Your Sovereign

Verse for the week:
“Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
    and your dominion endures throughout all generations.” Psalm 145.13

Prayer for the week: Almighty God, Christ Jesus is the one who was, who is, and who is to come. He will reign forever prophet, priest, and king. While we yet wait for the fulfillment of his kingdom, grant that we may sing your praise and trust in you alone; through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.

Bible reading for the day:  1 Timothy 6.13-16 (Paul had a beloved, young apprentice Timothy, who had a Greek father and a Jewish mother. Paul states the aim of the ministry laid upon them as “love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and an unfeigned faith.” I Tim 1.5)

¹³  I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, ¹⁴ to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵ which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, ¹⁶ who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

Prayer of the Day: Gracious and almighty Father, thank you that Christ and no other is our Sovereign and in him you approach us who would otherwise be lost in the night. Thank you. Every hour, rescue me and your whole church from the dominion of darkness and from all our attempts to enthrone our will. To Christ alone be all honor and glory and dominion; now and forever. Amen.

Hymn: follow this link to a beloved classic that gives further voice to today’s conversation with the Lord: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzsu1duEcF4

I believe in Jesus Christ…

What does this mean?   I believe that Jesus Christ – true God, son of the Father from eternity, and true man, born of the virgin Mary – is my Lord.

At great cost he has saved and redeemed me, a lost and condemned person. He has freed me from sin, death, and the power of the devil – not with silver or gold, but with his holy and precious blood and his innocent suffering and death.

All this he has done that I may be his own, live under him in his kingdom, and serve him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as he is risen from the dea and lives and reigns for all eternity.

This is most certainly true. (from The Small Catechism, by Martin Luther)

Benediction: For the Lord takes pleasure in his people;
    he adorns the humble with salvation.   Psalm 149.4

 

*This is now our congregation’s 99^th year in the Word. In 2025, we are reading from Genesis to Revelation, with a few interludes along the way.