Daily Devotions

Today's Reading: Acts 20:27-38

Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 15:10-35; Acts 24:24-25:12

“Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” (Acts 20:28)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. St. Paul said those words to the pastors of the Ephesian churches before he left them. Pastors are supposed to watch out for themselves and the flocks they are called by Christ to shepherd. That means they aren't supposed to preach or teach anything that isn't God's Word and they shouldn't do anything that will take our attention from Christ and His gifts.

Your pastor has an important job! Elsewhere St. Paul told Timothy to pay attention to the teaching of Christ so that he would save himself and his hearers (1 Timothy 4:16). That means that what your pastor preaches matters!

It matters whether your pastor preaches Christ faithfully or just tries to make people feel good. It matters whether your pastor picks hymns that might be hard to sing, but that teach you God's Word and about Christ, rather than songs that just make you feel good when you sing them. It matters whether your pastor teaches the Catechism faithfully and instructs you in everything that Jesus taught or that he just wants to play games and be silly, teaching you that the faith is not serious business. All of this matters. It matters because nonsense and silliness won't save you. Christ's Word and Sacraments save you.

As God's people, we ought to be praying for our pastors. Do you pray for your pastor? You should. You should pray that the Lord will help him to stand strong against the temptations to be likable and popular instead of faithful. You should pray for him, that he will grow in God's Word so that he will be an ever more faithful preacher and teacher. You should pray for your pastor so that he will faithfully shepherd the flock Jesus has called him to serve.

Christ gives you a pastor for YOUR benefit, so that you will hear Christ's Word and believe. A pastor calls you to repentance and comfort you with Christ's forgiveness. Your shepherd is a gift from the Good Shepherd! In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

You, O Lord, Yourself have called him For Your precious lambs to care; But to prosper in his calling, He the Spirit's gifts must share. Give him wisdom from above, Fill his heart with holy love; In his weakness, Lord, be near him, In his prayers, Good Shepherd, hear him. (LSB 681:2)

Today's Reading: Romans 8:12-27

Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 14:47-15:9; Acts 24:1-23

For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. (Romans 8:13)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Get up and go to church or sleep 'til noon? Read your Bible for a bit and meditate on God's Word or spend another half hour doing nothing on the internet? Sit and talk with your parents or go text your friends more short and useless messages? Sometimes we are taught to make choices that don't let us do what we want to do. When we learn to do what the Lord wants rather than what we always want, that's part of what it means to “put to death the deeds of the body.” But how does that work for you? If it's up to us to crucify our sinful flesh, we don't want to make the effort or have the pain.

The best way to “put to death the deeds of the body” is the way the Spirit does it. He does it by drowning them. He drowns our evil deeds in the waters that poured from Christ's side. He drowns them by Holy Baptism.

To live according to the flesh means doing whatever you want as if there is no such thing as sin. As if there are no consequences for your actions. As if ignoring God and ignoring your neighbor won't stir up God's wrath!

But your sins DO stir up God's wrath and anger and punishment. But not upon you. The Father's anger and judgment against all that you do to despise Him and sin against Him He kills. In His Son. On the Cross. There Jesus carries the deeds of your bodies. Your sins. And He dies for them and takes them away.

Then He pours out His Spirit upon you by Baptism and through the Word. Every day, living in that forgiveness, receiving it from your pastor and at Christ's altar, your evil deeds are put to death and the Spirit makes you live. So make the sign of the holy Cross today and remember the name put upon you in Baptism and know that the evil you do is daily being put to death and the Spirit is bringing to life the new you for His glory and the benefit and blessing of your neighbor. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

O Christian, firmly hold this gift And give God thanks forever! It gives the power to uplift In all that you endeavor. When nothing else revives your soul, Your Baptism stands and makes you whole And then in death completes you. (LSB 596:5)

Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 13:1-18; Acts 23:12-35

What is the Sacrament of the Altar? It is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ under the bread and wine, instituted by Christ Himself for us Christians to eat and to drink. (Small Catechism, the Sacrament of the Altar)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. The Catechism gives us a great explanation of the Lord's Super. Jesus doesn't merely die for our sins, He makes sure we receive that forgiveness by giving us His body and blood to eat so that He might live in us and we in Him and then He will raise us on the Last Day.

What is the Sacrament? Not a symbol. Not something that makes us remember something else. It IS the body and blood of Christ. It is Christ Himself present among us.

Where is it? Christ's body isn't just up in heaven somewhere. It's right here, in His church, where the bread and wine are consecrated with His words. That bread and that cup with His Words give us this life-giving gift.

Who gave it? Pastor didn't make this up. The church didn't invent it. It doesn't come from somebody's imagination. No, this gift is given by Christ Himself as His last will and testament. It is the Lord's Words which institute this sacrament and tell us what it gives—the forgiveness of sins.

What do we do with it? This is very simple. Our Lord tells us. We eat and drink it. This saving gift comes to us not as a magic amulet to hang around our neck or some kind of idol on a pedestal or some other superstitious thing. No, it is a meal―body to eat and blood to drink. Just as the Passover lamb was killed and eaten, so the Lamb of God is killed and eaten for our salvation, protecting us from the Angel of Death.

What a precious gift! What a holy treasure! What a joyous meal! What a wonderful work of delivering what He won for us on the cross. The Lord's Supper is His gift to you, in which He gives to you all that He won for you. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

As His pledge of love undying, He, this precious food supplying, Gives His body with the bread, And with the wine the blood He shed. (LSB 627:2)