In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and local recommendations, we are continuing to post our digital services for the time being for those who feel more comfortable worshiping at home. Socially-distanced in-person worship is now resuming each Sunday at 12pm. Please click the audio bar below to listen to the service. Scroll down to follow along with the service text.
INVOCATION
P: We make our beginning in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
C: Amen.
Hymn: From All That Dwell Below the Skies (LSB 816)
1 From all that dwell below the skies
Let the Creator's praise arise;
Alleluia, alleluia!
Let the Redeemer's name be sung
Through ev'ry land by ev'ry tongue.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
2 Eternal are Thy mercies, Lord;
Eternal truth attends Thy Word.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Thy praise shall sound from shore to shore
Till suns shall rise and set no more.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
3 All praise to God the Father be,
All praise, eternal Son, to Thee.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Whom with the Spirit we adore
Forever and forevermore:
Alleluia, alleluia!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
CONFESSION & ABSOLUTION
P: Beloved in the Lord! Let us draw near with a true heart and confess our sins unto God our Father, beseeching Him in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to grant us forgiveness. Our help is in the name of the Lord,
C: who made heaven and earth.
P: I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord,
C: and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.
We reflect on God’s Word and examine ourselves.
P: 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 to you, and in the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ I forgive you all your sins in the name the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Psalm 125
1 Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,
which cannot be moved, but abides forever.
2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
so the Lord surrounds his people,
from this time forth and forevermore.
3 For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest
on the land allotted to the righteous,
lest the righteous stretch out
their hands to do wrong.
4 Do good, O Lord, to those who are good,
and to those who are upright in their hearts!
5 But those who turn aside to their crooked ways
the Lord will lead away with evildoers!
Peace be upon Israel!
C: 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.
COLLECT OF THE DAY
P: Let us pray. Almighty and everlasting God, give us an increase of faith, hope, and love, that, receiving what You have promised, we may love what You have commanded; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
C: Amen.
Scripture Readings
Old Testament: Deuteronomy 7:6-9
6 For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations.
P: This is the Word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.
Epistle Reading: Romans 8:28-39
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord
P: This is the Word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.
Gospel Reading: Matthew 13:44-52
P: The holy Gospel according to St. Matthew the 13th chapter.
C: Glory to You, O Lord.
44 The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, 46 who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. 48 When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. 49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous 50 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
51 “Have you understood all these things?” They said to him, “Yes.” 52 And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”
P: This is the Gospel of the Lord.
C: Praise to You, O Christ.
Hymn of the Day: The Church’s One Foundation (LSB 644)
1 The Church’s one foundation
Is Jesus Christ, her Lord;
She is His new creation
By water and the Word.
From heav'n He came and sought her
To be His holy bride;
With His own blood He bought her,
And for her life He died.
2 Elect from ev'ry nation,
Yet one o’er all the earth;
Her charter of salvation:
One Lord, one faith, one birth.
One holy name she blesses,
Partakes one holy food,
And to one hope she presses
With ev'ry grace endued.
3 Though with a scornful wonder
The world sees her oppressed,
By schisms rent asunder,
By heresies distressed,
Yet saints their watch are keeping;
Their cry goes up, “How long?”
And soon the night of weeping
Shall be the morn of song.
4 Through toil and tribulation
And tumult of her war
She waits the consummation
Of peace forevermore
Till with the vision glorious
Her longing eyes are blest,
And the great Church victorious
Shall be the Church at rest.
5 Yet she on earth has union
With God, the Three in One,
And mystic sweet communion
With those whose rest is won.
O blessed heav'nly chorus!
Lord, save us by Your grace
That we, like saints before us,
May see You face to face.
Sermon: All That He Has for the Treasure (Matthew 13:44-52)
CONFESSION OF FAITH: THE 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.
On 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.
PRAYER OF THE CHURCH
P: For this… let us pray to the Lord:
C: Lord, have mercy.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those
who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom
and the power and the glory
forever and ever. Amen.
Closing Hymn: Lord Dismiss Us with Your Blessing (LSB 924)
1 Lord, dismiss us with Your blessing;
Fill our hearts with joy and peace;
Let us each, Your love possessing,
Triumph in redeeming grace.
O refresh us, O refresh us,
Trav'ling through this wilderness.
2 Thanks we give and adoration
For Your Gospel's joyful sound.
May the fruits of Your salvation
In our hearts and lives abound.
Ever faithful, ever faithful
To Your truth may we be found.
3 Savior, when Your love shall call us
From our struggling pilgrim way,
Let not fear of death appall us,
Glad Your summons to obey.
May we ever, may we ever
Reign with You in endless day.
BENEDICTION
P: The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look upon you with favor and + give you peace.
C: Amen.