SEPTEMBER 10, 2023

Hymn Sing     Supplemental Hymnal    

     # 68     O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus

     # 81     You Are My All in All

    Insert    Nearer, Still Nearer

Call to Worship 

Hymn     # 408 Rejoice, the Lord is King          (Gray Psalter Hymnal)

Confession of Sin & Assurance of Pardon     Psalm 130     (NRSVUE)

       1Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD. 2LORD, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications! 3If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, LORD, who could stand? 4But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered. 5I wait for the LORD; my soul waits, and in his word I hope; 6my soul waits for the LORD more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning. 7O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem. 8It is he who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities.

Psalm 119:33-40          Bert Chapman

33Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes, and I will observe it to the end.

34Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.

35Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it.

36Turn my heart to your decrees and not to selfish gain.

37Turn my eyes from looking at vanities; be gracious to me according to your word.

38Confirm to your servant your promise, which is for those who fear you.

39Turn away the disgrace that I dread, for your ordinances are good.

40See, I have longed for your precepts; in your righteousness be gracious to me.

Prayer for Illumination                                                     

New Testament Reading     Revelation 12:1-12

       12 A great portent appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. 2She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pangs, in the agony of giving birth. 3Then another portent appeared in heaven: a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns and seven diadems on his heads. 4His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. Then the dragon stood before 

the woman who was about to deliver a child, so that he might devour her child as soon as it was born. 5And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a scepter of iron. But her child was snatched away and taken to God and to his throne, 6and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, so that there she can be nourished for one thousand two hundred sixty days.

       7And war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, 8but they were defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

        10Then I heard a loud voice in heaven proclaiming,

        “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah, for the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11But they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they did not cling to life even in the face of death. 12Rejoice then, you heavens and those who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you with great wrath because he knows that his time is short!”

Lector: This is the Word of the Lord.

Congregation: Thanks be to God for His Word.

Choral Anthem     Agnus Dei

Alleluia, alleluia 

For the Lord God Almighty reigns 

Alleluia, alleluia 

Holy, holy are you Lord God Almighty 

Worthy is the Lamb 

You are holy 

Holy are you Lord God Almighty 

Worthy is the Lamb

O Lord my God

When I in awesome wonder

Consider all the worlds thy hands have made

I see stars

I hear the rolling thunder 

Thy power throughout the universe displayed 

Then sings my soul 

My Savior God to thee 

How great thou art 

How great thou art 

Holy, holy are you Lord God Almighty 

Worthy is the Lamb 

How great thou art 

Amen

​

Children’s Sermon

Hymn     # 52     Great is the Lord          (Supplemental Hymnal)

Old Testament Reading     Daniel 10:1-11:1

       10 In the third year of King Cyrus of Persia a word was revealed to Daniel, who was named Belteshazzar. The word was true, and it concerned a great conflict. He understood the word, having received understanding in the vision.

       2At that time I, Daniel, had been mourning for three weeks. 3I had eaten no rich food, no meat or wine had entered my mouth, and I had not anointed myself at all, for the full three weeks. 4On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river (that is, the Tigris), 5I looked up and saw a man clothed in linen, with a belt of gold from Uphaz around his waist. 6His body was like beryl, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and the sound of his words like the roar of a multitude. 7I, Daniel, alone saw the vision; the people who were with me did not see the vision, though a great trembling fell upon them, and they fled and hid themselves. 8So I was left alone to see this great vision. My strength left me, and my complexion grew deathly pale, and I retained no strength. 9When I heard the sound of his words, I fell into a trance, face to the ground.

       10But then a hand touched me and roused me to my hands and knees. 11He said to me, “Daniel, greatly beloved, pay attention to the words that I am going to speak to you. Stand on your feet, for I have now been sent to you.” So while he was speaking this word to me, I stood up trembling. 12He said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words. 13But the prince of the kingdom of Persia opposed me twenty-one days. So Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, and I left him there with the prince of the kingdom of Persia 14and have come to help you understand what is to happen to your people at the end of days. For there is a further vision for those days.”

       15While he was speaking these words to me, I turned my face toward the ground and was speechless. 16Then one in human form touched my lips, and I opened my mouth to speak and said to the one who stood before me, “My lord, because of the vision such pains have come upon me that I retain no strength. 17How can my lord’s servant talk with my lord? For I am exhausted; no strength remains in me, and no breath is left in me.”

       18Again one in human form touched me and strengthened me. 19He said, “Do not fear, greatly beloved; you are safe. Be strong and courageous!” When he spoke to me, I was strengthened and said, “Let my lord speak, for you have strengthened me.” 20Then he said, “Do you know why I have come to you? Now I must return to fight against the prince of Persia, and when I am through with him, the prince of Greece will come. 21But I am to tell you what is inscribed in the book of truth. There is no one with me who contends against these princes except Michael, your prince. 

       11 “As for me, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I stood up to support and strengthen him.”

Sermon          Pastor Andrew Winter