March 29, 2023 - Fifth Sunday in Lent - Pastor Mark Bartels
"Live by the Spirit" Video: Vimeo, Facebook. Audio: Google
Weekly Worship Guide
Romans 8:11-19
11And if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive through his Spirit, who is dwelling in you. 12So then, brothers, we do not owe it to the sinful flesh to live in harmony with it. 13For if you live in harmony with the sinful flesh, you are going to die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the actions of the body, you will live. 14Indeed, those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15For you did not receive a spirit of slavery so that you are afraid again, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we call out, “Abba, Father!” 16The Spirit himself joins our spirit in testifying that we are God’s children. 17Now if we are children, we are also heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, since we suffer with him, so that we may also be glorified with him. 18For I conclude that our sufferings at the present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. 19In fact, creation is waiting with eager longing for the sons of God to be revealed.
March 22, 2023 - Lent 5 - Pastor Eugene Kock
"His Final Steps Led to a Fig Tree" Video: Vimeo, Facebook. Audio: Google
Weekly Worship Guide
Mark 11:12-14, 20-25
12 The next day, after they had set out from Bethany, Jesus was hungry. 13 When he saw a fig tree in leaf in the distance, he went to see if he might find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, since it was not the season for figs. 14 Jesus said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” And his disciples were listening.
20 As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered down to the roots. 21 Peter remembered and said, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” 22 Jesus replied, “Have faith in God. 23 Amen I tell you: Whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.
24 Therefore I tell you, everything that you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 Whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.
March 19, 2023 - Fourth Sunday in Lent - Pastor Thomas Heyn
"Christ's Glory is Serving, Not Being Served" Video: Vimeo, Facebook. Audio: Google
Weekly Worship Guide
Matthew 20:17-28
17As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside; and on the way he said to them, 18“Look, we are going up to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and experts in the law, and they will condemn him to death. 19They will hand him over to the Gentiles to mock, flog, and crucify him. On the third day he will be raised.” 20Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to him with her sons, kneeling and asking something of him. 21He said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Promise that in your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit, one on your right hand and one on your left hand.”
22But Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They said to him, “We are.” 23He said to them, “You will indeed drink my cup, but to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not for me to give; rather these places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.” 24When the ten heard this, they were angry with the two brothers. 25But Jesus summoned them and said, “You know that the rulers of the nations lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 26It will not be that way among you. Instead whoever wants to become great among you will be your servant, 27and whoever wants to be first among you will be your slave— 28just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
March 15, 2023 - Lent 4 - Pastor Mark Bartels
"His Final Steps Led to Some Greeks" Video: Vimeo, Facebook. Audio: Google
Weekly Worship Guide
John 12:20-33
20 Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Festival. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went to tell Andrew. Andrew came with Philip and told Jesus. 23 Jesus answered them, “The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Amen, Amen, I tell you: Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it continues to be one kernel. But if it dies, it produces much grain. 25 Anyone who loves his life destroys it. And the one who hates his life in this world will hold on to it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves me, let him follow me. And where I am, there my servant will be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. 27 “Now my soul is troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, this is the reason I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name!” A voice came from heaven: “I have glorified my name, and I will glorify it again. 29 The crowd standing there heard it and said it thundered. Others said an angel talked to him. 30 Jesus answered, “This voice was not for my sake but for yours. 31 “Now is the judgment of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be thrown out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33 He said this to indicate what kind of death he was going to die.
