Come to Me

[00:03:07] Speaker A: It's. It's sa. Ra. [00:05:13] Speaker B: Good morning. Welcome to Trinity Lutheran church, and happy 4th of July yesterday. Thankful for our country. This morning we've got Pastor Pete preaching, excited about that. And Romans 7, which is a passage that you may recognize, Paul, talking about the difficult situation that we have being on the one hand reborn and on the other hand having the sinful flesh clinging to us. And so it's a struggle all our life, but thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who gives us the victory. So that's a little bit about our theme this morning. We're going to jump right in with Our First Hymn, 504. Father Most Holy. [00:06:36] Speaker A: Jes. Jesus, jesus ra. [00:08:29] Speaker C: Lord almighty. [00:09:15] Speaker B: This morning we're using confession and absolution from setting 3, which we haven't done in a while. Just the words are going to be different than we've been doing. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Beloved in the Lord, let us draw near with a 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 who made heaven and earth. I said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. O Almighty God, merciful Father. I, 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 heartily 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 sufferings and death of your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to be gracious and merciful to me, a 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 to 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. He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust. Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place, the Most High who is my refuge. No evil shall be allowed to befall you. No plague come near your tent. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as It was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen. He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. [00:12:03] Speaker C: Lord, have mercy upon us. Christ, have mercy upon us. Lord, have mercy upon us. Glory be to God on high and on earth. Peace, good will toward men. We praise Thee, we bless thee, we worship Thee, we glorify Thee, we give thanks to Thee for thy great glory. O Lord God of heavenly King, God the Father Almighty. O Lord, the only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, that takest away the sin of the world. Have mercy upon us. That takest away the sin of the world. The world, receive our prayer. Thou that sittest at the right hand of God the Father, have mercy upon us. For Thou only art holy, Thou only art the Lord. Thou only, O Christ, with the Holy Ghost, art most high in the glory of God the Father. Amen. [00:14:27] Speaker B: The Lord be with you. Let us pray. Gracious God, our Heavenly Father, your mercy attends us all our days. Be our strength and support amid the wearisome changes of this world. And at life's end grant us your promised rest and the full joys of your salvation through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, One God, now and forever. Amen. Please be seated for the readings. The Old Testament reading this morning is from Zechariah, chapter 9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king is coming to you righteous and having salvation is he humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem. And the battle bow shall be cut off. And he shall speak peace to the nations. His rule shall be from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth. As for you, also because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope. Today I declare that I will restore to you double. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised. And his greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall commend your works to another and shall declare your mighty acts. On the glorious splendor of your majesty and on your wondrous works. I will meditate. They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness. They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness. The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made. All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord, and all your saints shall bless you. They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds and the glorious splendor of your kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations. The Lord is faithful in all his words and kind in all his works. The Lord upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down. The epistle is from Romans, chapter seven. We know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh sold under sin. I do not understand my own actions, for I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Please stand for the reading of the Holy Gospel. [00:19:36] Speaker C: Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia. [00:20:14] Speaker B: The Holy gospel according to St. Matthew the 11th chapter. Glory to thee, O Lord. At that time Jesus declared, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father. For such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. And no one knows the Son except the Father. And no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. This is the Gospel of the Lord. Praise to Christ. We confess our Christian faith with the words of the Apostles Creed. 