Deceptive prophesies are wicked.  God will execute judgement on those whose counsels mitigate God’s Word!  The refrain for the covenant people of God is faith!  They wholeheartedly believe exactly what the Lord says and count on His deliverance generation after generation.  Jesus desires to reveal not only judgement but also grace through His cross.  Faith alone comprehends the impact of Law and Gospel.  Faith clings to Christ and repels all wickedness and deceit.

 

 

Merciful Lord, cleanse and defend Your Church by the sacrifice of Christ. United with Him in Holy Baptism, give us grace to receive with thanksgiving the fruits of His redeeming work and daily follow in His way; through the same Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

 

“Christ the Eternal Lord”  LSB 829

“Lord, Keep Us Steadfast in Thy Word”     LSB 655

“Jesus Sat with His Disciples”     LSB 932

“Blest Are They”     LSB 982*

“Thy Strong Word”     LSB 578

“Evening and Morning”     LSB 726

“Come, Thou Almighty King”     LSB 905 

 

 

The Ninth Sunday after Pentecost – Matins 

 

Faith is a gift from God – a treasury safeguarding our hearts and minds, believing divine mysteries and plain truths, trusting in the judgement and grace of God, relishing things seen and unseen, and hoping for imaginable and seemingly impossible blessing from God.  Abel, Enoch, Noah, and Abraham believed the bold assertions of God.  The church continues in that lineage of faith, believing in our greatest treasure, Jesus Christ, who subdues fear and cares, forgives and redeems.  

 

Genesis 15:1-6

Hebrews 11:1-6

Luke 12:22-40

 

Almighty and merciful God, it is by Your grace that we live as Your people who offer acceptable service. Grant that we may walk by faith, and not by sight, in the way that leads to eternal life; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

 

“Christ the Eternal Lord”  LSB 829

“Rise, My Soul, to Watch and Pray”     LSB 663

“O Little Flock, Fear Not the Foe”     LSB 666

“Have No Fear, Little Flock”     LSB 735

The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost – Divine Service 

 

True wisdom proceeds from God and embraces the riches of knowing and confessing Christ.  Our minds need not be fixated on earthly wealth or possessions; our behaviors should oppose earthly immorality, selfishness, and desire.  Constant fixation on our labors, accomplishments, and assets is no more than vanity, leading to despair.  Our image, knowledge, and actions ought to be shaped by Christ Jesus, for He alone is everything for those who believe in His name.    

 

 

Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-26  

Colossians 3:1-11                                 

Luke 12:13-21

 

O Lord, grant us wisdom to recognize the treasures You have stored up for us in heaven, that we may never despair but always rejoice and be thankful for the riches of Your grace; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

 

“Christ the Eternal Lord”  LSB 829

“Gracious God, You Send Great Blessings”     LSB 782

“Chief of Sinners Though I Be”     LSB 611

“I Come, O Savior to Thy Table”     LSB 618

“Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me”   LSB 761   

“In Christ There Is No East or West”     LSB 653

“Lord, Whose Love Through Endless Service”     LSB 848

Patriarchs, apostles, and ordinary people converse with God through prayer.  Abraham pleads for the preservation of the righteous few, even in the midst of outrageous sin.  The Lord tempers His anger, assuring Abraham of grace.  The church’s liturgy is also a conversation between God and His people, shaped by confession of guilt and the outpouring of divine forgiveness!  The Lord’s Prayer is the axis where confession of faith, sin and pleading for sustenance converge.  As the Lord instructs, we are privileged to pray.     

 

 

O Lord, let Your merciful ears be attentive to the prayers of Your servants, and by Your Word and Spirit teach us how to pray that our petitions may be pleasing before You; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

 

“The Gifts Christ Freely Gives”  LSB 602

“Our Father Who from Heaven Above”   LSB 766

“In Holy Conversation”  LSB 772

“Hear Us, Father, When We Pray”     LSB 773

“What a Friend We Have in Jesus”   LSB 770   

“Rise!  To Arms!”     LSB 668

 

God’s Word accomplishes miraculous change.  God declares that the barren womb of Sarah shall be great with child.  Jesus, inseparably the Word of God, declares those once hostile and alienated to be holy and blameless.  The counsels of God, once couched in mystery, now declare the glory, wisdom, and hope of Jesus.  Where the Word of God is taught in its truth and purity, we should be still, listen and believe God’s life-changing Word.

 

 

O Lord, grant us the Spirit to hear Your Word and know the one thing needful that by Your Word and Spirit we may live according to Your will; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

 

“The Gifts Christ Freely Gives”  LSB 602

“One Thing’s Needful”   LSB 536

“For All the Faithful Women”   LSB 855   sts. 1, 9, 3 & 4

“You Satisfy the Hungry Heart”     LSB 641

“At the Name of Jesus”   LSB 512   

“When Peace Like a River”     LSB 763

The Fifth Sunday after Pentecost-Divine Service     

The Scriptures record mandates of the Lord God.  He regulates heaven and earth with His statutes, which flawlessly affirm, nourish, and sustain Godly interactions between men and God.  Above all, we are to love the Lord God with heart, soul, strength, and mind, and our neighbors as ourselves.  In the torrent of sin, we fail to think, act, or love justly.  We are absorbed in disobedience, passion, and apathy for our neighbor.  But to this domain of darkness, Jesus delivers the forgiveness of sins.     

 

Leviticus 18:1-5; 19:9-18  

Colossians 1:1-14   

Luke 10:25-37

 

Lord Jesus Christ, in Your deep compassion You rescue us from whatever may hurt us. Teach us to love You above all things and to love our neighbors as ourselves; for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

 

“The Gifts Christ Freely Gives”  LSB 602

“Where Charity and Love Prevail”   LSB 845

“Jesus Thy Boundless Love to Me”   LSB 683

“Church of God, Elect and Glorious”     LSB 646

“Jesu, Jesu, Fill Us with Your Love”    

“Lord, Dismiss Us with Your Blessing”     LSB 924

The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost – Divine Service

 

The Lord perceives every degree of subtle and overt indignation, transgression, and deception.  Apart from Christ, our flesh pulsates in corruption.  But Christ is incorruptible.  His death on the cross forges for us a path abounding in peace, mercy and grace.  Self-centered spirits decay.  But Christ-centered spirits flourish in Word and Sacrament.  In these good things, God inaugurates the mission of the church – to send out laborers into the harvest who are confident only in the righteousness of Christ.

 

Isaiah 66:10-14  

Galatians 6:1-10, 14-18   

 

Almighty God, You have built Your Church on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone. Continue to send Your messengers to preserve Your people in true peace that, by the preaching of Your Word, Your Church may be kept free from all harm and danger; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

 

“The Gifts Christ Freely Gives”  LSB 602

“Jesus Has Come and Brings Pleasure”   LSB 533

“In the Cross of Christ I Glory”   LSB 427

“We Sing the Praise of Him Who Died”     LSB 429

“Now Thank We All Our God”     LSB 895

“Go, My Children, with My Blessing”     LSB 922