The Lord’s Day, February 26, in the Lord’s Year 2023

First Sunday in Lent

Please speak bold words and sing italicized words; * we invite you to stand as able.

Prelude & Quiet Prayer – five minutes before service (9:55-10:00 am)

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Bless the Lord who forgives all our sins.

His mercy endures forever.

* Hymn 598   Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah                                   CWM RHONDDA

* Invocation

* Confession of Sin:  Gracious God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, you have promised to receive us when we come to you. We confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you or our neighbors as we should. Forgive us, O God, and grant that in the Holy Spirit we may live and serve you in newness of life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

* Declaration of Forgiveness in Christ: If you have repented of your sin and turned in faith to Jesus Christ, I can declare through Christ’s atoning death and life-giving resurrection that you are forgiven in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

* New Life in Christ:  If you love God, keep his commandments. After God had delivered the Israelites, he gave them The Ten Commandments:

[Deuteronomy 5:6 – ESV] “‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

7 “‘You shall have no other gods before me.

8 “‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 9 You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 10 but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.

11 “‘You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

12 “‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. 15 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

16 “‘Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

17 “‘You shall not murder. (Note: The Hebrew word also covers causing human death through carelessness or negligence.)

18 “‘And you shall not commit adultery.

19 “‘And you shall not steal.

20 “‘And you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

21 “‘And you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. And you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, or his male servant, or his female servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.’

* Response (Hymn 611, verse 1)                                                             WALK WITH ME

I want Jesus to walk with me; I want Jesus to walk with me; all along my pilgrim journey, Lord, I want Jesus to walk with me.

    O Lord, open our lips, and our mouths shall show forth your praise.

*Gloria Patri (Hymn 735)                                            GLORIA PATRI (GREATOREX)

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.

* The Peace of Christ    The peace of Christ be with you. And also with you.

Announcements, Scripture Memory, & Catechism – see Bell Ringer

Songs –Change my heart, O God; make it ever true. Change my heart, O God; may I be like you. You are the Potter; I am the clay. Mold me and make me; this is what I say.

Cambiame, Señor. con tu gran poder, hazme como tú, tuyo quiero ser. Tú el alfarero, yo el barro soy. Sólo tu imagen, quiero siempre ser.

Throughout these Lenten days and nights we turn to walk the inward way,

Where, meeting Christ, our guide and light, we live in hope till Easter day.

The pilgrim Christ, the Lamb of God, who found in weakness greater power,

Embraces us though lost and flawed, and leads us to his rising hour.

We bear in silence, cross and pain of human burdens, human strife,

While sisters, brothers help sustain our courage till the feast of life.

And though the road is hard and steep, the Spirit ever calls us on,

Through Calvary’s dying, dark and deep, until we see the coming dawn.

So let us choose the path of One who wore for us the crown of thorn,

And slept in death that we might wake to life on Resurrection Morn!

Prayer of Gathering (Collect for Lent I):  Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan; Come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations; and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Prayer for the Reading of the Holy Scriptures

Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7          

Psalm 32

Romans 5:12-19                    

Matthew 4:1-11          The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Sermon – “Death No Longer Reigns – Grace Reigns!”

Series: The Romans Road

The Apostles’ Creed – hymnal page 845

Prayers of the People, concluding with the Lord’s Prayer (saying ‘debts’)

Offering Tithes and Gifts

Offertory (Hymn 729)                                                                        HERR JESU CHRIST

All things are thine; no gift have we, Lord of all gifts, to offer thee; and hence with grateful hearts today, thine own before thy feet we lay.

* Doxology (Hymn 731)                                                                           OLD HUNDREDTH

Praise God from whom all blessings flow; praise him, all creatures here below; praise him above, ye heavenly host; praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

* Offertory Prayer

* Hymn 654   O Jesus, I Have Promised                                                ANGEL’S STORY

* Benediction

Postlude