Good morning and
welcome to the broadcast of the Divine Service at Zion Lutheran Church in Chippewa Falls.
To help you follow along, the Order of Worship for today's service is available under the radio tab on our website, ZionLCMSCF.org.
The Lord bless you today through the hearing of His word.
Good morning Welcome to worship.
This is Holy Trinity Sunday.
This is the Sunday that we will be reciting Athanasian Creed.
It's on page 319 Instead of the difficult Nicene Creed.
It's a little longer Creed We'll do that responsibly verse by verse And then a couple of their announcements we've modified the bulletin
Hopefully, this makes it easier.
We still have the sections sticking out so that you can follow along HIMS page numbers just by keeping the bulletin in your hymnal.
But you don't have to pull it out for the propers.
You have a yellow sheet, so you can pull that out.
That's where you have the introit, colic, the readings, Psalm.
So hopefully, that makes it a little easier.
Components of bulletin bulletin insert have been rearranged so let you explore that Also a notice trustees have updated the nursery so that's upstairs and Conveniently located next to the youth room and on your age your kids and then also the give and take room so right up there if you want to avail yourself of that and
I guess, well, yeah.
So that's enough announcements for now, another one afterwards.
So let's begin with our opening hymn.
God Himself is present, 907.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Beloved in the Lord, let us draw near with the true heart and confess our sins unto God, our Father, beseeching him in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to grant us forgiveness.
Our help is in the name of the Lord.
I
said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord.
Oh, Almighty God, merciful Father, I, a poor, miserable sinner, confess unto you all my sins and iniquities, with which I have ever offended you, and justly deserved your temporal and eternal punishment.
But I am partly sorry for them, and sincerely repent of them.
And I pray you of your boundless mercy, and for the sake of the holy.
Innocent, bitter, suffering, and death of your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to be gracious and merciful to me, the poor, sinful being.
Upon this, your confession, I by virtue of my office, as a called and ordained servant of the Word, announce the grace of God unto all of you.
And in the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
I turn to the yellow insert for the intro.
you.
the soul of man that you care for him, that you have made him the Lord of the heavenly means, that brought him with glory.
and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, it's now and forever.
Amen.
Blessed be the Holy Trinity, man, the earth, the life, and the unity.
Blessed be the glory.
And the initial glitters sing to us.
Glory be to God.
you
The Lord be with you.
Let us pray.
Almighty and everlasting God, you have given us grace to acknowledge the glory of the eternal trinity by the confession of a true faith and to worship the unity and the power of the divine majesty.
Keep us steadfast in this faith, and defend us from all adversities.
For you, O Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, live and reign, one God, now and forever.
The Old Testament reading for this Holy Trinity Sunday is from Isaiah chapter 6 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up and the train of his robe filled the temple Above him stood the Seraphim each had six wings with two we covered his face and with two we covered his feet and with two he flew
And one called to another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.
The whole earth is full of his glory.
And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called.
And the house was filled with smoke.
And I said, woe is me, for I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips.
And I dwell in the midst of the people of unclean lips.
For my eyes have seen the king.
the Lord of hosts.
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.
And he touched my mouth and said, Behold, this has touched your lips, your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.
This is the word of the Lord.
The epistle is from Romans chapter 11.
This is the word of the Lord.
Please stand.
The holy gospel according to Saint John the third chapter.
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher, come from God.
No one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.
Jesus answered him, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he is old?
Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?
Jesus answered, truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh.
And that which is born of the spirit is spirit.
Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again.
The wind blows where it wishes and you hear it sound.
But you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.
So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."
Nicodemus said to him, how can these things be?
Jesus answered him, are you the teacher of Israel?
And yet you do not understand these things.
Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and bear witness to what we have seen.
But you do not receive our testimony.
If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe,
How can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
No one has ascended into heaven except he who has descended from heaven, the Son of Man.
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
This is the gospel of the Lord.
The Athanasian Creed is on page begins at page 319, and your hymn will speak it responsibly, whole verse by whole verse.
Whoever desires to be saved must above all hold the Catholic faith.
And the Catholic faith is this.
