Everything you need for May 30 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.”
GATHERING RITE ON THE WORD OF GOD
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.
Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, For they are ever with me.
I have more insight than all my teachers. For I meditate on your statutes.
How sweet are your words to my taste, Sweeter than honey to my mouth!
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness,
So that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Yet so often we have despised God’s Word and failed to gladly hear and learn it. For this and all our sins, we bow before God and humbly ask his forgiveness.
Holy and merciful Father, I confess that I am by nature sinful and that I have disobeyed you in my thoughts, words, and actions. I have done what is evil and failed to do what is good. For this I deserve your punishment both now and in eternity. But I am truly sorry for my sins, and trusting in my Savior Jesus Christ, I pray: Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.
God gave his Word so, “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” The Scriptures testify about Jesus, who lived a perfect life for you, died on the cross to pay for all your sins, and rose again to assure you of your salvation. Therefore, as a called servant of Christ and by his authority , I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
LESSON – ISAIAH 6:1-8
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2Above him stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two they covered their faces. With two they covered their feet. With two they flew. 3One called to another and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Armies! The whole earth is full of his glory! 4The foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of the one who called, and the temple was filled with smoke. 5Then I said, “I am doomed! I am ruined, because I am a man with unclean lips, and I dwell among a people with unclean lips, and because my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Armies!” 6Then one of the seraphim flew to me, carrying a glowing coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. 7He touched my mouth with the coal and said, “Look, this has touched your lips, so your guilt is taken away, and your sin is forgiven.”
8Then I heard the Lord’s voice, saying, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am. Send me!”
GOSPEL – JOHN 3:1-17
There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2He came to Jesus at night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these miraculous signs you are doing unless God is with him.” 3Jesus replied, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: Unless someone is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” 5Jesus answered, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: Unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God! 6Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh. Whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7Do not be surprised when I tell you that you must be born from above. 8The wind blows where it pleases. You hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” 9“How can these things be?” asked Nicodemus. 10“You are the teacher of Israel,” Jesus answered, “and you do not know these things? 11Amen, Amen, I tell you: We speak what we know, and we testify about what we have seen. But you people do not accept our testimony. 12If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13No one has ascended into heaven, except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven. 14“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15so that everyone who believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 16“For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
DEVOTION – ROMANS 8:14-17
CONFESSION – ATHANASIAN CREED
Whoever wishes to be saved must, above all else, hold to the true Christian faith. Whoever does not keep this faith pure in all points will certainly perish forever.
Now this is the true Christian faith: We worship one God in three persons and three persons in one God, without mixing the persons or dividing the divine being. For each person—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—is distinct, but the deity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one, equal in glory and coeternal in majesty.
What the Father is, so is the Son, and so is the Holy Spirit. The Father is uncreated, the Son uncreated, the Holy Spirit uncreated; The Father is infinite, the Son infinite, the Holy Spirit infinite; The Father is eternal, the Son eternal, the Holy Spirit eternal; yet they are not three who are eternal, but there is one who is eternal, just as they are not three who are uncreated, nor three who are infinite, but there is one who is uncreated and one who is infinite.
In the same way the Father is almighty, the Son is almighty, the Holy Spirit is almighty; yet they are not three who are almighty, but there is one who is almighty. So the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God; yet they are not three Gods, but one God. So the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, the Holy Spirit is Lord; yet they are not three Lords, but one Lord.
For just as Christian truth compels us to confess each person individually to be God and Lord, so the true Christian faith forbids us to speak of three Gods or three Lords. The Father is neither made nor created nor begotten of anyone. The Son is neither made nor created, but is begotten of the Father alone. The Holy Spirit is neither made nor created nor begotten, but proceeds from the Father and the Son. So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits.
And within this Trinity none comes before or after; none is greater or inferior, but all three persons are coequal and coeternal, so that, in every way, as stated before, all three persons are to be worshipped as one God, and one God worshipped as three persons.
Whoever wishes to be saved must have this conviction of the Trinity.
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
Lord of hosts, Your ways are inscrutable and Your judgments unsearchable.
Through Your Word, give us an ever-growing understanding of the depths of Your riches, wisdom and knowledge, that we may glorify You forever.
Dear Lord, there are still far too many living without access to the good news of Jesus Christ.. Thank you for blessing the work of three world missionaries tasked with researching where WELS might have the opportunity to plant new world mission fields.. Working through these missionaries, you have brought to our attention three new potential mission fields: Thailand, Senegal, and Mexico..
Continue to bless further research including multiple exploratory trips to each location.. We pray for these efforts as we look to share the gospel message in more places!
Lord of hosts, we give thanks for those who have served our nation through military service, and we remember with gratitude those who gave their lives for us and for the cause of freedom. Help us to honor their sacrifice by using our liberty responsibly.
Keep safe all who travel, bless our nation, and help us to protect and increase the privileges we have for those who follow us, looking always to You, from whom these privileges come.
Lord of hosts, uphold all who suffer in our midst by Your truth, that since You are at their right hand, they cannot be shaken.
Gladden their hearts, cause their tongues to rejoice and make their flesh dwell in hope.
All these things and whatever else You know that we need, grant us, Father, for the sake of 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.
THE LORD’S BLESSING
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.