December 10 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.”

CONFESSION OF SINS

The grace of our Lord (+) Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you. And also with you.

We have come into the presence of God, who created us to love and serve him as his dear children.  But we have disobeyed him and deserve only his wrath and punishment.  Therefore, let us confess our sins to him and plead for his mercy.

Merciful Father in heaven, I am altogether sinful from birth.  In countless ways I have sinned against you and do not deserve to be called your child.  But trusting in Jesus, my Savior, I pray: Have mercy on me according to your unfailing love.  Cleanse me from my sin, and take away my guilt.

God, our heavenly Father, has forgiven all your sins.  By the perfect life and innocent death of our Lord Jesus Christ, he has removed your guilt forever.  You are his own dear child.  May God give you strength to live according to his will. Amen.

PRAYER OF THE DAY

Stir up our hearts, O Lord, to prepare the way for your only Son. By his coming, give us strength in our conflicts, and shed light on our path through the darkness of this world; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Amen.

LESSON – HEBREWS 11:1-3, 8-16

Faith is being sure about what we hope for, being convinced about things we do not see. ² For by this faith the ancients were commended in Scripture.  ³ By faith we know that the universe was created by God’s word, so that what is seen did not come from visible things. 

⁸ By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go to a place that he was going to receive as an inheritance, and he left without knowing where he was going.  ⁹ By faith he lived as a stranger in the Promised Land, as if it did not belong to him, dwelling in tents along with Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. ¹⁰ For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.  ¹¹ By faith Abraham also received the ability to conceive children, even though Sarah herself was barren and he was past the normal age, because he considered him faithful who made the promise. ¹² And so from one man, and he as good as dead, descendants were born as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand along the seashore.  ¹³ One by one, all of these died in faith, without having received the things that were promised, but they saw and welcomed them from a distance. They confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. ¹⁴ Indeed, people who say things like that make it clear that they are looking for a land of their own. ¹⁵ And if they were remembering the land they had come from, they would have had an opportunity to return. ¹⁶ Instead, they were longing for a better land—a heavenly one. For that reason, God is not ashamed to be called their God, because he prepared a city for them.

GOSPEL – JOHN 14:16-23

¹⁶ I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever. ¹⁷ He is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it does not see him or know him. You know him because he stays with you and will be in you.  ¹⁸ “I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you. ¹⁹ In a little while the world will see me no longer, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. ²⁰ In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. ²¹ The one who has my commands and holds on to them is the one who loves me. And the one who loves me will be loved by my Father. I too will love him and show myself to him.”  ²² Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, what has happened that you are going to show yourself to us and not to the world?”²³ Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will hold on to my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

DEVOTION – NUMBERS 13-14 SELECTED VERSES

CONFESSION OF FAITH

I believe in God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth.

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 is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.  From there 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.

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

Restore us, O God; let Your face shine, that we may be saved! As You led Joseph like a flock, so now by Your Son lead us into straight paths.

Bring us out of the bondage of our sins, and plant us securely in Your eternal promises.

Gracious God, You sent John the Baptist to herald the coming Messiah and proclaim a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. In these latter days, You send pastors to proclaim the same repentance for the forgiveness of sins, and through them lead Your people to trust in Your salvation.

Look with kindness upon all pastors, that they may be diligent and faithful heralds of Your beloved Son.

God of all comfort, Your Word alone endures forever. The nations of the world come and go before You, even kings and rulers are like grass before Your breath. Preserve us from placing our trust in princes and mortal men.

Give us rulers who will rule after Your good pleasure, keeping order and protecting life, that we may live peaceably in godly quietness and honesty.

Heavenly Father, send your Holy Spirit on the instructors and students of Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary’s Pastoral Studies Institute, which provides pre-seminary and seminary training to North American students from a variety of countries and cultures. We praise you that, in many cases, this training also leads to international opportunities to share the Savior’s love, since many of these spiritual leaders want training both for themselves and for church leaders in their countries of origin.

Continue to open doors to this seminary program and the men trained by it so that they may carry Christ’s gospel to more souls.

Father, we know that You are not slow in keeping Your promises. We thank You for Your patience.

Do not take Your Spirit from us when we stray from Your commandments, but convict us of our sin and draw us back to You in repentance.

Lord, as we in the Church on earth wait for the coming of Your Son, we remember all the saints who have gone before us and now rest in Your presence.

Keep us safe in Your arms until You gather Your people together in the new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells.

All these things and whatever else You know that we need, grant us, Father, for the sake of Him who died and rose again and now lives and 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.

PRAYER

O Lord God, our heavenly Father, pour out the Holy Spirit on your faithful people. Keep us strong in your grace and truth, protect and comfort us in all temptation, and bestow on us your saving peace, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Amen.

Brothers and sisters, go in peace. Live in harmony with one another.

Serve the Lord with gladness.

The Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you.

The Lord look on you with favor and (+) give you peace.

Amen.

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