March 12, 2023 - Third Sunday in Lent - Pastor Eugene Kock
"There Is Water...and...There Is Water" Video: Vimeo, Facebook. Audio: Google
Weekly Worship Guide
John 4:5-15
So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the piece of land Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6Jacob’s well was there. Then Jesus, being tired from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8(His disciples had gone into town to buy food.) 9The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) 10Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11“Sir,” she said, “you don’t even have a bucket, and the well is deep. So where do you get this living water? 12You are not greater than our father Jacob, are you? He gave us this well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his animals.” 13Jesus answered her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14but whoever drinks the water I will give him will never be thirsty ever again. Rather, the water I will give him will become in him a spring of water, bubbling up to eternal life.” 15“Sir, give me this water,” the woman said to him, “so I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
March 8, 2023 - Lent 3 - Pastor Mark Bartels
"His Final Steps Led to a Tomb" Video: Vimeo, Facebook. Audio: Google
Weekly Worship Guide
Matthew 21:12-17
12 Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all those who were selling and buying in the temple. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. 13 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it a den of robbers!” 14 The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the experts in the law saw the wonders he performed and heard the children calling out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant. 16 They said to him, “Do you hear what they are saying?” “Yes,” Jesus told them, “Have you never read, From the lips of little children and nursing babies you have prepared praise?” 17 He left them, went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.
March 5, 2023 - Second Sunday in Lent - Pastor Mark Bartels
"God So Loved the World" Video: Vimeo, Facebook. Audio: Google
Weekly Worship Guide
John 3:1-7, 14-16
There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2He came to Jesus at night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these miraculous signs you are doing unless God is with him.” 3Jesus replied, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: Unless someone is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?”
5Jesus answered, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: Unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God! 6Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh. Whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7Do not be surprised when I tell you that you must be born from above. 14“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15so that everyone who believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 16“For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
March 1 , 2023 - Lent 1 - Pastor Eugene Kock
"His Final Steps Led to a Tomb" Video: Vimeo, Facebook. Audio: Google
Weekly Worship Guide
John 11:1-11, 40-44
Now a certain man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 This Mary, whose brother Lazarus was sick, was the same Mary who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair. 3 So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, saying, “Lord, the one you love is sick!” 4 When Jesus heard it, he said, “This sickness is not going to result in death, but it is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” 5 Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed in the place where he was two more days. 7 Then afterwards he said to his disciples, “Let’s go back to Judea.” 8 The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, recently the Jews were trying to stone you. And you are going back there again?” 9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? If anyone walks around during the day, he does not stumble because he sees this world’s light. 10 But if anyone walks around at night, he stumbles because there is no light on him.” 11 He said this and then told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to wake him up.”
40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 After he said this, he shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
44 The man who had died came out with his feet and his hands bound with strips of linen and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus told them, “Loose him and let him go.”
February 26 , 2023 - First Sunday in Lent - Pastor Eugene Kock
"A Righteousness That Really Counts" Video: Vimeo, Facebook. Audio: Google
Weekly Worship Guide
Matthew 5:20-24
20 Indeed I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and experts in the law, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 21 “You have heard that it was said to people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22 But I tell you that everyone who is angry with his brother without a cause will be subject to judgment, and whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ will have to answer to the Sanhedrin. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of hell fire. 23 “So if you are about to offer your gift at the altar, and there you remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother. Then come and offer your gift.
February 22 , 2023 - Ash Wednesday - Service Cancelled due to weather
February 19 , 2023 - Last Sunday after the Epiphany - The Transfiguration of Our Lord - Pastor Mark Bartels
16To be sure, we were not following cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the powerful appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17For he received honor and glory from God the Father, when the voice came to him from within the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” 18We heard this voice, which came out of heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain. 19We also have the completely reliable prophetic word. You do well to pay attention to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the Morning Star rises in your hearts, 20since we know this above all else: No prophecy of Scripture comes about from someone’s own interpretation. 21In fact, no prophecy ever came by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were being carried along by the Holy Spirit.
February 12 , 2023 - Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany - Pastor Thomas Heyn
6 Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature, but it is not a wisdom of this world or of the rulers of this world, who are being reduced to nothing. 7 Instead we speak God’s wisdom that has been hidden in mystery—before the ages, God foreordained that this wisdom would result in our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this world knew it. (If they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.) 9 But as it is written: What no eye has seen and no ear has heard and no human mind has conceived—that is what God has prepared for those who love him. 10 But God revealed it to us through his Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. 11 Indeed, who among men knows a man’s thoughts except the man’s spirit within him? So also, no one else knows God’s thoughts except God’s Spirit. 12 What we received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we might know the blessings freely given to us by God. 13 We also speak about these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual truths with spiritual words.
