https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2BTqsIytpQ

TWENTY-FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST— The Last Sunday in the Church Year November 26, 2023

ZION EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH – LCMS     700 Main St.  P.O. Box 220   Clyman, WI  53016

Pastor Dan 1-(920)-341-2025   shepherdatzion@gmail.com

Bulletin Announcement email: zionclyman@gmail.com

Guests.  Welcome to Zion.  We are glad to have you with us.  Please sign our guestbook located in the Narthex.  About Holy Communion:  We welcome to the Lord’s Table all who have repented of their sins and seek to amend their sinful life; all who believe that Jesus is truly present in, with, and under the bread and the wine; and all who believe that through the words “given and shed for you” forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation are given.  If this is your confession and you are a member of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, then come with a thankful heart and join us.   If you are a visitor and would like to commune, please talk with Pastor Dan before the service.  To help in preparing to receive Holy Communion open the front cover of the Burgundy hymnal or turn to pages 329 & 330.  Gluten free wafers are available, please talk with an Elder or Pastor before the service if you would appreciate them.  

AS WE GATHER – Peace with the Almighty God is comforting to have as we wait for His Son, the Lion of Juda to return.  His Day of Return will be a day of Judgment!  It will be a day of terror for those who have rejected Him and do not believe in Him.  He will judge them guilty and send them to hell.  It will be a day of joy and excitement for us who believe in Him as our Risen Savior.  The first fruits of all who will live.  He will judge us not guilty in His blood and welcome us into heaven.  Until that day, we are in the care of our God who will be our loving shepherd when the world challenges, and satan tempts us.  Until the day of our Lord’s return, we live our lives, loving as we have been loved, caring for others, and giving to those in need, not for reward, but simply because that is what children of God do.  We share the blessings our God has given to us with all people!

Ringing of the Bell and Welcome

Hymn  “Come, Thou Almighty King”                       LSB 905

 Invocation – In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.    Amen

 Opening Sentences   Psalm 95:1–7; antiphon: v.6- 7 –    Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care.      Pulpit: Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
Lectern:  Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.
All: For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods.
Pulpit: In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him.
Lectern: The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.
All: Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God and we     are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care.

Confession and Absolution – Return to the Lord, your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.  Jesus said: If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.  Christ was wounded for our transgressions.  He was bruised for our iniquities.          Pastor, hear my confession and pronounce the forgiveness of God in order to fulfill His will for me and all repentant sinners.      Proceed with your confession.           I, a poor miserable sinner, plead guilty before You my God of all sins.  I have lived as if You did not matter and as if I mattered most.  Your name I have not honored as I should; my worship and prayers have faltered.  I have not let Your love have its way with me, and so my love for others has failed.  There are those whom I have hurt, and those whom I have failed to help.  My thoughts and desires have been soiled with sin.  What troubles me most is-

 *a time of silent reflection on those sins weighing heavy on your heart.*  

 Heavenly Father, I am sorry for all of my sins and ask for Your grace.  I want to change my life and do better through the help of the Holy Spirit.       God be merciful to you and strengthen your faith.  Amen  Do you believe that the forgiveness I proclaim is God’s forgiveness for you?  Yes.      Let it be done for you as you believe.  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 X Son, and of the Holy Spirit.       Amen.  Thanks be to God.  Amen

 Introit Psalm 39:4–5a, 7–8, 12; antiphon: 2 Peter 3:13 NIV   All: But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.  Pulpit:  “Show me, O Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life.   Lectern: You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you.  All: Each man’s life is but a breath.  “But now, Lord,  what do I look for?  My hope is in you.  Pulpit: Save me from all my transgressions;  Lectern: do not make me the scorn of fools.   All: “Hear my prayer, O Lord, listen to my cry for help; be not deaf to my weeping.  But in keeping with his  promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.

Kyrie – Lord, our Maker and Shepherd,    have mercy on us.    Lord, our King and Savior,   have mercy on us.  Lord, our Judge and Redeemer,   grant us Your peace. Amen.

