11/09/25

As We Gather

 In this series, Living Discipleship, we learn of God’s great love for people. The Scriptures teach that “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 It is our heavenly Father’s desire that all be saved and come to the knowledge of His Son. 1 Timothy 2:4   This is a series that seeks to instruct us as Christians what it means to believe in Christ and live as his people in a world that runs counter to Christian thought and life. For the next 10 weeks we will learn more fully what it means to be a ‘living disciple’ as God’s redeemed children. Adult Sunday School will feature a more in-depth teaching for today’s message. Study materials provided. All are encouraged to participate… why this would be a good opportunity to invite a friend.

Family Room & Children Activity Bags- We value children in our worship services. If needed, there is a family room available for families with children. The family room has a diaper changing table, a closed-circuit T. V. to watch the worship service, toys and books for children. The family room is located across from the kitchen in the long hallway, the first door on the right, just past the bathrooms. There are “King’s Kids” bags with activities for children to help them worship. They are near the usher’s station. Please return the bag to the rack after the service.

Holy Communion- The Scripture teaches the Lord’s Supper is a precious gift of God in which Christ gives us His true body and blood (in a miraculous way), together with the bread and wine, for the forgiveness of our sins and the strengthening of our faith. Because the Bible teaches that this Sacrament may also be spiritually harmful if misused the LCMS ordinarily communes only those who have been instructed in the teachings of our church and who have confessed their faith in these teachings. Please speak to Pastor Ralph before the service if you have a question about this. For those who prefer a non-alcoholic alternative, there is grape juice at the center of each tray. Those not receiving the Sacrament, including children, are invited to come to the altar, cross their arms over their chest, and receive a special blessing.

Be Satisfied With What the Word Reveals “I do not doubt that Lucifer’s sin was of a similar nature, that he wanted to investigate and know more about the unknown God – the God who has not revealed and disclosed Himself through the Word – behooved his station. What that God may be, what He may do, what He may want, does not behoove me to know. But it does behoove me to know what God has prescribed, what He has promised, and what He has threatened in the word. If you meditate diligently on these things, you will find God, yea, He Himself will draw you into His arms. If you fall from that place of security, that is, if you presume to want to know something beyond what is revealed in the Word, you will plunge yourself into the abyss of hell.”  What Luther Says # 1668

Scripture: New International Version 1984

Love the Lord Your God – Ten Commandments

November 9, 2025

Opening Hymn                        A Mighty Fortress is Our God                             LSB  657

Invocation, Confession and Absolution  (Psalm 14)

P:   We gather in the name and at the invitation of our great and gracious triune God;

C:   In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

P:   The fool says in his heart, 

C:   “There is no God.” 

P:   They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; 

C:   there is no one who does good. 

P:   The Lord looks down from heaven on the sons of men 

C:   to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. 

P:   All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; 

C:   there is no one who does good, not even one. 

P:   Will evildoers never learn— those who devour my people as men eat bread 

C:   and who do not call on the Lord? 

P:  There they are, overwhelmed with dread, 

C:   for God is present in the company of the righteous. 

P:   You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor, 

C:   but the Lord is their refuge. 

P:   Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion! 

C:   When the Lord restores the fortunes of his people, 

All:   let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad! 

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 deserve your temporal and eternal punishment. But I am heartily sorry for them, and I sincerely repent of them, and I pray You of Your boundless mercy, and for the sake of the holy, innocent and bitter sufferings and death of Your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to be gracious and merciful to me, a poor, sinful being. Amen.

(Silence for Meditation)

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. Amen.

C:   Amen.

Hymn of Praise                     Praise the One Who Breaks the Darkness                    LSB 849

Prayer of the Day

All:   O blessed Lord, gracious Father, we thank for the grace that is ours in Christ Jesus, Your Son and pray for Your renewing peace and presence in our lives that we may go forth bearing the kind of fruits You desire to bring forth; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

O T Lesson                  (In the call of Moses, God reveals who He is to him)       Exodus 3: 1-15

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ² There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. ³ So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.” ⁴ When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” ⁵ “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶ Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. ⁷ The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. ⁸ So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. ⁹ And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. ¹⁰ So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” 

¹¹ But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” ¹² And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.” ¹³ Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” ¹⁴ God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ” ¹⁵ God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.

