04/28/24

As We Gather 

When Jesus uses the image of the vine and speaks of vineyards, He is choosing something very familiar to His hearers. Viticulture is well known around the world. More than eighteen million acres worldwide is used for growing grapes—from Panama to Tajikistan to Zimbabwe! Today, the cultivation of vineyards is still an important agricultural component in both Israel and the Jordan, lands where Jesus walked and taught. Life in the vineyard is vital! As branches grafted to the Vine that is Christ, we are vitalized by His power. As we remain in Christ and His Word remains in us, God’s life-supporting power infuses us! It is time to continue growing!

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 TV 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 on a small rack. 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 ( 1 Cor: 11:27), and that participation in the Lord’s Supper is an act of confession of faith, we ordinarily commune those who have been instructed in the teachings of our church and who have confessed their faith in these teachings. If you have a question, please speak to Pastor Ralph before the service. 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.

Without the Bible Life is Sleepwalking “We are truly sticking in the midst of night and in the densest darkness if that morning star doesn’t send froth its light of which it is said: “Thy Word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path.” (Ps. 119:105) For if we do not have the Holy Scriptures to shed light on our actions and to direct them, then this entire life and all the light of reason, yea, and all the wisdom and advice of men are mere darkness and confusion.”  What Luther Says # 2452

Easter 5

April 28, 2024

Welcome 

Opening Hymn                   Come, Thou Almighty King                         LSB 905

Invocation, Confession and Absolution     (Psalm 66:1–4, 8–9; 40:5)

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:   Shout for joy to God, all the earth;

C:   sing the glory of His name; give to Him glorious praise!

P:   Say to God, “How awesome are Your deeds! 

C:   All the earth worships You and sings praises to You; they sing praises to Your name.”

P:   Bless our God, O peoples; let the sound of His praise be heard,

C:   who has kept our soul among the living and has not let our feet slip.

P:   You have multiplied, O Lord my God, Your wondrous deeds and Your thoughts toward us; none can compare with You!

C:   I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told.

P:   Let us come before God, confess our sins to Him, and implore His forgiveness.

C:   O almighty God, most merciful Father, My greatest desire is to remain in Your Son Jesus Christ and have Your Word remain in me. Yet I also acknowledge that my daily struggle with sin sometimes leads me to deny Your goodness and provision of spiritual help for the times I fail. Grant me the faith and strength to turn to You, seeking Your mercy as You remind me of Your love for me, and Your care over all my concerns. In Your forgiving grace, grant me the power of Your Holy Spirit that I may amend my sinful life and bear fruit in keeping with true repentance.

(Silence for Meditation)

P: As you believe, so let it be. As a called and ordained servant Christ and by His authority, I therefore forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

C:   Amen.

Hymn of Encouragement        Fruitful Trees, the Spirit’s Sowing           LSB 691

Prayer of the Day

All:  Risen and ascended Lord, You are the vine and we are the branches. Apart from You there is no life. By Baptism You have grafted us into Your gracious life. Cause Your Word to abide in us and make us fruitful to the glory of Your Father, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

First Lesson                  (Love is the more excellent way)                  1 Corinthians 13: 1-13

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. ⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. ⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. ¹² Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. ¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 

Psalm                                           Psalm 150

P:   Praise the Lord.

C:   Praise God in his sanctuary; praise Him in his mighty heavens. 

Women:    Praise Him for his acts of power; praise Him for his surpassing greatness. 

Men:         Praise Him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise Him with the harp and lyre, 

Women:   praise Him with tambourine and dancing, praise Him with the strings and flute, 

Men:        praise Him with the clash of cymbals, praise Him with resounding cymbals. 

P:   Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!

All:   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.

NT Lesson                    (An exhortation to lives of Christian love)                     1 John 4:7–16

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹ This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. ¹³ We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵ If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. ¹⁶ And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. 

Holy Gospel                    (Jesus is the vine and His people are the branches.)     John 15:1–8

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ² He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. ³ You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. ⁴ Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. ⁵ “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. ⁷ If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. ⁸ This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. 

