April 9, 2023
Easter 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: Jay Nelson/Chad Calander
- Reader: Landon & Lane M./Carin C.
- Organist: Special
- Acolytes: Landon & Lane M.
- Sound Booth: Waylon D./Calanders
- Altar Guild: Joyce Mueller
- Fellowship: Easter Breakfast
Next Week’s Servants
- Elder: Steve Calander
- Usher: Travis Bemboom
- Reader: Brock/Brayden Theisen
- Organist: Jane Marquardsen
- Acolytes: Preston/Jaiden Kuseske
- Sound Booth: Chase/Lizzy Calander
- Altar Guild: Joyce Mueller
- Fellowship: Sarah Marxhausen/April Bemboom
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: $3,455.00
- Online Giving: $0.00
- Non-Budget: $625.00
- Midweek: $596.00
- Other: $3,075.00
Attendance
- Worship Attendance: 58
- Sunday School: 5
- Youth Group: 5
- Mid-Week:
- 80 (Maundy Thurs Seder)
- 51 (Good Friday)
Please make every attempt to have your kids in Sunday School each week, and your teens in Youth Group.
Important News & Announcements
HAPPY EASTER!
Services for Easter Sunday are at 7:00 AM and 9:30 AM. An Easter Breakfast is served at 8:15 AM and proceeds go toward sending our youth to Lutheran Island Camp.
DCE INTERN UPDATE
News about the current status of a DCE Intern will be coming at the next Voters Meeting in April.
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.
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: Thank you for giving me life eternal by sending Your only Son to die in my stead. Help me to live my new life in service to you and others. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
SCRIPTURE: For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. – 1 Corinthians 15:22
Paul is writing only about Christians in this text. He is giving us great and sure comfort, that all Christians are alive in Christ. Non-Christians will also rise from the dead, but their resurrection will in no way be a comfort to them because they will be raised to judgment and eternal condemnation, and not to life. This is most certainly not a happy or joyful message for the world. People without God have no desire to hear this. Those who try to earn salvation by their works and piety also shake at this message because they still see and feel their sin and transgressions ruling them, such that they’d much rather hear about devils and Satan than about hellfire and judgment.
In truth, the world hates to hear about this or about leaving this life. People of this world spend their days and dollars trying to prolong life, to make this world better, more livable, more desirable, and more long-lasting, but they fail at every turn. This world will roll up like a scroll at the exact moment ordained by God, and there is nothing mere humans can do to change this timeline. Christians ought to treat God’s creation with respect and honor, but not to prolong the inevitable, but to obey God and love the neighbor. But Christians ought never follow the world’s example by trying to keep God from fulfilling His plans.
For believers, our joy and hope and comfort and assurance is in the life to come – the life that lasts forever. We…live…here in this fallen world, but this isn’t life in the respect that it’s all there is. Instead, we use this very short time to honor and worship God and to love and serve the neighbor. There is nothing greater in this life for the Christian than to worship and obey God and to serve others.
This Week’s Activities
- (Pastor at Concordia St. Paul for meeting, Tuesday)
- Confirmation, Wednesday at 6:30 PM
- Senior Social Day, Thursday at 10:00 AM
Coming Events
- Council Meeting, Sunday, April 16th at 11:00 am
- Pastor on Vacation beginning April 21st
- Voters Meeting, Sunday, April 23rd at 10:30 am
“The resurrection meant, first, that Christ [is] undeniably God. He [is] what He claimed to be. Christ [is] Deity in the flesh.”
— Billy Graham (AD 1918 – 2018)