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 everlasting. Amen. I'm looking to see if we have any children. [00:22:20] Speaker D: Ah. [00:22:20] Speaker B: Okay. Will the children please come forward? Please be seated. All right. Micah. Here. Okay. Delaney. [00:22:32] Speaker E: Okay. [00:22:33] Speaker B: This is good. [00:22:34] Speaker D: It wouldn't stop me. We knew everybody. [00:22:36] Speaker B: That's right. [00:22:40] Speaker D: Why don't we just all sit here together? This will be great. You can sit on that. That's fun. Okay. Have you guys. Have you ever. I'm sure you have. Have you ever played hide and seek? [00:22:52] Speaker E: Yes. [00:22:52] Speaker D: Where's your favorite place to play hide and seek? [00:22:55] Speaker E: Under my dad's truck. [00:22:56] Speaker D: Under the truck. [00:22:57] Speaker E: I mean, like, hiding under it. [00:22:59] Speaker D: Oh, that's a good place to hide. Okay. [00:23:01] Speaker A: Phew. [00:23:01] Speaker E: But there's some types of glasses, like, on the side. [00:23:05] Speaker D: Oh, okay. How about you. [00:23:11] Speaker E: At school? School. And I play with my friends. Agent Coy. [00:23:17] Speaker D: And you can play hide and seek at school. [00:23:19] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:23:19] Speaker D: Really? Like. [00:23:20] Speaker E: And I keep on winning. [00:23:22] Speaker D: Oh, okay. We'll talk more about that. Now, your hide and seek is kind of outside. And yours is kind of inside. So that's kind of fun, isn't it? Or do you. Or you go outside sometimes, too? [00:23:33] Speaker E: I go outside sometimes, too. [00:23:36] Speaker D: Okay. So you. Sounds like you're pretty good at it. Are you good at hiding or are you good at finding? [00:23:41] Speaker E: I play hide and seek. [00:23:43] Speaker D: But you're good at both. What's that? [00:23:45] Speaker E: I played hide and seek with Zoe. Kenny, you also play hide and seek? Tag, zombie. [00:23:53] Speaker D: Oh, that's different. [00:23:56] Speaker E: Very different. [00:23:56] Speaker D: That's way different. You'll still win. Okay, that's it. Have you ever played hide and seek with, like, almost like a baby. And they'll hide like this. And it's like the silliest thing, isn't it? [00:24:08] Speaker C: Because. [00:24:10] Speaker D: Yeah, right, exactly. They think they're hiding because they hid their eyes. Huh? [00:24:14] Speaker E: We can still see you. [00:24:16] Speaker D: So now here's my question. Have you ever hid so well that nobody could find you? The person that has to go find couldn't find you. Have you ever hidden that good? [00:24:26] Speaker E: My back. Stags. Car. [00:24:32] Speaker D: That's a good place, huh? You can really tuck in small, can't you? Okay, so has that happened, though, where you have. Nobody's found you? And what do they have to do? They have to say, come out, don't they? [00:24:52] Speaker C: Come, come out. [00:24:55] Speaker E: I'll be so quiet. [00:24:57] Speaker D: So you're so quiet, they can't find you. They can't. And finally, like, we have to go to bed or go to dinner or something. They say, come out. And you have to finally come out, right? [00:25:09] Speaker E: I think they always think I'm inside the house, so. [00:25:14] Speaker D: But if they can't find you and they finally have to say, okay, you're free, right? You come out like, you won. You're the best, whatever. Okay. Well, actually, that's kind of what Pastor read to us a minute ago. Jesus said, come to me. And do you know why he says it? [00:25:34] Speaker E: I. [00:25:35] Speaker D: He says it because people, well, sometimes they try to hide from God. Now, maybe that's hard for you to understand because we know God sees everything, right? But have you ever, like, maybe broken, you know, your mommy's favorite earring or lost your dad's tool? And what do you want to do? You want to hide, don't you? You want to hide that idea. Or maybe somebody else broke it, right? Or I don't know what happened to [00:26:04] Speaker E: that tool, but my cat does some mischief. [00:26:09] Speaker D: Well, cats do that, right? [00:26:10] Speaker E: And he just ruined the kitchen. He just actually put the trash on the floor. [00:26:16] Speaker D: But, you