5th Sunday after Pentecost: Date: June 23, 2024
Bulletin: Read Bulletin
Sermon: Read Sermon
Theme: Safe With Jesus During the Storms of Life.
PRESERVICE PRAYER: Oh Lord, who has caused all Holy Scripture to be written for our edification, grant us Your Holy Spirit that He might open our hearts to reverently hear Your Word, and hearing that we may be brought to a fuller knowledge of your glory revealed in our salvation in Jesus Christ. Grant that, having fed our souls upon the Bread of life, we may be invigorated to live our lives to the glory of our Savior’s name. It is in His name alone that we pray. Amen
THE ORDER OF SERVICE: (p. 22 Worship Supplement 2000)
Hymn 758: Christ Is Made the Sure Foundation
1. Christ is made the sure foundation, Christ our head and cornerstone,
Chosen of the Lord and precious Binding all the Church in one.
Holy Zion’s help forever And our confidence alone.
2. To this temple, where we call you, Come, O Lord of hosts and stay,
Come with all your loving kindness, Hear Your people as they pray.
And Your fullest benediction Speak within these walls today.
3. Grant, we pray, to all Your faithful All the gifts they ask to gain,
What they gain from you forever With the blessed to retain,
And hereafter in Your glory Evermore with You to reign.
4. Praise and honor to the Father, Praise and honor to the Son,
Praise and honor to the Spirit, Ever Three and ever One,
One in might and one in glory While unending ages run!
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 OLD TESTAMENT LESSON: Job 38:1-11
Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said:
2 “Who is this who darkens counsel By words without knowledge?
3 Now prepare yourself like a man;
I will question you, and you shall answer Me.
4 “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding.
5 Who determined its measurements?
Surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
6 To what were its foundations fastened?
Or who laid its cornerstone,
7 When the morning stars sang together,
And all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8 “Or who shut in the sea with doors,
When it burst forth and issued from the womb;
9 When I made the clouds its garment,
And thick darkness its swaddling band;
10 When I fixed My limit for it, And set bars and doors;
11 When I said, ‘This far you may come, but no farther,
And here your proud waves must stop!’ (NKJV)
THE EPISTLE LESSON: Acts 27:13-26
When the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their desire, putting out to sea, they sailed close by Crete. 14 But not long after, a tempestuous head wind arose, called Euroclydon. 15 So when the ship was caught, and could not head into the wind, we let her drive. 16 And running under the shelter of an island called Clauda, we secured the skiff with difficulty. 17 When they had taken it on board, they used cables to undergird the ship; and fearing lest they should run aground on the Syrtis Sands, they struck sail and so were driven. 18 And because we were exceedingly tempest-tossed, the next day they lightened the ship. 19 On the third day we threw the ship’s tackle overboard with our own hands. 20 Now when neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest beat on us, all hope that we would be saved was finally given up.
21 But after long abstinence from food, then Paul stood in the midst of them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me, and not have sailed from Crete and incurred this disaster and loss. 22 And now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. 23 For there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve, 24 saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar; and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ 25 Therefore take heart, men, for I believe God that it will be just as it was told me. 26 However, we must run aground on a certain island.” (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 427:1-4, 7 How Firm a Foundation, Ye Saints in the Lord
1. How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said
Who unto the Savior for Refuge have fled?
2. In ev’ry condition – in sickness, in health,
In poverty’s vale, or abounding in wealth,
At home and abroad, on the land, on the sea –
The Lord, the Almighty, thy strength e’er shall be.
3. “Fear not, I am with thee, oh, be not dismayed;
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.
4 “When thro’ the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of sorrow shall not overflow;
For I will be with thee thy troubles to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.
7 “The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to his foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake!”
THE SERMON: Mark 4:35-41
Theme: Safe with Jesus During the Storms of Life
I. Serious Storms come into Our Lives.
II. Feeling Alone in Our Weakness
III. The Saving Power of Jesus’ Word
On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.” 36 Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. 38 But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”
39 Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. 40 But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” 41 And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!” (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.
Hymn428: I Am Trusting Thee, Lord Jesus
1 I am trusting Thee, Lord Jesus, Trusting only Thee;
Trusting Thee for full salvation, Great and free.
2 I am trusting Thee for pardon; At Thy feet I bow,
For Thy grace and tender mercy Trusting now.
3 I am trusting Thee for cleansing In the crimson flood;
Trusting Thee to make me holy By Thy blood.
4 I am trusting Thee to guide me; Thou alone shalt lead,
Ev’ry day and hour supplying All my need.
5 I am trusting Thee for power; Thine can never fail.
Words which Thou Thyself shalt give me Must prevail.
6 I am trusting Thee, Lord Jesus; Never let me fall.
I am trusting Thee forever And for all.
BENEDICTION:
C: Amen.