For the Father is one person, the Son is another, and the Holy Spirit is another.
Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit.
The Father infinite, the Son infinite, the Holy Spirit infinite.
And
yet there are not three eternals but one eternal.
In the same way the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, the Holy Spirit almighty.
So the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God.
So
the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, the Holy Spirit is Lord.
Just as we are compelled by the Christian truth to acknowledge each distinct person as God and Lord, so also,
Are we prohibited by the Catholic religion to say that there are three gods or lords?
The Son is neither made nor created, but begotten of the Father alone.
Thus there is one father not three fathers one son not three sons one Holy Spirit not three Holy Spirits But the whole three persons are co-eternal and each other and co-equal so that in all things as has been stated above the trinity and unity and unity and trinity is to be worshiped
But it is also necessary for everlasting salvation that one faithfully believed the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He
is God, begotten from the substance of the Father before all ages.
and he is man born from the substance of his mother in this age.
Equal
to the father with respect to his divinity, less than the father with respect to his humanity.
One, however, not by the conversion of the divinity into flesh, but by the assumption of the humanity into God.
For as the rational soul and flesh is one man, so God and man is one Christ.
ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father, God Almighty, from whence he will come to judge the living and the dead.
And
those who have done good will enter into eternal life, and those who have done evil into eternal fire.
Grace to you and peace from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Let's be seated.
For the depths of the riches in the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways.
So we praise Him as we just did in that magnificent hymn as we speak the words God gives us to praise Him.
fear, love, trust in Him above all things.
We wonder in the awe and this truth that God in His ways are far beyond our limited ability to comprehend Him.
And at the same time, this eternal God and Creator reveals Himself to us.
He reveals Himself through His holy word.
It's recorded in Scripture.
And because of his word, he can be understood.
He can be known.
And we treasure and hold fast to the confessions such as the Athanasian Creed that have been handed down to us because these creeds, the confessions, they help us to know God and his word rightly.
The Athanasian Creed can be pretty heady.
We contemplate the mystery of the Godhead, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Trinity and Unity, and the Unity and Trinity.
And it gives us words to speak clearly and accurately about what God reveals about Himself in His Word.
And it sets parameters to prevent us from going beyond what God reveals about Himself.
This is important because God wants us to know Him rightly.
And this is good because God wants us to know him.
That's what we don't wanna miss.
God is not something we simply explain with words or contain in our head.
God is a living being who's revealed himself to you so that you may know him.
More than that, enter into an eternal relationship with him.
That's his desire.
God reveals himself as highly relational.
He himself is an eternal, loving, intimate relationship.
The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are actively engaged with each other within the Godhead.
The three persons are in perfect communion in community.
They're not isolated and distant from one another.
Isaiah's depiction of the God's throne room gives us a glimpse.
It's full of life and activity.
sights and sounds, the seraphim standing above God and seraphim responding to Isaiah's sinful condition by flying around to deliver a call from the altar to the lips of Isaiah to take away his guilt and absolve his sin.
And the foundation is shaking from the voice.
And this is a vibrant place full of the living God and some very vocal and active creatures.
And God reveals much about himself.
and his holy community throughout scripture, including the joy and the continual praises of those who are in his presence.
Suffice for now that it is a lively, joyful community and God wants you to be part of it.
Your God wants you to know him.
And he brings you and other people together into himself to be a part of his
heavenly community.
You are made for community with God and God's people by design for eternity.
And God brings you into his community, his family through baptism.
Nicodemus in our gospel, he knew about Jesus' baptism.
We read about it in the first chapter just a little bit before today's gospel.
And what's declared about Jesus there, Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
And Jesus is the Son of God, as testified by the Father and the Holy Spirit.
When Jesus tells Nicodemus, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus is telling Nicodemus that this new birth comes through baptism, baptism into the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Jesus explains to Nicodemus who doesn't understand Nicodemus' Pharisee, steeped in the traditions and the law of God, thinks that you must get into kingdom of God by means of God's law.
Jesus tells him otherwise.
