DEVOTION: Deuteronomy 30:15-20English Standard Version (ESV)
15 "See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. 16 If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God[a] that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules,[b] then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live,20 loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them."
Choose life….. How many choices did you make yesterday? How many of them were according to God's will? History, especially the history that we find in the Bible, tells us that we have not chosen life. Since we are Adam and Eve's descendants, and since they chose death by eating of the tree of which God forbade them to eat, we have that burden of sin on us until Jesus comes again.
Therefore, God had to choose us, and choose to send His one and only Son to earth so that His perfect, sinless Son could make the right choice and die in our place.
Because of this perfect choice the Holy Spirit has entered us and breathed new life into us. In this new life, by the power of that same Holy Spirit, we are able to choose life. We can walk in His ways. We can hold fast to Him. We can love the Lord. We will dwell in the land of the Lord forever when Christ returns and restores everything to the way it should be!
Don't despair of your own inability to do what is right. Instead, trust in the Lord, hold fast to Him, surrender to His will, rest in His grace. Then you will truly experience that peace that the world doesn't comprehend. Then you will know where true peace and joy can be found. Live in Christ, and let Christ live in you.
Let us Pray: Lord, as I continue to choose death even though You have given me life, make me to continually turn away from that sin and hold fast to You that I may live forever with You. Amen.
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CALENDAR
Tues- Quilting 9-2
Wed-Choir 7
Thurs- Lutheranism 101 6:30pm
Sat- Worship 5pm
Sun- Worship 8:30 and 11; Sunday school and Adult Bible class 9:45; Elders meeting noon
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WORSHIP WORKERS FOR THIS COMING WEEKEND:
Acolyte- 8:30- Nova Luebke 11- Kalene Masters
Ushers- Larry Schulze, Scott Schulze, Gary Scott, Dave Winter
Altar- Set up- Don Hance; Clean up- Joann Hachtel
Elders- Sat- Randy Fischer; 8:30- Jason Cluver; 11- Jim Rahn
Greeters- 8:30- Paul and Cindy Klover; 11- Dan and Lisa Rausch
Lay Readers- Sat- Sandra Perricone; 8:30- Steve McDowell; 11- Jim Rahn
Piano- Kathy Barrow