Grace Lutheran Church

555 SW Cashmere Blvd. Port St. Lucie, FL 34986-2034

Office: 772-871-6599

Gracelutheranpsl@gmail.com | www.GraceLutheranPSL.com

Pastor Cris Escher | Email: cris@gracelutheranpsl.com

We are so happy that you are here with us today. Our desire is to be like another home for you. We encourage you to register your name on the fellowship pad which you will find at the end of the row where you are sitting. If you are new to Grace or to the area and are looking for a church home, we hope you will consider joining our family here at Grace. A Fellowship Hour is held after the Worship Service, and we invite you to stay for a few minutes so we can get acquainted.

THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY COMMUNION is celebrated in our Worship Service today. This meal is for Christ Followers who recognize their sinfulness and their need for Christ’s forgiveness and strength, and desire to live a new life in Christ. We receive this meal recognizing the presence of Christ in, with, and under the bread and the wine. Children who have not been instructed in the meaning of the Sacrament may come to the Lord’s Table with their parents for a blessing, but are asked to fold their arms across their chests to indicate they are to receive a blessing. All those who commune are asked to indicate their participation by marking the appropriate column in the Red Attendance Books as they are passed at the beginning of the Worship Service.

IN THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE SACRAMENT, the wine is made available in both the individual glasses and the common cup. Following the distribution of the bread, the individual cups will be offered. Then the common cup will be offered to those who do not have an individual cup in their hand. The acolyte will then gather the individual glasses. For those who have an intolerance to wine, grape juice is lighter colored in the individual communion glasses. Those who find it difficult to walk to the altar can be communed in the pew. Please inform the usher of your need.

ATTENDANCE BOOKS PLEASE BE SURE TO PASS ALONG THE RED ATTENDANCE BOOKS IN YOUR ROW AND ENCOURAGE EVERYONE TO SIGN IT. THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT PART OF OUR MINISTRY OF CARE. THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP.

Minor Leagues: Minor Prophets, Throwing Strikes

Waiting for Redemption. The world is going away from God’s People, the Assyrians to the north and Babylon to the south. They will either be destroyed or taken over if they don’t watch out. But God calls in his minor league stars to proclaim His righteousness, grace, and favor to His people.

Today:

Hosea was a prophet with a rough home life. God has put him in a situation where he has to constantly show forgiveness, even when it is difficult. God has put him there to show us His grace.

(Asterisks (**) indicate that the people stand)

For the cause of Christ the King

We give our lives, an offering

’Til all the earth resounds

With ceaseless praise

To the Son

For the cause of Christ we go

With joy to reap, with faith to sow

As many see

And many put their trust in the Son

CHORUS

CHRIST WE PROCLAIM, THE NAME ABOVE EVERY NAME:

FOR ALL CREATION, EV’RY NATION,

GOD’S SALVATION THROUGH THE SON!

For the King once lifted high

To cries of rage, of ‘crucify!’

Endured the cross

As every sin was laid

On the Son

To the King who conquered death

To free the poor and the oppressed

For lasting peace

For life and liberty

In the Son

CHORUS

Let it be my life’s refrain:

To live is Christ, to die is gain;

Deny myself, take up my cross

And follow the Son

Let it be my life’s refrain:

To live is Christ, to die is gain;

Deny myself, take up my cross

And follow the Son

CHORUS

Pastor: Who is wise and discerning, to understand the scriptures?

PEOPLE: THE WAYS OF THE LORD ARE RIGHT AND TRUE.

Pastor: The righteous walk by the Lord’s path.

PEOPLE: BUT THE REBELLIOUS STUMBLE ON THE PATH.

Pastor: Blessed be the name of the Lord!

PEOPLE: HIS LOVE ENDURES FOREVER.

Taken from Psalm 89

** THE PASSING OF THE PEACE

Pastor: The peace of the Lord be with you all.

PEOPLE: AND ALSO WITH YOU.

(We greet one another with the handshake of peace and with the words

“The Peace of the Lord be with you.”)

Sung by Worship Team:

Bless the Lord, O my soul; bless the Lord, O my soul;

And all that is within me bless His holy name.

Sung by congregation:

Bless the Lord, O my soul; bless the Lord, O my soul;

And all that is within me bless His holy name.

Sung by all with key change:

Bless the Lord, O my soul; bless the Lord, O my soul;

And all that is within me bless His holy name.

