Service for December 7, 2025

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Prelude – O Come, O Come Emmanuel

Call to Worship

Lift up your heads, O you gates!

Lift up, you everlasting doors!

And the King of glory shall come in.

10 Who is this King of glory?

The Lord of hosts,

He is the King of glory. Selah

Psalm 24:9-10

Hymn # 198 Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates

1 Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates!

Behold, the King of glory waits;

the King of kings is drawing near,

the Savior of the world is here.

2 A helper just he comes to thee,

his chariot is humility,

his kingly crown is holiness,

his scepter, pity in distress.

3 O blest the land, the city blest,

where Christ the Ruler is confessed!

O happy hearts and happy homes

to whom this King in triumph comes!

4 Fling wide the portals of your heart;

make it a temple, set apart

from earthly use for heav'n's employ,

adorned with prayer and love and joy.

5 Redeemer, come! I open wide

my heart to thee; here, Lord, abide!

Let me thy inner presence feel;

thy grace and love in me reveal.

6 So come, my Sovereign, enter in!

Let new and nobler life begin!

Thy Holy Spirit, guide us on,

until the glorious crown be won.

Call To Confession

Our Lord Jesus says, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ And also, ‘Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.’

"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us... If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” Let us, therefore, confess ours sins to the Lord, saying together:

1 John 1:8 (NKJV)

Confession of Sins

Almighty and Gracious Father, we confess to you that we have sinned by not loving you with our whole heart and by not loving our neighbor as ourselves. Our faith is weak, and we easily give in to doubt. Forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness in thought, word and deed. For we ask this in the name of your Son, who is our sure Redeemer and our Savior. Amen.

Word of Assurance

Brothers and Sisters in Jesus, our Gracious Heavenly Father has forgiven us our sins according to His word that "He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins."

Colossians 1:13–14

Doxology # 731

Praise God from whom all blessings flow;

praise him, all creatures here below;

praise him above, ye heav'nly host;

praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

Scripture Lesson: Isaiah 59

Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened,

That it cannot save;

Nor His ear heavy,

That it cannot hear.

2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God;

And your sins have hidden His face from you,

So that He will not hear.

3 For your hands are defiled with blood,

And your fingers with iniquity;

Your lips have spoken lies,

Your tongue has muttered perversity.

4 No one calls for justice,

Nor does any plead for truth.

They trust in empty words and speak lies;

They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity.

5 They hatch vipers’ eggs and weave the spider’s web;

He who eats of their eggs dies,

And from that which is crushed a viper breaks out.

6 Their webs will not become garments,

Nor will they cover themselves with their works;

Their works are works of iniquity,

And the act of violence is in their hands.

7 Their feet run to evil,

And they make haste to shed innocent blood;

Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;

Wasting and destruction are in their paths.

8 The way of peace they have not known,

And there is no justice in their ways;

They have made themselves crooked paths;

Whoever takes that way shall not know peace.

9 Therefore justice is far from us,

Nor does righteousness overtake us;

We look for light, but there is darkness!

For brightness, but we walk in blackness!

10 We grope for the wall like the blind,

And we grope as if we had no eyes;

We stumble at noonday as at twilight;

We are as dead men in desolate places.

11 We all growl like bears,

And moan sadly like doves;

We look for justice, but there is none;

For salvation, but it is far from us.

12 For our transgressions are multiplied before You,

And our sins testify against us;

For our transgressions are with us,

And as for our iniquities, we know them:

13 In transgressing and lying against the Lord,

And departing from our God,

Speaking oppression and revolt,

Conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.

14 Justice is turned back,

And righteousness stands afar off;

For truth is fallen in the street,

And equity cannot enter.

15 So truth fails,

And he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.

Then the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him

That there was no justice.

16 He saw that there was no man,

And wondered that there was no intercessor;

Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him;

And His own righteousness, it sustained Him.

17 For He put on righteousness as a breastplate,

And a helmet of salvation on His head;

He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing,

And was clad with zeal as a cloak.

18 According to their deeds, accordingly He will repay,

Fury to His adversaries,

Recompense to His enemies;

The coastlands He will fully repay.

19 So shall they fear

The name of the Lord from the west,

And His glory from the rising of the sun;

When the enemy comes in like a flood,

The Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him.

20 “The Redeemer will come to Zion,

And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,”

Says the Lord.

21 “As for Me,” says the Lord, “this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants’ descendants,” says the Lord, “from this time and forevermore.”

Sermon

Hymn # 476 The Light of the World Is Jesus

1 The whole world was lost in the darkness of sin;

the light of the world is Jesus;

like sunshine at noonday his glory shone in,

the Light of the world is Jesus.

Refrain:

Come to the Light, 'tis shining for thee;

sweetly the Light has dawned upon me;

once I was blind, but now I can see;

the light of the world is Jesus.

2 No darkness have we who in Jesus abide,

the light of the world is Jesus;

we walk in the Light when we follow our Guide,

the light of the world is Jesus. [Refrain]

3 Ye dwellers in darkness with sin-blinded eyes,

the light of the world is Jesus;

go, wash at his bidding, and light will arise,

the light of the world is Jesus. [Refrain]

4 No need of the sunlight in heaven, we're told,

the light of the world is Jesus;

the Lamb is the Light in the City of Gold,

the light of the world is Jesus. [Refrain]

Prayer of the Church with 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 debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”

The Nicene Creed page 846

We believe in one God, the Father Almighty,

Maker of heaven and earth,

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 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 is seated at the right hand of the Father;

and he shall come again, with glory, to judge both the living and the dead;

whose kingdom shall have no end.

And we 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 we believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church;

we acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins;

and we look for the resurrection of the dead,

and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Hymn # 230 Thou Who Wast Rich beyond All Splendor (1-2)

1 Thou who wast rich beyond all splendor,

All for love's sake becamest poor;

Thrones for a manger didst surrender,

Sapphire-paved courts for stable floor.

Thou who wast rich beyond all splendor,

All for love's sake becamest poor.

2 Thou who art God beyond all praising,

All for love's sake becamest man;

Stooping so low, but sinners raising

Heavenward by thine eternal plan.

Thou who art God beyond all praising,

All for love's sake becamest man.

The Lord’s Supper

Hymn # 230 Thou Who Wast Rich beyond All Splendor (3)

3 Thou who art love beyond all telling,

Savior and King, we worship thee.

Emmanuel, within us dwelling,

Make us what thou wouldst have us be.

Thou who art love beyond all telling,

Savior and King, we worship thee.

Benediction