St Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
313 4th Street, Manistee, MI 49660
www.StPaulsManistee.com
facebook.com/SPLCManistee
March 1, 2026 Lent 2
EXACTLY WHAT I NEED: Faith
WELCOME – All responses will be spoken today. RED HYMNAL HYMN 283 “Speak, O Savior; I Am Listening” (Please stand for last stanza)
INVOCATION & CALL TO WORSHIP
L: We gather in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. C: Amen.
L: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who comforts us in our troubles, C: So that we can comfort others in their troubles with the same comfort we ourselves have received from God.
L: For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives,
C: So also through Christ our comfort overflows to others.
L: Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; His greatness no one can fathom. C: One generation will commend Your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts.
L: Our God is a God who saves.
C: He does not treat us as our sins deserve.
L: For God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us,
C: So that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
L: Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that One died for all, and therefore all died. C: And He died for all that those who live should no longer live for them-selves, but for Him who died for them and was raised again.
L: May His Spirit inspire our giving thanks for all of His blessings to us,
C: And make us able to serve Him throughout our lives.
L: Let us pray.
PRAYER OF THE DAY:
Almighty God, you see that we have no power to defend ourselves. Guard and keep us both outwardly and inwardly from all adversities that may happen to the body and from all evil thoughts that may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. (Sing) Amen.
FIRST LESSON: Genesis 12:1-8
The Lord gave Abram the gift of faith to believe the promise that one of his descendants would be a gift for the whole world.
1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Get out of your country and away from your relatives and from your father’s house and go to the land that I will show you. 2I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing. 3I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse anyone who dishonors you. All of the families of the earth will be blessed in you.” 4So Abram went, as the Lord had told him. Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.5Abram took Sarai his wife, Lot his brother’s son, and all the possessions they had accumulated and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to travel to the land of Canaan. Eventually they arrived in the land of Canaan. 6Abram passed through the land until he came to the Oak of Moreh at the place called Shechem. The Canaanites were in the land at that time. 7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” Abram built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8 He moved on from there to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent there, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and proclaimed the name of the Lord.
P: The Word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.
SECOND LESSON: Romans 4:1-5,13-17
Abraham is an example of how salvation is received as a gift through faith..
1What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered according to the flesh? 2If indeed Abraham had been justified by works, he would have had a reason to boast—but not before God. 3For what does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.” 4Now to a person who works, his pay is not counted as a gift but as something owed. 5 But to the person who does not work but believes in the God who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited to him as righteousness….13 Indeed, the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not given to Abraham or his descendants through the law, but through the righteousness that is by faith. 14 To be sure, if people are heirs by the law, faith is empty and the promise is nullified. 15 For law brings wrath. (Where there is no law, there is no transgression.) 16 For this reason, the promise is by faith, so that it may be according to grace and may be guaranteed to all of Abraham’s descendants—not only to the one who is a descendant by law, but also to the one who has the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. 17As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” In the presence of God, Abraham believed him who makes the dead alive and calls non-existing things so that they exist.
P: The Word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.
VERSE OF THE DAY: NOTE: Alleluias are omitted during the season of Lent. Jesus humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross.
GOSPEL: John 3:1-17
By sharing the good news of God’s love for the world, Jesus gave the gift of faith.
1 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these miraculous signs you are doing unless God is with him.”3Jesus replied, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: Unless someone is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” 5Jesus answered, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: Unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God! 6Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh. Whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not be surprised when I tell you that you must be born from above. 8 The wind blows where it pleases. You hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” 9“How can these things be?” asked Nicodemus. 10“You are the teacher of Israel,” Jesus answered, “and you do not know these things? 11Amen, Amen, I tell you: We speak what we know, and we testify about what we have seen. But you people do not accept our testimony. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven, except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him hall not perish but have eternal life.16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
P: The Gospel of the Lord.
C: Praise be to you, O Christ!
HYMN 391 “God Loved the World So that He Gave”
SERMON: (written by Circuit Pastor John Eich)
APOSTLES’ CREED - page 41
PRAYER & LORD’S PRAYER - page 42
HYMN 403 “I Know My Faith Is Founded”
PRAYER - page 43 C: Amen. (spoken)
BLESSING - page 44 C: Amen. (spoken)
HYMN 402 “My Faith Looks Up to Thee”
ANNOUNCEMENTS & REFRESHMENTS
THANKOFFERING BASKET BY DOOR
The members of St Paul's & the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) have joined together to do the Lord’s work here and around the world. Our guests may but are not expected to participate in this offering which supports our church’s ministry.
PLEASE SIGN OUR GUEST BOOK IF YOU ARE VISITING.
It’s located in the entryway by the stairs going to the basement.
LORD’S SUPPER: We will celebrate the Lord’s Supper next Sunday.
NO CATECHISM CLASS and TUESDAY EVENING BIBLE CLASS this week.
Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version ® (EHV ®)