Jesus is the only one who has fulfilled the law and it is through faith in him.
through faith in Jesus that one enters the kingdom of heaven.
As Jesus says, you must be born again.
The word born again, it also means born from above.
You can take them both, born again and born from above.
But no one can make themselves to be born physically.
You don't choose to be born.
Similarly, no one can make themselves to be born.
spiritually.
God chooses to give you life in him.
The wind, another word for the spirit, blows where it wishes.
And the spirit brings new life through the waters of holy baptism.
While the law reveals the will of God, how things work in creation, the law also reveals that we fall short of his will and we cannot stand in the presence of the holy God and live.
The interrelationships of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit reveal the love of God for each other and astoundingly for man.
Though their perfect creation was ruined by sin, sin of man and condemned to be forever cut off from God and to suffer eternal separation from all that is good, the will of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit was that
all be saved from this fate.
The will of God was that all would be eternally part of his intimate loving communion.
So the second person of the Trinity, being God, begotten from the substance of the Father before all ages and man, born from the substance of his mother in this age, suffered for our salvation.
descended into hell, rose again on the third day from the dead, ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father, God Almighty, for once he will come to judge the living and the dead.
At his coming, all people will rise again with their bodies and give an account concerning their own deeds.
And those who have done good will enter into eternal life, and those who have done evil
into eternal fire.
Words from the Athenian Creed.
You see, because we are born in sin, we are evil by nature and can only do evil deeds.
As we hear in scripture and know from nature, a bad tree bears bad fruits.
In other words,
Without God's intervention, we would all be condemned to eternal fire.
So how does one do good deeds?
By being good.
A good tree bears good fruits.
So how is one made good?
By being born from above, born again.
A person is born into this world through the womb of their mother.
The newborn baby is received by their mother and those who are gathered in support of the mother and child.
The child enters a family that God has given them to nurture and to support them and to protect and provide for them.
God has given them this built-in community to love and to be loved by.
And it is good.
It's pleasing to God when this family that he has designed, this little community,
remains healthy and intact as he's designed it to be.
It's tragic when the family is broken and unhealthy.
But when a person is born into God's church, they enter through the womb of holy baptism.
They are received by their mother, the church, who is there to love and support them, protect and provide for them.
And God is given
them, this built-in community to love and to be loved by.
It's good and pleasing to God when this family, this little community, remains healthy and intact as God designed it to be.
It's tragic and unhealthy when this family is broken and unhealthy.
As I mentioned before, God is highly relational.
He himself is an eternally loving and intimate relationship.
And he's brought you into himself through the waters of holy baptism.
You were born into his church where he comes to you and engages with you.
And he does this by means of his word and his sacraments.
And he does this by means of his family, the eternal family that you have been adopted into.
God wants you to know him.
and to remain in an intimate relationship with him and the family he has brought you into.
God so loved you that he gave his only son.
He sent him into the world to be crucified and lifted up on the cross so that you may believe in him and not perish but have eternal life in him and with him.
The Holy Spirit blew over the waters of holy baptismal font and
That's where you were born into the church.
You were born again, born from above.
And God made you part of an earthly family as well as part of his eternal family.
Although the relationships and community we experience as sinners, among sinners in this fallen world is far from perfect, we are part of God's perfect community and that will continue in eternity.
You didn't choose to be born.
God chose to give you life.
You were fearfully and wonderfully made in your mother's womb.
And God takes pleasure in you.
Your life is precious to God.
So you are to treat it as such.
Now you can choose to squander this life or even end your own life.
And this is sinful and tragic, but God does give you a choice in what you do with.
your life.
You also did not choose to be born again.
God chose you to be with him in eternity.
And your baptism is assurance of this.
He has purchased you with his precious blood.
You are precious to him.
Your eternal life is precious to him.
But your baptism is not a guarantee of an eternity in the family of God.
You can choose to end your eternal life in Christ.
God doesn't force you to live with him in eternity.
You can reject your baptism.
You can reject the Holy Spirit.
You can suffer the consequences of eternal separation from God in hell.
This is not God's will, but it is a choice he permits.
Your sinful nature and the world, they tell you you don't need God.