THE CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION

During Confession we take time to slow down and realize how we have lost God’s Great Story of goodness. We have served ourselves and our interests above God.

(Take a moment of silent reflection upon our need for God’s forgiveness)

Pastor: O Almighty God,

PEOPLE: WE CONFESS THAT WE HEAR THE GOOD NEWS BUT DO NOT ALWAYS LIVE IT OUT. WE FAIL TO TRUST YOUR KINGDOM COMING. FORGIVE US LORD. OPEN OUR HEARTS AND MINDS TO RECEIVE THE GOOD NEWS OF JESUS CHRIST IN OUR DAILY LIVES, THAT WE MIGHT LIVE ETERNALLY. IN THE NAME OF OUR SAVIOR WE PRAY. AMEN.

Pastor: The Story of Jesus is …….

There is new life everywhere. There is Good News everywhere. There is nothing lost that cannot be found, no dark place where light cannot shine, no awful past that cannot lead to a bright future. You are God’s beloved; you are a child of the resurrection. Live in the hope and promise of Christ. Your sins are forgiven, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

PEOPLE: AMEN.

** THE PRAYER OF THE DAY

Pastor: God our Father, teach us to cherish the gifts that surround us. Increase our faith in you, and bring our trust to its promised fulfilment in the joy of your kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

PEOPLE: AMEN

THE FIRST LESSON Hosea 2:23-3:1-5

Whenever God’s children abandon proper worship of Him in favor of any earthly thing, they break their covenant with Him. Breaking that promise is like committing adultery, which is literally the destruction of a marriage covenant.

and I will sow her for myself in the land.

And I will have mercy on No Mercy,

and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’;

and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’”

And the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. And I said to her, “You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.” For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods. Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days.

Reader: This is the Word of the Lord.

PEOPLE: THANKS BE TO GOD.

THE SECOND LESSON Romans 9:22-26

For Paul, the astonishing truth of the gospel has to do with what God is now doing with the non-Jews. Apparently God’s plan all along is to make those who are not His people into His people.

What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? As indeed he says in Hosea,

“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’

and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”

“And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’

there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”

Reader: This is the Word of the Lord.

PEOPLE: THANKS BE TO GOD.

** THE HOLY GOSPEL John 8:1-11

This story appears to be a test from the Pharisees as to how Jesus, a teacher of mercy, interprets the harshest commandments in the Bible.

but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”

Pastor: The Gospel of the Lord

PEOPLE: PRAISE TO YOU, O CHRIST.

** THE APOSTLES’ CREED

SERMON HYMN “God of Our Fathers”

God of our fathers, whose almighty hand

Leads forth in beauty all the starry band

Of shining worlds in splendor through the skies:

Our grateful songs before Your throne arise.

Your love divine has led us in the past;

In this free land by You our lot is cast;

Oh, be our ruler, guardian, guide, and stay;

Your word our law, Your paths our chosen way.

From war’s alarms, from deadly pestilence

Make Your strong arm our ever sure defense.

Your true religion in our hearts increase;

Your bounteous goodness nourish us in peace.

Refresh Your people on their toilsome way;

Lead us from night to never ending day;

Fill all our lives with heav’n born love and grace

Until at last we meet before Your face.

Let the vineyards be fruitful, Lord,

And fill to the brim our cup of blessing.

Gather a harvest from the seeds that were sown,

That we may be fed with the bread of life.

Gather the hopes and the dreams of all;

Unite them with the prayers we offer now.

Grace our table with Your presence, and give us

A foretaste of the feast to come.

** THE PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH

(After each petition)

Pastor: . . . Lord, in your mercy,

PEOPLE: HEAR OUR PRAYER.

** THE LORD’S PRAYER

Pastor: The Lord be with you.

PEOPLE: AND ALSO WITH YOU.

Pastor: Lift up your hearts.

PEOPLE: WE LIFT THEM TO THE LORD.

Pastor: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

PEOPLE: IT IS RIGHT TO GIVE HIM THANKS AND PRAISE.

Pastor: The tree of life in the midst of the garden was the tree of our defeat.

Christ was lifted up on the tree of victory; and where life was lost, there life has been restored. And so we praise you ....

PEOPLE HOLY, HOLY, HOLY LORD, GOD OF POWER AND MIGHT,

HEAVEN AND EARTH ARE FULL OF YOUR GLORY.

