Reading Leviticus 1529 bc 1526 bc 1446 bc c 1445 bc 1406 bc

Aaron born Moses born Exodus from Egypt Events of Leviticus Israel crosses the Jordan

OVERVIEW

Author

Moses the prophet

Date

c 1445 BC

Places

Wilderness of Sinai; tabernacle in the Israelite camp

People

Moses; Aaron and his sons: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, Ithamar; elders and congregation

of Israel

Purpose

To teach Israel how God shares His holiness with them and how they should live in

His holiness

Law Themes

Uncleanness; sin requires blood sacrifices; diseases resulting from sin; walking in

God’s statutes and commands

Gospel Themes

Cleansing; atonement; redemption; “I am the Lord your God”; consecration; rest

Memory Verses

Teach the people (10:10–11); holy to the Lord (11:45; 20:26); atonement (16:30–34);

sacrifice only to the Lord (17:1–5)

Reading Leviticus

He had pastured and watered the young bull all its days. Now the bull stood calmly

before him as he solemnly placed his hands on its head. He nimbly swung a blade

through the bottom of the animal’s throat, severing the main artery. Blood spurted and

then drained rapidly into the bowls brought by the priests, who carried the blood to the

altar while the worshiper continued to butcher and skin the animal. God would be

honored by the fat, the kidneys, and the liver lobe that the priests would burn. The

worshiper’s family would feast together on the meat the Lord had provided.

Leviticus opens with earthy, life-and-death detail about the sacrifices Israel was to

offer at the tabernacle they had just built in the wilderness. Their cattle, which had

traveled with them out of Egypt and southward to Sinai, would not only feed their

eager bellies but also touch their hearts as living illustrations of God’s gracious

provision for them. By these sacrifices, He would provide atonement for sin and food

for life and fellowship in the congregation of Israel.

Luther on Leviticus The special topic of the third book [Leviticus] is the appointment of the priesthood,

with the statutes and laws according to which the priests are to act and to teach the

people. There we see that a priestly office is instituted only because of sin, to disclose

sin to the people and to make atonement before God, so that its entire function is to

deal with sin and sinners. For this reason too no temporal wealth is given to the

priests; neither are they commanded or permitted to rule men’s bodies. Rather the

only work assigned to them is to care for the people who are in sin. (AE 35:237–38)1

1Engelbrecht, E. A. (2009). The Lutheran Study Bible (164). St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House.

St. Paul's Lutheran Church & School 312 West 3rd Ogallala, NE 69153 308-284-2944 284-2688 contact@stpaulsogallala.org

Lutheran Links St. Paul's, Ogallala www.stpaulsogallala.org Lutheran Church Missouri Synod www.lcms.org Nebraska District LCMS www.ndlcms.org Concordia Publishing House www.cph.org Concordia University www.cune.edu Lutheran Church Extension Fund www.lcef.org Thrivent www.thrivent.org

SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY

1

Women's Bible

Study 9:00am

Men's Bible

Study 6pm

2

1:30

Dismissal

3

Worship

Service

6:00 pm

4

Worship Service 9:00am Sunday School, Teen Bible Classes, Adult Bible Study, 10:00 am

5

6

Tie the Knot

1pm

PTL

MEETING

5:30pm

7

Bible Study 6AM

Confirmation 6th grade 5pm

7th&8th grades 6pm

8

Women's Bible

Study 9:00am

Men's Bible

Study 6pm

9

NO SCHOOL

10

Communion

Service

6:00pm

11 Communion Service 9:00am Sunday School, Teen Bible Classes, Adult Bible Study, 10:00 am

12

LWML 6:00pm

13

MEETINGS

School Board

5:30PM

Elders 6pm

Trustees 6pm

Council 7:00

14

Bible Study 6AM

ASH

WEDNESDAY 6:00pm

15 Women's Bible

Study 9:00am

Men's Bible

Study 6pm

MOPs meeting

6-7:30pm

16

SCIENCE

FAIR 6-7pm

17

Worship

Service

6:00 pm

18

Worship Service 9:00am

Alumni Pot Luck

19

20

Tie the Knot

1pm

21 Bible Study 6AM

LENT SERVICE 5:30pm

Confirmation 6th, 7th&8th

grade

following

22

Women's Bible

Study 9:00am

Men's Bible

Study 6pm

23

24

Communion

Service

6:00pm

25

Communion Service 9:00am Sunday School, Teen Bible Classes, Adult Bible Study, 10:00 am

