April 2, 2023
Palm Sunday
Sermon Notes for Sunday
- Sermon Notes
Sermon based on Matthew 16:13-20
Today we hear about Peter’s confession of faith and how, like Peter, we are given the Spirit of Christ to confess the one true Christian faith boldly and confidently, and that even when we do not confess as we ought, our God and Savior continues to forgive, strengthen, and renew us so that we learn to confess His name before others.
Serving Schedule
This Week’s Servants
- ELDER: Steve Calander
- Usher: Derek Marxhausen
- Reader: Sarah Marxhausen
- Organist: Special
- Acolytes: Landon/Lane Marxhausen
- Sound Booth: Chase VanDonsel
- Altar Guild: Joyce Mueller
- Fellowship: Jen VanDonsel/Sue Drury
Next Week’s Servants
- Elder: Steve Calander
- Usher: Jay Nelson(e) / Dan Dreyer(l)
- Reader: Landon & Lane M.(e) / OPEN(l)
- Organist: Special
- Acolytes: TBA
- Sound Booth: OPEN
- Altar Guild: Joyce Mueller
- Fellowship: Elders
If you are unable to keep your scheduled serving day, please contact the church at least a few days before the service so there is time to find a replacement. Thank you!
Statistics for Last Week
Financials
- Regular Offering: $1,740.00
- Online Giving: $110.00
- Non-Budget: $168.43
- Midweek: $97.00
- Other: $50.00
Attendance
- Worship Attendance: 45
- Sunday School: n/a
- Youth Group: n/a
- Mid-Week: 16
Please make every attempt to have your kids in Sunday School each week, and your teens in Youth Group.
Important News & Announcements
HOLY WEEK SCHEDULE
There will be a streamed morning prayer service shown on Facebook and YouTube during Holy Week on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and a special Holy Saturday stream on Saturday at 9:00 PM.
DCE INTERN UPDATE
News about the current status of a DCE Intern will be coming at the next Voters Meeting in April.
Maundy Thursday Seder
Be sure to be at the church by 6pm so we can start the Seder on time. If you’ve volunteered to cook, serve, read, or help in the kitchen, CLICK HERE to read the post about when you should be at the church, or speak to Pastor Carlson. When you arrive on Thursday, you will be escorted to your table as we have assigned seating.
NEED PRINTED ANNOUNCEMENTS?
A limited number of printed announcements are available each Sunday and left on the table under the mailboxes. You may also have a PDF copy of the announcements emailed to you if you prefer it that way. Just ask.
TIME TO ORDER LILIES FOR EASTER!
Make our sanctuary Easter-ready by ordering one or more Easter Lilies! You may order your lilies from Milaca Floral for $19.99/plant or from Coburns for $12.99/plant. Milaca Floral will deliver on Saturday the 8th. You will have to visit your local Coburns to pick up your lilies. You may order them in memory of a loved one through Milaca Floral. THANK YOU!
Subscribe to the official newspaper of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod! Visit reporter.lcms.org to get regular updates, notices, synodical news, and more!
Pastor Carlson has been publishing a daily devotion online and emailing it to subscribers. That’s right! This is a great way to start of your day in the Word and prayer. Simply go to stpaulsmilaca.org/subscribe or speak to Pastor, and you’ll start to receive a devotion every weekday in your email inbox.
Prayer Requests
| Tom Litfin | Glen Hamann |
| Harry Totzke | Family of Lois Gustafson |
Weekend Devotion
Prayer: Lord, teach me to trust in You in all things — not to wait idly for miracles, but to use every opportunity You provide each day. If You should help me by a miracle, so be it, but if not, help me trust in You even when Your help is through regular, mundane, means. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
SCRIPTURE: When Jacob learned that there was grain for sale in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why do you look at one another?” And he said, “Behold, I have heard that there is grain for sale in Egypt. Go down and buy grain for us there, that we may live and not die.” – Genesis 42:1-2
Why did Jacob tell his sons to go down to Egypt to buy grain “so we may live and not die”? Why didn’t he just trust God to provide for him, sit and wait? Why was Jacob afraid of dying when, throughout his life, God continued to help him and guide him? I mean, God had protected him, protected his family, and even his servants in the foreign and often violent country of Canaan. Why did Jacob suddenly stop trusting God’s promise when it was still so fresh in his mind? He had taught his children about trusting in God and relying on Him for every need of body and soul, and suddenly he’s so worried that he sends his sons to Egypt for food? Where is your faith, Jacob?? Why are you so weak?
The best and most faithful way to respond to this is as follows: God orders us to believe and trust in Him for all things, but we should never test the Lord. Consider the story of the man who sat on his roof in a flood and who kept saying, “God will provide.” God provided several ways of escape, but the man waited for great signs and wonders. When a helicopter tried to rescue him, the man refused. When a boat came by and offered him rescue, the man refused. He was testing the Lord and not using the opportunities afforded him to be set free. In the same way, we must not test the Lord, but we must take advantage of opportunities that God gives us in this life. If not, then we are not living according to His plan. Waiting for signs and miracles is foolish as God most often uses day to day things to carry out His work and give us opportunities to trust Him.
So, we must continue to maintain faith and hope in God while using the opportunities He gives. This is why Jacob told his sons to go down to Egypt to buy grain rather than telling them to “stay and wait for a miracle.” Such is not what God’s promise means.
No doubt that God can take care of you in miraculous ways, and let’s be honest, sometimes He does. But most of the time, God works through means, and you must not pass up opportunities which may provide the help you need. If you don’t use what is readily available to you, then you are testing God because God has created all things, including these opportunities. Jacob would not test the Lord, and he would not sit idly by at home hoping food would fall from the sky. Instead, he sends his sons to Egypt.
This Week’s Activities
- Elders Meeting Sunday at 11 am
- Holy Week streams, M-W @ 9:00am
- Christian Seder, Thursday @ 6:00pm
- Good Friday Tenebrae, Friday @ 6:00pm
- Holy Saturday stream, Saturday @ 9:00pm
- Easter Sunday
- Sunrise Svc @ 7:00 am
- Breakfast @ 8:15 am
- Easter Svc @ 9:30 am
Coming Events
- Council Meeting, Sunday, April 16th at 11:00 am
- Voters Meeting, Sunday, April 23rd at 10:30 am
“Think not that you are thus maintaining the Gospel of Christ when you separate yourselves from the flock of Christ.”
— St. Cyprian of Carthage (AD 210 -258)