Prelude – Christ Be My Leader
Greeting and Welcome
Lighting of the Candles
Hymn of Invocation – Open Now Thy Gates of Beauty (LSB 901)
Open now thy gates of beauty;
Zion, let me enter there,
Where my soul in joyful duty
Waits for Him who answers prayer.
Oh, how blessèd is this place,
Filled with solace, light, and grace!
Thou my faith increase and quicken;
Let me keep Thy gift divine,
Howsoe’er temptations thicken;
May Thy Word still o’er me shine
As my guiding star through life,
As my comfort in all strife.
Speak, O God, and I will hear Thee;
Let Thy will be done indeed.
May I undisturbed draw near Thee
While Thou dost Thy people feed.
Here of life the fountain flows;
Here is balm for all our woes.
+ Preparation +
Invocation
P: In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit
C: Amen.
Confession and Absolution – Psalm 1:5-6
P: Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
C: for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
Silence for self-examination.
P: Holy and gracious God,
C: I confess that I have sinned against You, in thought, word, and deed, by what I have done, and by what I have not done. Some of my sin I know—the thoughts and words and deeds of which I am ashamed—but some is known only to You. In the name of Jesus Christ, my Savior, I ask forgiveness and pray You to deliver and restore me by Your mercy. Amen.
P: Almighty God, our heavenly Father, has had mercy upon us and given to us His only Son to suffer and die for our salvation. As a called and ordained servant of Christ and by His authority, I therefore forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. May the Lord, who has begun this good work in us, bring it to completion in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
C: Amen.
+ Word +
Salutation and Prayer of the Day
P: The Lord be with you.
C: And also with you.
P: Let us pray. Blessed Lord, since You have caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning, grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
C: Amen.
First Reading – Ezekiel 17:22–24
Thus says the Lord God: “I myself will take a sprig from the lofty top of the cedar and will set it out. I will break off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and I myself will plant it on a high and lofty mountain. On the mountain height of Israel will I plant it, that it may bear branches and produce fruit and become a noble cedar. And under it will dwell every kind of bird; in the shade of its branches birds of every sort will nest. And all the trees of the field shall know that I am the Lord; I bring low the high tree, and make high the low tree, dry up the green tree, and make the dry tree flourish. I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it.”
P: This is the Word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.
Epistle – 1 Corinthians 3:5–17
What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.
According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.
P: This is the Word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.
The Baptism of Jacob Morse
P: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you.
C: Amen
P: By water and the Spirit we share Christ's death.
C: And through his resurrection we have new life.
P: O almighty and merciful God, we thank and praise you that you extend your Family through this means of grace and that you have called Jacob Ernest Morse to be your child through the water of Holy Baptism and the power of your Word. We humbly pray that you would keep him always aware of this covenant of love that you have made with him and nurture the seed of faith you are planting in his heart, that he may faithfully grow to lead a life pleasing to you and, finally, with all your saints obtain the promised inheritance in heaven; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
C: Amen.
P: Jacob Ernest Morse, receive the sign of the holy cross both upon your forehead + and upon your heart + as a sign, symbol and seal of God's love for you.
P: Our Lord commanded baptism, saying to his disciples in the last chapter of Matthew, "All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20)
P: Do you renounce the devil, all his works and all his ways?
C: I do renounce him.
P: Do you believe in God the Father?
C: Yes, I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
P: Do you believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son?
C: Yes, I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and dead.
P: Do you believe in the Holy Spirit?
C: Yes, I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
P: Jacob Ernest Morse, I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has given you the new birth of water and of the Spirit and has forgiven you all your sins, strengthen you with his grace to life everlasting. Jacob, peace be with you. Amen.
Almighty and most merciful God and Father, we thank and praise You that You graciously preserve and enlarge Your family and have granted Jacob the new birth in Holy Baptism and made him a member of Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and an heir of Your heavenly kingdom. We humbly implore You that, as he has now become Your child, You would keep him in his baptismal grace, that according to Your good pleasure he may faithfully grow to lead a godly life to the praise and honor of Your holy name and finally, with all Your saints, obtain the promised inheritance in heaven; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Holy Gospel – Mark 4:26-34
P: The Holy Gospel according to St. Mark, the fourth chapter.
C: Glory to You, O Lord.
And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”
With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.
P: This is the Gospel of the Lord.
C: Praise to You, O Christ.
Children’s Hymn – Jesus Loves Me (LSB 588)
Jesus loves me! This I know,
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to Him belong;
They are weak, but He is strong. Refrain
Refrain: Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me! The Bible tells me so.
Children’s Message
Hymn of the Day – When Peace, like a River (LSB 763)
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way;
When sorrows, like sea billows, roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.
Refrain: It is well with my soul,
It is well, it is well with my soul.
Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate
And hath shed His own blood for my soul. Refrain
He lives—oh, the bliss of this glorious thought;
My sin, not in part, but the whole,
Is nailed to His cross, and I bear it no more.
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul! Refrain
And, Lord, haste the day when our faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll,
The trumpet shall sound and the Lord shall descend;
Even so it is well with my soul. Refrain
Sermon
Prayer of the Church
+ Celebrating birthdays this week: 13 – Chris Kattentidt; 14 – Dan DeFosset, Savannah Lane; 15 – Candace Lane; 17 – Layton Wille
Special Celebrations and Needs:
+ Church family members: Rodger Lubben, celebrating the birth of grandson Andrew; family and friends of Joan Winkler, upon her death; Mary Aufderheide, recovering from a fall
+ Friends of our congregation: family and friends of former GLC member Margaret Gaulke, upon her death; the mother of John Lee, recovering from hip replacement surgery; Shannon, niece of Steve & Phyllis Phelps, and Shannon’s daughter Kaydence, upon the sudden loss of Shannon’s father
+ Those who are homebound or in nursing facilities: Mary Guion, Corinne Gutzler, Anne Hammann, Ruth Wussler
Lord’s Prayer
C: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
