3rd Sunday after Pentecost: Date: June 9, 2024
Bulletin: Read Bulletin
Sermon: Read Sermon
THEME: God’s Plan to Destroy the Works of the Devil.
PRESERVICE PRAYER: Heavenly Father, We come before You to praise your Holy name. We acknowledge our sin and unworthiness, and yet You have loved us with an everlasting love. You sent Your only begotten Son into the world to bear our sin and redeem us from death. Grant that we may always believe this and believing have life in Jesus’ name. By the power of Your Holy Spirit grant us grace that we also may love one another as You have loved us, and thereby show forth the glory of Your salvation to the world. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
THE ORDER OF SERVICE: (p. 22 Worship Supplement 2000)
Hymn 234: Holy Ghost, with Light Divine
1 Holy Ghost, with light divine Shine upon this heart of mine;
Chase the shades of night away, Turn the darkness into day.
2 Let me see my Savior’s face, Let me all His beauties trace;
Show those glorious truths to me Which are only known to Thee.
3 Holy Ghost, with pow’r divine Cleanse this guilty heart of mine;
In Thy mercy pity me, From sin’s bondage set me free.
4 Holy Ghost, with joy divine Cheer this saddened heart of mine;
Yield a sacred, settled peace, Let it grow and still increase.
5 Holy Spirit, all divine, Dwell within this heart of mine;
Cast down every idol throne, Reign supreme, and reign alone.
6 See, to Thee I yield my heart, Shed Thy life through every part;
A pure temple I would be, Wholly dedicate to Thee.
P: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
C: Amen.
P: God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
C: If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
P: If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
C: If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
P: Together let us pray.
C: Almighty God, merciful Father, we are sinful by nature, and have sinned against You in our thoughts, words, and actions. But we are sorry for our transgressions and pray You, of Your bountiful mercy, to be gracious and merciful unto us. Forgive us for Jesus’ sake, renew us by Your Spirit, and lead us in the way everlasting. Amen.
P: Jesus Christ is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. We are forgiven! With boldness and confidence we may approach the throne to find grace to help in time of need. In the peace of forgiveness, let us praise the Lord.
C: Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
P: The Lord be with you.
C: And also with you.
COLLECT FOR THE DAY
C: Amen.
THE EPISTLE LESSON: Revelation 20:1-6
Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2 He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3 and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.” (NKJV)
THE GOSPEL LESSON: Mark 3:20-35
Then the multitude came together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. 21 But when His own people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, “He is out of His mind.”
22 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebub,” and, “By the ruler of the demons He casts out demons.”
23 So He called them to Himself and said to them in parables: “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end. 27 No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. And then he will plunder his house.
28 “Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; 29 but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation”— 30 because they said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
31 Then His brothers and His mother came, and standing outside they sent to Him, calling Him. 32 And a multitude was sitting around Him; and they said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are outside seeking You.”
33 But He answered them, saying, “Who is My mother, or My brothers?” 34 And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! 35 For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother.” (NKJV)
THE APOSTLES CREED (The Lutheran Hymnal p. 12)
I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary; Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; The third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost; the Holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen.
Hymn 369: All Mankind Fell in Adam’s Fall
1 All mankind fell in Adam’s fall, One common sin infects them all;
From sire to son the bane descends, And over all the curse impends.
2 Thro’ all man’s pow’rs corruption creeps And him in dreadful bondage keeps;
In guilt he draws his infant breath And reaps its fruits of woe and death.
3 From hearts depraved, to evil prone, Flow tho’ts and deeds of sin alone;
God’s image lost, the darkened soul Nor seeks nor finds its heav’nly goal.
4 But Christ, the second Adam, came To bear our sin and woe and shame,
To be our Life, our Light, our Way, Our only Hope, our only Stay.
5 As by one man all mankind fell And, born in sin, was doomed to hell,
So by one Man, who took our place, We all received the gift of grace.
6 We thank Thee, Christ; new life is ours,
New light, new hope, new strength, new powers:
May grace our every way attend Until we reach our journey’s end!
THE SERMON: Genesis 3:8-15
Theme: God’s Plan to Destroy the Works of the Devil
I. The Devastating Effects of Sin
II. The LORD Reaches Out to Deliver
III. The Seed of the Woman Would Crush the Serpent’s Head
And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
9 Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”
12 Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”
13 And the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 So the LORD God said to the serpent:
“Because you have done this,
You are cursed more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you shall go,
And you shall eat dust
All the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.” (NKJV)
OFFERTORY: Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Thy presence, and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation; and uphold me with Thy free spirit. Amen
PRAYER; THE LORD’S PRAYER
The offering of thankful hearts will now be received.
Hymn 413: I Walk in Danger All the Way
1 I walk in danger all the way; The tho’t shall never leave me
That Satan, who has marked his prey, Is plotting to deceive me.
