The Lord’s Day

December 7, 2008

Second Sunday of Advent

Prelude

Lighting of the Advent Candle Psalm 45:1–7

My heart overflows with a good theme; I address my verses to the King; my tongue is the pen of a ready writer. You are fairer than the sons of men; grace is poured upon Your lips; therefore God has blessed You forever. Gird Your sword on Your thigh, O Mighty One, in Your splendor and Your majesty! And in Your majesty ride on victoriously, for the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness; let Your right hand teach You awesome things. Your arrows are sharp; the peoples fall under You; Your arrows are in the heart of the King’s enemies. Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of joy above Your fellows.

Musical Offering Hark! the Glad Sound!

(text on facing page)

*Call to Worship Psalm 37:5–7

Commit your way to the Lord,

Trust also in Him, and He will do it.

He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,

And your judgment as the noonday.

Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him;

Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.

*Gloria Patri No. 734

*Prayer of Invocation

*Hymn The Advent of Our God (page 5)

Public Confession

O Lord, we confess that our words, at times, have been unkind and lacking in wisdom. We have spoken in haste and without knowledge. Our actions have sometimes been selfish and lacking in charity. We have not always considered others as more important than ourselves.

We seek Your forgiveness, therefore, O God, and we take comfort in Your promises. We thank You for our salvation, which You have freely provided in Your Son.

Words of Assurance Ephesians 1:58

He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us.

Response Praise Jehovah, All Ye Nations (following)

Prayer for the Tithe and Offerings

Collection of the Tithe and Offerings

*Doxology No. 731

*Declaring Our Faith¹ The Immortality of Souls

The chosen departed are in peace, and rest from their labors; not that they sleep and are lost in oblivion as some fanatics hold, for they are delivered from all fear and torment, and all the temptations to which we and all God’s chosen are subject in this life, and because of which we are called the Church militant.

On the other hand, the reprobate and unfaithful departed have anguish, torment, and pain which cannot be expressed. Neither the one nor the other is in such sleep that they feel no joy or torment, as is testified by Christ’s parable in Luke 16, His words to the thief, and the words of the souls crying under the altar, “O Lord, thou that art righteous and just, how long shalt thou not revenge our blood upon those that dwell in the earth?”

Pastoral Prayer

*Responsive Reading The Law of God

Then God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me.”

For us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him. (1 Corinthians 8:6)

“You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.”

Little children, guard yourselves from idols. (1 John 5:21)

“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.”

“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.’” (Matthew 6:9)

“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.”

There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. (Hebrews 4:9, 10)

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.”

Children, be obedient to your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord. (Colossians 3:20)

“You shall not murder.”

Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For this, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Romans 13:8, 9)

“You shall not commit adultery.”

Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge. (Hebrews 13:4)

“You shall not steal.”

Let him who steals steal no longer; but rather let him labor, performing with his own hands what is good, in order that he may have something to share with him who has need. (Ephesians 4:28)

“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”

Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth, each one of you, with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. (Ephesians 4:25)

“You shall not covet.”

Do not let immorality or any impurity or greed even be named among you, as is proper among saints. (Ephesians 5:3)

*Hymn O God, Your Judgments Give the King No. 312

*Public Reading of the Word Hebrews 7

*Prayer for the Ministry of the Word

Sermon God’s Covenant People

Sacrament of Baptism

Hymn Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me No. 500

Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper^

*Hymn O Praise Ye the Lord No.361

*Benediction

*Threefold Amen No. 740

* Congregation will please stand

⁺ Visitors: please see the note on the back of this bulletin