26

27

28

Bible Study 6AM

LENT SERVICE 5:30pm

Confirmation 6th, 7th&8th

grade following

February

Family

Movie

Night

6:30pm

PTL Valentine's Bake Sale

Scholastic Book Fair Week

Friday, February 9th 6:30pm

in the Fellowship Hall Showing:

Inside Out

Bring your lawn chair, bean bag

chair, pillow &/or blanket and

enjoy a movie on the "Big

Screen" with your family.

Popcorn and Hot Chocolate are

served. Feel free to bring your

own snacks.

Free will offering

Board Meetings

February 13th

School Board

Elders

Council

Trustees

School

Feb. 2nd 1:30 dismissal

Feb. 13th & 14th PTL Traveling Bake

Sale

Feb 9th No School

Feb 16th Science Fair

Church

Confirmation

Wednesdays

6th,7th&8th

grades after Lent

Service

Thursday

Women's bible

study 9:00am

Men's bible study

6:00pm

M.O.P's Mothers of Preschoolers

Monthly meeting is:

February 15th 6-7:30pm

in the back of the church.

M.O.P's kids will use the Fellowship Hall.

Looking for a good daily devotion?

Visit Lutheran Hour Ministries website

and sign up to have them delivered to your

email every day.

www.lhm.org/dailydevotions

High School Teens Activities

Bible study is held most every Sunday at 10:15 AM in the balcony of the gym.

I am always open to suggestions for topics.

NO Bible class on February 4 because of a Voters Meeting to elect new officers and

pass a 2018 budget. You are welcome to attend. You can vote if you are 18 or older.

Sunday February 23 we are planning to go bowling at Cornhusker Lanes on East Hwy 30. We have been talking

about going right after Bible class and order pizza or something else for lunch.

Heather and I would like to know you thoughts about the date and the time. We were thinking that if you go home

after Bible class you may get busy and not come back to bowl.

Confirmands, you are invited to join us. Prices will be announced later.

Wednesday, February 28 is the night we will cook up spaghetti for the "soup supper" Lenten service. All hands are

needed. We can use some help after school to set up table and chairs. I will be present making the sauce and

heating water for the spaghetti and I can always use help.

Rick and Heather

Wednesday Evening Lent Services and Meals

Meal served at 5:30pm in the Fellowship Hall

February 21st - Ladies Circle

February 28th - Youth Group fundraiser March 7th - School Board

March 14th - Elders & Trustees March 21st - Church Council

**March 28th - Noon at the Congregational Church**

LCMS Stewardship Ministry

Newsletter Article – February 2018 “I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity

of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:8-9).

Without commands or even arm-twisting, St. Paul encourages, even challenges, the Church in Corinth to demonstrate the sincerity of their faith by their generosity in giving. He does this because giving generously is a gift of the Spirit given to us through the Gospel.

St. Paul wrote: “But just as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us—see that you also excel in this grace of giving” (2 Corinthians 8:7). In other words, just as we grow in faith and speech and knowledge of eternal things by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God, so also do we grow in giving from the same Spirit through the same Word.

The problem is that the grace of generosity often grows cold in us. It’s not so much that we stop giving, but we don’t put it first. We treat it like all the other bills that must be paid. It becomes a chore, just one more thing to check off a list of things to do. That empties it of its spiritual power and robs us of the joy that Christ and the Scriptures assign to it.

On top of that, since this generosity is linked to faith and knowledge of divine things, a lack of excelling in giving is a sure sign that our faith and knowledge of God are under attack as well.

