What are you teaching your children?

Verse for the week: “Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
    incline your ears to the words of my mouth!” Psalm 78.1

Bible reading for the day: Psalm 78  

Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
    incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
² I will open my mouth in a parable;
    I will utter dark sayings from of old,
³ things that we have heard and known,
    that our fathers have told us.
⁴ We will not hide them from their children,
    but tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,
    and the wonders that he has done.

⁵ He established a testimony in Jacob
    and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers
    to teach to their children,
⁶ that the next generation might know them,
    the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children,
⁷     so that they should set their hope in God
and not forget the works of God,
    but keep his commandments;
⁸ and that they should not be like their fathers,
    a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not steadfast,
    whose spirit was not faithful to God.

⁹ The Ephraimites, armed with the bow,
    turned back on the day of battle.
¹⁰ They did not keep God's covenant,
    but refused to walk according to his law.
¹¹ They forgot his works
    and the wonders that he had shown them.
¹² In the sight of their fathers he performed wonders
    in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.
¹³ He divided the sea and let them pass through it,
    and made the waters stand like a heap.
¹⁴ In the daytime he led them with a cloud,
    and all the night with a fiery light.
¹⁵ He split rocks in the wilderness
    and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.
¹⁶ He made streams come out of the rock
    and caused waters to flow down like rivers.

¹⁷ Yet they sinned still more against him,
    rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
¹⁸ They tested God in their heart
    by demanding the food they craved.
¹⁹ They spoke against God, saying,
    “Can God spread a table in the wilderness?
²⁰ He struck the rock so that water gushed out
    and streams overflowed.
Can he also give bread
    or provide meat for his people?”

²¹ Therefore, when the Lord heard, he was full of wrath;
    a fire was kindled against Jacob;
    his anger rose against Israel,
²² because they did not believe in God
    and did not trust his saving power.
²³ Yet he commanded the skies above
    and opened the doors of heaven,
²⁴ and he rained down on them manna to eat
    and gave them the grain of heaven.
²⁵ Man ate of the bread of the angels;
    he sent them food in abundance.
²⁶ He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens,
    and by his power he led out the south wind;
²⁷ he rained meat on them like dust,
    winged birds like the sand of the seas;
²⁸ he let them fall in the midst of their camp,
    all around their dwellings.
²⁹ And they ate and were well filled,
    for he gave them what they craved.
³⁰ But before they had satisfied their craving,
    while the food was still in their mouths,
³¹ the anger of God rose against them,
    and he killed the strongest of them
    and laid low the young men of Israel.

³² In spite of all this, they still sinned;
    despite his wonders, they did not believe.
³³ So he made their days vanish like a breath,
    and their years in terror.
³⁴ When he killed them, they sought him;
    they repented and sought God earnestly.
³⁵ They remembered that God was their rock,
    the Most High God their redeemer.
³⁶ But they flattered him with their mouths;
    they lied to him with their tongues.
³⁷ Their heart was not steadfast toward him;
    they were not faithful to his covenant.
³⁸ Yet he, being compassionate,
    atoned for their iniquity
    and did not destroy them;
he restrained his anger often
    and did not stir up all his wrath.
³⁹ He remembered that they were but flesh,
    a wind that passes and comes not again.
⁴⁰ How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness
    and grieved him in the desert!
⁴¹ They tested God again and again
    and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
⁴² They did not remember the power of his hand
    or the day when he redeemed them from the foe,
⁴³ when he performed his signs in Egypt
    and his marvels in the fields of Zoan.
⁴⁴ He turned their rivers to blood,
    so that they could not drink of their streams.
⁴⁵ He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them,
    and frogs, which destroyed them.
⁴⁶ He gave their crops to the destroying locust
    and the fruit of their labor to the locust.
⁴⁷ He destroyed their vines with hail
    and their sycamores with frost.
⁴⁸ He gave over their cattle to the hail
    and their flocks to thunderbolts.
⁴⁹ He let loose on them his burning anger,
    wrath, indignation, and distress,
    a company of destroying angels.
⁵⁰ He made a path for his anger;
    he did not spare them from death,
    but gave their lives over to the plague.
⁵¹ He struck down every firstborn in Egypt,
    the firstfruits of their strength in the tents of Ham.
⁵² Then he led out his people like sheep
    and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
⁵³ He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid,
    but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
⁵⁴ And he brought them to his holy land,
    to the mountain which his right hand had won.
⁵⁵ He drove out nations before them;
    he apportioned them for a possession
    and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.

