ST. JOHN LUTHERAN CHURCH & SCHOOL Sunday, February 28, 2021 Wheatfield, New York

INVOCATION Matthew 28:19b; 18:20 P We gather in the name of the Father and of the T Son and of the Holy Spirit. C Amen. HYMN: JESUS, REFUGE OF THE WEARY LSB 423

Tune and text: Public domain OPENING RESPONSE Hebrews 10:22; Psalm 124:8; Psalm 32:5 P Beloved in the Lord! Let us draw near with a true heart and confess our sins unto God our Father, imploring Him in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to grant us forgiveness. P Our help is in the name of the Lord, C who made heaven and earth. P I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, C and You forgave the iniquity of my sin. CONFESSION OF SINS P Almighty God, our maker and redeemer, we poor sinners confess unto You that we are by nature sinful and unclean and that we have sinned against You by thought, word, and deed. Wherefore we flee for refuge to Your infinite mercy, seeking and imploring Your grace for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. C O most merciful God, who has given Your only-begotten Son to die for us, have mercy upon us and for His sake grant us remission of all our sins; and by Your Holy Spirit increase in us true knowledge of You and of Your will and true obedience to Your Word, to the end that by Your grace we may come to everlasting life; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. DECLARATION OF GRACE Mark 16:16; John 1:12 P Almighty God, our heavenly Father, has had mercy upon us and has given His only Son to die for us and for His sake forgives us all our sins. To those who believe on His name He gives power to become the children of God and has promised them His Holy Spirit. He that believes and is baptized shall be saved. Grant this, Lord, unto us all. C Amen.

1 CREATE IN ME Psalm 51:10–12, LSB 192

PRAYER OF THE DAY P Let us pray. Faithful Lord, You promised Abraham that he would be the father of a great nation and through him all the families of the earth would be blessed. Receive our thanks for the promise kept in the gift of Your Son, whose death and resurrection have paid the price of sin and reconciled us to You. Lead us to follow Abraham’s example of faith, trusting in Your Word and promise all the days of our lives; we pray in Your holy name, whom with the Father and the Spirit, You are one God and one Lord, now and forever. C Amen. READING Genesis 17:1–7, 15–16 1When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, 2that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” 3Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, 4“Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. 5No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. 6I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. 7And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. . . . 15And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 16I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” L This is the Word of the Lord. C Thanks be to God. NEW TESTAMENT READING Romans 4:13–25 13The promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. 15For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. 16That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, 17as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. 18In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” 19He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. 20No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 22That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” 23But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. L This is the Word of the Lord. C Thanks be to God. 2 HOLY Mark 8:27–38 27And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” 28And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” 29And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” 30And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him. 31And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” 34And he called to him the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? 37For what can a man give in return for his life? 38For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” P This is the Gospel of our Lord. C Praise to You, O Christ. APOSTLE'S CREED C I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. And 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 sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence 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 T everlasting. Amen. HYMN: CHIEF OF SINNERS THOUGH I BE LSB 611

Tune and text: Public domain

TEACHING FROM GOD'S WORD

3 PRAYER OF THE CHURCH P In peace, let us pray to the Lord: C Lord, have mercy. after each petition P Let us pray to the Lord: C Lord, have mercy. P All these things and whatever else You know that we need, grant us, Father, for the sake of Him who died and rose again and now lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. C Amen. LORD’S PRAYER Matthew 6:9–13 C Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen. OFFERING HYMN: LORD, LET YOUR SERVANTS GO IN PEACE

Tune: Public domain, Text: © 2019 Concordia Publishing House. Used by permission: CCLI no. 2606803 CLOSING PRAYER C Almighty and merciful God, I have again worshiped in Your presence and received the gift of forgiveness of all my sins. I have heard, through Your Word, the assurance of Your love in Jesus Christ for me and all people. May Your Word pass from my ear to my heart, from my heart to my lips, and from my lips to the ears of others, so that Your Word may achieve the purpose for which You send it; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Revelation 1:5b-6 P To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. C Amen. ANNOUNCEMENTS

4 HYMN: WHEN PEACE, LIKE A RIVER LSB 763

Text and tune: Public domain

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Scripture quotations are from The English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Created by Lutheran Service Builder © 2021 Concordia Publishing House.

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