The Sixth Sunday of Easter

April 27, 2008 9:00am

Thank You for sharing this time of worship with us. Do come again! If you do not have a local church home, we invite you to make your home with us. You will find Christian love, opportunities for spiritual growth, warm friendships, and an appreciation of being part of God’s family. Visitors: Please include your email address in the Friendship Register information.

Please Don’t Rush Off After The Worship Service! Stick around for some refreshments and a little conversation. We hope you are able to stay! The Education Hour begins at 10:30am.

Assisting Us In Worship This Morning

John & Rita Kruschwitz, greeters

Margaret Meier, organist

We Gather To Worship The Lord

Order of Service: Morning Praise, p. 45 in the front of the hymnal

Hymns: 229 237 280 261

Message: Acts 17:22-31

“Making Known the Unknown”

FIRST LESSON Acts 17:22-31

Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.

"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And He is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. 'For in Him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are His offspring.'

"Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone-- an image made by man's design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent. For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising Him from the dead."

EPISTLE I Peter 3:15-22

But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

It is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, through whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also-- not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God's right hand-- with angels, authorities and powers in submission to Him.

HOLY GOSPEL John 14:15-21

"If you love Me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever-- the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you.

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see Me anymore, but you will see Me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you. Whoever has My commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves Me. He who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I too will love him and show Myself to him."

This Week At Mt. Olive

Today: 8:45am Prayer Time in the Fireside Room

9:00am Family Worship Service

10:00am Refreshments and Social Time

10:30am Sunday School and Adult Education Hour

2:00pm Mt. Olive Chinese Church Worship Service

Monday: 7:00pm “Beautiful Feet” Bible Study

Wednesday: 5:30pm Confirmation Class

Thursday: 10:00am “Explorers of the Word” Bible Study

7:00pm ASCENSION SERVICE at St. John’s, NE Minneapolis

Next Sunday: 9:00am Family Worship Service with Holy Communion

Be Sure To Check Out the Kingsway Retirement Living display in the back of church this morning. Help yourself to a brochure either for yourself or to share with a friend or relative.

The Next Time you are visiting our Mt. Olive website, be sure to click on two new buttons: Camp Croix, and The Bridge. These are both video links. Just go to www.mtolive-wels.net

This Thursday Evening is our local area WELS/ELS Ascension Service, beginning at 7:00pm. It is being held at St. John’s Lutheran Church, located at the corner of Broadway and Washington in Northeast Minneapolis. Pie and ice cream follow the festival service. Hope you can make it!

The Camp Croix Board has scheduled the weekend of May 2-4, 2008 for camp cleanup and maintenance. Rain or shine, there is work to do. There is plenty of painting and staining needed in the lodge and general camp cleanup and maintenance outside too. If you can volunteer for a day, please come and join us. You’re welcome to stay overnight. If you have any questions, contact Tom Hosek (651) 472-3788 or Henry Hoeft (651) 278-3339.

The Next Meeting for the planning of our Jesus Cares Ministry here at Mt. Olive will be Wednesday, May 7^th at 7:00pm. We welcome your input. Contact Ann Karpenko at 651.653.1198 if you have any questions. Thanks!

Women's Guild Work Night: Thursday, May 8, 7:00 p.m. All members of Mt. Olive are invited to join us on May 8th as we work on projects to be sent to Terry and Mary Schultz for their mission work in Peru. As many of you heard earlier this year, the MSELP (ELS in Peru) plans to build a kindergarten school building in the area hardest hit by the earthquake that hit Peru last August. Terry can use any and all items that we can supply him with. This includes cross-stitched crosses, laminated bible story pictures, completed craft projects that can be used for teaching and student gifts, etc. No matter what your skill level, we can use your help. If you can help with cutting, please bring a good pair of scissors that you feel comfortable using. We will try to have all other supplies that you will need on hand. We'll end our time together with a light snack and fellowship. Thank you! Linda Petersen and Pam Folkens.

Congratulations Ed & Marcella! An Open House will be held on Sunday, May 11^th, in honor of Ed & Marcella Voss’s 90^th birthdays and their 65^th wedding anniversary. The celebration will be held from 2:00 to 5:00pm at the Heritage Place of Roseville, 563 W Country Road B. All welcome!

Christian Life Ministries is hosting its 3^rd annual Walk For Life on Sunday, May 18^th, beginning at 3:00pm, at Casey Lake Park in North St. Paul. A potluck picnic will follow the Walk. Registration forms are available in the back of the church.