February 5 , 2023 - Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany - Pastor Mark Bartels
13“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its flavor, how will it become salty again? Then it is no good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled on by people. 14You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill cannot be hidden. 15People do not light a lamp and put it under a basket. No, they put it on a stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16In the same way let your light shine in people’s presence, so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. 17“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy them but to fulfill them. 18Amen I tell you: Until heaven and earth pass away, not even the smallest letter, or even part of a letter, will in any way pass away from the Law until everything is fulfilled. 19So whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever practices and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20Indeed I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and experts in the law, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
January 29, 2023 - Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany - Chaplain Don Moldstad
12When Jesus heard that John was put in prison, he withdrew into Galilee. 13He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. 14He did this to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: 15Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, along the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, 16the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and on those dwelling in the region and the shadow of death a light has dawned. 17From that time, Jesus began to preach: “Repent, because the kingdom of heaven is near.” 18As Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the sea, since they were fishermen. 19He said to them, “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20They immediately left their nets and followed him. 21Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. Jesus called them. 22Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. 23Jesus traveled throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness among the people.
January 22, 2023 - Third Sunday after the Epiphany - Pastor Mark Bartels
26For example, consider your call, brothers. Not many of you were wise from a human point of view, not many were powerful, and not many were born with high status. 27But God chose the foolish things of the world to put to shame those who are wise. God chose the weak things of the world to put to shame the things that are strong, 28and God chose the lowly things of the world and the despised things, and the things that are not, to do away with the things that are, 29so that no one may boast before God. 30But because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us the wisdom from God, namely, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. 31God did this so that, just as it is written, “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”
January 15, 2023 - Second Sunday after the Epiphany- The Baptism of our Lord - Pastor Eugene Kock
13Then Jesus came from Galilee to be baptized by John at the Jordan. 14But John tried to stop him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you come to me?” 15But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, because it is proper for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John let him. 16After Jesus was baptized, he immediately went up out of the water. Suddenly, the heavens were opened for him! He saw the Spirit of God, descending like a dove and landing on him, 17and a voice out of the heavens said, “This is my Son, whom I love. I am well pleased with him.”
January 8, 2023 - The Epiphany of Our Lord - Pastor Mark Bartels
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, when Herod was king, Wise Men from the east came to Jerusalem. They asked, 2“Where is he who has been born King of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” 3When King Herod heard this, he was alarmed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4He gathered together all the people’s chief priests and experts in the law. He asked them where the Christ was to be born. 5They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, because this was written through the prophet: 6You, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are certainly not least among the rulers of Judah: because out of you will come a ruler, who will shepherd my people, Israel.” 7Then Herod secretly summoned the Wise Men and found out from them exactly when the star had appeared. 8He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. When you find him, report to me, so that I may also go and worship him.” 9After listening to the king, they went on their way. Then the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them, until it stood still over the place where the child was. 10When they saw the star, they rejoiced with overwhelming joy. 11After they went into the house and saw the child with Mary, his mother, they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12Since they had been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back to their own country by another route.
January 1, 2023 - New Year's Day - Pastor Mark Bartels
13After the Wise Men were gone, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared to Joseph in a dream. He said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, because Herod will search for the child in order to kill him.” 14Joseph got up, took the child and his mother during the night, and left for Egypt. 15He stayed there until the death of Herod. This happened to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
19After Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt. The angel said, 20“Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to kill the child are dead.” 21Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. 22But when he heard that Archelaus, Herod’s son, had succeeded his father as ruler in Judea, he was afraid to go there. Since he had been warned in a dream, he went to the region of Galilee. 23When he arrived there, he settled in a city called Nazareth. So what was spoken through the prophets was fulfilled: “He will be called a Nazarene.”