know, that's what happened. A cat can't hide it. Well, maybe cats do kind of hide it sometimes, come to think of it. Anyway, what I want to say is, you don't have to hide things like that from your mommy or your daddy because they love you or your brother, whatever, but you just. It's better to just be honest and come forward and Say, yeah, I did that. Now there might be consequences. Sometimes that happens, too, right? But that's what Jesus is like. He says, you don't have to hide anymore from me. I know all about you. I know your sin and I know your troubles. And you can just come and I know your name. That's really important, isn't it? And he. And he says, you can just come to me. Would you remember that? You can always. Because he's always saying it. Come to me. That's what Jesus says. Come to me. [00:27:10] Speaker E: Yeah. [00:27:11] Speaker D: Yeah. Let's pray. Dear Jesus, thank you that you say to us. For all the time, for all people, come to me. That's precious. Lord, we thank you in Jesus name. Say Amen. [00:27:25] Speaker B: Amen. [00:27:26] Speaker D: You can go sit with your families again. Okay. We're gonna sing the next hymn. [00:27:32] Speaker E: I Hide my Dog's bow. That way he can play with me. [00:27:36] Speaker D: Really? [00:27:36] Speaker E: In my toy box? With all my stuffed animals? [00:27:39] Speaker D: I bet that's fun. Okay. You'll help me out? Pull. [00:27:47] Speaker C: Pull. [00:27:48] Speaker D: Thank you, Sa. [00:28:23] Speaker A: Jesus. Sa. [00:29:56] Speaker F: Ra. [00:30:27] Speaker A: Ram. [00:31:00] Speaker D: In the name of Jesus, Amen. Please be seated. Well, yesterday was a big day. Yeah. The Fourth of July, Independence Day. Big celebration. Celebration. Because of the liberty that we have as American citizens, we gathered together yesterday as a nation to celebrate everything that would stand against tyranny and oppression. Because that's what independence was all about 250 years ago. What an anniversary. An anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, right here in the greatest of all nations, the United States of America. What a day that was, right? I mean, big celebrations, parks full of people, parades, hot dogs, watermelon, cool cars, Big loud bands. People everywhere. And then to top it all off, fireworks. Wow. Red, white and blue. Usa. Usa. Usa. You know, you just hear it all, can't you? Can't you just hear it all right now? But then comes today. Today, July 5th. And here we are, gathered on a Sunday to worship our Lord. And. What? What? Actually, same thing. Same thing. Well, maybe not hot dogs and cool cars, but big celebration. Lots of noise at the coming of our King of Kings and Lord of Lords and God throws a big parade. A parade with. Wait a minute. A humble messiah riding on a donkey. A humble messiah taking his rightful place in our lives as our sovereign king. Well, that's what Zechariah told us this morning. Listen again. Rejoice greatly, O Zion. There's the noise. Oh, more noise. Shout aloud. O daughter of Jerusalem, behold, your king is coming to you. There's the parade. Righteous and having salvation is he. Humble and mounted on a donkey. Okay. It's not Palm Sunday. So what's going on? Well, it's our Old Testament text selected for today. And it might seem out of place to all of us, not just liturgically, but really even politically, because, I mean, we just celebrated the throwing off of the chains of King George iii. And so now what? We're talking about a new king. Well, for just a few moments this morning, I kind of want to show the difference between the king that we won our independence from some 250 years ago and the almighty and everlasting king that Zechariah promised of us. You see, the king of this world, the kings of this world use oppression and violence and war all to secure freedom. And you have to fight for freedom in this world. But this king in Zechariah puts all of that anxiety and all of that violence aside with one word. One simple word. He says peace. He speaks peace. And by his very declaring it, it is so it is accomplished. Now, earthly kings, well, that's what we fought against in America. But this heavenly king fought for us 2,000 years ago and gave us something that no other person can give, and certainly something we did not get for ourselves. He has given us a lasting peace and a lasting rest which no political system on earth and no earthly powers can possibly grant to us. Which is why we have the gospel lesson that we have this morning. Listen. Come to me. Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Jesus speaks peace. Jesus who is peace. So this rest or peace from Christ, well, it was bought with no less strife or warfare than what earthly peace is won with. I mean, this promise and delivered messianic peace was accomplished through a war waged on sin and death that would be suffered not by us, but for us all. Peace has a terrible cost, and it's no less true of Christ and what he did for us on the cross. His empty tomb, however, guarantees what we celebrate every time we come here to this place every Sunday. Today, here and now is the ultimate celebration. Yeah. Yeah. Yesterday, celebration for our nation. Today, celebration for our salvation. So, well, a few more contrasts. Yesterday, the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Today, the Word made flesh that long promised Messiah, Emmanuel, God with us, who gave us the right to be called children of God so that we might enter his blessed peace and rest. Yesterday, a celebration of a Revolutionary war suffered by our forefathers. Today, celebration of a war waged on sin that was suffered not by us, but, as I said, for us. And so listen again to his invitation. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest, rest for your souls. My yoke is easy, My burden is light. There's something wonderful about those words come to me. Those words from the same God who called out to Adam and Eve in the garden when they had disobeyed and they hid in shame. That same God said, where are you, Adam? So that in just these few words today, come to me, Jesus, inviting the whole world to stop hiding every sinner everywhere. Don't be afraid. Come out. Calling us out that he has come to put an end to how we labor to be loved by God. This God, who describes himself as gentle and humble in heart, is asking weary sinners to come and be joined to him, to be yoked to everything that he is, to walk with him, to learn from him, to be in a right relationship with him once and for all and forever, Maybe. Think about Joseph. Remember Joseph in the Old Testament, Joseph, who. Well, he put away seven years of bounty because there would be a great famine in the land. And his brothers, who were afflicted by that very sort of famine themselves, on the brink of starvation, journeyed to Egypt to buy food, only to discover that their fate is in the very hands of the brother that they rejected and betrayed and sold into slavery and lied to their father about. And believe it or not, listen to what Joseph says to his brothers. Come to me. Please. Don't be distressed or angry with yourselves because of everything you've done. Don't you see? God sent me to preserve your life. Later on today, in your quiet time, just reread Genesis 45. Because you see, those words come to me are not just for a select few people, not just directed at the worthy or the righteous. They are words that are sent out to all who labor and are heavy laden. They are for the tired and weary and beat down. They are for the bruised reeds and the flickering wicks. They are for those who can bring nothing but the wreckage of their sin and shame. They are for the sick and the suffering and the sinner. Those words are for Joseph's brothers. Those words are for you. They demand nothing, but they offer everything. Come to me, he says. They are spoken by the one sent to redeem to buy back you and to buy back me our life. See, when Adam and Eve sinned, they tried to hide it with fig leaves. And ever since, we, their offspring, have been trying to figure out what we too, can do to hide our sins. And we take our cue from those two, don't we blame it on somebody else. Remember Flip Wilson? Well, we learned it from our parents. Eve blamed the serpent. Adam blamed the woman. Oh, but it gets better with him, because he ultimately blamed God. When he accusingly said to God, the woman you gave to me, the woman you put here, she gave me something to eat, and I ate it. Or the apostle Paul that we heard about this morning in our lesson, he thought about blaming God's law for all of his problems. Did you see it? Because, see, he was trained to obey the law in all of its detail. The law to him was holy and righteous and good and spiritual, and it was. Was not sin. But he confessed that he was nonetheless a slave of sin in his own words. I do not understand my own actions, for I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. I have the desire to do what's right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now, if I do what I do not want, it's no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. I delight in God's law in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am. Wretched, he says, who will deliver me from this body of death? See Paul's dilemma and Joseph's brother's dilemma and Adam and Eve's dilemma and our dilemma. All of us struggle in this battle between good and evil, right and wrong choices, right and wrong thoughts, right and wrong actions. Oh, Ovid, that ancient poet, he put it this way. He says, I see the right