VIDEO: Life Together with Rev. Dr. Matthew Harrison

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In this Life Together Digest, the Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison, president of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS), compares the confusion of our culture with the wickedness of the Roman culture in which many early Christians lived.

Even in a godless culture under persecution by Emperor Nero, Christians carried on in Rome, even within Nero's own household, as Paul writes in his letter to the Philippians (Phil. 4:22).

"I know many of you suffer as ideological confusion engulfs us, as many of you work in organizations which are going with the cultural flow, or find yourselves at schools hit from every direction. Be of good cheer. ... The truth is, Jesus is for all of us. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and this truth shall endure and be believed until the Last Day," says Harrison.

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VIDEO: Wednesday August 21, 2024 - Complete Service

View the Bulletin for Wednesday, August 21, 2024
Worship Service: 2:00 p.m.
Bible Study: 2:30 p.m. — The Book of Hebrews
All are welcome, bring a friend, neighbor or relative

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AUDIO: Readings & Sermon for Wednesday August 21, 2024

View the Bulletin for Wednesday, August 21, 2024
Worship Service: 2:00 p.m.
Bible Study: 2:30 p.m. — The Book of Hebrews
All are welcome, bring a friend, neighbor or relative

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1 Kings 1:1-4,15-35 
Now King David was old and advanced in years. And although they covered him with clothes, he could not get warm. Therefore his servants said to him, “Let a young woman be sought for my lord the king, and let her wait on the king and be in his service. Let her lie in your arms, that my lord the king may be warm.” So they sought for a beautiful young woman throughout all the territory of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite, and brought her to the king. The young woman was very beautiful, and she was of service to the king and attended to him, but the king knew her not. 

So Bathsheba went to the king in his chamber (now the king was very old, and Abishag the Shunammite was attending to the king). Bathsheba bowed and paid homage to the king, and the king said, “What do you desire?” She said to him, “My lord, you swore to your servant by the LORD your God, saying, ‘Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne.’ And now, behold, Adonijah is king, although you, my lord the king, do not know it. He has sacrificed oxen, fattened cattle, and sheep in abundance, and has invited all the sons of the king, Abiathar the priest, and Joab the commander of the army, but Solomon your servant he has not invited. And now, my lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are on you, to tell them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him. Otherwise it will come to pass, when my lord the king sleeps with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon will be counted offenders.” 

While she was still speaking with the king, Nathan the prophet came in. And they told the king, “Here is Nathan the prophet.” And when he came in before the king, he bowed before the king, with his face to the ground. And Nathan said, “My lord the king, have you said, ‘Adonijah shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne’? For he has gone down this day and has sacrificed oxen, fattened cattle, and sheep in abundance, and has invited all the king's sons, the commanders of the army, and Abiathar the priest. And behold, they are eating and drinking before him, and saying, ‘Long live King Adonijah!’ But me, your servant, and Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and your servant Solomon he has not invited. Has this thing been brought about by my lord the king and you have not told your servants who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?” 

Then King David answered, “Call Bathsheba to me.” So she came into the king's presence and stood before the king. And the king swore, saying, “As the LORD lives, who has redeemed my soul out of every adversity, as I swore to you by the LORD, the God of Israel, saying, ‘Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne in my place,’ even so will I do this day.” Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the ground and paid homage to the king and said, “May my lord King David live forever!” 

King David said, “Call to me Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada.” So they came before the king. And the king said to them, “Take with you the servants of your lord and have Solomon my son ride on my  own mule, and bring him down to Gihon. And let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet there anoint him king over Israel. Then blow the trumpet and say, ‘Long live King Solomon!’ You shall then come up after him, and he shall come and sit on my throne, for he shall be king in my place. And I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and over Judah.” 

1 Corinthians 12:14-31 
For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. 

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. 

Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the higher gifts. 

And I will show you a still more excellent way. 

The Ten Commandments 
What is the third commandment. 
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 
What does this mean? 
We should fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it. 

Calling All Pro Life Lutherans

PENNSYLVANIA MARCH FOR LIFE HARRISBURG, PA | SEPTEMBER 23, 2024
Gather with pro-life Lutherans prior to the 2024 March for Life Pennsylvania at The Hilton in Harrisburg, One N. 2nd St. in Harrisburg to be encouraged and take a stand for mothers, fathers, and their children born and unborn. A full breakfast, free of charge, (graciously provided by a grant from the English District of the LCMS) will be served from 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM. Speakers Scott Licht of Lutherans for Life, and Maria Gallager from the PA Pro-Life Federation will briefly address us. We will walk together to the Capitol steps for the 11:00 AM Rally and 12:00 PM March. RSVP with your groups attendance:

Gather with your pro-life Lutheran brothers and sisters prior to the 2024 PA March for Life at:
THE HILTON HARRISBURG ONE N. 2ND STREET HARRISBURG, PA 17101

9:00 AM to 10:00 AM
Meet and Greet with Full Breakfast

10:00 AM
Welcome, and Keynote Speakers:
“Life in the Darkness” Scott Licht, Lutherans for Life and Legislative Update, Maria Gallager PA Pro-Life Federation

10:30 AM
Walk to the Capitol Steps for the Rally

12:00 PM
March Begins

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Pastor Christopher Seifferlein of Mount Calvary Lutheran in Lititz at (920) 918-7200 or email pamarchforlife@lancasterlutheran.com

Bulletin: Wednesday August 21, 2024

View the Bulletin for Wednesday, August 21, 2024
Worship Service: 2:00 p.m.
Bible Study: 2:30 p.m. — The Book of Hebrews
All are welcome, bring a friend, neighbor or relative

Visit our YouTube channel — Click the red “subscribe” box, and then click on the “bell” next to that box to receive Live Streaming notifications. You must be logged into YouTube to activate these features.