Hymn 644 Praise God, From Whom All Blessings Flow
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heav’nly host:
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
CALENDAR
NEXT SUNDAY: Worship at 9:30.
SERVING TODAY
Organist: Denise Barthels
Minister of the gospel: Pastor Ted Barthels
OUR RESPONSE TO THE GOSPEL:
Attendance: June 16 worship –13,
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Weekly Offerings Needed |
$1,374.00 |
Other Offerings: |
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Offerings Received |
$ 1,265.00 | |
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Needed for Year: |
$33,016.00 | |
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Received for Year: |
$30,012.00 |
June Lawn Mowing: Mike Nelson.
June Church Cleaning: T. Barthels
Lutheran Spokesman and Daily Rest subscription 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 today.
CLC NEWS: Pastor Sam Rodebaugh has declined the call to Grace Lutheran Church in Sleepy Eye, MN.
CLC CONVENTION NEWS: Pastor Mike Wilke has been elected as President of the CLC. Pastor Joe Naumann has been elected as Vice President of the CLC. Pastor Wayne Eichstadt was re-elected to serve as Secretary of the CLC. These are all two-year terms. Pastor Tim Daub and Mr. Jeff Radichel have been elected to serve on the Board of Missions. These are four-year terms.
Lori Skinner Victory Service Due to weather and flood concerns the service and reception were held at church. There were 42 people in attendance. Private interment is planned for tomorrow.
( Pastor Theodore Barthels )
Sermon
St Paul’s Lutheran Church
2100 16th St. SW
Austin, MN, 55912-1749
Pastor Ted Barthels
June 23, 2024
5th Sunday after Pentecost
(Previously preached on July 1,2012 revised )
Scripture Lessons: Job 38:1-11; Acts 27:13-26
Hymns: 758; 427:1-4, 7; 428; 644
Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Sermon Text: Mark 4:35-41
On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.” 36 Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. 38 But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”
39 Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. 40 But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” 41 And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!” (NKJV)
This is the Word of God!
Sanctify us, oh Lord, through Your truth. Your Word is truth. Amen.
In Christ Jesus, dear fellow Redeemed
INTRO: A child’s fear in the midst of a storm.
The lightening flashes in the dark of night and the immediate crack and boom of thunder are enough to give anyone a start, but a young child is likely to cry out in fear. That young child will call for Mom or Dad. The child cries out in fear, but when one of the child’s parents enters the bedroom and holds that child in his arms the child feels an immediate sense of reassurance and calm. Children know in their hearts, “Mom and Dad will look out for me. Mom and Dad will keep me safe.” Although they may feel this in their hearts, Mom and Dad know that there are limits to what they can do. There are storms that come in the night that are greater than they are able to talk away.
We all face storms that scare us, sometimes more than others. Indeed during this time of year it may very literally be a thunder storm that may threaten us with the possibility of tornado or flood. But there are other storms that assail us as well. We face storms in family lives, in our professional lives, in our personal lives. We face storms that strike to our very hearts as we face the death of a loved one, or a severe sickness that may indeed endanger our own lives. There are spiritual storms when we face trials of faith in persecutions, or the devious undermining of Scripture truth by false teachers.
In fact, any and all of these different situations that arise in life may also be spiritual storms that challenge our faith, that threaten our trust in the Lord. As we face these different storms they may indeed shake us, shake our faith with fear. The comfort and reassurance of Scripture would bring us the truth that we are –
Theme: Safe With Jesus During the Storms of Life.
Sometimes we bring the storms into our lives because we have wandered out into the world. That makes it easy for us to see troubles that people endure as being their own making. But this morning we simply learn from our text –
I. Serious Storms Come into Our Lives.
Storms come even when we are following Jesus. They may even come because we are following Jesus.
On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.” 36 Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling.”
(Mark 4:35-37)
There is something we need to note in our text. The disciples did not venture out on their own and get themselves into a terrible bind because of a foolish decision. Oh yes, the disciples did do that from time to time, just like we do. Peter talked himself into a deep hole when he tried to be strong and walked into the High Priest’s courtyard, when he was in fact weak. When challenged by the world, Peter denied the Lord. We know that on that occasion the Lord looked at Peter and that look was enough to bring shame and repentance into Peter’s heart. As storms go, that was a dangerous one that almost cost Peter his soul. We also know that the disciples faced illness in their families. We are told how Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law.
So, we also face any number of situations in life because of spiritual pride, but at other times storms come because such trials are a fact of life in a sin corrupted world. We face some serious storms that overwhelm us and cause us to fear and tremble.
