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.