| Prelude Greeting and Welcome Lighting of the Candles Hymn of Invocation – With the Lord Begin Your Task (LSB 869, verses 1-2, 5) With the Lord begin your task; Jesus will direct it. For His aid and counsel ask; Jesus will perfect it. Ev’ry morn with Jesus rise, And when day is ended, In His name then close your eyes; Be to Him commended. Let each day begin with prayer, Praise, and adoration. On the Lord cast ev’ry care; He is your salvation. Morning, evening, and at night Jesus will be near you, Save you from the tempter’s might, With His presence cheer you. Thus, Lord Jesus, ev’ry task Be to You commended; May Your will be done, I ask, Until life is ended. Jesus, in Your name begun Be the day’s endeavor; Grant that it may well be done To Your praise forever.
+ Preparation + Invocation P: In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. C: Amen. Confession and Absolution P: As God’s baptized people, let us repent anew that we may arise to live. O almighty God, merciful Father, C: I, a poor, miserable sinner, confess unto You all my sins and iniquities with which I have ever offended You and justly deserved Your temporal and eternal punishment. But I am heartily sorry for them and sincerely repent of them, and I pray You of Your boundless mercy and for the sake of the holy, innocent, bitter sufferings and death of Your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to be gracious and merciful to me, a poor, sinful being. P: Upon this your confession, I, by virtue of my office, as a called and ordained servant of the Word, announce the grace of God unto all of you, and in the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. C: Amen. + Word + Introit P: The Lord has made known his salvation; he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations. C: Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; the world and those who dwell in it! P: Let the rivers clap their hands; let the hills sing for joy together before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth. C: He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity. 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: The Lord has made known his salvation; he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations.
Salutation and Prayer of the Day P: The Lord be with you. C: And also with you. P: Let us pray. O Lord, graciously hear the prayers of Your people that we who justly suffer the consequence of our sin may be mercifully delivered by Your goodness to the glory of Your name; 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 – Deuteronomy 30:15–20 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his just decrees then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”
P: This is the Word of the Lord. C: Thanks be to God.
Epistle – 1 Corinthians 3:1–9 But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human? 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.
P: This is the Word of the Lord. C: Thanks be to God. Holy Gospel – Matthew 5:21-37 P: The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, the fifth chapter. C: Glory to You, O Lord. “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil. P: This is the Gospel of the Lord. C: Praise to You, O Christ.
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. Children’s Hymn – Thy Word is a Lamp (AGPS 247) Refrain: Thy word is a lamp unto my feet And a light unto my path. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet And a light unto my path. When I feel afraid, think I’ve lost my way, Still You’re there right beside me, And nothing will I fear as long as You are near. Please be near me to the end. Refrain Now I will not forget Your love for me and yet My heart forever is wandering. Jesus, be my guide and hold me to Your side, And I will love You to the end. Refrain Children’s Message – Janet Leet Hymn of the Day – My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less (LSB 576, verses 1, 4) My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness; No merit of my own I claim But wholly lean on Jesus’ name. Refrain
Refrain: On Christ, the solid rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand. When He shall come with trumpet sound, Oh, may I then in Him be found, Clothed in His righteousness alone, Redeemed to stand before His throne! Refrain Sermon | 
