Friday after
Lent I
March 14,
2014
The Lord be with you
This coming
Sunday is the Second Sunday in Lent. During the Lenten season certain elements
are changed or removed from our service, to return on Easter and the Easter
season. For our liturgy this coming Sunday we will be using the Service of
Prayer and Preaching (page 260). The changes include using the Lent responses
for the Opening Versicles and the Responsory. The most noticeable change will
be switching out the New Testament Canticle (“Christ Has Been Raised”) with the
“First Song of Isaiah (Confitebor tibi, Domine),” LSB 927. This
is sung to a Psalm Tone, so we will have no problems. The Antiphon is use like
a refrain.
The assigned
lections for Sunday are Genesis 12:1-9; Romans 4:1-8, 13-17; John 3:1-17. The
text for the sermon is Genesis 12:2. The sermon is titled “Blessed to be a Blessing.”
Our opening hymn is “Lord, Help Us Walk Your Servant Way,” LSB 857. The
sermon hymn is “The God of Abraham Praise,” LSB 798. Our closing hymn is
“O Christ, You Walked the Road,” LSB 424.
Below is a
video from a Lutheran church in Frankenmuth, MI, singing our sermon
hymn, "The God of Abraham Praise.” This is actually a rather long hymn, but as
the Service of Prayer and Preaching is a shorter service, a longer hymn is
okay.
Our Sunday morning Bible hour begins at 9:00 am. We continue with Colossians.
Our Church council will meet following the worship service.
Wednesday's homily, "The Apostles' Creed for Life," has been posted on the sermon page.
Wednesday's homily, "The Apostles' Creed for Life," has been posted on the sermon page.
Below is the
summary of the lessons provided by the LCMS.
The Word of the Gospel
Opens the Eyes of Faith and Fixes Them on Christ Jesus
The Lord
called Abram (Abraham) to leave his home and go to a land that God would show
him. He also promised to make of Abram “a
great nation,” to bless him and make his name great as a blessing to “all the families of the earth” (Gen.
12:2–3). “Abram went, as the Lord had told
him” (Gen. 12:4), and in Canaan “he
built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord” (Gen. 12:8). He “believed God, and it was counted to him as
righteousness” (Rom. 4:3). Here the grace of God is manifested, that He “justifies the ungodly” (Rom. 4:5), not
by works of the Law, but through faith in His promises. He removes all of our
sins and lawless deeds through Jesus Christ, the offspring of Abraham in whom
all the Lord’s promises are realized. This forgiveness of sins is the Word of
the Gospel, the voice of the Holy Spirit, which “gives life to the dead” (Rom. 4:17). It opens the eyes of faith to
behold Christ Jesus, the Son of Man lifted up on the cross, “that whoever believes in him may have
eternal life” (John 3:14–15).
Sunday’s Lessons
Genesis 12:1-9
12:1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred
and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2And I
will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great,
so that you will be a blessing. 3I will bless those who bless you,
and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the
earth shall be blessed.”
4 So
Abram went, as the Lord had told
him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed
from Haran. 5And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's
son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they
had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they
came to the land of Canaan, 6Abram passed through the land to the
place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the
land. 7Then the Lord appeared
to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there
an altar to the Lord, who had
appeared to him. 8From there he moved to the hill country on the
east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the
east. And there he built an altar to the Lord
and called upon the name of the Lord.
9And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.
Romans 4:1-8,
13-17
4:1 What then shall we say was gained by
Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 2For if Abraham was
justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.3
For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to
him as righteousness.” 4Now to the one who works, his wages are not
counted as a gift but as his due. 5And to the one who does not work
but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as
righteousness, 6just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one
to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:
7 “Blessed
are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered;
8 blessed
is the man against whom the Lord will not count
his sin.” …
13 For
the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did
not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14For
if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and
the promise is void. 15For the law brings wrath, but where there is
no law there is no transgression.
16 That
is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be
guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to
the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, 17as
it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of
the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into
existence the things that do not exist.
John 3:1-17*
3:1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees
named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2This man came to Jesus by
night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God,
for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3Jesus
answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot
see the kingdom of God.” 4Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be
born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be
born?” 5Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is
born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6That
which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is
spirit. 7Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’
8The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do
not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is
born of the Spirit.”
9 Nicodemus
said to him, “How can these things be?” 10Jesus answered him, “Are
you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? 11Truly,
truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have
seen, but you do not receive our testimony. 12If I have told you
earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you
heavenly things? 13No one has ascended into heaven except he who
descended from heaven, the Son of Man[, who is in heaven]. 14And as
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted
up, 15that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
16 “For
God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him
should not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his
Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be
saved through him.
* The words
in the brackets are in the footnotes in most modern translations. In my opinion
they are part of the original text so I’ve included theme here.
Well, I pray
we will see you Sunday morning.
Blessings in
Christ,
Pastor John
Rickert
No comments:
Post a Comment