and I approve it too, and I condemn the wrong. And yet the wrong pursue nothing new under the sun. [00:46:20] Speaker B: Right. [00:46:21] Speaker D: St. Paul says, Wretched man that I am, who will free me from this body of death? I don't know if you know, the Roman Empire and the Romans were probably the. The most wicked when it came to punishments of lawbreakers. And it's told that on occasion they would strap A dead body, a murdered victim to the back of the murderer and make him walk about that way. I've often wondered if that's what Paul means when he says, who will free me from this body of death? It's crushing me. [00:47:10] Speaker E: He says, [00:47:12] Speaker D: it's crushing me. Then he answers. He answers his own question. He says, thanks be to God through our Lord Jesus Christ. It sounds a lot like what Jesus says to us when he says, come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Oh, it's been about 10 years ago now, maybe more. I don't recall exactly, but there was this convicted murderer by the name of Timothy Buffington. He escaped from an Arkansas prison. After his escape and just prior to his capture, well, he had been the object of a three month long statewide manhunt. His picture was plastered on TV screens and across the Internet and in every post office and every place that a poster could be put up. Everybody was looking for Timothy Buffington. Now, his capture and rearrest was absolutely anticlimactic, almost like we shouldn't even be talking about it. But here's why. This trooper spotted a man wearing camouflage and approached him and asked him if he was Timothy Buffington. And Timothy Buffington said, yes. [00:48:46] Speaker A: Yes. [00:48:50] Speaker D: And he went back into custody without a fight. And he was absolutely ready to trade his camouflage clothes back into the bright orange jumpsuit of prison life. [00:49:03] Speaker C: Why, [00:49:06] Speaker D: I think, you know, he was tired, he was weary, he was worn out because he was constantly captivated by what he could do from being found out. Well, your sins and mine are relatively easy to camouflage from a watching world. But to the maker of the universe, we're not hiding anything. He sees through our attempts to justify ourselves as clearly as if we were wearing the bright orange of a prison jumpsuit. And God knows that that's absolutely wearying. Absolutely. That's why Paul calls it slavery to sin. Because the freedom that we try to achieve on our own is a crushing captivity. Brothers and sisters in Christ, come to him. Come to Christ. No disguises. But with the only thing that is genuinely yours, your sins. He's not going to offer a better camouflage. He's going to offer a royal robe, a gleaming white robe of righteousness. Dear friends, rest from your labors in the one who has labored on your behalf. He knows that without him your soul is restless. He knows that the weight of it is heavy and burdensome. But our Lord Jesus calls us not to more labor, not to more running, but to rest and peace and freedom. Amen. We Continue our worship right now with a pretty meaningful cant occur. Would you rise and sing with me? [00:53:08] Speaker A: Raise. [00:53:29] Speaker B: Be seated [00:53:33] Speaker A: it. Sam it. [00:55:00] Speaker B: Let's stand for prayer. Lord Jesus Christ, as Pastor Pete just said, the only thing that's truly ours is our sin, and you've taken that away from us. But Lord, we thank you for the gifts that you give to us. And we ask that you would receive these gifts from us, these offerings, and that you would make them a blessing to many. Lord Jesus, you knew all that we had, all the mess that we had, all the. The sin that wrecks this world, and yet you came to us humble and looking to rescue us from sin. We thank you for your great love for us that we don't deserve, couldn't ask for, and that you lavish on us more than we could ever even know or expect. Lord, keep us in your grace. Keep us coming to you and resting from our labors. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. Father. Lord Jesus Christ, you've forgiven our sins and healed us from our spiritual sickness. We ask that you would also bless us in body. You would heal those who are sick, that you would give relief to those in pain. Lord, give relief and healing and endurance to Pastor Hesse. Be with him and give him peace. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. Be also with Paul and Mary, Teresa, Allen, Vern and Rachel, Jim Bob and Carolyn Virtus, Karen, Linda, Dick, Ellen, Christy, Bruce, Bill, Lorene, Les, Marlo, Gordon, Ruth, and all those we name in our hearts. