I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.
1 Corinthians 9:22b
Starting Sunday, February 10, 2024, we will begin a Bible study on the book of 1 Corinthians.
Join us!
Tag: Online (Page 3 of 37)
The scale of creation is truly beyond understanding. It boggles the mind. From the smallest to largest and everything in between. From the intricacies of our being to the faculties of understanding. It is astounding and surpasses all understanding.
Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; His understanding is beyond measure.
Psalm 147:5
The One who breathes out stars and knits life together in the smallest detail. Who sets the heavens in motion and lays out the seasons in their time. Who creates cells more complicated than rockets and lays out galaxies in their beauty.
This is the God we serve! Beyond astronomical!
And yet the most amazing things we consider is not that He determines and names the stars, but that He gathers outcasts, heals the brokenhearted, and bind up our wounds. It is not in the incomprehension of His power, but in that of His pleasure in those who love and fear Him! It is that the same God who created and sustains everything sent His Son, incarnate, to save us so that we could dwell with Him forever!
Amazing! Utterly and unfathomably amazing!
Scriptures
- Psalm 147:1-11
“The land of the free and the home of the brave!”
What a great way to describe our great nation! We value the great freedoms our Constitution provides, which have been protected and secured by the blood and sacrifice of the brave men and women who have and continue to serve!
Take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.
1 Corinthians 8:9
What a blessing God has given us in this great country!
Of course, our country isn’t perfect. We have more laws on the books that restrict freedom than most countries. We have more people incarcerated than most countries. To say we have some serious issues is an understatement.
For American Christians, we have a peculiar shortcoming: we value the freedoms in our country and the ultimate freedoms we have in Jesus, but we are not very conscientious about how we use them. That is to say, we love exercising our freedoms without much concern for how they may negatively affect others.
That may be acceptable secularly, but it is altogether wrong and inappropriate as Christians!
We are called to make sure that in the exercising of our freedoms in Jesus, we are not a stumbling block to others and their faith!
That means always putting the needs others before our own desires. It means being no obstacle to others seeing and following Jesus. We want to be the reason people see Jesus clearly. We want to be a help to those who may be struggling in their faith, not the reason they question it more.
And if that means we don’t get to exercise all our freedoms all the time as we want, so be it!
It’s not about us. It’s about Jesus.
Let’s keep that in mind – always!
Scriptures
- 1 Corinthians 8:1-13
I’ve heard many people say, “patience is a virtue, and I don’t have it!”
I certainly felt that way sometimes as well.
But the truth is we all have patience we just don’t like to use it or exercise it very much. Patience is a part of the fruit of the Spirit, which we all have.
On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God.
Psalm 62:7
The questions is, what are we patient for? Why are we patient? Maybe it’s something that we’ve wanted for a long time; maybe prepared or saved up for.
But what about being patient for the Lord? For His Plan? For His timing? Are we patient, waiting on Him?
I would venture to say we are not altogether good for that, either. We are an immediate, impatient people. We want what we want when we want.
But our timing is not God’s timing. Our ways are not His ways. Our plan is not His Plan.
And we are called to wait on Him.
Wherever He takes us. Whenever He deigns. However He wants.
That means knowing that His way, His Plan, and His time will always be the best for us. Trusting in Him regardless of what is happening in our lives. Relying on Him through everything. Knowing that His love, His mercy, His forgiveness, His salvation is sufficient for all our needs for all time.
“We wait on You, Lord, and out hope is always and every in You alone!”
Scriptures
- Jonah 3:1-5, 10
- Psalm 62:1-2, 5-8
Join us on WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2024, at 7:00 PM for Ash Wednesday worship and the Imposition of Ashes.
“You Meant it for Evil, but God Meant it for Good”
May our evil ways, by God’s mercy, be left in the ash heap and may we be ever recipients of His loving goodness!
- Genesis 50:1
- Genesis 50:15-21
- Luke 22:1-13
The purpose of repentance is not to be swallowed up by guilt. It is to be freed from a dark and destructive direction by God’s wakening Word, and to be sent on a new path by the sin-conquering Savior. It’s what we all need.
THE REV. MIKE NEWMAN
PRESIDENT OF THE TEXAS DISTRICT OF THE LC-MS
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of our Lenten journey, which culminates on Easter Sunday with the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus.
On that night at worship we mark our foreheads with an ash cross and, as that cross is marked, we are reminded of our sins. As we are marked by Jesus’ sacrifice; we are drawn to the realization that “[we] are dust, and to dust [we] shall return” (Genesis 3:19).
On Ash Wednesday and throughout the season of Lent, we also focus on our sins, on repentance, and on our broken world; seeing how we and all of creation has fallen far short of God’s intention and glory.
