St Paul’s
Evangelical Lutheran Church
313 4th Street, Manistee, MI 49660
www.StPaulsManistee.com
facebook.com/SPLCManistee
March 23, 2025 Lent 3
ALWAYS PRESENT, ALWAYS PATIENT
WELCOME – All responses will be spoken today.
HYMN 302 “Lord, to You I Make Confession”
(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, look with favor on your humble servants and stretch out the right hand of your power to defend us against all our enemies; through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
FIRST LESSON: Exodus 3:1-15
The Lord reveals his presence to Moses as flames within a bush—fire that does not consume.
1 Now Moses was shepherding the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, a priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 The Angel of the Lord appeared to him in blazing fire from within a bush. Moses saw that the bush was on fire, but the bush was not burning up. 3So he said, “I will go over and look at this amazing sight—to find out why the bush is not burning up.” 4When the Lord saw that Moses had gone over to take a look, God called to him from the middle of the bush and said, “Moses! Moses!” Moses said, “I am here.” 5 The Lord said, “Do not come any closer. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 He then said, “I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. 7 The Lord said, “I have certainly seen the misery of my people in Egypt, and I have heard their cry for help because of their slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering. 8So I have come down to deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9Now indeed, the Israelites’ cry for help has come to me. Yes, I have seen how the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 Come now, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” 11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” 12 So he said, “I will certainly be with you. This will be the sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will serve God on this mountain.” 13 But Moses said to God, “If I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what should I say to them?” 14 So God replied to Moses, “I am who I am.” He also said, “You will say this to the Israelites: I am has sent me to you.” 15 God also told Moses, “Say this to the Israelites: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you. This is my name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered from generation to generation.’
P: The Word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.
SECOND LESSON: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
God revealed his presence among the nation of Israel. Instead of his presence leading to repentant faith, with a sense of false security the Israelites set their hearts on evil.
1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and know all the mysteries and have all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3If I give away everything I own, and if I give up my body that I may be burned but do not have love, I gain nothing. 4Love is patient. Love is kind. Love does not envy. It does not brag. It is not arrogant. 5It does not behave indecently. It is not selfish. It is not irritable. It does not keep a record of wrongs. 6It does not rejoice over unrighteousness but rejoices with the truth. 7It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8Love never comes to an end. But if there are prophetic gifts, they will be done away with; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be done away with. 9For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part, 10 but when that which is complete has come, that which is partial will be done away with. 11When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 Now we see indirectly using a mirror, but then we will see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I was fully known. 13 So now these three remain: faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.
P: The Word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.
VERSE OF THE DAY:
Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
GOSPEL: Luke 13:1-9
God is always patient, but our time of grace does come to an end at the moment of death. Since that can come at unexpected times, Jesus teaches that the time to repent is right now.
1 At that time there were some present who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 He answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered these things? 3I tell you, no. But unless you repent, you will all perish too. 4 Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse sinners than all the people living in Jerusalem? 5I tell you, no. But unless you repent, you will all perish too.” 6 He told them this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard. He came looking for fruit on it, but he did not find any. 7So he said to the gardener, ‘Look, for three years now I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and I have found none. Cut it down. Why even let it use up the soil?’ 8 But the gardener replied to him, ‘Sir, leave it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put fertilizer on it. 9If it produces fruit next year, fine. But if not, then cut it down.’”
P: The Gospel of the Lord.
C: Praise be to you, O Christ!
HYMN 339 “Today Your Mercy Calls Us”
SERMON: (written by Circuit Pastor John Eich)
APOSTLES’ CREED - page 41
PRAYER & LORD’S PRAYER - page 42
HYMN 490 “Love in Christ Is Strong and Living”
PRAYER - page 43 C: Amen. (spoken)
BLESSING - page 44 C: Amen. (spoken)
HYMN 331 “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah”
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.
GUESTS, PLEASE SIGN OUR GUEST BOOK
It’s located in the entryway by the stairs going to the basement.
WEDNESDAY LENTEN WORSHIP – March 19 at 1:30 pm. We will be joining the member of Redeemer, Scottville, for their Lenten series, “Repentance Reflections” based on Psalm 51. Lunch is served at 12:30 pm. All are welcome!
BIBLE INFORMATION CLASS: Do you have the desire to learn more about God and the Bible? Are you interested in church membership? Then Pastor Himm has a class for you. It is free and there is no obligation. Contact Himm to set up a time for you.
Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version ® (EHV ®)