Prelude

Welcome and Greeting

Preparation of Our Hearts

Call to Worship

Psalm     # 187     O Praise the Lord, for It Is Good          (sung to tune of Ellecombe, Gray Psalter Hymnal)

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Prayer of Confession     Front of Gray Psalter Hymnal

Prayer for Illumination          Kris Stith

New Testament Reading     Matthew 24:15-21, 29-31    

       15“So when you see the desolating sacrilege, spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 16then those in Judea must flee to the mountains; 17the one on the housetop must not go down to take things from the house; 18the one in the field must not turn back to get a coat. 19Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing infants in those days! 20Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. 21For at that time there will be great suffering, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.

       29“Immediately after the suffering of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven will be shaken.

       30“Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see ‘the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven’ with power and great glory. 31And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Lector: This is the Word of the Lord.

Congregation: Thanks be to God for His Word.

Special Music     There is a Balm in Gilead   

Donna Lofgren, Grieke Toebes, Dave & Kris Stith

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Children’s Sermon

Hymn     # 557     My Jesus, I Love Thee          (Gray Psalter Hymnal)

Old Testament Reading     Daniel 8:1, 15-27; 9:1-3, 20-27

       8 In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar a vision appeared to me, Daniel, after the one that had appeared to me at first.

       15When I, Daniel, had seen the vision, I tried to understand it. Then someone appeared standing before me, having the appearance of a man, 16and I heard a human voice by the Ulai, calling, “Gabriel, help this man understand the vision.” 17So he came near where I stood, and when he came, I became frightened and fell prostrate. But he said to me, “Understand, O mortal, that the vision is for the time of the end.”

       18As he was speaking to me, I fell into a trance, face to the ground; then he touched me and set me on my feet. 19He said, “Listen, and I will tell you what will take place later in the period of wrath, for it refers to the appointed time of the end. 20As for the ram that you saw with the two horns, these are the kings of Media and Persia. 21The male goat is the king of Greece, and the great horn between its eyes is the first king. 22As for the horn that was broken, in place of which four others arose, four kingdoms shall arise from his nation but not with his power.

       23At the end of their rule, when the transgressions have reached their full measure, a king of bold countenance shall arise, skilled in intrigue. 24He shall grow strong in power, shall cause fearful destruction, and shall succeed in what he does. He shall destroy the powerful and the people of the holy ones. 25By his cunning he shall make deceit prosper under his hand, and in his own mind he shall be great. Without warning he shall destroy many and shall even rise up against the Prince of princes. But he shall be broken, and not by human hands.

       26“The vision of the evenings and the mornings that has been told is true. As for you, seal up the vision, for it refers to many days from now.”

       27So I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for some days; then I arose and went about the king’s business. But I was dismayed by the vision and did not understand it.

       9 In the first year of Darius son of Ahasuerus, by birth a Mede, who became king over the realm of the Chaldeans, 2I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the LORD to the prophet Jeremiah, must be fulfilled for the devastation of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.

       3Then I turned to the Lord God to seek an answer by prayer and supplication with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.

       20While I was speaking and was praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God on behalf of the holy mountain of my God, 21while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen before in a vision, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice. 22He came and said to me, “Daniel, I have now come out to give you wisdom and understanding. 23At the beginning of your supplications a word went out, and I have come to declare it, for you are greatly beloved. So consider the word and understand the vision:

       24“Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and your holy city: to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place. 25Know therefore and understand: from the time that the word went out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the time of an anointed prince, there shall be seven weeks, and for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with streets and moat, but in a troubled time. 26After the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing, and the troops of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. 27He shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall make sacrifice and offering cease, and in their place shall be a desolating sacrilege until the decreed end is poured out upon the desolator.”

Sermon          Pastor Andrew Winter