The situation described in our text was a little different because it was the Lord’s direction that caused the disciples to set sail that evening. Much is written about how suddenly storms can arise on the Sea of Galilee because of the surrounding terrain. The Lord Jesus permitted the storm to come upon them that caught them that night. That they were following Jesus’ direction for their lives adds to the point of the lesson we should learn from this. What we need to understand is that even when we follow Jesus’ guidance and direction for our lives, we will encounter dangerous storms. Jesus warns us that persecutions will come into our lives if we are faithful in following Jesus. Our Lord tells us that we should expect nothing less, for the disciple is not above his master. If the world hates Jesus and much of the truth which He presents, the world will hate those who abide in Jesus’ truth. This starts with the gospel itself. Those who trust in Jesus’ righteousness alone for life and salvation will be scoffed by those who trust in the righteousness of man. If we keep ourselves separate from sin, separate from false teachings that endanger the truth of our salvation, we shall find ourselves in a storm of trouble with people who think of us as spiritually arrogant, ignorant, even hateful. And these storms can be troubling and at times even severe.
The disciples were with Jesus, and they found themselves in a severe storm. Some of them were experienced sailors, professional fishermen, so it is not as if they would panic when a bit of a storm blew. But this one became severe so that the waves beat over the boat, and the boat was filling up. They were swamped. Once swamped a small boat is unstable, and the disciples knew they were in trouble. In fact, they saw that it was a desperate situation that these fisherman knew had cost others their lives, even experienced fishermen like them. But they were with Jesus!
So it is sometimes. We face severe tests of our faith, even though we are attentive to the Word and follow the guidance of the Lord from Holy Scripture. We may recognize from our life experience that we are in a dangerous situation, a distressing situation. But we are with Jesus. Even as the disciples took Jesus along with them in the boat, so Jesus is with us in our daily walk in life. So why is it that we are –
II. Feeling Alone in Our Weakness.
It is because of our weakness. Look at how it came down in that boat with Jesus.
“But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:38)
The disciples knew what they knew! They knew they were in trouble. By all appearances the boat was about to sink! Jesus was in the back of the boat asleep. Their conclusion was false. Their conclusion was that Jesus didn’t care. Their conclusion was that even though Jesus was there with them, Jesus wasn’t there for them. Their charge as they woke Jesus in a panic was, “Do You not care that we are perishing?”
How often don’t we also fall victim, not to the storms of life, but to the false conclusion that He who is with us always even to the end of the age, is not there for us when we need Him? How often are we not tempted to panic, feeling that the Lord is not paying attention to us in our plight? Our sinful flesh would lead us into misbelief, into thinking that we are dependent upon our own devices to get us out of trouble. Our flesh would lead us to doubt that the Lord can pay attention to everything that is going on in the world, and then think, “I’ve been in this storm too long already!” We feel alone in our weakness.
That is what we learn all too often in the storms of life. We are weak. We are weak, but He is strong! That couldn’t be more apparent than when we learn of —
III. The Saving Power of Jesus’ Word.
This isn’t a matter of Jesus taking charge of the situation. We must recognize that Jesus IS in charge of the situation.
Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. 40 But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” 41 And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!” (Mark 4:39-41)
The Spirit tells us that Jesus arose and addressed both the wind and the sea. His command, “Peace, be still!” was directed to both the wind and the waves. Nature must submit to the Creating Word. Jesus is the Word made flesh. His Word brought all that there is into being. His command must be obeyed even by the wild forces of nature. Jesus WAS most certainly in charge. He spoke the word and the winds stopped. He spoke the command and the sea was calm. Normally the winds die down somewhat gradually. Normally it takes some time for the waves to calm down after the wind dies down. Not that day! Jesus commanded and the wind and the waves obeyed. All was calm, and the disciples who had cried out to the Lord in a panic, were now amazed that He was able to deliver them from the danger of the storm.
This is the power of our Savior! Christ Jesus came into the world to save us from the threat of sin and death. Christ came into the world to bring us life. Christ Jesus came into the world that we might put our trust in Him for life and salvation. Jesus is in charge. All things have been put under His authority, who died for us and rose again, and is even now at the right hand of God the Father. He is in the position of authority. He ascended up on high that He might be with each of us no matter where we might be. He is with us every bit as much as He was with the disciples out on the Sea of Galilee that night in the storm. He is in control, so don’t panic.
Jesus was not in a panic. We are the ones who are given to panic. We are the ones who fail to trust. But Jesus, who is the all-powerful Son of God, He is not in a panic. He knows all things, and even as we turn to Him in prayer, trusting Him who is powerful to save, whose Word is the final authority, He shall deliver us according to His will.
Conclusion: We are called upon to trust the Lord.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)
Lessons in trust are a spiritual benefit that we receive through facing the storms of life. God is faithful. Our Savior is with us and attends to us in our time of need. We learn to trust even as the Scriptures encourage us to do.
“The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, A refuge in times of trouble. 10 And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; For You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.” (Psalm 9:9-10) AMEN
And the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
St. Paul's Ev. Lutheran Church Austin Minnesota 