⁵⁶ Yet they tested and rebelled against the Most High God
    and did not keep his testimonies,
⁵⁷ but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers;
    they twisted like a deceitful bow.
⁵⁸ For they provoked him to anger with their high places;
    they moved him to jealousy with their idols.
⁵⁹ When God heard, he was full of wrath,
    and he utterly rejected Israel.
⁶⁰ He forsook his dwelling at Shiloh,
    the tent where he dwelt among mankind,
⁶¹ and delivered his power to captivity,
    his glory to the hand of the foe.
⁶² He gave his people over to the sword
    and vented his wrath on his heritage.
⁶³ Fire devoured their young men,
    and their young women had no marriage song.
⁶⁴ Their priests fell by the sword,
    and their widows made no lamentation.
⁶⁵ Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,
    like a strong man shouting because of wine.
⁶⁶ And he put his adversaries to rout;
    he put them to everlasting shame.

⁶⁷ He rejected the tent of Joseph;
    he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
⁶⁸ but he chose the tribe of Judah,
    Mount Zion, which he loves.
⁶⁹ He built his sanctuary like the high heavens,
    like the earth, which he has founded forever.
⁷⁰ He chose David his servant
    and took him from the sheepfolds;
⁷¹ from following the nursing ewes he brought him
    to shepherd Jacob his people,
    Israel his inheritance.
⁷² With upright heart he shepherded them
    and guided them with his skillful hand.

Prayer for the week: Give our ears to your teaching, O Lord; incline them to the words of your mouth. Rescue us from our rebellious hearts, turn us from our self-will. Convict us again of your glorious deeds and the wonders you have done… that we tell them to our children and they to their children that they may set their hope in you alone; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. 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=cO725In6VT8&ab_channel=HymnalProject

The First Commandment, with a Promise:

I am the Lord your God.

You shall have no other gods before me. Exodus 20.2-3

What does this mean for us?

We are to fear, love, and trust God above anything else. (from The Small Catechism, by Martin Luther)

Benediction: I am the Lord your God and you shall be my people. Amen.

 

*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.

Our rescue from sin's house of slavery

...prefigured in the Exodus.

Verse for the week: “Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
    incline your ears to the words of my mouth!” Psalm 78.1

Prayer for the week:  Give our ears to your teaching, O Lord; incline them to the words of your mouth. Convince us to tell your glorious deeds and the wonders you have done to our children that they and their children may set their hope in you alone; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Bible reading for the day: Exodus 13.1-16  (The epic of God’s relationship with his chosen people and his will to bless all families through them continues. God remembers his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; he hears the groaning of his people and rescues them from the house of slavery.)

The Lord said to Moses, ² “Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine.”

³ Then Moses said to the people, “Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery, for by a strong hand the Lord brought you out from this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten. ⁴ Today, in the month of Abib, you are going out. ⁵ And when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you shall keep this service in this month. ⁶ Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the Lord. ⁷ Unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days; no leavened bread shall be seen with you, and no leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory. ⁸ You shall tell your son on that day, ‘It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ ⁹ And it shall be to you as a sign on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth. For with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt. ¹⁰ You shall therefore keep this statute at its appointed time from year to year.

¹¹ “When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and your fathers, and shall give it to you, ¹² you shall set apart to the Lord all that first opens the womb. All the firstborn of your animals that are males shall be the Lord's. ¹³ Every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. Every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem. ¹⁴ And when in time to come your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall say to him, ‘By a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery. ¹⁵ For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all the males that first open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’ ¹⁶ It shall be as a mark on your hand or frontlets between your eyes, for by a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.”

Prayer (based on the T.R.I.P. method): Gracious and almighty Father, thank you for bringing us out of sin’s house of slavery through Christ crucified for us. We bring no leaven of ourselves to this rescue; it is because of what you alone did for us in Christ that the burden of our sin and the law’s accusation is lifted. In the new land of your kingdom, we, our wombs, the firstborn of them and all that we have are yours; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. 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=cO725In6VT8&ab_channel=HymnalProject

The First Commandment, with a Promise:

I am the Lord your God.

You shall have no other gods before me. Exodus 20.2-3

What does this mean for us?

We are to fear, love, and trust God above anything else. (from The Small Catechism, by Martin Luther)

Benediction: I am the Lord your God and you shall be my people. Amen.

 

*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. 

Casting your sons into the Nile?

Verse for the week: “Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
    incline your ears to the words of my mouth!” Psalm 78.1

Prayer for the week:  Give our ears to your teaching, O Lord; incline them to the words of your mouth. Convince us to tell your glorious deeds and the wonders you have done to our children that they and their children may set their hope in you alone; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Bible reading for the day: Exodus 1.1-22  (The epic of God’s relationship with his chosen people and his will to bless all families through them continues.)

