Guest Pastor: Dr. Alan Hickok
We are waiting on you, God. We are still waiting. The darkness is deeper, but look! The star is beginning to shine. The everlasting light is creeping closer. Hope is in the air. Peace is promised. Joy is on the tips of our tongues. LOVE is coming. LOVE divine, all loves excelling. We are waiting on LOVE. And LOVE is waiting on us.
Prayer of Confession: Saving God, we confess to you our sinfulness. Greed and selfishness often influence our decisions instead of LOVING you as we ought. Too often, we are indifferent to those for whom this season is not a time of Joy. You call us to a simple life, but we engage in extravagance, which directs our hearts away from you and those in need. Forgive us and renew us, gracious Savior. In whose name we pray. Amen.
Scripture: Genesis 22:1-14
Abraham Tested
22 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”
3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”
6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”
“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.
“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.
9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram[a] caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
Message: “What do I have to give?”
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Pastor Joe will NOT be available at the church on Thursday afternoon from 2 to 4. If you need to speak to him, contact Pastor Joe at 570-267-4570 (cell) or Email: joe.s.travis@gmail.com If you need additional Pastoral Care, please call an elder.
Loose change goes to Kenya/Rev. Malaho
Sunday School starts at 8:30am
Choir practice will be on Thursday at 1:00!
Our mission for “Noel” continues through the end of the year.
Christmas Eve Service will be at 7:00 P.M.
Christmas Day Service at 9:30 A.M.
Men’s Breakfast, Wednesday December 21st at 8:00 A.M.
Newsletter Deadline – Tuesday December 27th, 2022.
Please sign up to host one of the social hours on the Sunday after Communion Service on the first Sunday of the month.
Listen to WPEL 96.5 for church cancellation if your internet is down during a storm this winter.
