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| Graphic by Norma A. Boeckler |
Exaudi, The Sunday after the Ascension, 2018
Pastor Gregory L. Jackson
The melodies are linked in the hymn name.
The lyrics are linked in the hymn number.
- The melody site is linked here.
- TLH Lyrics site is linked here unless copyrighted.
The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual
The Gospel
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn #629 Let Children Hear the Mighty Deeds
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn #629 Let Children Hear the Mighty Deeds
The Spoken Word to Children
The Preface p. 24
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 #261 Lord Keep Us Steadfast
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 #261 Lord Keep Us Steadfast
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| Graphic by Norma A. Boeckler |
KJV 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.
Prayer
Lord God, heavenly Father, we give thanks unto Thee, that through Thy Holy Spirit Thou hast appointed us to bear witness of Thy dear Son, our Lord Jesus Christ: We beseech Thee, inasmuch as the world cannot endure such testimony, and persecutes us in every way, grant us courage and comfort, that we may not be offended because of the cross, but continue steadfastly in Thy testimony, and be found always among those who know Thee and Thy Son, until we obtain eternal salvation through the same, Thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.
The Spoken Word to Children
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:
Luther's emphasis was not upon dogmatics books, which is how he was trained to be a monk and priest. Instead, he always advocated teaching by word of mouth. So he called the Christian Church a "mouth church" and an "ear church."
After decades of emphasizing everything but this, and after avoiding any concept of the effectiveness of the Word in the Means of Grace, the apostate leaders are shocked to find their palaces crumbling and the weapons they trusted falling apart. Nothing is so shocking as to be a Midas where everything is gold and therefore useless. Imagine having a treasury with $60 million in it and begging students to attend your failing school. Oh, pick up and leave, join another failing school. That will fix things for a few years. Several mainline seminaries are doing that at once. The "conservative" Lutheran ones are now being visited by the same dread disease - Nowannagothere, Nowannadebt, Nowannaholloweducation.
God arranged for the strength of society to be the family - husband, wife, parents of children - no changing the recipe. Notice all the spiritual wisdom in this one verse, which is poetic in structure.
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:
The Holy Spirit would be sent from the Son and the Father and testify about the Son.
How is this conveyed? Mothers are with the children most of all in the early years. They are the ones speaking to their offspring about Jesus and teaching them to pray.
Children are all ears in the early years. They want to know everything, and they have a great capacity for learning. Our grandson grilled me on ancient history and Norse mythology yesterday, and he is 12.
So people take this for granted, as if it is a small thing. When we shopped for a tool shed a few years ago, they gave us prices and added, "But you must have a foundation." That doubled the cost and we forgot about it.
Early training is just a foundation, but it is the foundation. That training is so important that the entire Gospel of John is phrased so any child can understand the words, and yet adults will use up 500 to 1000 pages ot explain it all...partially. No one can exhaust the content of the Gospels, let alone the entire Bible.
I remember early Sunday just a bit. My hair had to be sprayed in place, so I enjoyed "breaking" it during Sunday School. My mother wondered why her spray-lacquer failed each Sunday, until I told her decades later. But I do remember another student in that class because he had flaming red hair. Years later he had children, then grandchildren, all with flaming red hair. We met again at the 50th reunion, and we would have shared a table but ours was full. We had the same values, as we discovered on Facebook. That must have come from the foundation being set up so early for us.
If we look at this verse, Jesus does not say, "I am going to teach the doctrine of the Trinity." He simply reveals the Trinity in the simplest possible words, so simple that many geniuses cannot find it at all! (UOJ alert - Knapp)
If someone only knows this verse, how can anyone convince him there is no Trinity? Impossible.
27 And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.
The witness about Jesus comes from the disciples who spent three years with Him. This witness was not simply from them, but facilitated by the Holy Spirit. And so parents do the same, the Spirit dwelling in them serves to teach the children about the Gospel.
16:1 These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended.
Offended is no longer the intended meaning in this age of everyone being offended or likely to be. It could be phrased - that you will not fall into the trap of unbelief.
Children learn early on about being hurt by circumstances, sometimes by their own actions. So mothers teach them a balance between accept responsibility and expecting injustice. The over-protected become overbearing or as fragile as tissue paper.
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.
This reality is being experienced all over the Third World. It has been true, but now we know and have the disturbing proof of how prevalent that is. The issue is whether parents teach children to value the Faith above all things. When that happens, it is often the mother who is the example cited.
The point of religious persecution is that those who practice it do so with the assurance they are engaged in wonderful, God-blessed service. That happens within abusive sects, when people are so full of their righteousness that anything done against the Ten Commandments is "justified" to use the term loosely.
There has been and will continue to be soft persecution where nothing is said or done, just a blacklisting of people who are faithful to the Word. If children are not prepared for those attitudes, they will be mystified or simply bend to the expectation they will conform.
When my mother was at the end of her life, she was in a nursing home. Everyone was singing. The song was "Don't Fence Me In." When they were done singing that song, she said, "That's me." Mothers often teach and lead by example.
3 And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.
This is a frequent refrain of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel. Those without faith in Christ, no matter how much they pretend, exhibit the same tendencies. Faith is equated with knowledge, because those who trust in the revealed Word know God's will and His grace in the Savior. That affects what they do and say.
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.
This verse should echo with many mothers. One thing they can count on. Their reputation will grow by 10 times when they are gone and their children miss them. I hear it all the time, because the parents of my friends have passed away. I can think of one or two exceptions. The posts on Facebook are about how much they miss their mother's wisdom, example, faith, and example.
