Service Folder Refreshment is needed on any long trek. The children of Israel, trekking in the wilderness, needed refreshment on the way to the Promised Land. The crowd of 5,000 in the wilderness with Jesus needed refreshment before returning home. We need refreshment, during our Lenten trek on the way to the Easter festival. This Sunday Jesus gives us that refreshment
Service Folder Jesus talks all about seeking us in this week’s lessons. He does not wait passively for us to come to Him; nor does He act out of selfish gain. Praying, visiting, preaching – In all these things, Jesus is for us. This work is often overlooked because it is so ordinary. He comes in ordinary-sounding words to do his extraordinary…
Service Folder As we trek through the wilderness of this world we face danger. The source of the danger is the devil. When he led the Israelites into idolatry, Moses had to stand in the breach to stay God’s anger. Moses is a type of Christ who stood in the breach to stay God’s anger against sinners. Blessed are you when you…
Service Folder Everything Jesus does, He does “for us.” This phrase will be introduced this week in the series hymn. Pro nobis, or “for us,” appears again and again in the series hymn. Jesus is baptized, fasts, is tempted, overcomes temptation, and, in doing so, begins His work of undoing the power of the devil (Mark 1:9–13). It is especially worth noting…
Service Folder Today we are reminded that we are tracking through a barren dry wilderness. We see this in all three of our readings: first, with the children of Israel tracking through the wilderness to the Promised Land of Canaan, second, with a woman suffering affliction from the devil because her daughter is demon-possessed; and third, with the world that defiles…
Service Folder Theme: The Robe of Human Frame Why did Jesus have to come among us as a human being? Why didn’t He come as an angel or some other kind of being that is stronger and more powerful than us? While angels may be a source of endless fascination to the Christian and to the world, they have no power to…
Service Folder The children of Israel were trapped between Pharaoh and the Red Sea. God gave them a way out, parting the Red Sea before them and drowning Pharaoh and his army. We, too, were trapped – trapped by the devil in sin. God provides the way out through the waters of baptism, baptized into Jesus, delivering us from the devil and…