Week 1-Saturday Genesis 11:1-12:9

You may make the sign of the cross T in remembrance of your Baptism as you say:

Invocation

P In the name of the Father and of the T Son and of the Holy Spirit.

C Amen.

Collect

Speak Lord, for Your servant hears. Please show me now Your ways, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the Law, but that which comes through faith in Christ. Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Give me life, O Lord, according to Your Word, and I will declare Your greatness. Amen.

Reading the Bible
The Bible is divided into two testaments.

1. The Hebrew Bible which Christians commonly refer to as the Old Testament, but is more properly and formally referred to as the Tanakh .  The name is an acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah ("Teaching", also known as the Five Books of Moses), Nevi'im ("Prophets") and Ketuvim("Writings")—hence TaNaKh. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanakh
   The Tanakh describes the creation of the universe and the creation of a special nation, Israel. The Lord established Israel as His chosen people by giving them the Law and the Gospel promises. Just as God works through means to accomplish His purposes, He chose to work through Israel to fulfill His promises of salvation.
2. The New Testament is an anthology, a collection of Christian works written in the common Greek language of the first century, at different times by various writers, who were early  disciples of Jesus of Nazareth. In almost all Christian traditions today, the New Testament consists of 27 books. The original texts were written in the first century of the Christian Era. Numerous scholars date all of them prior to AD 70, because there is no mention of the total destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, or the final years and deaths of Paul, Peter, and the other apostles.
   The New Testament describes how the Lord fulfills the Law and Gospel promises of the Old Testament through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It also reveals how the Lord sends His Word of salvation to all nations. Through the preaching of the Gospel, the Lord created His Church—all who trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins.

Reading Genesis

God had commanded people to fill the earth and to trust that He would be ready to bless and take care of them. Instead they band together to make themselves famous by “storming the castle,” God's castle-Heaven. They hope to climb right into heaven and thereby "make a name" for themselves. The Tower of Babel is further proof that the inclination of man's heart is evil from his youth (Genesis 8:21). Rebellion and lawlessness have so thoroughly corrupted the image of God that our inclination regarding entry into eternal life is by laying siege to heaven itself. Faith and trust in the loving relationship promises of God are the furthest thing from their hearts and minds.

The Genealogical list is a continuation of chapter 5, recording further the weight of sin as the length of human lives becomes drastically more shortened. While the nations grow in people groups and nations after the flood in chapter 10 of Genesis, the bible begins to focus it's attention on the Family through whom God will send the Christ, the Seed of Eve, the Son of Abraham...

Reading Genesis 11:1—12:9

Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.

These are the generations of Shem. When Shem was 100 years old, he fathered Arpachshad two years after the flood. And Shem lived after he fathered Arpachshad 500 years and had other sons and daughters.

When Arpachshad had lived 35 years, he fathered Shelah. And Arpachshad lived after he fathered Shelah 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

When Shelah had lived 30 years, he fathered Eber. And Shelah lived after he fathered Eber 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

When Eber had lived 34 years, he fathered Peleg. And Eber lived after he fathered Peleg 430 years and had other sons and daughters.

When Peleg had lived 30 years, he fathered Reu. And Peleg lived after he fathered Reu 209 years and had other sons and daughters.

When Reu had lived 32 years, he fathered Serug. And Reu lived after he fathered Serug 207 years and had other sons and daughters.

When Serug had lived 30 years, he fathered Nahor. And Serug lived after he fathered Nahor 200 years and had other sons and daughters.

When Nahor had lived 29 years, he fathered Terah. And Nahor lived after he fathered Terah 119 years and had other sons and daughters.

When Terah had lived 70 years, he fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot. Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his kindred, in Ur of the Chaldeans. And Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and Iscah. Now Sarai was barren; she had no child.

Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there. The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran.

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.

798 The God of Abraham Praise

Congregational Singing, Handbell Choir, Organ Improvisation, Two Harps

5 Though nature’s strength decay,
And earth and hell withstand,
To Canaan’s bounds I urge my way
At His command.
The wat’ry deep I pass,
With Jesus in my view,
And through the howling wilderness
My way pursue.

6 The goodly land I see,
With peace and plenty blest:
A land of sacred liberty
And endless rest.
There milk and honey flow,
And oil and wine abound,
And trees of life forever grow
With mercy crowned.

7 There dwells the Lord our king,
The Lord our righteousness,
Triumphant o’er the world and sin,
The Prince of Peace.
On Zion’s sacred height
His kingdom He maintains
And glorious with His saints in light
Forever reigns.

8 The God who reigns on high
The great archangels sing,
And “Holy, holy, holy!” cry,
“Almighty King!
Who was and is the same
And evermore shall be:
Jehovah, Father, great I AM!
We worship Thee!”

9 The whole triumphant host
Give thanks to God on high.
“Hail, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!”
They ever cry.
Hail, Abr’ham’s God and mine!
I join the heav’nly lays:
All might and majesty are Thine
And endless praise!

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Apostles' Creed

C 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 T everlasting. Amen.

The Sixth Commandment

You shall not commit adultery.

What does this mean?

We should fear and love God so that we lead a sexually pure and decent life in what we say and do, and husband and wife love and honor each other.

Prayers

• for faithfulness until our Lord Christ appears;
• for the renewal of those whose faith and love are growing cold;
• for receptive hearts and minds to God's Word on the Lord's Day;
• for pastors and people as they prepare to administer and receive Christ's holy gifts
  
  

Luther's Morning Prayer

C I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.

Luther's Evening Prayer

C I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have graciously kept me this day; and I pray that You would forgive me all my sins where I have done wrong, and graciously keep me this night. For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.

Lord's Prayer

C 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.

Benediction (Pauline)

P The grace of the Lord T Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

C Amen.

Acknowledgments

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Created by Lutheran Service Builder © 2006 Concordia Publishing House.