Hymn of Praise    Gloria in Excelsis  LSB 170

Salutation – The Lord be with you.         And also with you.

Prayer of the Day – Gracious God, move us to reflect Your love for us in all that we say and do, so that Your light shines through us each day until Your Son returns to usher us into Your eternal kingdom,  through the same Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.      Amen.

Old Testament Reading   Ezekiel 34:11–16, 20–24 – (God will shepherd His people Himself.)   

Vs11-16 “’For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them.  As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep.  I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness.  I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land.  I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land.  There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel.  I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign Lord.  I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy.  I will shepherd the flock with justice.

vs20-24 “’Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says to them: See, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.  Because you shove with flank and shoulder, butting all the weak sheep with your horns until you have driven them away, I will save my flock, and they will no longer be plundered.  I will judge between one sheep and another.  I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd.  I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the Lord have spoken.

Epistle  1 Corinthians 15:20–28  (Christ is the first to rise from death; death will be destroyed.)

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.  For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.  For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.  But each in his own turn: Christ, the first fruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.  Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power.  For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.  The last enemy to be destroyed is death.  For he “has put everything under his feet.”  Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ.  When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.

 Verse  Revelation 22:13 –   Alleluia. Behold, I am coming soon!  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Alleluia.

Holy Gospel           Matthew 25:31–46  (The Christian life involves loving the people around us.)

The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, the twenty-fifth chapter.       Glory to You, O Lord.                                      “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory.  All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.  “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.  For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’  “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?  When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?  When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’  “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’  “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.  For I was hungry, and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’  “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’  “He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’  “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”  This is the Gospel of the Lord.   Praise to You, O Christ.

Hymn **ODD vs Only**  “The Day Is Surely…”   LSB 508

Sermon

Nicene Creed –   I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible.  And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made; who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried.  And the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures and ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father.  And He will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead, whose kingdom will have no end.  And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets.  And I believe in one holy Christian and apostolic Church, I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins, and I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life X of the world to come.    Amen.

Prayers of the Church

We Gather our Tithes and Offerings

Service of the Sacrament   

Preface   2 Timothy 4:22 –  The Lord be with you.      And also with you.      Lift up your hearts.      We lift them to the Lord.     Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.     It is right to give Him thanks and praise.

Proper Preface – It is truly good, right, and salutary that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to You, holy Lord, almighty Father, everlasting God, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who on this day overcame death and the grave and by His glorious resurrection opened to us the way of everlasting life. Therefore, with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven we laud and magnify Your glorious name, evermore praising You and singing

Sanctus   LSB 178

Prayer of Thanksgiving – Blessed are You, Lord of heaven and earth, for You have had mercy on those whom You created and sent Your only-begotten Son into our flesh to bear our sin and be our Savior.  With repentant joy we receive the salvation accomplished for us by the all-availing sacrifice of His body and His blood on the cross.     Grant us faithfully to eat His body and drink His blood as He bids us do in His own testament.  Gather us together, we pray, from the ends of the earth to celebrate with all the faithful the marriage feast of the Lamb in His kingdom, which has no end.  Graciously receive our prayers; deliver and preserve us.  To You alone, O Father, be all glory, honor, and worship, with the Son and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.          Amen

The Words of Our Lord – Consecration of the Elements

Proclamation of Christ   1 Corinthians 11:26; Revelation 22:20 – As often as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.    Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.      O Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father, remember us in Your kingdom and teach us to pray:

The Lord’s Prayer – 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.

Pax Domini – LSB 180 – The peace of the Lord be with you always.

Agnus Dei  LSB 180

We Celebrate our Lord’s Supper

Distribution Hymns: “Herald, Sound the Note of Judgment”   LSB 511   “Thine the Amen, Thine the Praise”  LSB 680  “The King of Love My Shepherd Is”   LSB 709

Post-Communion Canticle – Nunc Dimittis LSB 182

Post-Communion Thanksgiving – Gracious God, heavenly Father, You have given us a foretaste of the feast to come in the Holy Supper of Your Son’s body and blood.        Keep us firm in the one true faith so that we daily show His love and mercy until that day when we see Him face to face to celebrate the marriage feast of the Lamb in His kingdom which has no end;  through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.      Amen.

