Worship Notes for Pentecost 2, 2014

Thursday after Feast of the Holy Trinity

June 19, 2014

The Lord be with you

This coming Sunday is the Second Sunday after Pentecost (Pentecost 2). We are now in “regular” time in the Church Year. In general, the lessons from here until Advent will accent our walk as Christians.

For our liturgy Sunday we will be using the service of Matins (LSB 219). This is a non-communion service. The Synod makes available a “Prayer for the Church” which reflects the readings of each Sunday. We will be using it this Sunday, with a few modifications to reflect Lamb of God and current happenings. At the end of each petition I will pray, “Sing to the Lord, praise the Lord!” and the congregation will pray “For He has delivered the life of the needy from the hand of evildoers.”

The appointed lessons for Sunday are: Jeremiah 20:7-13, Romans 6:12-23 and Matthew 110:5a, 21-33. Matins uses the appointed Psalm for the Day instead of the Introit for the Day. For Pentecost 2 in series A it is Psalm 91 and the antiphon is verse 1. The sermon text is Jeremiah 20:10. The sermon is titled “Is This Providence?” Our opening hymn will be “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty” (LSB 790). Our sermon hymn will be “All Depends on Our Possession” (LSB 732). Our closing hymn will be “Thine Forever, God of Love” (LSB 687).

Below is a video of our sermon hymn, “All Depends on Our Possession” sung by a choir. They only do three of the six verses, but that is okay.

Our Sunday morning Bible hour begins at 9:00 am. Last week we covered the first five verses of Ruth so we will pick up with verse 6. Everyone is welcome.

What now follows is a summary of Sunday’s lessons provided by the LCMS, and then the lessons themselves.

Delivered from Sin and Death, You Now Live before God in the Righteousness of Christ

The outcome of sin is death, “but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23). He has set you free from the slavery of sin and has brought you “from death to life” (Rom. 6:13). No longer are you under the condemnation of the Law, but you live “under grace” (Rom. 6:14). Such is your courage in the face of “those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul” (Matt. 10:28). For though “you will be hated by all,” and maligned by the world for the name of Christ (Matt. 10:22, 25), you abide in the care of your Father in heaven, who numbers “even the hairs of your head” and values you more “than many sparrows” (Matt. 10:30–31). By the Word of Christ, you have become like Him, your Teacher and Master in whom you endure to the end, and “will be saved” (Matt. 10:22, 25). For He is with you “as a dread warrior,” who has overcome your enemies (Jer. 20:11). By the righteousness of faith, He delivers your heart, mind, body and life “from the hand of evildoers,” and He brings you into the land of the living (Jer. 20:12–13).

Jeremiah 20:7–13

⁷         O Lord, you have deceived me,

                   and I was deceived;

          you are stronger than I,

                   and you have prevailed.

          I have become a laughingstock all the day;

                   everyone mocks me.

⁸         For whenever I speak, I cry out,

                   I shout, “Violence and destruction!”

          For the word of the Lord has become for me

                   a reproach and derision all day long.

⁹         If I say, “I will not mention him,

                   or speak any more in his name,”

          there is in my heart as it were a burning fire

                   shut up in my bones,

          and I am weary with holding it in,

                   and I cannot.

¹⁰        For I hear many whispering.

                   Terror is on every side!

          “Denounce him! Let us denounce him!”

                   say all my close friends,

                   watching for my fall.

          “Perhaps he will be deceived;

                   then we can overcome him

                   and take our revenge on him.”

¹¹        But the Lord is with me as a dread warrior;

                   therefore my persecutors will stumble;

                   they will not overcome me.

          They will be greatly shamed,

                   for they will not succeed.

          Their eternal dishonor

                   will never be forgotten.

¹²        O Lord of hosts, who tests the righteous,

                   who sees the heart and the mind,

          let me see your vengeance upon them,

                   for to you have I committed my cause.

¹³        Sing to the Lord;

                   praise the Lord!

          For he has delivered the life of the needy

                   from the hand of evildoers.

Romans 6:12–23

¹²        Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. ¹³Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. ¹⁴For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

¹⁵        What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! ¹⁶Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? ¹⁷But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, ¹⁸and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. ¹⁹I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

²⁰        For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. ²¹But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. ²²But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. ²³For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Matthew 10:5a, 21–33

⁵         These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, …

²¹        “Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, ²²and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. ²³When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

²⁴        “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. ²⁵It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household.

²⁶        “So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. ²⁷What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. ²⁸And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. ²⁹Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. ³⁰But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. ³¹Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. ³²So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, ³³but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.”

Some Quick Notes:

• There will be a voters’ meeting following our worship service. Several important items will be presented for the voters to consider, including election of officers, a possible modification of our worship area, and election of two representatives to our Circuit Forum.

• LitWits, our book club, will meet at 6:30 pm. The book is Loving God with all Your Mind: Thinking as a Christian in the Postmodern World by Gene Edward Veith, Jr. We are asking ourselves, “Is there any profound statement that we encountered?” It is also time to submit any book titles for the group to vote on to read in the upcoming year.

• We are less than a week away from the beginning of our Summer Series, “Resolving Everyday Conflict.” It begins Wednesday, June 25, at 7:00 pm. Don’t forget, in order to insure we have enough material, we are asking you to sign-up. The sign-up sheet is on the coffee table. You are welcome, even if you haven’t signed up, but you may not receive the workbook until we can order and receive it.

• Information for the July newsletter is due Sunday.

Well, I pray we will see you Sunday morning.

Blessings in Christ,

Pastor John Rickert