St Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
313 4th St, Manistee, MI 49660-2901
website: stpaulsmanistee.com
facebook.com/SPLCManistee
Telephone: 231-299-1022
Pentecost 6 - July 17, 2022
Sunday Theme: Following Jesus Costs
Prayer Before Worship – Lord, help me to focus on all the blessings You give me so that I don’t get depressed about what following you costs.
Hymn 463
Common Service, front of hymnal, page 15
Prayer: O God, You have prepared joys beyond understanding for those who love You. Pour into our hearts such love for You/ that, loving You above all things,/ we may obtain Your promises,/ which exceed all that we can desire;/ through Your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives reigns with You & the Holy Spirit, one God, now & forever. (Sing) Amen.
Old Testament Lesson: 1 Kings 19:14-21
Following the LORD made Elijah into a fugitive. It had cost him everything. God reminded him that He hadn’t lost Him 14 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”15 The Lord said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. 16 Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. 17 Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. 18 Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.” 19 So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. 20 Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. “Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye,” he said, “and then I will come with you.” Go back,” Elijah replied. “What have I done to you?”21 So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant.
Verse: Alleluia. If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow men. Alleluia!
(Sing) Alleluia!!......front of hymnal, page 18
Epistle: 2 Corinthians 11:21-30
Paul lost his status, his creature comforts, his freedom and his earthly peace because of His work for Jesus.
Whatever anyone else dares to boast about—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast about. 22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham’s descendants? So am I. 23 Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. 24 Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26 I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. 27 I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. 28 Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn? 30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.
Apostles Creed, pg 19
Hymn 465
Sermon Text: Gospel: Luke 9:51-62
Following Jesus costs.
51 As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; 53 but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. 54 When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” 55 But Jesus turned and rebuked them. 56 Then he and his disciples went to another village. 57 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” 59 He said to another man, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” 60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”61 Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” 62 Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”
Sermon Theme: Following Jesus might cost us
Our Jobs
Prayer: Lord Jesus, please don’t let that happen to me.
Our jobs
Our relationships
Our connections to the past
Prayer: LORD JESUS, I want to follow You even if it means losing my job, losing some relationships, and losing some connections with my past. I need your help to do that.
Apostles' Creed, front of hymnal, page 41
Thankoffering
The members of St Paul have joined together to do the Lord’s work in this area & around the world. Visitors need not feel obligated to participate in this offering which supports our church’s ministry.
Prayer of the church, front of hymnal, page 127
Special prayers
Lord's Prayer, page 20
Hymn 496
Continue page 25 font of hymnal
Hymn 323