FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT March 10, 2024

Immanuel Ev. Lutheran Church

Wisconsin Synod

Pastor Rev. Christopher Oehlke Pastor’s Phone: 1-262-909-7827

Organist Karen Davis, Mindy Kane, Church Telephone 763-682-4573

Lorraine Roush Email pastor@myimmanuel.org

WELCOME, VISITORS:     We are glad you could be with us and we welcome you back any time. Please sign our “Welcome” card found in the pew holders or sign the guest book in the narthex/entry.

Prayer Before Worship

O Lord—our Maker, Redeemer, and Comforter—we are assembled in your presence to hear your holy Word. We pray that you would open our hearts by your Holy Spirit, that through the preaching of your Word we may repent of our sins, believe in Jesus, and grow day by day in grace and holiness. Hear us for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

SERVICE OF THE WORD 

(Beginning on Page 38 in the hymnal)

HYMN (#384) “By Grace I’m Saved”

M: The grace of our Lord (+) Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you.

C: And also with you.

CONFESSION OF SINS

M: We have come into the presence of God, who created us to love and serve him as his dear children. But we have disobeyed him and deserve only his wrath and punishment. Therefore, let us confess our sins to him and plead for his mercy.

C: Merciful Father in heaven, I am altogether sinful from birth. 

In countless ways I have sinned against you and do not deserve to  be called your child. But trusting in Jesus, my Savior, I pray: Have mercy on me according to your unfailing love. Cleanse me from my sin, and take away 

my guilt.

M: God, our heavenly Father, has forgiven all your sins. By the perfect life and innocent death of our Lord Jesus Christ, he has removed your guilt forever. You are his own dear child. May God give you strength to live according to his will.

C: Amen.

PRAYER OF THE DAY

M: Grant, O merciful Lord, to your faithful people pardon and peace that they may be cleansed from all their sins and serve you with a quiet mind; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

C: (Sung) Amen.

THE WORD

FIRST LESSON Numbers 21:4-9

⁴ They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; ⁵ they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!” ⁶ Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. ⁷ The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. ⁸ The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” ⁹ So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.         (NIV)

M: The Word of the Lord.

C: Thanks be to God.

PSALM OF THE DAY (sung) Psalm 32 (page 78)

SECOND LESSON Ephesians 2:1-10

2 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, ² in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. ³ All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh^] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. ⁴ But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵ made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been 

saved. ⁶ And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷ in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰ For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.   (NIV)

M: The Word of the Lord.

C: Thanks be to God.

VERSE OF THE DAY

M: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.      (John 3:16)

STAND

GOSPEL John 3:14-21

¹⁴ Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵ that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” ¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only 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. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. ¹⁹ This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. ²¹ But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.         (NIV)

M: The Gospel of the Lord

C: (Sung) Praise be to you, O Christ!

BE SEATED

HYMN (#391) “God Loved the World So that He Gave

SERMON TEXT Numbers 21:4-9

SERMON THEME “Comfort in a Scary Situation”

APOSTLES’ CREED

I believe in God, the Father almighty,

maker of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

born of the virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate, 

was crucified, died, and was buried.

He descended into hell.

The third day he rose again from the dead.

He ascended into heaven

and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty. 

From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, 

the holy Christian Church, 

the communion of saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body,

and the life everlasting. Amen.    

OFFERING – Please leave offering in the plate as you depart.

HYMN (#120) “What Wondrous Love Is This”

PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH

M: Heavenly Father, you loved the world and gave your Son to liberate 

us from sin and death by his obedient death on the cross.

C: We confess that without your love we are lost.

M: Lord of the Church, we thank you for the treasure of the gospel. By your Spirit, keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.

C: Strengthen our determination to do what pleases you, no matter 

what the danger or the cost.

M: Let us pray for those who carry a cross in the name of Christ and 

face ridicule and persecution for the sake of the kingdom: missionaries and chaplains, young people who stand up for what is 

right in the face of pressure to do what is wrong, and all who pay a high price for their faith and their values as Christians.

C: By your Spirit, O Lord, grant them patience and endurance.

M: Let us pray for those who carry heavy burdens in life: the sick and the chronically ill, the depressed and the lonely, those torn by conflict in personal relationships, those victimized by war and injustice, and all who face the terrors of life with a heavy heart.

C: Grant them peace, O Lord, and in your mercy, be their guardian and friend, their comfort and hope.

M: Let us pray for those who care for others: pastors and counselors; physicians and nurses; social workers and caring friends; all who feed the hungry, comfort the hurting, and stand beside the dying.