But we do not despair because we look to the certain hope that is ours through the forgiveness of our sins given to us freely by God’s grace through faith in Jesus.
THE IMPOSITION OF ASHES
Everything we experience in life is finite and temporal, including our own lives. As the Scripture reports, we came from the dust of the ground and we will return to the dust of the ground. (Genesis 3:19 & Ecclesiastes 3:20)
For many centuries the use of ashes has symbolized repentance. Imposing ashes in the form of a cross on the forehead of the worshipper on Ash Wednesday is a vivid reminder that such a person has been redeemed by Christ the Crucified. It is a symbol, not primarily of our sins, but upon the forgiveness of them through faith in Jesus.
As Ash Wednesday is a somber time as we remember that Jesus willingly suffering and death come as a result of our sins and His love. As such, at the conclusion of worship that day, we exit the church in silence.
“Repentance slays selfish pride, turns us from sin’s siren call, quiets arrogant arguments, tames out-of-control egos, pulls us back from distraction, leads us to restoration of relationships, places us on the pathway of walking with God, and restores our hearts with compassion and grace.
We need this personally. We need this as schools and congregations. We need this as a District. We need this as a Synod. We need this as Christ’s Church.”
The Rev. Mike Newman
President of the Texas District of the LC-MS
Posts About Ash Wednesday Worship
ASH WEDNESDAY, 2024
Ash Wednesday worship and the Imposition of Ashes on Wednesday, March 2, 2022, at 6:00 PM.
ASH WEDNESDAY, 2023
Ash Wednesday worship and the Imposition of Ashes on Wednesday, March 2, 2022, at 6:00 PM.
You Will Be Satisfied
For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt…
ASH WEDNESDAY, 2022
Ash Wednesday worship and the Imposition of Ashes on Wednesday, March 2, 2022, at 6:00 PM.
ASH WEDNESDAY, 2021
Ash Wednesday worship and the Imposition of Ashes on Wednesday, February 17, 2021, at 7:00 PM.
ASH WEDNESDAY, 2020 — Ashes & the Freedom Found in Jesus
Come to our Ash Wednesday service for ashes, prayer, worship, and most of all, God’s Grace!
ASH WEDNESDAY, 2019 — Ashes, Repentance, & the Passion of Jesus
Come to our Ash Wednesday service for ashes, prayer, worship, and most of all, God’s Grace!
We’re going to get into one of those tricky difficult topics today: life and abortion.
We often try to stay away from lightning rod topics like this because we don’t want to put off some people. But the fact is, where Scripture speaks we must also; and scripture speaks very clearly on this topic.
For You formed my inward parts; You knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
Psalm 139:13
The Bible tells us that God created us in our mother’s womb; intricately weaving us into exactly the person He wants us to be. And throughout Scripture we know that God is a God of life. That started all the way back in creation in Genesis where He brings life from nothing and breathes His Spirit into humanity.
Scripture is the story of God creating, restoring, promising, and through Jesus being life. So it should not be controversial warranting surprise that God is strongly pro-life.
Perhaps the challenge for us is that we don’t want to come off as judgmental. And that is true. And so let us always remember, that where there has been sin and there is confession, there is forgiveness. The God who forgives sins is available for any who have not chosen life in the past. Period. Not just in the areas of abortion, but in avenues of freezing or discarding embryos; birth control which prevents implantation; or when we belittling, harm, insult, demean, or just don’t seek the best for others through their lives.
When we look at life in all the glorious aspects God has blessed us with, it is evident that we have all failed to be the true pro-life advocates and witnesses He has called us to be.
So, then: let us confess our sins and be renewed in the One who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life; forgiven and given a life to live and His life to share in all areas to all people!
“Lord, be our Life and our Light for more abundance for everyone!”
Scriptures
- Psalm 139:1-18
- Psalm 138:23-24
- John 14:1-7
- John 10:10
It’s fitting that we start the new year with the start of scripture in Genesis. But that’s not the only start to consider today.
I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.
Mark 1:8
In Mark we also see the beginning of Jesus’ ministry when He was baptized in the Jordan.
That might seem like a strange connection, but the newness for Jesus and His ministry and the newness of creation have a deep connection for us. That is, we are new creations when we are joined in our baptism with the baptism of Jesus!
We are new, forgiven, made pure!
So as we look to the new year and trying to make ourselves anew in resolutions, let’s not forget that in Jesus and through His baptism and ours, we are new also truly and perfectly new!
Scriptures
- Genesis 1:1-5
- Mark 1:4-11
- Psalm 29