This Foe with hidden snares May seize me unawares
If e’er I fail to watch and pray. I walk in danger all the way.
2 I pass thro’ trials all the way, With sin and ills contending;
In patience I must bear each day The cross of God’s own sending.
Oft in adversity I know not where to flee;
When storms of woe my soul dismay, I pass thro’ trials all the way.
3 Death doth pursue me all the way, Nowhere I rest securely;
He comes by night, he comes by day, And takes his prey most surely.
A failing breath, and I In death’s strong grasp may lie
To face eternity for aye. Death doth pursue me all the way.
4 I walk with angels all the way; They shield me and befriend me.
All Satan’s pow’r is held at bay When heav’nly hosts attend me;
They are my sure defense, All fear and sorrow, hence!
Unharmed by foes, do what they may, I walk with angels all the way.
5 I walk with Jesus all the way, His guidance never fails me.
Within His wounds I find a stay When Satan’s power assails me;
And by His footsteps led, My path I safely tread.
In spite of ills that threaten may, I walk with Jesus all the way.
6 My walk is heavenward all the way; Await my soul, the morrow,
When thou shalt find release for aye From all thy sin and sorrow.
All worldly pomp, begone! To heaven I now press on.
For all the world I would not stay; My walk is heavenward all the way.
BENEDICTION:
C: Amen.
Hymn 32:1 Redeemed, Restored, Forgiven
1 Redeemed, restored, forgiven, Thro’ Jesus’ precious blood,
Heirs of His home in heaven, Oh, praise our pard’ning God!
Praise Him in tuneful measures Who gave His Son to die;
Praise Him whose sev’nfold treasures Enrich and sanctify.
CALENDAR
NEXT SUNDAY: Worship with Holy Communion at 9;30.
JUNE 20 -23: CLC CONVENTION IN Eau Claire, WI
JUNE 22: Lori Skinner Victory Service beginning at11:00 a.m.
SERVING TODAY
Organist: Denise Barthels
Minister of the gospel: Pastor Ted Barthels
OUR RESPONSE TO THE GOSPEL:
Attendance: June 2 worship –11, Bible Class in summer recess
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Weekly Offerings Needed |
$1,374.00 |
Other Offerings: |
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Offerings Received |
$5,440.00 |
Kinship Fund $40.00 Memorials: Garnet Butler: $20.00 |
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Needed for Year: |
$30,268.00 | |
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Received for Year: |
$27,952.00 |
June Lawn Mowing: Mike Nelson.
June Church Cleaning: T. Barthels
“The Branches” The cost is $16.00/year for 4 issues. Checks are payable to, “The Branches,” and should be sent to: Sandy Hulke, Subscription Manager, 29985 Norway Ave, Lindstrom, MN 55045.
Lutheran Spokesman and Daily Rest renewals: Please find the lists of subscribers on the table in the narthex and indicate your desire to renew or cancel your subscriptions. Each periodical is $15.00 Please make your check payable to St. Paul’s. We need to send in our group subscriptions before the end of June, so please take care of this by June 23rd.
Prayer Request: (From Missionary Todd Ohlmann) Our brothers and sisters in Christ in Myanmar have been included in the CLC World Missions Prayer Lists for the past few years…I get weekly updates from Pastor Kham and each one breaks my heart. Please continue to pray for them! I thought this week I would share his email with you to give a better idea of what you and those you are serving are praying for…
Dear Brother Todd,
Greetings in Jesus’ Name!
We, the CLCM, are in need of your continued support and prayers. I thought that the civil war would normally happen on May 17, 2024, in Chin State. However, it is getting worse day by day, and the revolution civil war has not ended yet, mostly due to the Combined PDF and Military. The Military has been bombing villages and towns with jet fighters. The areas where CLCM members are living, such as Tedim Township, Tonzang Township, and Cikha town, are being greatly affected by this civil war, involving 7 villages and 3 townships. Many people have had to leave their houses and flee to safe places. I just received a phone call from one of our Pastors, who said that approximately 37 CLCM members have left their houses and taken shelter with their relatives and friends, sharing food, shelter, and daily necessities.
We don’t know what will happen next, but we are trying our best to survive as families. Sometimes, we ask God why this condition is happening to us and we rely on our faith in Him to overcome.
Thank you for your understanding and support.
Blessings,
Pastor Kham CLCM
Thank you for praying!”
CLC CONVENTION PROSPECTUS: Hard copy available upon request, or go to: tinyurl.com/2024CLCProspectus
( Pastor Theodore Barthels )
Sermon
St. Paul’s Lutheran Church
2100 16th Street SW
Austin, MN 55912-1749
Pastor Ted Barthels
Sermon preached on
June 9, 2024
3rd Sunday after Pentecost
Scripture Lessons: Revelation 20:1-6 Mark 3:20-35
Hymns: 234; 369; 413; 32:1
Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Sermon Text: Genesis 3:8-15
And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
9 Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”
12 Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”
13 And the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 So the LORD God said to the serpent:
“Because you have done this,
You are cursed more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you shall go,
And you shall eat dust
All the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.” (NKJV)
This is the Word of God.
