Sunday Worship at 8:00am & 10:30am, Spiritual Growth Hour at 9:15am

February 19, 2017                                                           Epiphany 7

Welcome to all worshipers of Jesus! Again the law is placed before our eyes: its standard is perfection, and our behavior toward our fellow human beings is the subject of its scrutiny. How far we fall short! Yet how merciful is our God “who forgives all our sins” and “does not deal with us as our sins deserve”!

Order of Service

Divine Service 1, page 15 in the front part of the blue supplement

Opening Hymn

Now I Have Found the Firm Foundation, #386

Prayer of the Day

Gracious Father, keep your family, the Church, always faithful to you, that we may lean on the hope of your promises and be strong in the power of your love; through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen

First Lesson

Leviticus 19:1,2,17,18

The key demand of the second table of the law is love for neighbor. The law demands holiness akin to that of God. Such holiness expresses itself by loving one’s neighbor as oneself.

Psalm of the Day

Psalm 103, Page 105 in the front part of the hymnal

Second Lesson

1 Corinthians 3:10,11,16-23

The one foundation of the Church is Jesus Christ. Built on this foundation is the Lord’s temple: the people of God. Harmony within the temple is achieved when God’s people hold dear the wisdom of God rather than their own.

Gospel Lesson

Matthew 5:38-48

The unchanging standard of holiness is God repeated by Jesus: “Be perfect, therefore as your heavenly Father is perfect.” But when it comes to applying that standard to the second table of the law, the Lord Jesus shows the depth and breadth of the law’s demands: we are to love even our enemies and those who persecute us.

Hymn of the Day

Son of God, Eternal Savior, #492

Sermon

1 Corinthians 3:10,11,16-23—Builder, Beware!

Hymn

The Church’s One Foundation, #538

Closing Hymn

Built on the Rock, #529