Author: Bethlehem Lutheran
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Lent III Midweek
Text: 2 Samuel 15:1-14 Additional Reading: Luke 10:25–37 The Fourth Commandment concerns God’s authority on earth. Through father and mother God rules households. Through president, emperor, king, and other civil offices God rules the nations of the world. The authority of father or president is not the authority of a mere man, but it is…
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Third Sunday in Lent
Readings: Exodus 20:1–17 | 1 Corinthians 1:18–31 | John 2:13–22 Text: 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 St. Paul writes to the Corinthian Christians, who were a gathering of people from largely Greek backgrounds, yet they were called together to belong to God through Jesus Christ. But in being called to belong to Him, they often found themselves…
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Lent II Midweek
Text: 1 Kings 18:20-40 Additional Reading: John 5:1-18 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The Second and Third Commandments flow from the First. In the First Commandment the Lord indicates that he is giving us himself. He says, “You shall have no other gods,” which certainly is…
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Second Sunday in Lent
Readings: Genesis 17:1–7, 15–16 | Romans 5:1-11 | Mark 8:27-38 Text: Mark 8:27-33 During this season of Lent, the faithful follow Jesus year after year to the cross. It’s a devotional practice which spans centuries and connects us with that great cloud of witnesses who “lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely,…
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Lent I Midweek
Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Lebanon, OR Readings: Psalm 81:1-16 | Exodus 32:1-35 | John 8:31-59 Text: Exodus 32:1-35 At Mount Sinai, as recorded in Exodus 20, God Himself spoke to the people of Israel, saying, “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slaves.…
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First Sunday in Lent
Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Lebanon, OR Readings: Genesis 22:1-18 | James 1:12-18 | Mark 1:9-15 Text: Genesis 22:1-18 One of the sad realities of life is that people only get woken up to a problem when it affects them personally. In war, they’re willing to send other sons into war, but hate to send their own. …
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Ash Wednesday
Readings: Joel 2:12-19 | 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10 | Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 Text: Joel 2:12-19; Job 13:23 Our forefather Job asked the Lord in the midst of his suffering, “How many are my iniquities and my sins? Make me know my transgression and my sin” (Job 13:23). This seems like a dangerous question and request. Don’t…
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The Transfiguration of Our Lord
Readings: 2 Kings 2:1-12 | 2 Corinthians 3:23-18; 4:1-6 | Mark 2:2-9 Text: Mark 9:2-9 Have you ever stared at the sun? I hope not, because it would burn your corneas and you’d be blind. Have you ever handled molten rock? If you did, it would burn your skin irreparably. Have you ever eaten highly…
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Fourth Sunday after Epiphany
Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Lebanon, OR Readings: Deuteronomy 18:15–20 | 1 Corinthians 8:1–13 | Mark 1:21–28 Text: Mark 1:21-28 That Sabbath in Capernaum was a remarkable day. Jesus and his disciples came to the synagogue service, and Jesus began to teach. In an age when anybody with a webcam and some provocative things to say calls…
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St. Timothy, Pastor and Confessor
Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Lebanon, OR Readings: Acts 16:1–5 | 1 Timothy 6:11–16 | Matthew 24:42–47 Text: 1 Timothy 6:11-16 Today, we commemorate Timothy, a young man of a mixed Jewish-Greek marriage, whose believing grandmother Lois, and mother Eunice, nurtured in him a messianic faith that was kindled when St. Paul came to Lystra (2 Tim.…