Sanctify us, oh Lord, through Your truth. Your Word is truth. Amen.
In Christ Jesus, The Promised Seed of the Woman, dear fellow Redeemed:
INTRO: Just How Dangerous is the Devil?
Most of the time we don’t give the devil much thought. That’s the way he likes it. Many people don’t even think that the devil is real. They write the devil off as being the “boogie-man” meant to scare people into obeying God. That’s a bad mistake; we will learn from our text just how bad a mistake that is. In his first epistle Peter warns us of the devil in most serious terms. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” (1Peter 5:8) Lions are dangerous animals. They will kill you. A roaring lion is aggressive. A lion on the prowl should put us on our guard. We shouldn’t consider this an exaggeration. Jesus’ words about the devil reinforce the warning of how dangerous and destructive the devil is. “(The devil) … was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.” (John 8:44)
All this is confirmed by the Bible History account before us this morning. This is what actually happened! The devil murdered Adam and Eve with his lies and deception. He was instrumental in their deaths. While their physical death would happen later, their spiritual death was immediate. The devil is a real and present danger to any and all children of God. We are no match for the devil. We need a champion to defeat the devil. And that is what the LORD our God provided.
May the Holy Spirit open our hearts to comprehend the love of God for fallen sinners as we consider —
THEME: God’s Plan to Destroy the Works of the Devil.
When we think of the devil’s works we think of sin. We need look no further than Adam and Eve and what happened to them in the Garden of Eden to learn of —
I. The Devastating Effects of Sin.
We know what went on right before this. We know that Adam and Eve were walking in the Garden of Eden and that they encountered the devil who had taken on the body of a serpent, a snake. In the snake’s body the devil had engaged Eve in a conversation about God’s command not to eat of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The devil lied and deceived them into thinking that they were missing out on something that was desirable, which the Lord had not given them. Seeing the fruit, that it was desirable to eat, Eve ate of the fruit and handed it to Adam who also went right along with the devil’s lies and deception and ate of the forbidden fruit. And immediately they knew evil just as the devil had promised. They knew evil and they knew shame, and they felt a need to cover their nakedness.
This is where we pick up our text, and as we meditate upon these words, we will see just how devastating sin is.
“And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. (v.8)
This was not something they had previously sought to avoid. They had been created in the image of God. They had possessed the best possible relationship with their Creator God. Suddenly, upon hearing the sound of the LORD, they endeavored to hide themselves from God. Doesn’t that one fact alone reveal so much about the devastating effects and power of sin. In place of peace and love and harmony with God. Adam and Eve felt fear and guilt. In place of a perfect understanding of God and being in the presence of the LORD, now they thought they could hide from His presence; they no longer even understood the divine nature. God had warned them that in the day they ate of the tree in the middle of the garden they would surely die. (Genesis 2:17) They died that day. Their faulty understanding and ruined relationship with God are ample evidence of their death. Yes, they were still standing and breathing and talking and sewing fig leaves together in a silly attempt to cover themselves. We are seeing what spiritual death looks like. The devil is a murderer from the beginning. With his lies and deception, the devil had murdered Adam and Eve.
The evidence of sin’s devastation continues to be revealed in our text. Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” 11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?” 12 Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” 13 And the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” (v.9-13)
Adam tried to hide. Adam was afraid. Adam knew He was naked and presented that as the reason he was afraid of being found by God. The LORD revealed that to be nonsense. When the LORD asked Adam if he had eaten of the forbidden fruit Adam didn’t come right out and confess his sin. Adam didn’t say, “I did it, I was wrong.” No, he blamed Eve. He didn’t call her by name or look upon her dearly and tenderly as he had done when Eve was first created and Adam professed, “this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” (Genesis 2:23) Now, she, this woman God had saddled him with, she was the cause of Adam taking and eating of the forbidden fruit.
When God confronted Eve, straight out asking, “What is this you have done?” She did little better than Adam. Some might infer she did worse. She didn’t own up to her failing, to her sin. No, it was the serpent who had deceived her. Her excuse was, “The devil made me do it!” The serpent had lied, and deceived, but she wouldn’t have been deceived if she had not listened.
That is what spiritual death looks like. It is devastating because it separates us from life, life with God, it has its ruination in the mind and body of man as well as man’s soul. It is immediate, it is complete, and the devil’s desire for you, for YOU is that this death be eternal; that you spend eternity in the place God prepared for the devil and his angels, not for people.
