Bethany Lutheran Church, 10 AM Central Daylight Time
Permanent link of the Exaudi service is here.
The melodies are linked in the hymn name.
The lyrics are linked in the hymn number.
The Hymn #548 My Inmost Heart Now Raises - Winkworth translation
The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
Hear (Exaudi), O Lord, when I cry with my voice: Hallelujah!
When Thou saidst, Seek ye My face,
my heart said unto Thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek:
Hide not Thy face from me. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Psalm. The Lord is my Light and my Salvation:
whom shall I fear?
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
Almighty, everlasting God, make us to have always a devout will
toward Thee and to serve Thy Majesty with a pure heart;
through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth, etc.
The Epistle and Gradual
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
V. God reigneth over the heathen:
God sitteth upon the throne of His holiness. Hallelujah!
V. I will not leave you comfortless:
I go, and I will come again to you, and your heart shall rejoice.
Hallelujah!
The Gospel
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn #523 Why Should Cross and Trial Grieve Me?
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn #523 Why Should Cross and Trial Grieve Me?
Faith Brings the Cross - The Spirit Comforts Us
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn #657 Beautiful Savior
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn #657 Beautiful Savior
In Our Prayers
- Lynda Roper, Pastor Jim Shrader and his wife Chris, Kermit and Maria Way, Callie and her mother Peggy, C. and diabetic brothers.
- Memorial Day marks the death of our military people who have died during their service in the time of war.
- The I AM sermons from John will be next, then the Parables of Jesus.
- Email will be sorted and fixed. If you have been missing the weekly arrival of the service as an attached Word document, please let me know in a kindly, patient, diplomatic way.
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| Graphic by Norma A. Boeckler |
1 Peter 4:7 But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer. 8 And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. 9 Use hospitality one to another without grudging. 10 As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11 If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
John 15:26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: 27 And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning. 16:1 These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. 2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. 3 And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. 4 But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.
Faith Brings the Cross - The Spirit Comforts Us
John 15:26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: 27 And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.
As Luther wrote so forcefully, faith is something God gives to us through the power of the Gospel. Because of that, God wants this faith to be constantly in use, polished like gold and silver, but far more valuable.
Clearly this faith has been taken for granted and has become weak and timid. When this happens, people are more willing to have a compromised peace when they fear conflict.
However, conflict will happen wherever there is faith. As I have written before, people come out of their abodes and do their best to exterminate faith, often by attacks on the periphery. There will be one matter about Holy Communion, or about the amount of water used during Holy Baptism.
People will keep the terms but remove the divine energy of the Word from the Sacraments.
When Luther speaks of Jesus, it should remind us of the Faith of Jesus, a term used three or more times in Paul's letters. We are justified by the faith of Jesus, Romans 3, KJV.
Another expression that should be dear to us - believing on Jesus Christ. I always heard "believing in Jesus Christ" which is also very good. The preposition "on" reminds us that Christ - as the Savior of the world - is an objective reality. He remains the Savior whether people believe or not. However, those who reject Christ also reject the Promises and Blessings of the Savior.
Faith in Jesus Christ brings persecution, and that means the cross, an opposition that never abandons the believer. Making a deal with false teachers will always create a false sense of peace, and it will also harden one heart against the truth.
Some of us look into the controversies generated on purpose by the false teacher CFW Walther. He denied Justification by Faith, taught a false gospel, and enforced his edicts with the concept of the double predestination of the Calvinists.
Those who opposed Walther were kicked out - like Lenski's family. Some founded organizations to argue against his falsehoods. They are being rediscovered now by those who were dipped in Objective Justification.
Those are difficult times when the Gospel is persecuted within the organization. The false teachers get promoted and idolized while the faithful are kicked out, robbed of money, and demonized through the stink-eye and shunning (sacraments of the false teachers).
When I mentioned baptism of infants at one meeting, a woman glared at me and stomped out.
...bear witness.
Like the disciples, we take time to learn and practice the basics of faith. The false teachers make us hungry for the truth, at the very least curious enough to make us look up the passages.
Bearing witness often means rejection, but that also means polishing the truth rather than letting it be covered and hidden away. We get the word martyr from the Greek word for witness. John the Baptist witnessed the truth about Christ and was soon executed for his opposition.
27 And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning. 16:1 These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended.
16:1 ταυτα λελαληκα υμιν ινα μη σκανδαλισθητε
The first verb means - solemnly or formally taught you. The second one is best understood as the trigger of the death trap. By teaching them early and reinforcing that after the Resurrection, and supporting it through the Holy Spirit, Jesus prepared them for persecution, torture, and death.
Jesus constructed a complete vision of the truth for the disciples, but in segments and in actual experiences where they could also make it their own truth, not just taught but believed.
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.
At first they would be able to preach in the synagogues, but once people began confessing Jesus Christ because of that witness, the leaders clamped down. Jesus did not want His disciples to run away from the hatred and danger. In the midst of that, the Gospel spread. They went through that fear in the aftermath of the crucifixion but learned through His support that God indeed "can do anything." We should keep that Promise for ourselves as well.
3 And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. 4 But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.
Not believing makes people blind to what God is and does. They are deaf to the Gospel and hear nothing about what is being said.
Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to the disciples so they would have divine guidance and the memory to put down in writing what needed to be passed on for eternity. It is no surprise that the people who embrace fraudulent texts (Nestle-Aland chop and erase Greek New Testament) also hide their heart-felt dogma from the world.
Faith does not hide the imagined truth but expresses the actual truth revealed by the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit was not sent to give a German count a special gift of the "World's Oldest Bible" but to preserve the Word of God, as He has done through faithful Bibles.
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| Memorial Day, 2022 |
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