kneeling fisherman

kneeling fisherman

Thursday, September 18, 2025

Practice: Yours... and Christ's

Verse for the week: Bless the Lord, O my soul,
    and all that is within me,
    bless his holy name!”  Psalm 103.1

Prayer for the week: Dear Father, by your gracious choosing I am indeed your child and you are truly my Father, so I call on you now with complete confidence, through your Son, Jesus Christ, the Lord. Amen.

Bible reading for the day: I John 3.1-10  

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

 Prayer of the Day: Gracious and almighty Father, your Son is the only one who doesn’t make a practice of sinning. Were it not for your love for me in him, I would belong to the devil. Keep on rescuing me and your whole church every day… day after day birth me anew of your seed rather than my own, that Christ’s righteousness may destroy the devil’s works. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

Hymn: follow this link to a beloved classic that gives further voice to today’s conversation with the https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1Le7-y9xVI

“What does baptism mean for daily living?”

 It means that my 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.

St. Paul writes in Romans 6.4:

“We were buried therefore  with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”  (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 99th year in the Word. In 2025, we are reading from Genesis to Revelation, with a few interludes along the way.

 

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