The Second Sunday In Lent

February 17, 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. Thanks!

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 Lord's Supper is being celebrated today. This special meal, instituted by Christ, unites us with Him and our brothers and sisters in the faith. This sacrament is intended for those who are baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; trust in Jesus Christ as the only way to heaven; and believe that the true body and blood of Jesus are present with the bread and wine of Holy Communion. Guests who share this faith are invited to speak with the pastor before joining us in this holy meal.

Assisting Us In Worship This Morning

Liberty and Grier Belter, greeters

Nicole Burkhardt, organ and Clavinova

Ryan Jacobs, communion assistant

We Gather To Worship The Lord

Order of Service: The Service of Word and Sacrament, page 26 in the front of the hymnal

Hymns: 240 476 529 327

Message: Genesis 12:6-8

“Built Any Altars Lately?”

OLD TESTAMENT Genesis 12:1-8

The Lord had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."

So Abram left, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.

Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. The Lord appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.

EPISTLE Romans 4:1-5,13-17

What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about-- but not before God. What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness...

It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.

Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring-- not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. As it is written: "I have made you a father of many nations." He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed-- the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.

HOLY GOSPEL John 4:5-26

So Jesus came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as He was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give Me a drink?" (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to Him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water." "Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"

Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."

He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back." "I have no husband," she replied. Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true."

"Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem." Jesus declared, "Believe Me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When He comes, He will explain everything to us."

Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am He."

The New Issue Of “Meditations” is available in the back of church along with several other publications. Please help yourselves!

Books! Books! Books! We have a cart full of FREE books located in the upper hallway by the Fireside Room. Most are brand new! Please help yourselves to as many as you want. They’re yours to keep. Enjoy!

Our Winter Congregational Assembly is scheduled for this Sunday morning at 10:30. All are welcome to attend! There will be no Adult Education Hour today.

In Concert in the SCLHS Chapel, hear the Nokomis Piano Quartet this afternoon at 3:00pm. The four members of the piano, violin, viola and cello quartet have extensive experience in instrumental music performance. They have performed at colleges, for various school groups, and regularly for local organizations. Tickets (adults - $8; students K-12 - $4) are available at the door. (Proceeds of the concert donated to Lutheran Church in Central Africa Seminary.)

Lenten Worship Services continue this Wednesday evening, beginning at 6:30pm. Pastor Dave Ponath will preach the sermon. “Crossroads: Traveling With Our Savior” is this year’s worship theme, and this Wednesday’s focus is “Crossroad 3 – From the Upper Room to Gethsemane”. Each Wednesday service will be preceded by a Lenten Supper. This Wednesday’s meal will be served by the Cedar Limb. Serving time is 5:30pm. See you here!

Pastor Jonathan Rossman of West Salem, WI, the Christian Giving Counselor for our district, will lead our worship here at Mt. Olive next Sunday. Mr. Rick Gibson from St. Croix Lutheran High School will also be here to present a picture of our church to our congregational chairman, Mr. Ted Lau. Pastor Rossman will also conduct the Adult Education Hour.

Kids C.A.R.E. Boxes: Last fall these boxes were handed out to collect money to benefit WELS Mission to the Children. This mission serves poor children in Mexico. Let's bring these boxes back for Lent. We will continue to collect these boxes the entire month of February. Additional boxes are also available in the back of church.

Needed: Auction donations for “Back To The Future” may be brought to St. Croix Lutheran High School through February 14^th. Please include donation form. Thank you. www.sclhs.org 651-455-1521 x 106 Plan to come for the fun Saturday, March 8^th.

This Week At Mt. Olive

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

9:00am Family Worship Service with Holy Communion

10:00am Refreshments and Social Time

10:30am Sunday School

10:30am Winter Congregational Assembly (No Adult Ed Hour)

3:00pm Nokomis Piano Quartet at SCLHS

7:00pm Coordinating Council Meets

Monday: 2:00pm Worship Service at Lyngblomsten

7:00pm “Beautiful Feet” Bible Study

Tuesday: 7:00pm NO Choir Rehearsal

Wednesday: 5:30pm Lenten Supper (served by the Cedar Limb)

6:30pm Lenten Worship Service (children sing)

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

Next Sunday: 9:00am Family Worship Service (Pastor Jon Rossman here)