Worship Notes of Pentecost 19 - 2014

Thursday after Pentecost 18

October 16, 2014

The Lord be with you

This coming Sunday is the Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost. We will be using the Service of Prayer and Preaching for our liturgy (page 260). Our first hymn will be “Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus” (LSB 660). A Bible study inspired by the words of the hymn was posted yesterday. Our sermon hymn will be “God of Grace and God of Glory” (LSB 850). Our closing hymn will be “Sing with All the Saints in Glory” (LSB 671)

We will use the appointed Psalm for the day instead of the Introit. So our assigned readings are Psalm 96 (antiphon verse 9), Isaiah 45:1-7, 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 and Matthew 22:15-22. The text of the sermon is Isaiah 45:1. The sermon is titled “The Buck Stops with God.”

Below is a video of “God of Grace and God of Glory,” our sermon hymn. This is one of those hymns you can find in most any denomination.

Don’t forget Saturday the 18^th, is a word day at Lamb of God. We are focusing our efforts inside. We begin at 9:00 am.

Our Sunday morning Bible hour begins at 9:00 am. We looking at the biblical themes of Witness, Mercy and Life Together. The study of God’s word is a key way to keep the Third Commandment which Luther explains as meaning, “We should fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.” Bible study is a great opportunity to “gladly hear and learn” God’s word.  

What follows is a summary of Sunday’s lessons provided by the LC-MS and then the actual lessons. You might have noticed that the Psalm/Introit are never part of the summary.

We Are Recreated in the Image of God by the Cross of Christ

Plotting against Jesus, the Pharisees attempted “to entangle him in his words” by asking about the payment of taxes to Caesar (Matt. 22:15). The Lord pointed to coins required for the tax, and He answered that we should “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Matt. 22:21). But if coins bearing the image of Caesar should be rendered to him, then man — who is made in the image of God — must be rendered to the Lord. That tax is paid for us by the Lord Jesus, the image of God in the flesh, by His self-offering on the cross. And from His cross, as the Lord’s anointed, He reigns as the true Caesar over all nations “from the rising of the sun and from the west” (Is. 45:6). The Lord once called and anointed Cyrus “to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings” (Is. 45:1). Now by the preaching of the Gospel, “in power and in the Holy Spirit” (1 Thess. 1:5), foreigners from all over the world are “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God” (1 Thess. 1:9–10).

Psalm 96 (9)

^96:1      Oh sing to the Lord a new song;

                   sing to the Lord, all the earth!

²         Sing to the Lord, bless his name;

                   tell of his salvation from day to day.

³         Declare his glory among the nations,

                   his marvelous works among all the peoples!

⁴         For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;

                   he is to be feared above all gods.

⁵         For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols,

                   but the Lord made the heavens.

⁶         Splendor and majesty are before him;

                   strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.

⁷         Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples,

                   ascribe to the Lord glory and strength!

⁸         Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;

                   bring an offering, and come into his courts!

⁹         Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness;

                   tremble before him, all the earth!

¹⁰        Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!

                   Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved;

                   he will judge the peoples with equity.”

¹¹        Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;

                   let the sea roar, and all that fills it;

¹²                 let the field exult, and everything in it!

          Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy

¹³                 before the Lord, for he comes,

                   for he comes to judge the earth.

          He will judge the world in righteousness,

                   and the peoples in his faithfulness.

Isaiah 45:1–7

^45:1      Thus says the Lord to his anointed [messiah], to Cyrus,

                   whose right hand I have grasped,

          to subdue nations before him

                   and to loose the belts of kings,

          to open doors before him

                   that gates may not be closed:

²         “I will go before you

                   and level the exalted places,

          I will break in pieces the doors of bronze

                   and cut through the bars of iron,

³         I will give you the treasures of darkness

                   and the hoards in secret places,

          that you may know that it is I, the Lord,

                   the God of Israel, who call you by your name.

⁴         For the sake of my servant Jacob,

                   and Israel my chosen,

          I call you by your name,

                   I name you, though you do not know me.

⁵         I am the Lord, and there is no other,

                   besides me there is no God;

                   I equip you, though you do not know me,

⁶         that people may know, from the rising of the sun

                   and from the west, that there is none besides me;

                   I am the Lord, and there is no other.

⁷         I form light and create darkness,

                   I make well-being and create calamity,

                   I am the Lord, who does all these things.

1 Thessalonians 1:1–10

^1:1       Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,

          To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

          Grace to you and peace.

²         We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, ³remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁴For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, ⁵because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. ⁶And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, ⁷so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. ⁸For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. ⁹For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, ¹⁰and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

Matthew 22:15–22

¹⁵        Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. ¹⁶And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone's opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. ¹⁷Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” ¹⁸But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? ¹⁹Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. ²⁰And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar's.” ²¹Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” ²²When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.

A Couple of Quick Notes:

• The Church Council meets Sunday following the worship service.
• LitWits meets Sunday at 6:30 pm.
• November newsletter information is due Sunday.

Well, I pray we will see you Sunday morning.

Blessings in Christ,

Pastor John Rickert