December 2, 2020 - Midweek Advent - Children of the Promise - Moses
Thank you for joining us for our special Advent midweek Church at Home service!
Directly below in English and here in Spanish is an at-home worship service to be held with the family or as an individual or small group. Included are links to songs and pastoral messages (English, Spanish, and Bilingual). The head of the household can lead (L) and others can respond (C) or everyone can take turns. Use the links for the songs and messages at the appropriate time. Please do not feel pressured to go through the whole thing in one sitting. Rather, use each element of this service so that it serves as a blessing to you and your family.
If you have any prayer requests, or if you worship in this way this weekend, please use or fill out our online connect card, or linked below in the service. Comment to let us know how it went and any suggestions you may have!
If you would like to receive this Church at Home service weekly in your inbox, please subscribe using the form after the service below!
Finally, for this week’s news update or more information about our church, click here.
May God bless your midweek Advent Church at Home worship service this week.
Pastor William Dunn
Children of the Promise
Moses
“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born, I set you apart. I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations.” God spoke those words to a young man named Jeremiah when he called him to point people to the coming Savior. Every day God calls children to faith in him and into service for him. For many of us, God called us to faith when we were children. This Advent season we will look at three “Children of the Promise.” Three children who were called by God in a special way to prepare people for the Savior: Moses, Samuel, and John the Baptist. These children would grow up to be leaders, pointing and leading people to Christ. We’ll see how God protects and delivers his people, how he speaks to us through his word, and how he prepares us to trust his message and his messengers. Throughout Scripture, God used children in his plan of salvation. Child or adult, we pray that this series will help prepare your heart for the ultimate “Promised Child” this Advent season.
Opening Song - Hark the Glad Sound, the Savior Comes
Invocation
L. In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit.
C. Amen.
Confession and Absolution
As we look back on Christ’s first coming and as we prepare for his second coming, we reflect on who we really are before a holy God and what we have done and have failed to do.
L. Let us approach God with a true heart and confess our sins, asking him in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to forgive us.
C. Lord of life, I confess that I am by nature dead in sin. For faithless worrying and selfish pride, for sins of habit and sins of choice, for the evil I have done and the good I have failed to do, you should cast me away from your presence forever. O Lord, I am sorry for my sins. Forgive me, for Jesus’ sake.
L. Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again. In his great mercy, God made us alive in Christ even when we were dead in our sins. Hear the word of Christ just as he proclaimed to the paralytic: "Take heart, your sins are forgiven.” Let us take this forgiveness to heart and proclaim it to each other in the name of the Father, and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Prayer of the Day
L. Stir up our hearts, O Lord, to prepare the way for your only Son. By his coming give us strength in our conflicts and shed light on our path through the darkness of this world; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
C. Amen.
Exodus 2:1-10
God preserved Moses’ life as a child so that he would become the leader of the Israelites and free them from slavery in Egypt.
1 Now a man from the house of Levi went and took a Levite woman as a wife. 2 The woman became pregnant and bore a son. When she saw that he was a special child, she hid him for three months. 3 When she was no longer able to hide him, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. She put the child into it and placed it in the reeds along the bank of the Nile. 4His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.
5 Pharaoh’s daughter came down to bathe in the Nile, and her attendants were walking along the bank of the Nile. Pharaoh’s daughter saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant girl to get it. 6 She opened it and saw the child. It was a boy, and he was crying. She felt sorry for him and said, “This is one of the Hebrew boys.”
7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Should I go and call a wet nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?”
8 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Yes, go.” So the young woman went and called the child’s mother to come. 9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse him for me, and I will pay you for doing it.” So the woman took the child and nursed him. 10 When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, with the explanation, “Because I drew him up out of the water.”
Deuteronomy 18:15-22
The Lord God would raise up a prophet like Moses. We know who this prophet would be! None other than the baby Jesus born in Bethlehem!
15 The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brother Israelites. Listen to him.
16That is exactly what you asked from the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly. You said, “Do not let me hear the voice of the LORD my God anymore, and do not let me see this great fire again, or I will die.”
17 Then the LORD said to me, “They have done well by saying what they said. 18 I will raise up a prophet for them from among their brothers, like you, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he will speak to them everything that I command him. 19 Anyone who will not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account. 20 Any prophet who presumes to speak something in my name that I have not commanded him to speak or who speaks something in the name of other gods—that prophet shall die.”
21 What if you ask yourselves, “How can we know that the LORD has not spoken that word?” 22 If a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, and the thing does not come about and does not come true, the LORD has not spoken that word. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.
Song - Oh, Come, Oh, Come, Emmanuel
Message
Confession of Faith - The Apostles' Creed
We speak the truths of the faith that have united the church for thousands of years.
I believe in God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty. From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
Offering - Facebook or PayPal
Out of thanksgiving for God’s message of grace and forgiveness, if you would like to support our ministry with a financial gift you may do so with zero fees through our Facebook page or with a small fee included through Paypal. We thank you for your gracious support.
Online Connection Card
Please use the link to connect with us online! Let us know that you worshiped with us or submit a prayer request.
Luther’s Evening Prayer
Luther encouraged the head of the family to pray the following prayer with his family at the close of each day.
In the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, your dear Son, that you have graciously kept me this day. Forgive me all my sins, and graciously keep me this night. Into your hands I commend my body and soul and all things. Let your holy angel be with me, that the wicked foe may have no power over me. Amen.
General Prayer
Use this time to pray to God about anything that is on your heart and mind. Remember who God is and how he describes himself in the Bible. Focus on his eternal perspective. Consider not only your own life, but also the lives of others. Finally, pray with confidence knowing that God hears you, and pray in the name of your savior, Jesus Christ.
The Blessing
Just as God told Aaron to bless his people in this way, we ask God’s blessing on us as we go forth in our lives.
L. The Lord bless us and keep us.
The Lord make his face shine on us and be gracious to us.
The Lord look on us with favor and ☩ give us peace.
C. Amen