Third Sunday In Lent
March 5th, 2010And if it bears fruit, well.
But if not, after that you can cut it down.
Third Sunday in Lent
Baptism—Our Life Preserver
March 7, 2010
AS WE GATHER
The Scriptures warn us of the dangers of rejecting God. He was not pleased with those of Israel who rejected Him in the wilderness. Jesus too was rejected by His contemporaries. His warning is clear: repent, or you too will perish. Yet God is patient and loving, desiring us to be saved, and He has given the Sacrament of Baptism to seal us as His own, that we may recall it in times of temptation and remember how God has claimed us.
”The Lord be with you”
Ruth 2:4, Luke 1:28, and 2 Thessalonians 3:16
OLD TESTAMENT READING Exodus 3:1-8A, 10-15
EPISTLE 1 Corinthians 10:1-13
HOLY GOSPEL Luke 13:1-9
Listen to Sermon 2010-03-07
HYMN ….”He That Believes And Is Baptized” TLH 301 Lyrics
HYMN OF THE DAY ” My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less ” TLH 370 Lyrics
“Baptized into Thy Name Most Holy” TLH 298 Lyrics
WORSHIP HELPS
Fourth Sunday in Lent: Psalm 32
From Martin Luther’s
1528 Confession of Faith
Nor dare we make a sacrament of matrimony and the office of the priesthood; they are orders holy enough in themselves. And likewise repentance is nothing else than the use and power of Baptism; so that besides the Gospel there remains Baptism and the Supper of our Lord in which the Holy Ghost richly offers, gives and applies to us the forgiveness of sins.
The artwork is by Sharon Geiser. Permission to use this copyrighted graphic is limited to congregational use. Martin Luther’s 1528 confession of faith is from The Distinctive Doctrines of the Different Christian Confessions in the Light of the Word of God by Karl Graul (1814-1864). The 1897 English translation by D. M. Martens is in the public domain. The full text of Luther’s confession may be downloaded at the website below.
This bulletin cover made available by www.scholia.net and provided without cost.
READING FROM THE BOOK OF CONCORD
3RD SUNDAY IN LENT
LARGE CATECHISM
PART III THE LORD’S PRAYER
Great and grievous, indeed, are these dangers and temptations, which every Christian must bear. We bear them even though each one were alone by himself. So every hour that we are in this vile life, we are attacked on all sides (2 Cor. 4:8), chased and hunted down. We are moved to cry out and to pray that God would not allow us to become weary and faint (Isaiah 40:31; Hebrews 12:3) and to fall again into sin, shame, and unbelief. For otherwise it is impossible to overcome even the least temptation.
This, then, is what “lead us not into temptation” means. It refers to times when God gives us power and strength to resist the temptation (1 Cor. 10:13). However, the temptation is not taken away or removed. While we live in the flesh and have the devil around us, no one can escape his temptation and lures. It can only mean that we must endure trials – indeed, be engulfed in them (2 Tim. 2:3). But we say this prayer so that we may not fall and be drowned in them.
To feel temptation is, therefore, a far different thing from consenting or yielding to it. We must all feel it, although not all in the same way. Some feel it in a greater degree and more severely than others. For example, the young suffer especially from the flesh. Afterward, then they reach middle life and old age, they feel it from the world. But others who are occupied with spiritual matters, that is, strong Christians, feel it from the devil. (paragraphs 105-107)
Condensed from CONCORDIA: THE LUTHERAN CONFESSIONS, copyright 2005 by Concordia Publishing House. Used by permission. All rights reserved.