“Through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” (Romans 5:12) Yes, it was through the sin of Adam that sin entered into the world. The LORD didn’t let Adam off the hook with Adam trying to blame Eve. Adam is held responsible, and all have been dead in trespasses and sin ever since. People still try to accuse God of messing up, asking why He made them so they could sin, or why God allows evil to happen, or putting it on God that there is sickness and sorrow and pain and evil in this world. God created a prefect world, and man brought about its ruination. Man brought sin into the world with all its devastating effects.
What we learn about God from these same words we just read is very different indeed. What we learn of God is how —
II. God Reaches Out to Deliver.
That God is reaching out in love to Adam and Eve is evident. The LORD called out to Adam, “Where are you?” If it were God’s intent to find them to do them harm, there would have been no purpose or need for the LORD to call out to Adam and Eve. He knew where they were. The LORD knew what they had done. He was reaching out to sinners who had just brought death into His perfect creation, the LORD was reaching out to them in grace, that He might deliver them from the ultimate, permanent, devastating effect of sin which is eternal separation from God in hell.
The LORD could have struck them dead on the spot. Perhaps that was what the devil was hoping for. All the evil that was happening was the works of the devil, the machinations of the devil’s twisted and evil mind. The devil is bent upon man’s destruction. The LORD God desires our deliverance from death. The LORD hasn’t yet brought this world to an end because of His patience, because “God our Savior … desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:4) The Lord desires that we be saved.
We know that God sent His Son into the world, and Jesus revealed the heart of God when He taught Nicodemus: “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:17) That is the message that lies at the very heart of our text, even though it is found in the last verse of our text. God’s plan to destroy all this work of the devil was already in place from before the world began.
III. The Seed of the Woman Would Crush the Serpent’s Head.
So the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.” (v.14-15)
Our text reaches the climax of this dramatic scene. The LORD God addresses the serpent. At this point we need to appreciate that God reveals Himself as the “I AM” God, the covenant God of our salvation. This name was not revealed to the patriarchs. It was revealed through Moses. It is used here by inspiration of the Holy Spirit as the Spirit directed Moses to record these events for our instruction.
The LORD God addressed the serpent. We might think of the serpent as being a dumb animal. We don’t know how complicit the serpent was in lending its body to the devil, but the LORD God holds the serpent accountable for what happened that day and is cursed by the events of that day more than the other beasts of the field. More than other beasts because all of creation was cursed by the sin of Adam and Eve. All creation was changed and not for the better. All of creation was now subject to death. All the beasts of the earth were now subject to pain and suffering, but the serpent was cursed above all, subjected to crawling on its belly, being in dust of the earth.
Then the Lord turned His attention on the devil who, up to this point, was likely being rather smug and self-satisfied with all the evil he had worked against the God whom he despised and the crown of God’s creation, the people whom God had created in the image of God. Now the devil had brought them under the curse of death and condemnation.
Then the LORD God announced His plan to destroy the works of the devil. The LORD God was gong to put enmity between the devil and the woman. Interesting thought. After the fall into sin there was no enmity between Eve and the devil. He had won the day with sin establishing enmity towards God in the heart of fallen man. That work of the devil was going to be quickly undone and destroyed by God announcing the grace of salvation through the Seed of the Woman. The enmity would be between the woman and the devil, more importantly enmity would be established between the Seed of the Woman and the devil. Yes, they would be enemies, the one fighting for the eternal destruction of mankind, the other fighting for the eternal salvation of mankind.
The Seed of the Woman was to come into the world, and the devil would crush His heel. That sounds painful, but not so bad. No, it was to be extraordinarily painful, and indeed very bad for the Promised Seed. Jesus would be that Seed of the Woman. Conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, Jesus was not the Seed of Adam; He was born without the blot of sin. And yet Jesus as the Seed of the Woman came into the world to destroy the works of the devil. The LORD God declared that the Seed of the Woman would crush the devil’s head. He would deliver a death blow to the devil, and indeed put his plan on the skids to drag all humanity into the fires of hell with him.
Jesus came and bore our sins in His own body to the cross where He endured not only the suffering of scourge and crucifixion, but the curse of God upon His soul, His holy soul. Divine Justice was satisfied, and the work of the devil which had been started way back in the Garden of Eden with the spiritual murder of Adam and Eve souls was undone forever.
With this first announcement of this glorious gospel of salvation Satan’s undoing had begun. Adam and Eve were called to faith, given new life to their souls, and they lived to the praise and glory of their Redeemer God. God’s great love had reached out to fallen sinners and in His divine grace and power, He saved them from the devil’s power.
This is the gospel that has come to us by God’s grace. This is the life we have been given so that we also might be free of the devil’s power and live to the praise and glory of our Redeemer God and in the sure and certain hope of everlasting life.
AMEN.
May the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
St. Paul's Ev. Lutheran Church Austin Minnesota 