2nd Sunday in Advent December 7, 2025
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Welcome and Announcements
*Call to Worship: Psalm 72:1-7 (pg. 573)
*Opening Prayer …………………………………………….. pg. 2
Youth Group Advent Reading: The Candle of the Shepherds
OPENING HYMN ------------------------------------------------- # 35
“While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night”
*Confession of Sins …………………………….................... pg. 2
*Kyrie & Declaration of Grace ..………………………….… pg. 3
*Scripture Lessons: 1st Reading: Isaiah 11:1-10 (pg. 683)
2nd Reading: Romans 15:4-13 (pg. 1128)
*The Gospel: Matthew 3:1-12 (pg. 960)
*Response to the Word ……………………………………… pg. 3
*Confession of Faith – The Nicene Creed….…………......... pg. 18
*Gloria Patri …………………………………………………. pg. 4
The Offering
*Response: “Create in Me A Clean Heart O God” ……..….. pg. 17
*Prayers of the Church
HYMN --------------------------------------------------------------- # 59
“Songs of Thankfulness and Praise”
Sermon: John 2 – “Temple Cleansing”
HYMN -------------------------------------------------------------- # 44
“Go Tell It On The Mountain”
* Communion Service: The Exhortation ……………………. pg. 6
* The Lord’s Prayer & Words of the Institution.……………. pg. 7
Lamb of God ………………………………………………. pg. 20
Hymns during the distribution of Communion: # 18, 19, 34, 46
*Closing Prayer
*The Benediction & Three-fold Amen ...……………………. pg. 8
THE DOXOLOGY ……………………………...………….. # 390
Organ Postlude
WE CORDIALLY WELCOME all who have come to worship with us this morning! We ask our visitors to please sign the guest book and let us know how we may assist you in any way. God’s peace and joy be upon you!
Announcements
Holy Communion: We invite all who believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and who have received Confirmation or other Biblical instruction on this Sacrament to come to the altar to participate in the Lord’s Supper. All other, including children, are invited to come forward to receive a blessing from the Pastor. We also invite you to prepare yourself by reading “Personal Preparation for Holy Communion,” (hymnal pages 14-15). Please note: The 6 cups in the center ring of the communion trays are Grape Juice for those wanting juice instead of wine.
Monthly hymn #44: "Go Tell It On The
Mountain"
Memory verse: Psalm 9:1-2 "I
will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all
of Your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and exult in You; I will
sing praise to Your name, O Most High."
All Women are invited to the Advent Tea on December 13th at our Church from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m. Please RSVP to Joyce Sprecher by December 11, 2025.
Open House at the parsonage on Saturday, December 13th, from 2:00 – 5:00 p.m. Come and enjoy fellowship and have some Christmas treats. Hope to see you there.
A Congregational Meeting to elect new officers and discuss Pastor’s Salary will be held next Sunday, December 14th, following the worship service.
God’s blessings abound! Near the end of last Sunday’s service, I suddenly got so very dizzy. At the hospital, all tests showed no stroke or heart issues. I’m grateful for ALL WHO HELPED, and even for a way out of the church with no steps. Betty Luebke
This Week’s Activities:
13th – Sat.- WMF Advent Tea, 9:00 a.m.
14th – Sun. – Worship – John 3, 9:00 a.m.,
Sunday School, 10:00 a.m.
CHURCH CLEANING: Dec. 8-14 Sara Wright & Tami Fink
Usher for Sunday, December 14th: Ervin Fink & Jack Hartmann
*Call to Worship: Psalm 72:1-7
72 Give the king your justice, O God,
and
your righteousness to the royal son!
2 May
he judge your people with righteousness,
and your poor with
justice!
3 Let the mountains
bear prosperity for the people,
and the hills, in righteousness!
4 May he defend the cause of
the poor of the people,
give deliverance to the children of the
needy,
and crush the oppressor!
5 May they fear you while the
sun endures,
and as long as the moon, throughout all generations!
6 May he be like rain that falls on the
mown grass,
like showers that water the earth!
7 In
his days may the righteous flourish,
and peace abound, till the
moon be no more!
1st Reading: Isaiah 11:1-10
11 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump
of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon
him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of
counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of
the Lord.
3 And his delight shall be
in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
4 but with
righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for
the meek of the earth;
and he shall strike the earth with the rod
of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the
wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the
belt of his waist,
and faithfulness the belt of his loins.
6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf
and the lion and the fattened calf together;
and a little child
shall lead them.
7 The cow and the
bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the
lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The
nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
and the
weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.
9 They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy
mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of
the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.
2nd Reading: Romans 15:4-13
4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. 5 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, 6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
8 For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, 9 and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.”
10 And again it says, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.”
11 And again, “Praise the Lord, all
you Gentiles,
and let all the peoples extol him.”
12 And again Isaiah says,“The root of
Jesse will come,
even he who arises to rule the Gentiles;
in
him will the Gentiles hope.”
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
*The Gospel: Matthew 3:1-12
3 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” 3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’”
4 Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, 6 and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 10 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”