HOSANNA IN THE HIGHEST.

** THE WORDS OF INSTITUTION

THE DISTRIBUTION HYMNS

“Come to the Table of Mercy” (Sing twice)

Come to the table of mercy; prepared with the wine and the bread;

All who are hungry and thirsty, come and your souls will be fed.

Come at the Lord’s invitation; receive from His nail-scarred hand.

Eat of the bread of salvation; drink of the blood of the Lamb.

“Abide with Us, Our Savior” LW 287

Abide with us, our Savior, nor let Your mercy cease;

From Satan’s might defend us, and give our hearts Your peace.

Abide with us, our Helper, sustain us by Your Word;

Let us and all Your people to living faith be stirred.

Abide with us, Redeemer, O Light, eternal Light;

Your truth direct and guide us to flee from error’s night.

Abide in princely bounty with us, large hearted Lord,

Our lives with grace and wisdom enriching through Your Word.

Abide as our protector among us, Lord, our strength;

Let world and wily Satan be overcome at length.

Abide among us always, O Lord, our faithful friend,

And take us to Your mansions when time and world shall end.

“The Old Rugged Cross”

On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,

The emblem of suff’ring and shame;

And I love that old cross where the dearest and best

For a world of lost sinners was slain. (CHORUS)

SO I’LL CHERISH THE OLD RUGGED CROSS,

TILL MY TROPHIES AT LAST I LAY DOWN;

I WILL CLING TO THE OLD RUGGED CROSS,

AND EXCHANGE IT SOME DAY FOR A CROWN.

O that old rugged cross, so despised by the world,

Has a wondrous attraction for me;

For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above

To bear it to dark Calvary. (CHORUS)

To the old rugged cross I will ever be true,

Its shame and reproach gladly bear;

Then He’ll call me some day to my home far away,

Where His glory forever I’ll share. (CHORUS)

Pastor: Be wise and discerning. Work to understand what God is telling us. God’s paths are righteous and true, and He will guide you down them in love and grace.

PEOPLE: AMEN.

** THE CLOSING HYMN “Lord, Dismiss Us with Your Blessing”

Lord, dismiss us with Your blessing, fill our hearts with joy and peace;

Let us each, Your love possessing, triumph in redeeming grace,

Oh, refresh us; oh, refresh us, trav-‘ling through this wilderness.

SENDING

Pastor: Go in peace. Serve the Lord.

PEOPLE: THANKS BE TO GOD.

Today June 25, 2017

Sunday School & Adult Bible Study 8:45 pm

Worship 10:00 am

Fellowship 11:00 am

Korean Church Worship 1:00 pm

Women’s Community Group @ Liagre’s 7:00 pm

This Week

AA Sunday, 7:30 pm

Bible Study @Perkin’s Restaurant Thursday, 7:00 am

Worship Team Thursday, 10:00 am

Scripture Narration (Sanctuary) Thursday, 11:00 am

Mahjong Thursday, 12:00 noon

Korean Church Prayer Meeting Saturday, 6:00 am

NEW WOMEN’S COMMUNITY GROUP On Sunday, June 25 at 7:00 pm in the home of Leigh Liagre, Leigh and Coli began a new women’s Bible study, fellowship, and prayer group. Email coliescher@gmail.com if you would like more information.

BIRTHDAY GREETINGS Carol Coffman & Katherine Kaufman, 6/26.

ANNIVERSARIES Ed & Midge Watts, 6/26 (52)

If we have missed your anniversary or birthday, please drop us a note

in the office or email us at Gracelutheranpsl@gmail.com.

THE FLOWERS adorning the altar this morning are given to the glory of God by Steven and Soo Choung.

FLOWER CHART The flower chart continues to be posted on the bulletin board in the narthex. If you would like to order flowers to adorn the altar for a specific Sunday, please write your name on the appropriate line. The cost per Sunday is $27.00. We thank you for your help.

PRAYER LIST/CHAIN If you have family and/or friends you would like our members to include in our prayers, please submit their names in writing by completing one of the forms in the narthex or send an email to the church office at GraceLutheranPSL @gmail.com and title it “Prayer List”. Members of the “Prayer Chain” are listed on the bulletin board in the narthex. Thank you.

www.GraceLutheranpsl.com

Remember to check out our website and follow us on Facebook. They’re both “works-in-progress”, but the calendar and information on our website is updated constantly.