N T Lesson    (The importance of being rooted and built up in Christ)       Colossians 2: 6-15  

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, ⁷ rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. ⁸ See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. ⁹ For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, ¹⁰ and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. ¹¹ In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, ¹² having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. ¹³ When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, ¹⁴ having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Gospel Lesson                  (Jesus speaks of His relationship to the Father)           John 5:16-25

So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. ¹⁷ Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.” ¹⁸ For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. ¹⁹ Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. ²⁰ For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these. ²¹ For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. ²² Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, ²³ that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him. ²⁴ “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.

Message Song                                  How Can I Keep From Singing

There is an endless song  It echoes in my soul

I hear the music ring  And though the storms may come                                                       I am holding on  To the rock I cling          Chorus

Message                             Love the Lord Your God  – Commandments 1-3

1. Loving God begins by acknowledging            the One and only Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit as the One whom we trust        and        seek       to       obey      above all         things. Ex. 20; Deut 6

2. Loving God with all our heart mind and strength means thinking on things that are trustworthy, good and true for the building        up      the        man     or     woman      of        God so that we do not curse, swear, use satanic arts, lie or deceive by His name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise and give thanks.  Phil. 4

3. Loving God with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength is done as we seek   the    good,       right    and true    from    God’s     word        , read, spoken or preached so that it abides      in    us        , keeping us as Jesus disciples.  John 8: 31-32; 15: 1ff

The Apostle’s Creed

Offering

Offertory                                Now Thank We All Our God                                     LSB 895 vs 2

Prayers of the Church 

After each petition:

P:    Lord, in Your mercy,

C:    hear our prayers.

The Lord’s Prayer                                                                                  

The Lord’s Supper

Preface                                                                       page 160 in the hymnal

P:  The Lord be with you.

C:  ♪ And also with you.

P:   Lift up your hearts.

C:  ♪ We lift them to the Lord.

P:   Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

C:   ♪ It is right to give Him thanks and praise.

P:   It is truly good, right, and salutary …. And ever more praising You and singing:

Sanctus — Holy, Holy, Holy                                         page 161 in the hymnal

C:  ♪ Holy, holy, holy Lord God of pow’r and might: Heaven and earth are full of   

         Your glory. Hosanna. Hosanna. Hosanna in the highest.  Blessed is He who  

         comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

The Words of Institution (Jesus Institutes the Lord’s Supper)

Pax Domini—The Peace of the Lord                   page 163 in the hymnal

P:   The peace of the Lord be with you always.C:   ♪ Amen.

Agnus Dei – Lamb of God

C:  ♪ Lamb of God, You take away the sin of the world; have mercy on us.

         Lamb of God, You take away the sin of the world; have mercy on us.

         Lamb of God, You take away the sin of the world; grant us peace.

Distribution of Communion

Distribution Hymn                God Loved the World So That He Gave               LSB  571 

Post Communion Canticle                                                        page 155 in the hymnal

C:  ♪ Thank the Lord and sing His praise; tell ev’ryone what He has done.  Let all who seek the Lord rejoice and proudly bear His name.  He recalls His promises and leads His people forth in joy with shouts of thanksgiving. Alleluia, alleluia.

Post Communion Thanksgiving

All:    We give thanks to You, almighty God, that You have refreshed us through this salutary gift, and we implore You that of Your mercy You would strengthen us through the same in faith towards You and in fervent love towards one another; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

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. Alleluia. Amen!                                                

Sending Song                                      Praise to the Lord, The Almighty                               LSB 790

 Announcements 

Dismissal

P:   Go in peace as you serve the Lord.      

C:   Thanks be to God!   

Postlude