These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each with his household: ² Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, ³ Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, ⁴ Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. ⁵ All the descendants of Jacob were seventy persons; Joseph was already in Egypt. ⁶ Then Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation. ⁷ But the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them.

⁸ Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. ⁹ And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. ¹⁰ Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” ¹¹ Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses. ¹² But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel. ¹³ So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves ¹⁴ and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.

¹⁵ Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, ¹⁶ “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.” ¹⁷ But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live. ¹⁸ So the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and let the male children live?” ¹⁹ The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.” ²⁰ So God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew very strong. ²¹ And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. ²² Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.”

Prayer (based on the T.R.I.P. method): Gracious and almighty Father, thank you for the depth of your riches and wisdom and knowledge. Your sovereign promise and call have always been a threat to human pride. Repent your people of casting their sons into the Nile by neglecting to raise them as Christians. Like the midwives, teach us to fear, love, and trust you above all else… that our children may know life in your Son, Jesus Christ the Lord. 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=teI3ayeBxX0&ab_channel=Koine

The First Commandment, with a Promise:

I am the Lord your God.

You shall have no other gods before me. Exodus 20.2-3

What does this mean for us?

We are to fear, love, and trust God above anything else. (from The Small Catechism, by Martin Luther)

Benediction: I am the Lord your God and you shall be my people. Amen.

 

*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.

You intend evil...

 but God intends good.

Verse for the week: “Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
    incline your ears to the words of my mouth!” Psalm 78.1

Prayer for the week:  Give our ears to your teaching, O Lord; incline them to the words of your mouth. Convince us to tell your glorious deeds and the wonders you have done to our children that they and their children may set their hope in you alone; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Bible reading for the day: Genesis 50.15-26  (The book of beginning concludes with a word forgiveness to brothers who deserve it not and a confession that God has promised to be for us.)

When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him.” ¹⁶ So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this command before he died: ¹⁷ ‘Say to Joseph, “Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.”’ And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him. ¹⁸ His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.” ¹⁹ But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? ²⁰ As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. ²¹ So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

²² So Joseph remained in Egypt, he and his father's house. Joseph lived 110 years. ²³ And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation. The children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were counted as Joseph's own. ²⁴ And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” ²⁵ Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.” ²⁶ So Joseph died, being 110 years old. They embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.

Prayer (based on the T.R.I.P. method): Gracious and almighty Father, our family is precious and chosen by you, yet fraught with sin because of our nature. Thank you for redeeming us from ourselves in Christ alone. Repent me of putting myself in your place over my family. Erase the scores we would keep and the evil we intend… and bring about your good for us… that we may fear, love, and trust you above all else. In Jesus’ name I pray, 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=MimsQtU-ccQ&ab_channel=AndrewRemillard

The First Commandment, with a Promise:

I am the Lord your God.

You shall have no other gods before me. Exodus 20.2-3

What does this mean for us?

We are to fear, love, and trust God above anything else. (from The Small Catechism, by Martin Luther)

Benediction: The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord look upon you with favor and give you his peace. Amen.

 

*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.

Wrestling with God

Verse for the week: “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.” Psalm 127.1

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 32.22-32  (Abraham and Sarah’s life under God’s sovereign call (Gen 12.1-3) is a mixture of faith and sin. Here now in Genesis 32, their grandson, Isaac’s son Jacob is alone and anxious on the eve of a reunion with his brother. Jacob wrestles with the Lord and comes away with the blessed limp of faith that marks God’s people.)

The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. ²³ He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. ²⁴ And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. ²⁵ When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. ²⁶ Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” ²⁷ And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” ²⁸ Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel,^[f] for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” ²⁹ Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. ³⁰ So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” ³¹ The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. ³² Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob's hip on the sinew of the thigh.

Prayer (based on the T.R.I.P. method): Gracious and almighty Father, in my baptism into Christ you have promised to be for me… even when it appears to me that I strive against you. Thank you. As you will Lord, sanctify my wrestling with you… to the blessing of my family. In Jesus’ name I pray, 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=26rq0spuLao&ab_channel=LutheranQuartet

The First Commandment, with a Promise:

I am the Lord your God.

You shall have no other gods before me. Exodus 20.2-3

What does this mean for us?

We are to fear, love, and trust God above anything else. (from The Small Catechism, by Martin Luther)

Benediction: I am the Lord your God and you shall be my people. Amen.

 

*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.