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Do Our Prayers Change Anything?

Photo: LCMS Communications/Erik M. Lunsford

From The Lutheran Witness, by Jason D. Lane

God is omniscient; He knows all things before they happen and He knows everything we need before we ask. God is omnipotent; He has control over all things and nothing happens that He does not move forward by the power of His might. Even Satan, whom Christ calls “the ruler of this world” (John 14:30), is still God’s devil (see Job 1). What can little Christians like us do before the Almighty? What can we ask of Him that He was not already planning to give?

Even our catechism teaches us that God’s name is holy by itself without our prayer. God’s kingdom comes even without our prayers. His will, too, is done without our prayers. Scripture even says that God is not like us, who regret what we do and constantly change our minds. “I am not like a man,” He says, “that I should have regret” (see 1 Sam. 15:29). All this may lead us to believe that whatever God wills He does, and we cannot change it. Everything, it seems, is already determined for good or for ill. God is immutable, unchanging. So why pray, if prayer can’t change anything?

First, it can. The nineteenth-century Danish philosopher, Soren Kierkegaard, thought that prayer could effect change. But he didn’t think it could change God. He wrote a now wildly popular sentiment: “The prayer does not change God, but it changes the one who offers it.”[1] That is a nice thought, and surely our prayers to God can change our hearts and our desires. But they can do much more than that.

 Scripture clearly teaches that God commands us to pray and promises to hear us for the sake of Jesus Christ not merely to change us, but to cause God to act. God changes His mind and heart in a way that does not undermine His eternal and immutable nature. God responds to human sinning in time. He answers prayers in time. In the wicked days of Noah, God “regretted that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him to His heart” (Gen. 6:6). In 1 Samuel 15, mentioned above, God regretted making Saul king over Israel. Numerous accounts in Scripture demonstrate that God also answers the prayers of His people. God planned to do one thing, and then, because of the prayers of mortal creatures, He did something else according to those prayers.

Think of Abraham interceding for Lot and his family in Sodom (Gen. 18:22–33). Think of Nineveh, lying in sackcloth and ashes and saying, “Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish” (Jonah 3:9). Think also of Jonah’s outrageous response: “That is why I made hast to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster” (Jonah 3:2). In other words, Jonah knew that God changes His mind, because He is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Sometimes, God does something that He may not have done if no human being had asked Him. Elisha, for example, asked God to open his servant’s eyes to see the angelic hosts surrounding the city of Dothan, and he asked God to blind the Syrians. God did it. He opened the eyes of Elisha’s servant and blinded the eyes of the enemy, “in accordance with the prayer of Elisha” (2 Kings 6:15–18).   

Christians need to maintain God’s immutability, because Scripture teaches that God is not fickle about His will toward us: “Every good and perfect gift comes down from above, from the Father of lights, in whom there is no variation or change” (James 1:17). Though we are fickle and feckless, God is constant and clear in His purpose. In preaching on the contrast between God and us from this passage in James, Martin Luther says:

False doctrine doesn’t stand still; it doesn’t stay in one place. Today one way of thinking is right, tomorrow it’s something else. That’s why, since the time of the apostles, new doctrines keep appearing and attack the foundation of our doctrine. They strike quickly. Our Lord God is not like that at all: whatever He does, He stands by it. If I were God, I’d get so tired of this world and want to change it, so that the sun wouldn’t always run the same course. But God’s work never changes. He stands by marriage, even though He’s seen so many broken marriages. No one is able to be that consistent—neither man nor devil (WA 45, 79. From a Sermon preached on James 1:16–21 on 29 April 1537).

God’s constancy and immutability is a teaching of great comfort to inconsistent and uncertain creatures like us, who must live in a changing world and with our own changing hearts. 

On the other hand, we must not think of God as a magic lamp that can be manipulated or tricked into giving us what we want. Instead, “God tenderly invites us to believe that He is our true Father and that we are His true children, so that with all boldness and confidence we would ask as dear children ask their dear Father” (SC, Introduction). We should believe it because He says so. We are His children, and He made it so in Holy Baptism.

Therefore, Christ says, “ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened” (Luke 11:9-10). Whatever prevents us from prayer to our Heavenly Father is of the devil, who wants us to expect less from God, take Him for a harsh master, or, if we must pray at all, treat Him as if He were nothing more than a lucky charm. 

Prayer is an act of obedience to God’s command, but it is also an act of faith, to believe that God will hear us for the sake of Christ. Prayer is simply the language of faith that the children of God speak to their Heavenly Father. St. Paul therefore writes, “rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thess. 5:16–18), not because we are always moving our lips in formal prayer, but because faith looks to God in all things. If God has not withheld His only Son from us, “how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things” (Rom. 8:32)?

All that is to say that we are invited to believe and therefore to pray to our Father to give us all things for Jesus’ sake, “let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven” (Isaiah 7:11). We are taught to pray for His name to hallowed among us, His kingdom to come among us, and His will to be done among us. But we are also taught to pray for the temporal blessings of daily bread. So pray for the eternal things. Pray for the temporal things. Ask, seek, knock. He wants to give it all to us by grace. 

[1] Soren Kierkegaard, Purity of Heart Is To Will One Thing (New York: Harper, 1956), 51.

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LUTHERANS engage - Summer Issue

“It’s so amazing to see how God just made everything fall into place.” 

David Anderson said these words about Light of the World Lutheran Church, a church plant in DeSoto, Kan. But they could also be used to describe the other projects in this issue of Lutherans Engage the World, from the dedication of a new Lutheran center in Romania, to the opportunity three pastors have had to serve their communities in unique ways, to the staggering array of mercy projects that your gifts and prayers have supported over the past few years. 

Thank you for reading and for walking with us in Christ’s church.

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