Verse for the week: “The law was given through
Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” John 1.17
Prayer for the week: Blessed Lord, you speak to us through the Holy
Scriptures. Keep your promise and pour out your Holy Spirit that as we hear,
read, respect, learn and suffer your Word, His enduring benefits of faith and
comfort may grasp and hold us in true life now and in eternity with you;
through the same Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord. Amen.
Bible reading for the day: Genesis 6.5-8.22
The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great
in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was
only evil continually. 6 And the Lord regretted
that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So
the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face
of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for
I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But
Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
9 These are the generations of
Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation.
Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah had three
sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11 Now the earth was corrupt in God's
sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And
God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had
corrupted their way on the earth. 13 And God said
to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the
earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with
the earth. 14 Make yourself an ark of gopher
wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. 15 This
is how you are to make it: the length of the ark 300 cubits, its breadth
50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. 16 Make a
roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above, and set the door of the
ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks. 17 For
behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in
which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall
die. 18 But I will establish my covenant with
you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons'
wives with you. 19 And of every living thing of all
flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with
you. They shall be male and female. 20 Of the birds
according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every
creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort shall
come in to you to keep them alive. 21 Also take
with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up. It shall serve as
food for you and for them.” 22 Noah did this; he
did all that God commanded him.
7.1Then the Lord said to Noah, “Go
into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are
righteous before me in this generation. 2 Take with
you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of
the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, 3 and
seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep
their offspring alive on the face of all the earth. 4 For
in seven days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty
nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from
the face of the ground.” 5 And Noah did all that
the Lord had commanded him.
6 Noah was six hundred years old when
the flood of waters came upon the earth. 7 And Noah
and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him went into the ark to
escape the waters of the flood. 8 Of clean animals,
and of animals that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps
on the ground, 9 two and two, male and female, went
into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And
after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth.
11 In the six hundredth year of
Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that
day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows
of the heavens were opened. 12 And rain fell upon
the earth forty days and forty nights. 13 On the
very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah's wife and
the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark, 14 they
and every beast, according to its kind, and all the livestock according to
their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, according to
its kind, and every bird, according to its kind, every winged creature. 15 They went
into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath
of life. 16 And those that entered, male and female
of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And
the Lord shut him in.
17 The flood continued forty
days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high
above the earth. 18 The waters prevailed and
increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the
waters. 19 And the waters prevailed so mightily on
the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were
covered. 20 The waters prevailed above the
mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep. 21 And all
flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming
creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. 22 Everything
on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. 23 He
blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and
animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out
from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the
ark. 24 And the waters prevailed on the earth 150
days.
8.1But God remembered Noah and all the
beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God
made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided. 2 The
fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain
from the heavens was restrained, 3 and the waters
receded from the earth continually. At the end of 150 days the waters had
abated, 4 and in the seventh month, on the
seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains
of Ararat. 5 And the waters continued to abate
until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the
tops of the mountains were seen.
6 At the end of forty days Noah
opened the window of the ark that he had made 7 and
sent forth a raven. It went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the
earth. 8 Then he sent forth a dove from him, to see
if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground. 9 But
the dove found no place to set her foot, and she returned to him to the ark,
for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his
hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him. 10 He
waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the
ark. 11 And the dove came back to him in the
evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah
knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. 12 Then
he waited another seven days and sent forth the dove, and she did not return to
him anymore.
13 In the six hundred and first year,
in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from off
the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold, the
face of the ground was dry. 14 In the second month,
on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth had dried out. 15 Then
God said to Noah, 16 “Go out from the ark, you
and your wife, and your sons and your sons' wives with you. 17 Bring
out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh—birds and animals
and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth—that they may swarm on the
earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” 18 So
Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him. 19 Every
beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the
earth, went out by families from the ark.
20 Then Noah built an altar to
the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean
bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And
when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma,
the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the
ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his
youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I
have done. 22 While the earth remains, seedtime and
harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not
cease.”
Prayer (based on the T.R.I.P. method): Gracious and almighty Father, the
truth of our corruption is a foreign word to your own beloved people. Yet still
you choose to remember us and comfort us by the forgiveness of our idolatry in
Jesus Christ. Thank you for this redemption and rescue. Keep it up Lord… until
the intention of my heart is no longer evil. In Jesus’ name I ask this, amen.
Hymn: follow this link to a beloved, classic hymn
that gives further voice to today’s conversation with the Lord: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ib73Na2WOw&ab_channel=AndrewRemillard
Or this scene from Handel’s “Messiah”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHkKXH3CJyk&ab_channel=BostonBaroque
“I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord…”
What does this mean?
I believe that Jesus Christ – true God, begotten of the Father from
eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary — is my Lord. He has
redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, and has freed me from sin, death,
and the power of the devil, not with silver and gold, but with his holy and
precious blood and his innocent suffering and death. He has done all this in
order that I might be his own, live under him in his kingdom, and serve him in
everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, even as he is risen from
the dead and lives and reigns for all eternity. This is most certainly true!
Benediction: The Lord God remembers you according to
his favor. Amen.
*This is now
our congregation’s 99th year in the Word. In 2025, we are reading
from Genesis to Revelation, with a few interludes along the way.