Your Family as a Gift, Not a Possession

Verse for the week: “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.” Psalm 127.1

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 22.1-14  (Abraham and Sarah’s life under God’s sovereign call (Gen 12.1-3) is a mixture of faith and sin. They trust the Lord, yet also repeatedly try to justify themselves and seek their own will. In God’s time, God keeps his promise and they conceive and bear a son, Isaac. In this episode, the tests Abraham and provides for him.)

After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” ² He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” ³ So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. ⁴ On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. ⁵ Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” ⁶ And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. ⁷ And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” ⁸ Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.

⁹ When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. ¹⁰ Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. ¹¹ But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” ¹² He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” ¹³ And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹⁴ So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

Prayer (based on the T.R.I.P. method): Gracious and almighty Father, even the precious gift of our families you intend to preserve as gift and will not allow us to make them into a god. Thank you for rescuing me and your whole church from this and all sin by your own Son, the Lamb “caught” on the cross. When I fear, love and trust you above all else, then my family and I are free to be built into the household of your making, not our own. Thank you; in Jesus’ name, 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=MimsQtU-ccQ&ab_channel=AndrewRemillard

The First Commandment, with a Promise:

I am the Lord your God.

You shall have no other gods before me. Exodus 20.2-3

What does this mean for us?

We are to fear, love, and trust God above anything else. (from The Small Catechism, by Martin Luther)

Benediction: I am the Lord your God and you shall be my people. Amen.

 

*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.

The Lord is Keeping His Promise to You

Verse for the week: “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.” Psalm 127.1

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 17.1-11  (This episode in the generations long narrative of God’s chosen relationship with Abraham and his family takes place 25 years after God’s call of Abram. Abram means exalted father, Abraham means father of a multitude.  In Hebrew, to make a covenant is to “cut a covenant”.)

When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, ² that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” ³ Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, ⁴ “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. ⁵ No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. ⁶ I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. ⁷ And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. ⁸ And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”

⁹ And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. ¹⁰ This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. ¹¹ You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.

Prayer (based on the T.R.I.P. method): Gracious and almighty Father, thank you that by your gracious and good will I am one among the multitude of your kept promise to Abraham. And thank you that your covenant with me is not just of the flesh but of water and the Holy Spirit. Keep me in the covenant of my baptism today and each day, that I may live with you in righteousness and purity forever. In Jesus’ name I pray, 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=MimsQtU-ccQ&ab_channel=AndrewRemillard

What benefits does God give in baptism?

In baptism God forgives sin, delivers from death and the devil, and gives everlasting salvation to all whole believe what he has promised.

What does baptism mean for daily life?

It means that our sinful self, with all its evil deeds and desires, should be drowned through daily repentance; and that day after day a new self should arise to live with God in righteousness and purity forever. (from The Small Catechism, by Martin Luther)

Benediction: “I am the Lord your God and you shall be my people.” Amen.

 

*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.

The Sovereign call of God

 ...is laid upon you.

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 12.1-9  (The same Lord God who creates the universe out of nothing just by saying so, chooses a 75-year-old man and his barren wife as his instruments to bless all the families of the earth with his Word.)

 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. ² 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. ³ 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.”

⁴ 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. ⁵ 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, ⁶ Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. ⁷ 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. ⁸ 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. ⁹ And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.

Prayer (based on the T.R.I.P. method): Gracious and almighty Father, your sovereign call is our beginning and our end. Thank you for laying your call upon Abram and me and rescuing us from ourselves. You will now to use me and your whole church to bless all the families of the earth with your speech. Do it Lord. Bring us to your altar, not the altar of ourselves. Instill in us the calling upon your name and remove from us all our babble. I ask this in Christ’s name, 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=LVK47RThdcg&ab_channel=PianoSeries

“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 99^th year in the Word. In 2025, we are reading from Genesis to Revelation, with a few interludes along the way.

Rescue for babblers like us

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 10.32 - 11.9

³²These are the clans of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, in their nations, and from these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood.

^11.1 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. ² And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. ³ 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. ⁴ 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.” ⁵ And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. ⁶ 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. ⁷ Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech.” ⁸ So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. ⁹ 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.

Prayer (based on the T.R.I.P. method): Gracious and almighty Father, you know the truth about us: we are your beloved children and yet our hearts are thoroughly corrupt. This corruption shows up in our babbling, our constant attempts to put our own name above yours. Thank you that in your Son crucified and raised you confound our will and rescue us from ourselves and give us the name that is above all names, Jesus Christ. 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=teI3ayeBxX0&ab_channel=Koine

“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 99^th year in the Word. In 2025, we are reading from Genesis to Revelation, with a few interludes along the way.

The Lord God Remembers You

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 99^th year in the Word. In 2025, we are reading from Genesis to Revelation, with a few interludes along the way.