheets are printed and available in the back of church on blue paper.

Invitation/Reminder cards have also gone out in the mail.

Choir Heads Up: Choir will be beginning in about a month; if you are interested in

Announcements

Weekly Attendance in WorshipWednesday 7:00 pm on August 21st : 17 Sunday 10:00 am on August 25th: 52

Wednesday 7:00 pm on August 28th: 18 Sunday 10:00 am on September 1st: 65

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourageone another. Hebrews 10:25

I rejoiced with those who said to me, Let us go to the house of the LORD. Psalm 122:1

raising your voices in praise to God, we will be beginning practice the end of September.Watch for more specific information coming out next Sunday.

Church Remodeling: Harley Johnson has completed his work on the north side ofchurch; windows, insulation, and siding were all installed smoothly and without any realsurprises . Harleys services have already been retained for next spring for the next phaseof remodeling; the exact nature of next years work will be decided at the October Vot-

ers Meeting.

Church Remodeling/Bat Removal: This past month the Church Council contactedBuds Nuisance Wildlife Removal to address the bats that are present in church. Heinspected the church and parsonage last week. We have received an estimate from himand will need to have a special Voters Meeting on September 8th to decide what to do.Any questions can be directed to the Trustees.

Offering Envelope Update: A letter from Shepherd of the Lakes Lutheran Church inMilford was published in this last months Newsletter; it informed us that they had de-cided to close their doors effective the end of September. This means that at the end of

September we will be discontinuing our monthly pledge. Members are also asked at thattime to no longer earmark offerings for that box on your envelope since there will nolonger be a congregation to send them to. Please keep the souls in Milford in your pray-ers and thanks for your assistance in this matter. The Offering Envelopes will be updat-ed for the coming year.

MLC Student Organists: Beginning September 8th we will once again be blessed to haveour student organists back among us for the coming school year. Kenny Rodrige will beplaying for us on the 8th; he and two other MLC students (John Miller & Lucas Krog-mann) will join us for worship 1-2 times per month through the spring of 2014.

Hospital Visits: If you or a loved one is going to be in the hospital for surgery, tests,etc., please call Pastor Prell and let him know. He will add you to the Prayer Chain (ifyou wish) so that others can join in prayers for you. This also helps Pastor know whohe needs to visit; due to health care regulations concerning privacy, hospitals no longerpublish who is in the hospital. Thanks in advance for your help!

Announcements Continued


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helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?This appliesto how we deal with strangers, with prisoners, with money, even withour own spouse.

Week 3Love Speaks Sacrificially: Everything Paul had heconsidered loss for the sake of knowing Christ. Like Abraham in theOld Testament and like all who would follow Christ, we consider theresurrection worth the cross. Focusing on the cross Christ suffered,we willingly count and pay the cost of discipleship and sharing ourfaith. Love speaks sacrificially because it is worth the cost.Week 4Love Speaks Passionately: The emphasis in theGospel on the passion felt by the shepherd, the rejoicing in heaven,and the celebration of the woman with the found coin is our passionas our love speaks the rescuing message of salvation that Paul consid-ered his undeserved privilege to share. Love speaks passionately be-cause it values the lost.

Week 5Love Speaks with Focused Heart: Love speakswith focused heart because Christs love has set our priorities right.The shrewd manager was a secular example of someone focused onthe long term. In the sermon text God is glorified as we focus not onearthly riches, but the glory of God.

Week 6Love Speaks with Urgency: Love puts God firstin its speaking. In Pauls second letter to Timothy, seeing his end in

sight, Paul expends everything for the gospel. Time is limited foreach of us as well as for the ones we are called to love. With the Lordat our side we can speak with the urgency of heart that an apprecia-tion for human frailty brings us, knowing that God will bring in hiselect, and He uses us to do that as the time grows short.

Week 7Love Speaks Unconditionally: Micah wondersat this God that loves the sinner, Luke records Jesus love of the sin-ner Zacchaeus, and our epistle text celebrates the reconciliation won

while we were still sinners. Love speaks unconditionally becausethat is the kind of love weve been shown.

Christs Love, Our Calling (CLOC) has been the theme for our syn-ods four-part stewardship program. Each year focuses on a differentarea of stewardship. Year One focused on our use of time. Year Twofocused on our use of spiritual gifts. Year Three focused on our useof our treasures. Our focus for the fourth and final year of this seriesis our use of Gods truth.

The title for this years emphasis is Love Speaks. Our goal is to en-

courage Gods people to respond to the love of Christ by boldly andcourageously speaking Gods truth and witnessing their faith. Thisseries is based on Pauls words in II Corinthians 4:13: It is written: Ibelieved; therefore I have spoken. With that same spirit of faith wealso believe and therefore speak.

All of the sermons and services, lessons and Bible studies will helpencourage people in their sharing of Gods Word in their everydaylives. The Seven Week Bible Class and Worship Emphasis beginsSunday, August 25th and concludes Sunday, October 6th.Week 1Love Speaks Precisely: Some will be saved andsome will be damned. As the love of Christ flows out of us andspeaks, we are compelled to speak precisely about our salvationthrough Christ since the door to heaven is narrow.

Week 2Love Speaks Confidently: Todays texts stress thehumility that we have in our own importance and position. Yet lovespeaks confidently because it isnt our own agenda or message that we

speak. Love speaks confidently because we have Gods promise thathe will never leave us. We say with confidence, The Lord is my

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September 8th - Christ's Love Our Calling - Love Speaks Week Three