That's why you're tempted to despise his word.
attempted to stay away from church at times.
But staying away from church is like a young child who runs away from home.
A young child cannot survive long on his own, neither can you.
It's in church where God personally and intimately comes to us by means of his word and his sacraments to keep and sustain us in him and the life we have been reborn into.
And it's in the church that we have fellowship with God and one another.
Your Christian brothers and sisters are the family that you are reborn into.
They are a gift from God to you and you to them.
You're made for one another.
Amen.
May the peace that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Amen.
Please stand.
you may be seated for the offering.
In peace, let us pray to the Lord, Lord of mercy, for never growing understanding of the depth of God's riches, wisdom, and knowledge through his word, that we may glorify him forever.
Let us pray to the Lord.
For all pastors that they would patiently teach the faith to all who question the way of salvation in this and every generation.
Let us pray to the Lord.
The floor committees who prepare the work of our Synod's convention that they would walk in a manner worthy of Christ and be guided by God's word throughout their labors so that the Lord's good and gracious will may be done among us.
Let us pray to the Lord.
For parents and children that they would be given the courage to love as God has loved us and be united in their common life by the Holy Spirit to know Jesus and serve him.
and that the Lord would bless the single with chastity, protect the orphan and defend the helpless.
Let us pray to the Lord.
For all who rule us that the Lord enthroned his King forever would bless them with wisdom and understanding that truth and justice may prevail in our land and lawlessness may be kept at bay.
Let us pray to the Lord.
for Vicki, Lynn, Anita, Lois, Lewis, Marlis, Tim, Greg, Grant, Doris, Matthew, Megan, Mark, Ethel, Dave, Peter, Fred, Harold, John, Greg, Bertha, Jaden, Rick, Thorfinn, Lacey, Marilyn, Marlene, George, Ann, Marge, Dawn, Lawrence, Zoe, and all who suffer in our midst that the Lord of Hosts would uphold them in the truth.
that since he is at their right hand, they cannot be shaken, and that he would gladden their hearts, cause their tongues to rejoice, and make their flesh dwell in hope.
Let us pray to the Lord.
For faith to hear the word of Jesus, to trust in his death on the cross, and to receive his body and blood for forgiveness, life, and salvation.
Let us pray to the Lord.
Lord God, Heavenly Father, we poor sinners confess that in our flesh dwells no good thing.
If we are left to ourselves, we will die in sin, since that which is born of flesh is flesh and cannot see the kingdom of God.
Grant us, we implore you, your grace and mercy, and for the sake of Jesus Christ, send your Holy Spirit into our hearts to regenerate us.
that we may firmly believe the forgiveness of sins according to your promise in baptism and daily increase in Christian love and good works, until at last we obtain eternal salvation through the same Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.
and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
We
continue.
It is
truly good, right, and salutary that we should at all times and at all places give thanks to you, holy Lord, almighty Father, everlasting God.
who with your only begotten Son and the Holy Spirit are one God, one Lord.
In the confession of the only true God, we worship the Trinity in person and the unity and substance of majesty, co-equal, therefore with angels and archangels, and with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify your glorious name, ever more praising you and saying.
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.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, take, eat.
This is my body, which is given for you, this too, in remembrance of me.
in the same way also he took the cup after supper and when he had given thanks he gave it to them saying drink of it all of you this cup is the New Testament in my blood which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins this do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me
The peace of the Lord be with you always.
Thank you for tuning in to the Divine Service at Zion Lutheran Church in Chippewa Falls.
May the word of Christ dwell in you richly.
If you have any prayer requests, please let us know.
You may call us at 715-723-6380 or stop by and visit 110 East Grand Avenue in Chippewa Falls.
If you're looking for a church home, we'll gladly tell you more about Zion or help you find a congregation near you.
These broadcasts are paid for by generous gifts made to our radio fund.
If you'd like to contribute, click the Give tab on our website, ZionLCMSCF.org, or send a check to Zion Lutheran Church Radio Fund, 110 East Grand Avenue, Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, 54729.
Zion is a member of the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod.
