Martin Luther’s Daily Prayers

LUTHER’S MORNING PRAYER

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.

LUTHER’S EVENING PRAYER

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have graciously kept me this day; and I pray that You would forgive me all my sins where I have done wrong, and graciously keep me this night. For into Your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.

Post Easter Beacon article

Greetings Saints!

HE IS RISEN!! I hope you had a terrific Easter and that you were able to know the power of Jesus’ Resurrection (Phil. 3:10). I write to you on Monday, the day after Easter. And we have cause as a church for celebration. In the Beacon two weeks ago, Pastor David posed an exciting challenge to us – to invite people to our Easter services, pray for people to come, and to “think about what the SUMC Campus would look like with 2,000 people.” Yesterday was Easter, and we had 1,836 people here to worship the Risen Lord! I don’t share this to boast in numbers, but to praise God for leading people here to encounter Him.

The power of our God is that in Him life springs from dead things. We celebrated yesterday God’s greatest example of bringing eternal life for all humanity out of an empty tomb in victory, conquering for us sin and death. And this has always been the essence of Christian faith. This is why in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, even Old Testament figures like Abraham are lifted up as examples of Christian faith. Long before Christ, Abraham had faith that the one true God could bring life out of the empty tomb of Sarai’s womb. And He believed God for what He said He would do enough to follow Him anywhere. May God burst forth life from our empty tombs!

Grace and peace,

Pastor Jonathan

Easter Sermon

Bedtime Prayer

In today's sermon we looked at how Jesus' final words from the cross in Luke taken from Psalm 31 are thought to be a bedtime prayer Jewish mothers would teach their children - "Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit." I want to offer a modified expanded version of a contemporary equivalent we say with Noah each night before bed.

Now I lay me

Down to sleep

I pray the Lord

My soul to keep

If I should die

Before I wake

I pray the Lord

My soul to take

But if I should live

Another day

I pray the Lord

To guide my way

Thank you Jesus

Savior Friend

And now at last

We say, Amen.

Record Reached

I just want to point out (mainly to myself as a way to celebrate victory) that with this post I have officially achieved the number of posts by the end of March 2012 that I had the entire year of 2011. Wahoo! Perhaps I deleted some from last year. That's likely. But as they say, a win's a win! Next year we'll move our focus from numbers to content ;).

Insights for Sermons by Ellsworth Kalas

Hey preaching friends! Here's a worthwhile read published today by Dr. Ellsworth Kalas.

Insights for Sermons by J. Ellsworth Kalas

A challenging but very edifying word to press on in the worthy nature of the call and to avoid the other methods of a different nature.

Seminarian