Message Song                         Take My Life and Let It Be                                          Tomlin

Take my life and let it be consecrated Lord, to thee.
Take my moments and my days, let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of thy love.
Take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for thee.

Take my voice and let me sing always, only for my king.
Take my lips and let them be filled with messages from thee.
Take my silver and my gold not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect and use every power as you choose. 

       Chorus:               Here am I, all of me.  Take my life, it’s all for thee.     (2x’s)

                          Take my will and make it Thine it shall be no longer mine.
                          Take my heart it is thine own; it shall be thy royal throne.
                        Take my love, my Lord I pour at your feet its treasure store
                                      Take myself and I will be ever, only all for thee,             Chorus

Take my life and let it be – consecrated Lord to Thee.

 CCLI License # 11390779

Message                                    A Taken Life: Life Made Holy by God

1. We are _____________ by the Word that proclaims forgiven in the name of Jesus.

2. We are __________________________ by the same Word that saved us from our sin.

3. Bearing (godly) fruit for Jesus is _________________ for those who _________________ as His Word remains in us.

Notes:

Explanation to the Second Article of the Apostles Creed

P: As we celebrate the risen Christ in this season of Easter, let us speak together the words of the Apostles’ Creed regarding our Savior.

C: I believe 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. 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.

P:   What does this mean?C: I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the virgin Mary, is my Lord, who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true.

Offering 

Offertory                                         Praise and Thanksgiving                             LSB 789 vs 1,3

Prayers of the Church  

After each petition:

 P:  Lord, in your mercy,

 C:  hear our prayer.   

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.

The Lord’s Supper

Preface                                                                      page 194 in the hymnal

P:  The Lord be with you.

C:  ♪ And with thy spirit.

P:  Lift up your hearts.

C:  ♪ We lift them up unto the Lord.

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

C:  ♪ It is meet and right so to do.

P:  It is truly good, right, and salutary …. And with the host of heaven we sing:

Sanctus — Holy, Holy, Holy                                          page 195 in the hymnal

C:  ♪ Ho -ly, ho-ly, ho-ly Lord God of Sa – ba – oth. Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory.   

          Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna in the highest. Blessed is He, blessed is He, blessed is

          He who cometh in the name of the Lord.  Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna in the highest.

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

Pax Domini—The Peace of the Lord                    page 197 in the hymnal

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

Agnus Dei – Lamb of God                                                             page 198 in the hymnal                                      

C:  ♪ O Christ, Thou Lamb of God, that takest away the sin of the world; have mercy upon us.

         O Christ, Thou Lamb of God, that takest away the sin of the world; have mercy upon us.

         O Christ, Thou Lamb of God, that takes away the sin of the world; 

         grant us Thy peace.  A – men.

Distribution Hymn                At the Lamb’s High Feast We Sing         LSB 633 vs 1-4, 7

Nunc Dimittis                                                                                 page 211 in the hymnal        

C: ♪ O Lord, now let Your servant      Depart in heav’nly peace,    For I have seen the glory     Of Your redeeming grace:     A light to lead the Gentiles    Unto Your holy hill,    The glory of Your people,   Your chosen Israel.  All glory to the Father,   All glory to the Son,  All glory to the Spirit,    Forever Three in One;    For as in the beginning,    Is now, shall ever be,   God’s triune name resounding    Through all eternity.

 Post Communion Collect

All:  Heavenly Father, we bless You for having fed us with Your life-giving food. Strengthen us through the same, help us to rejoice in Your mercies that we may grow daily and reach out with Your love in every situation. Finally, in Your mercy, grant us a portion with the saints in light eternal. This we ask through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who with You and the Holy Spirit are one God, world without end. 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.

Sending Hymn                            Spread the Reign of God the Lord           LSB 830

Announcements

Dismissal 

P:   Go in peace as you serve our living Lord.

C:   Thanks be to God.

Postlude