Everything you need for April 25 online worship.
Preparations for Worship:
- Do your best to eliminate distractions like the phone, TV, etc.
- Worship actively! Whether you are by yourself or with others, try reading the parts of the service aloud (responses, lessons, and prayers).
- This service is for children too. Help them participate. Ask those who have that ability to read a prayer or lesson aloud. Take a moment to describe what’s happening. Ask questions. Encourage little ones to draw what they are hearing while you all listen. Unlike our more typical Sunday worship at church, you can pause at any time for questions and discussion.
- Before you begin, load each of the videos below. (You might first have to get past a distracting ad.)
- Pause for a moment of quiet meditation. Then pray:
“Heavenly Father, I have come to worship you. Draw near to me in your gracious Word, and assure me of your loving kindness. Curb my wandering thoughts, that with undivided attention I may hear your voice and speak your praise. Through Jesus Christ. Amen.”
INVOCATION
O Lord, open my lips. And my mouth shall declare your praise.
Hasten to save me, O God. O Lord, come quickly to help me.
The glory of Christ is revealed: let us worship him.
Grant, O merciful Lord, to your faithful people pardon and peace that they may be cleansed from all their sins and serve you with a quiet mind; through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
LESSON – ACTS 20:28-32
28“Always keep watch over yourselves and over the whole flock in which the Holy Spirit has placed you as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. 29I know that after my departure savage wolves, who will not spare the flock, will come in among you. 30Even from your own group men will rise up, twisting the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. 31Therefore be always on the alert! Remember that for three years, night and day, I never stopped warning each one of you with tears. 32“And now I entrust you to God and to the word of his grace, which has power to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”
LESSON – 1 JOHN 3:1-2
See the kind of love the Father has given us that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are! The world does not know us, because it did not know him. 2Dear friends, we are children of God now, but what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when he is revealed we will be like him, and we will see him as he really is.
DEVOTION – JOHN 10:11-18
OFFERING
Offerings may be given on-line at tithe.ly/risensavior, mailed to the church, or dropped off at the church.
Our members have joined together in faith and love to do the Lord’s work in this community and around the world. Guests need not feel obligated to participate in this offering which supports our ministry.
PRAYER OF THE CHURCH
Shepherd of Israel, in Your Son, Jesus Christ, You have sought out Your sheep and gathered us with them into Your flock.
Keep us always in Your fold, and guard us from every wolf and snare.
O God, as You breathed new life into the world through the resurrection of Your Son, so now by Your Holy Spirit breathe new life into Your Church that, freed by His Gospel, we may always confess the name of Jesus Christ, the only name given among men by which we must be saved.
Turn us in love toward the neighbors closest to us, especially within our own homes, that we may daily show our confidence in God by deed and truth, laying down our lives as Christ first did for us.
Heavenly Father, by the firstfruits of Christ’s life from the dead, You secured forgiveness for our troubled consciences. Bless also with temporal health and well-being those who suffer among us. O Lord, our Shepherd, You calm all fears in this valley of the shadow of death.
Grant them aid in this moment and, even more so, true, immortal health in the world to come.
Dear Jesus, Lord of the church, the words you spoke while you were on this earth are still true: “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” Therefore, we ask you, the Lord of the harvest, to send out workers into the harvest field. To that end, we pray that you would bless the valuable work of the Pastoral Studies Institute at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary that trains future pastors for your church from diverse ethnic, cultural, career, and national backgrounds. Guide the teachers and their teachings. Assist the students and their learning.
When the educational road seems long and hard, encourage the students with the prospect of using your gospel in full-time ministry to save souls.
Lord God, out of Your fatherly goodness You have remembered us poor, miserable sinners and given Your beloved Son to be our Shepherd to nourish us by His Word. Grant us Your Holy Spirit, that even as this Shepherd knows us and helps, we also may know Him, trust Him, and seek comfort in Him who taught us to pray…
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.
O Lord, our heavenly Father, almighty and everlasting God, you have brought us safely to this new day. Defend us with your mighty power, and grant that this day we neither fall into sin nor run into any kind of danger; and in all we do, direct us to what is right in your sight, through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord. Amen.
Let us praise the Lord. Thanks be to God.
THE LORD’S BLESSING
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.