| Prelude Greeting and Welcome Lighting of the Candles Hymn of Invocation – Angels We Have Heard on High (LSB 368) Angels we have heard on high, Sweetly singing o’er the plains, And the mountains in reply, Echoing their joyous strains. Refrain Refrain: Gloria in excelsis Deo. Gloria in excelsis Deo. Shepherds, why this jubilee? Why your joyous strains prolong? What the gladsome tidings be Which inspire your heav’nly song? Refrain Come to Bethlehem and see Him whose birth the angels sing; Come, adore on bended knee Christ the Lord, the newborn King. Refrain + Preparation + Invocation P: In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. C: Amen. Opening Sentences - Psalm 31:1, 14–15a, 16 P: In You, O Lord, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame; C: in Your righteousness deliver me! P: But I trust in You, O Lord; I say, “You are my God.” C: My times are in Your hand. P: Make Your face shine on Your servant; C: save me in Your steadfast love! Confession and Absolution P: O God our Father, since You have set forth the way of life for us in Your beloved Son, we confess with shame our slowness to learn of Him, our failure to follow Him, and our reluctance to bear the cross. C: Have mercy on us and forgive us, O Lord. P: Forgive us the poverty of our worship, our neglect of fellowship and of the Means of Grace, our hesitating witness for Christ, or evasion of responsibility in Your service, and our imperfect stewardship of Your gifts. C: Have mercy on us and forgive us, O Lord. P: Forgive us that we have been thoughtless in our judgments, hasty in condemnation, grudging in forgiveness, slow to seek reconciliation, and unwilling to help our neighbors as we ought. C: Have mercy on us, O God, according to Your steadfast love. Create in us clean hearts, O God, and put a new and right spirit within us. P: Upon this your confession and by the command of our Lord, I, a called and ordained servant of Christ and by His authority, forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. C: Amen. P: Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it. Go in + peace. C: Amen. + Word + Introit P: Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! C: Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. P: Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! C: The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, shall bless us. P: God shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear him! All: Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen. P: Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! Salutation and Collect of the Day P: The Lord be with you. C: And also with you. P: Let us pray. Almighty, eternal God, in the Word of Your apostles and prophets, You have proclaimed to us Your saving will. Grant us faith to believe Your promises that we may receive eternal salvation; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. C: Amen. First Reading – 2 Samuel 7:18-24 Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far? And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord God. You have spoken also of your servant’s house for a great while to come, and this is instruction for mankind, O Lord God! And what more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Lord God! Because of your promise, and according to your own heart, you have brought about all this greatness, to make your servant know it. Therefore you are great, O Lord God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. And who is like your people Israel, the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be his people, making himself a name and doing for them great and awesome things by driving out before your people, whom you redeemed for yourself from Egypt, a nation and its gods? And you established for yourself your people Israel to be your people forever. And you, O Lord, became their God. P: This is the Word of the Lord. C: Thanks be to God. Epistle – Romans 5:6–15 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. P: This is the Word of the Lord. C: Thanks be to God. Holy Gospel – Matthew 9:35—10:8 P: The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, the ninth and tenth chapters. C: Glory to you, O Lord. And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction. The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay. P: This is the Gospel of the Lord. C: Praise to You, O Christ. Children’s Hymn – Make Me a Servant (AGPS 174) Make me a servant, humble and meek, Lord, let me lift up those who are weak. And may the prayer of my heart always be: Make me a servant, make me a servant, Make me a servant today. (Repeat) Children’s Message – Tim Cosby Hymn of the Day – A Mighty Fortress Is Our God (LSB 656) A mighty fortress is our God, A trusty shield and weapon; He helps us free from ev’ry need That hath us now o’ertaken. The old evil foe Now means deadly woe; Deep guile and great might Are his dread arms in fight; On earth is not his equal. With might of ours can naught be done, Soon were our loss effected; But for us fights the valiant One, Whom God Himself elected. Ask ye, Who is this? Jesus Christ it is, Of Sabaoth Lord, And there’s none other God; He holds the field forever. Though devils all the world should fill, All eager to devour us, We tremble not, we fear no ill; They shall not overpow’r us. This world’s prince may still Scowl fierce as he will, He can harm us none. He’s judged; the deed is done; One little word can fell him.
The Word they still shall let remain Nor any thanks have for it; He’s by our side upon the plain With His good gifts and Spirit. And take they our life, Goods, fame, child, and wife, Though these all be gone, Our vict’ry has been won; The Kingdom ours remaineth. Sermon Apostles’ Creed I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. And 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 the dead. 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. Amen. | 