C: Strengthen them in their work, O Lord, and do not let them become weary in doing good.

Special prayers and intercessions may follow.

M: Hear us, Lord, as we bring you our private petitions.

Silent prayer.

M: Help us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Keep us faithful even to the point of death, that we may receive the crown of life, through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

C: Amen.

LORD’S PRAYER

C: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, 

thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 

Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; 

and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. 

For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory 

forever and ever. Amen.

M: The Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you.

The Lord look on you with favor and (+) give you peace.

C: (Sung) Amen. Amen. Amen.

HYMN (#402) “My Faith Looks Up to Thee”

FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT March 10, 2024

Immanuel Ev. Lutheran Church

THE SCHEDULE   

Mon., March 11 7 p.m., Choir Practice

Tues., March 12 6:30 p.m., Ladies Fellowship

Wed., March 13 5-6:30 p.m., Soup Supper; 

7 p.m., Lenten Worship Service

Thurs., March 14 6:30 p.m., Catechism Class

Sun., March 17 2 p.m., Fishers Youth Group to make tray favors

Next Sun., March 17: Greeters: Ernst Family

Shut-In Visitors for March: Herman and Kathy Ernst

OUR FATHER’S BUSINESS

THANK YOU to Pastor Paul Marggraf for sharing God’s Word with us this morning. Pastor Oehlke is preaching at Mt. Olive, Delano.

LWMS PLATE OFFERING/SPRING RALLY:  There will be a plate offering in support of LWMS the next two weeks. The Spring Rally of the Hannah Circuit LWMS (Lutheran Womens Missionary Society) will be on Sunday, April 7 from noon to 3 p.m. here at Immanuel. All women of Immanuel are members of Hannah Circuit and we need your help as we host this Rally. There will be a planning meeting on Tuesday, March 12 at 6:30 p.m. or there is a sign-up sheet on the table in the narthex for anyone willing to help. 

FISHERS PALM SUNDAY BREAKFAST: The Fishers Youth Group invites you to their 31^st annual Palm Sunday Breakfast after the Worship Service on March 24. See insert for details.

EASTER GARDEN: We will again offer an opportunity to help decorate the church for Easter. If you would like to purchase a plant (or more), there are sign-up sheets on the counter in the narthex. For $8 each a plant will be place “In Memory of” or “In Honor of” on a bulletin insert (and then after Easter, the plant will be yours to take). Deadline is today.

WEST THANK YOU: We have received a thank you for our donation to West’s Ministry Sustainability Fund. Please see notice on the west bulletin board.

LENTEN SERVICE:  The theme for this year is “The Lord’s Prayer.” On Wednesday Pastor Oehlke will preach on the 2nd Petition: “Thy Kingdom Come”.

The Benzers and Bakkes are again hosting the Soup Suppers from 5 to 6:30 p.m  There is a sign-up sheet on the table in the narthex for sweets to be served with the soup and bread plus options to help with set up (at 4:30), serving or clean-up (between 5 and 7).

THRIVENT CHOICE DOLLARS: The Thrivent Choice program provides Thrivent members an opportunity to support charitable activities such as Immanuel. All unallocated Choice Dollars must be directed by March 31. If you have any questions, contact your Thrivent representative or Julie Gutknecht. According to the 2023 financial report, we received $1,855 last year.

WEST LUTHERAN GALA: The 2024 fund-raising gala for West Lutheran will be on April 13 at the Marriott Northwest in Brooklyn Park. Check-in begins at 4 p.m. This year’s golfing theme is “Mastering Education.” More information is available on the west bulletin board.

WEST SACRED CONCERT: “Worthy is the Lamb” will be presented by West students today at 2 p.m. at West Lutheran High School in Plymouth.

PASSOVER EVENT: Consider beginning your Holy Week (Palm Sunday afternoon) with Redeeming Grace-Rogers to journey through the past to uncover all the rich foreshadows of Christ in the ancient festival of Passover! This friendly program begins at 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 24th at Redeeming Grace Lutheran Church in Rogers. Don’t miss this opportunity to enjoy an interactive, educational, and Christ-centered experience as we look forward to the real Passover on Easter Sunday. Please RSVP with Pastor Oehlke or go to rglc.org no later than Sunday March 17^th.  

ATTENDANCE AT THE LORD’S HOUSE: 

Sunday, March 3 75

Wednesday, March 7 48

FOR THE LORD’S WORK: March 3: General Fund-$2213 (Minimum Weekly Amount Needed-$2,375); Salem-$36; West-$15; Building-$5; Fishers-$30.