Benediction      Numbers 6:24–26 – The Lord bless you and keep you.  The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you.  The Lord look upon you with favor and X give you peace.  Amen. 

Hymn  “A Multitude Comes from the East  …”      LSB 510

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 Announcements

From the Board of Stewardship and Evangelism:  Matthew 25:44 – “Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’” With this parable Jesus once again emphasizes that our good works come from who we are, not the other way around. Sheep do sheep works, and goats do goat works. So first things first: if we want to live more faithfully, let us come to Jesus, receive His gifts and ask Him to increase our faith!

The Pewpoint – THEME OF THE DAY – By the Cross of Christ, We Enter the Kingdom of Our God and Father!      When the crucified and risen Lord Jesus comes to judge the living and the dead, “he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats” (Matt. 25:32). “To those on his right,” who have been crucified and raised with Him through repentance and faith in His Gospel, He will grant the blessed kingdom of His Father (Matt. 25:34). Having been justified by His grace, they live unto righteousness in Him (Matt. 25:35–40). But “those on his left,” who trust in themselves and despise their neighbor, will depart “into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:41). Until that day, the Lord searches for His sheep “as a shepherd seeks out his flock” (Ezek. 34:11–12). Through His preaching of repentance, He disciplines the proud sheep and goats, “the fat and the strong,” but through the preaching of forgiveness He rescues the lost, binds up the injured, strengthens the weak and feeds “the lean sheep” (Ezek. 34:16, 20). In this way, He destroys the power of death in the children of Adam by His cross, so that “in Christ shall all be made alive” by His resurrection (1 Cor. 15:20–26).

YES IN CHRIST  —  Saying Yes With Our Treasures – Needed per week to make budget: $3,072

Sunday Envelopes $2,580   Plate $110.05    Cemetery Memorial – Eli Dornfeld Fund $ 50                                                Cemetery Memorial – Haaron Ellis $20  Cemetery Memorial – Betty Hoeft $20

 Attendance:  Sunday Service:  37   Communed:   30     Mid-Week Service:  11     Communed 11

The Chosen Bible Study meets at 6pm in church.  Only two classes this year. Mark your calendars as classes will also be held  December 5th, and 19th! Class will then take a break until the new year!

Dates to Remember:  

Nov 29th – 7pm Advent Services start

Nov. 30^th – Quilting 11am to 2pm

Dec. 6^th – Voice Choir at 6pm

Dec. 6^th – Advent Service pm 7pm

Wish these Couples a Blessed Anniversary!

 

Jim & Erica G	12/23
Felix & Janet O	12/29
Kevin & Sandra S	12/29

Happy Birthday to these Members

Layla A	11/26
Jacob S	11/27
Dick W	11/27
Andrea H	11/30
Vickie B	12/3
Taylor F	12/3
Helen K	12/4
Cindy B	12/8
Joelle S	12/11
Kevin S	12/14
Jadelyn A	12/15
Warren J	12/17
Ronald L	12/17
Malachi D	12/20
Karen H	12/25
Douglas S	12/28
Carl F	12/30

 

A big thank you to everyone that participated in the Operation Christmas Child Event.  Because of your generosity there will be 49 happy children this Christmas in countries across the world.  This shoebox maybe the first gift many children have ever received!       And even more importantly, you are helping to spread the word of God with this gift; but please continue to pray for the child/family who will receive your gift that they accept Jesus into their lives and spread his message to others in their communities.    Thanks!      Tracy

Info on Betty Hoeft Service – Visitation will be held on TODAY November 26th, from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM at the Hafemeister Funeral Home in Watertown. The service will begin at 2:00 PM .

 

We have received a letter from our Missionary in Africa – Deanne Gochanour – copies in back of the Sanctuary and in the narthex.