Thus St. Paul points to the foundation of generosity: the generosity of Christ Himself. Even though He was rich, He became poor so that we who are poor might become rich. Thus, the incarnation, suffering, and death of our Lord on the cross is the reason, source, and driving force for our generosity in giving to the church.

And since Christ who was rich became poor so that we might be rich in His grace—of which generous giving is part—so we also who are rich in His grace can excel in pressing His grace into service toward the gracious work of the church.

Pay attention to what you give to the church so that you may excel at it. And if you find that your heart has grown cold or indifferent toward it, immerse yourself in God’s Word. Read it at home. Attend Bible Class. Hear and listen to it preached in the Divine Service.

Be reminded of what Christ has done for you in His incarnation, suffering, and death. For this will strengthen your faith and knowledge. And where that excels, so will the grace of giving excel also.

TIE THE KNOT Here we are, February 2018, and already time is going fast! Another year has begun and Tie the Knot is still

meeting every 1st and 3rd Tuesdays at 1:00 p.m., in the church basement When Pastor blessed our last shipment of quilts for 2017, several ladies inquired about their purpose, destinations, etc., so this is just a brief outline how our Ogallala quilts are used and their destinations. The quilts made at St. Paul are taken to Julesburg, CO for packing and shipping as we are a part of the Rocky Mountain District At the Julesburg location there are lots of items donated which are sorted, mended and packed on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Julesburg has a “container car” which is filled and ends up in Houston, where the items are packed for shipment to foreign countries or to aid with disaster relief here in the U.S. Our quilts have been shipped to Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine and to aid in disaster relief during and after Hurricane Harvey, Florida and Puerto Rico. All much needed destinations! It is truly amazing that a few scraps of material, used sheets, and a few hours of willing hands can help so many in need. We truly appreciate all of you who donate time, material and talent to this effort. Thank you, Arlene, for all the blocks you cut and to all of you who put those pieces together for us! SOOO.... if any of you out there need another thing to do, we would love to have you check us out any 1st or 3rd Tuesday, at 1:00, in the church basement – who knows – you may just may be interested enough to come back! Take care and God bless P.S.: Eighty plus quilts were delivered to Julesburg in 2017. Praise God!

LWML/Circle News

The next LWML Dinner meeting will be Monday, February 12, 2018. Dinner starts at 6:00

PM. Please join us as we share the love of Christ in mission ministry.

February 9 and 10 will be the time to come and clean the kitchen. We thank Lewis

Tagtmeyer for cleaning the kitchen floor. That leaves the rest of the kitchen for us to

tackle. Bring your favorite cleaning supplies and gloves to get the job done. Then, February

10 and 11 during the worship services we will be celebrating the LWML Prayer service. It

will help us get our hearts ready for Lent. Women will be helping with the service as

readers. The LWML will be serving the first Lenten supper on February 21 and the

community Lenten lunch on March 28, 2018. Lots of opportunity for service. Please sign up

to help when asked.

What we need:

~ Individually wrapped baked goods

1 dozen (or more if you can) Rice

crispy treats, cookies, brownies, mini

pies, popcorn balls, chocolate covered

strawberries, dipped pretzel sticks,

cupcakes, anything you find on

Pinterest, etc.

~Businesses to visit

If you have or know of a business that

would be willing to support the

children coming please call the office

to get them on the list.

~Big baskets or decorative boxes

We would like to be able to display

the items festively. If you have these

items and are willing to let us use

them we greatly appreciate it.

~Help in the kitchen

Packaging and getting the baskets

ready Tuesday morning 7:30am.

When do we need it:

8:00am February 13th

We will be going to businesses in town to offer Valentine's baked

goods for sale to raise funds to help pay to send our teachers to

convention this month. This is also good public relations for our

school and social building skills for the children as we will be

taking some of the students with us.

PTL Valentine's Traveling Bake Sale

February 13th & 14th starting at 9:00am