St Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church

313 4th St, Manistee, MI 49660-2901

website: stpaulsmanistee.com

facebook.com/SPLCManistee

Telephone: 810-252-5821

October 15, 2023 Pentecost 20 Our God patiently seeks fruit.

May the LORD, who is long-suffering, bless your worship.

WELCOME

HYMN 234 – please stand for last stanza

SERVICE OF THE WORD - page 38

PRAYER OF THE DAY:

Almighty God, in your bountiful goodness keep us safe from every evil of body and soul. Make us ready, with cheerful hearts, to do whatever pleases you; through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

(Sing) Amen.

FIRST LESSON: Isaiah 5:1-7

Let us never receive God’s grace in vain, but pray that we might produce the fruits that our beloved seeks.

1Let me sing for my loved one a song about my loved one’s vineyard. My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile ridge.2 He dug it up and gathered the stones out of it. He planted it with the best vines. He built a tower in the middle of it. He also cut a winepress into it. He expected it to produce clusters of sweet grapes, but it produced only sour grapes. 3So now, you residents of Jerusalem and you men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. 4 What more could have been done for my vineyard

that I have not already done for it? When I expected it to produce clusters of sweet grapes, why did it produce sour grapes? 5 Now, let me tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away its hedge, and it will become a pasture. I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled down. 6I will make it a wasteland. It will not be pruned or hoed. So briers and thorns will shoot up. I will also command the clouds not to pour rain on it. 7 Yes, the vineyard of the LORD of Armies is the house of Israel, and the

men of Judah are the planting that was pleasing to him. He expected justice, but instead there was oppression. He expected righteousness, but there was an outcry.

PSALM 103, page 105

I will hear what the LORD proclaims: peace to his people.

SECOND LESSON: Philippians 3:12-21

God has given us the kingdom of heaven by faith. We are the people he promised would produce its fruits. So let us do exactly that.

12 Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus also took hold of me. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it yet, but there is one thing I do: Forgetting the things that are behind and straining toward the things that are ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal, for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Therefore, let all of us who are mature continue to think this way. And if you think differently about anything, God will reveal this to you too. 16 Only let us think the same thing and walk in line with what we already have attained. 17 Brothers, join together in imitating me and in paying attention to those who are walking according to the pattern we gave you.18 To be sure, many walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. I told you about them often, and now I am saying it while weeping. 19 Their end is destruction, their god is their appetite, and their glory is in their shame. They are thinking only about earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. We are eagerly waiting for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. 21 By the power that enables him to subject all things to himself, he will transform our humble bodies to be like his glorious body.

VERSE OF THE DAY:

Alleluia. I will proclaim your name to my people; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you. Alleluia.

(Sing) Alleluia.....page 40

GOSPEL: Matthew 21:33-43

In the Parable of the wicked tenants Jesus highlights the patience of our God as he seeks fruits of faith. Could God have done anything more for Israel?

33 “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower. He leased it out to some tenant farmers and went away on a journey. 34 When the time approached to harvest the fruit, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. 35 The tenant farmers seized his servants. They beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36 Then the landowner sent even more servants than the first time. The tenant farmers treated them the same way. 37 Finally, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said. 38 But when the tenant farmers saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance!’ 39 They took him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. 40 So when the landowner comes, what will he do to those tenant farmers?” 41 They told him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end. Then he will lease out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him his fruit when it is due.” 42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing, and it is

marvelous in our eyes?43 “That is why I tell you the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces its fruit.

HYMN 125

SERMON: Matthew 21:33-43

How Do You Treat the Son?

APOSTLES’ CREED - page 41

PRAYERS & LORD’S PRAYER

HYMN 486

Liturgy continues on pages 43,44

HYMN 355

ANNOUNCEMENTS & REFRESHMENTS

THANKOFFERING BASKET BY DOOR

The members of St Paul's have joined together to do the Lord’s work in this area 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 the Guest Book in the entryway.

VOTERS’ MEETING today after refreshments.

THANK YOU to all the ladies who cleaned the parsonage this past week.

SERVING YOU TODAY:

• Pastor Dennis J. Himm

• Organist Nancy Skory

All Scripture readings are from the NIV 2011. Used by permission.