Prelude – O That I Had a Thousand Voices
Greeting and Welcome
Lighting of the Candles
Hymn of Invocation – How Great Thou Art (LSB 801)
O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder
Consider all the works Thy hand hath made,
I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder,
Thy pow’r throughout the universe displayed; Refrain
Refrain: Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee,
How great Thou art! How great Thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee,
How great Thou art! How great Thou art!
When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!
Then I shall bow in humble adoration
And there proclaim: “My God, how great Thou art!” Refrain
+ Preparation +
Invocation
P: In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
C: Amen.
Confession and Absolution
P: Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your steadfast love;
C: according to Your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
P: Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!
C: For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
P: As we come and bow before the Lord to confess our sins, we admit that we have bowed down to other gods of this world and gods of our own choosing.
C: We confess we have trusted in ourselves and others rather than in You.
P: We have failed to rely on You in all times. We have sinned against You in thought, word, and deed, and against others in what we have done and left undone. We have not loved You with our whole heart
C: and have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We confess we have trusted in ourselves and others rather than in You.
P: Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
C: let the field exult, and everything in it!
P: Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy
C: before the Lord, for He comes,
P: for He comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in His faithfulness.
C: Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.
P: Brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, God is a merciful and loving Father, of whom “there is no other, besides Him there is no God.” He has chosen you in the Gospel, which has come not only in word but with full conviction in power and in the Holy Spirit. Jesus died on the cross to redeem You. Through Him, in His stead, as a called and ordained servant of the Word, I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
C: Amen.
+ Word +
First Reading – Deuteronomy 32:48-52
That very day the Lord spoke to Moses, “Go up this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, opposite Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel for a possession. And die on the mountain which you go up, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died in Mount Hor and was gathered to his people, because you broke faith with me in the midst of the people of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, and because you did not treat me as holy in the midst of the people of Israel. For you shall see the land before you, but you shall not go there, into the land that I am giving to the people of Israel.”
P: This is the Word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.
Epistle – 1 Thessalonians 1:1–10
Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.
We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
P: This is the Word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.
Holy Gospel – Matthew 22:15-22
P: The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, the twenty-second chapter.
C: Glory to You, O Lord.
Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle [Jesus] in his talk. And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.
P: This is the Gospel of the Lord.
C: Praise to You, O Christ.
Hymn of the Day – Faith and Truth and Life Bestowing (LSB 584)
Faith and truth and life bestowing,
Open now the Scriptures, Lord,
Seed to life eternal sowing,
Scattered on the wind abroad.
Let not hearts, Your Word receiving,
Like a barren field be found,
Choked with thorns and unbelieving,
Shallow earth or stony ground.
May the Spirit’s pow’r unceasing
Bring to life the hidden grain,
Daily in our hearts increasing,
Bearing fruit that shall remain.
So in Scripture, song, and story,
Savior, may Your voice be heard.
Till our eyes behold Your glory
Give us ears to hear Your Word.
Sermon
