Reaching the Hiawatha Valley of the Upper Mississippi
With this blog, we will pass along important announcements, include a devotional reading, and help prepare for worship this coming Sunday!
This Sunday at Our Redeemer
--- Divine Service @ 9:00 AM
This Sunday at Grace
--- Fellowship Breakfast @ 9:45 AM
--- Divine Service @ 9:00 AM
Luther's Four Big Barber Questions
The story goes that one day while he was getting a haircut, Martin Luther was asked by his barber, Peter Beskendorf, “Dr. Luther, how do you pray?” In answer to his question, Luther sent Beskendorf a letter — 40 printed pages in length! Luther’s “prayer plan,” as it turned out, was a combination of Bible study and prayer. In order to give his barber an easy plan by which to formulate prayers on the thoughts of his Bible study, Luther said he should ask the four questions to a text and then weave them into his prayer based on the answers Scripture gives him.
- What does this Bible lesson teach me to do? (Main Theme)
- What does it teach me to be thankful for? (Specific Gospel)
- What does it teach me to confess? (Specific Sin)
- What does it teach me to ask for? (Sanctification)
August 18, 2019 --- The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
The believer prays boldly. The Prayer of the Day beautifully centers worship for this Sunday: God’s ears are open; let us then boldly ask for the blessings he promises.
PRAYER OF THE DAY: O Lord, your ears are always open to the prayers of your humble servants who come to you in Jesus’ name. Teach us always to ask according to your holy will, that we may never fail to obtain the blessings you have promised; through your Son Jesus Christ, our living Lord, who reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
OLD TESTAMENT LESSON: Genesis 18:20-32
There were just certain ways that things were done in the ancient East. This was not it. Abraham’s continued pressing of God for concessions would have seemed presumptuous to any earthly master. Yet Abraham was as bold as this when talking to God! On hearing of the Lord’s plans for wicked Sodom, Abraham shamelessly presses the Lord to live up to the meaning of his name. Our confidence is the same as we boldly come before our heavenly Father’s throne seeking his free and faithful grace. We come, then, knowing that our dear Father will answer our prayer in the way that is best for us. Though the Lord did not find even ten righteous ones living in Sodom, Lot and his daughters were ultimately saved.
20So the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very flagrant, 21I will go down now and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has come to me. If not, I will know.”
22The two men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord. 23Abraham approached him and said, “Will you really sweep away the righteous along with the wicked? 24What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep them away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it? 25You would never do such a thing, killing the righteous along with the wicked, treating the righteous the same as the wicked. You would never do such a thing. The Judge of all the earth should do right, shouldn’t he?”
26The Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people within the city of Sodom, then I will spare the entire place for their sake.”
27Abraham answered, “See now, I who am but dust and ashes have taken it on myself to speak to my Lord. 28What if there are five fewer than fifty righteous? Will you destroy the entire city if the number is five short?”
He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”
29He spoke to him yet again and said, “What if only forty are found there?”
He said, “I will not do it for the sake of the forty.”
30He said, “Please, do not be angry, my Lord, but I will speak again. What if thirty are found there?”
He said, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.”
31He said, “See now, I have taken it upon myself to speak to my Lord. What if there are twenty found there?”
He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the twenty.”
32He said, “Please, do not be angry, my Lord, but I will speak just once more. What if ten are found there?”
He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten.”
PSALM OF THE DAY: Psalm 6
Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world; have mercy on us!
L: O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger
G: or discipline me in your wrath.
L: Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am faint;
G: O LORD, heal me, for my soul is in anguish.
L: Turn, O LORD, and deliver me;
G: save me because of your unfailing love.
L: I am worn out from groaning.
G: My eyes grow weak with sorrow.
L: Away from me, all you who do evil,
G: for the LORD has heard my weeping.
L: The LORD has heard my cry for mercy;
G: the LORD accepts my prayer.
Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world; have mercy on us!
EPISTLE LESSON: Colossians 2:6-15
This third sequential reading in our four week series from St. Paul's letter to the Colossians points out the reason why we can be so bold in prayer: God has given us the fullness of Christ! In Christ we were circumcised, buried, and raised to life. With all our sins forgiven, we have been made children of God who have every right and encouragement to ask of God — just as a belovéd child would ask his dear father.
6Therefore, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in him, 7by being rooted and built up in him, and strengthened in the faith just as you were taught, while you overflow in faith with thanksgiving.
8See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, which are in accord with human tradition, namely, the basic principles of the world, but not in accord with Christ. 9For all the fullness of God’s being dwells bodily in Christ. 10And you have been brought to fullness in him. Christ is the head over every ruler and authority. 11You were also circumcised in him, with a circumcision not done by human hands, in the putting off of the body of flesh, in the circumcision of Christ, 12when you were buried with Christ in baptism. And in baptism you were also raised with him through the faith worked by the God who raised Christ from the dead.
13Even when you were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ by forgiving us all our trespasses. 14God erased the record of our debt brought against us by his legal demands. This record stood against us, but he took it away by nailing it to the cross. 15After disarming the rulers and authorities, he made a public display of them by triumphing over them in Christ.
VERSE OF THE DAY: John 6:68
Alleluia. “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Alleluia.
GOSPEL LESSON: Luke 11:1-13
Jesus' disciples came to him looking for help to learn how to pray. Jesus responded by coupling the spiritual gift petitions of the Lord’s Prayer with examples of the boldness with which our Heavenly Father invites us to ask, seek, and knock. Rooted in God's Word, these requests come from hearts of faith which have been taught to seek not only what we need but even what we want. Our confidence is this: we can come again and again before our Father’s throne of grace knowing that every good and perfect gift comes from our dear Father to his dear children.
1On another occasion, Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.”
2He said to them, “When you pray, say, ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 3Give us each day our daily bread. 4Forgive us our sins, as we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’”
5He said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and tell him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, 6because a friend of mine who is on a journey has come to me, and I do not have anything to set before him.’ 7And the one inside replies, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give it to you.’ 8I tell you, even if he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his bold persistence, he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
9“I tell you, keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep seeking, and you will find. Keep knocking, and it will be opened to you. 10For everyone who asks receives. The one who seeks finds. And to the one who knocks, it will be opened.
11“What father among you, if your son asks for bread, would give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, would give him a snake instead of a fish? 12Or if he asks for an egg, would give him a scorpion? 13If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”