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. Lord Jesus Christ, you endured all our suffering to the greatest degree, even death, on a cross, and then rose from the dead victorious. Lord, be with us in our suffering and in our grief. Bless especially those who have recently lost loved ones. Be with them in their mourning and their grief. And, Lord, give them. Set before them your victory and peace in your resurrection from the dead. Be especially with the family of Diana Hopp, especially Ashley Rohr, and also with the family of Ron Otto, especially Arlene. Give them peace and joy in Jesus. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. Lord Jesus, all things were created through you and in you. All things hold together. And we ask, please continue to provide for our bodily needs. Bless those who work to protect us, especially those whose work is difficult or dangerous. Pray especially for police officers and firefighters, first responders, members of the military. Be with those who. Who fight fires and who protect those who are in danger from them. Give them rest and safety and comfort to their families. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. Father, give relief to the west as it's dry and on fire. Please send rain and provide for our needs. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. Lord. You've given us everything, Lord Jesus. You've given us yourself, and you have it all. Everything that truly is and is good comes from you. And you give it to us freely. Grant us ever growing perspective to see what you see, to see the truth of our sin, to see that jumpsuit, but also to see your overflowing grace coming down to us, forgiving our sins, making us to rest, and also the inheritance kept in heaven for us. All of your promises that make us richer than the richest king. Lord, give us that perspective and help us to share it with those around us. Help us, like Jesus, to say, come to me. Help us to lead with grace and forgiveness and not to hold the sins of those around us against them, but to welcome them with open arms and to love them as you have loved us. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. Lord Jesus, we thank you for our country, for the United States of America, and all the ways that you've blessed us over these 250 years. And we ask that you would continue to make us prosper, that you would teach us, make us grow. You would give us wisdom, Lord, in this time when we're throwing away the past, we ask that you would give us renewal in wisdom and that we would turn to you, Lord, in your mercy. Hear our prayer. Father, bless your word preached throughout the world. Bless pastors and teachers and parents and all those who speak your word. Increase faith and bring more into your fold. Bless our life together at Trinity. Make us constantly to grow closer to one another and to you in your love. All these things we ask through Jesus Christ, your son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. Lord, remember us in your kingdom and teach us to pray. 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. Let us bless the Lord. Thanks be to God. 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 give you peace. Amen. [01:03:06] Speaker C: Beautiful Savior, King of Creation, Son of God and Son of Man. Truly I love, Truly I serve thee Light of my soul, my joy, my crown Fair are the meadows Fair are the woodlands Roped in flowers of blooming spring Jesus is fairer Jesus is purer he makes our soaring spirit sing Fair is the sunshine Fair is the moon moonlight bright the sparkling stars on high Jesus shines brighter Jesus shines purer Than all the angels in the sky Beautiful Savior, Lord of the nations, Son of God and Son of man Glory and honor Praise adoration now and forevermore be thou. [01:06:23] Speaker B: Please be seated for just a moment. We have a few announcements. First, Ron Otto went to be with the Lord and his funeral will be on Friday at 11 o' clock with lunch to follow. So please come and remember him with us and all of Christ's gifts that he's given to Ron. [01:06:46] Speaker D: London, [01:06:51] Speaker F: You know the resource center does a lot for our community. It was not just for those who are in need for pregnancy issues, shoes and such. There's something else they do for our older for our junior high and high school students. They're offering free sports physicals starting this Wednesday through August 5th. And these are Chassa approved sports physicals. So you can take your child there, get the sports physical taken care of at no charge to you. Pretty cool. [01:07:21] Speaker B: That is cool. [01:07:22] Speaker F: Thank you. [01:07:22] Speaker B: Thank you, London. [01:07:23] Speaker F: Thank you. [01:07:24] Speaker B: There any other announcements? All right, we've got coffee and maybe treats and Bible study to follow. So go in peace as you serve the Lord. Thanks be to God. [01:08:52] Speaker A: It.