Third Sunday in Advent, December 14th, 2025
Our Redeemer and Our Savior's Lutheran Churches
Custer and Hill City, South Dakota
There is no manuscript this week, when we reviewed the two guides below.
You can listen to the sermon HERE
Rejoice in the Lord Always - Four Foundational
Practices
for Training in Righteousness and
Increasing Joy
(One
Weekly and Three Daily)
1.
Attend Church Weekly; 2. Read the Bible Daily; 3. Examine Yourself Daily; 4. Pray
Daily.
1) Attend
the Services of God at Your Congregation Every Week, ideally every Sunday.
Weekly worship is God’s rhythm built into
the Creation, prior to the Fall, when God rested on the Seventh Day and
sanctified it. In Exodus 20:8-10, the
Lord codifies the Seventh Day as the day of rest and worship for Israel, the
Sabbath. This Sabbath requirement was
fulfilled by Christ on Holy Saturday as His body rested in the tomb. The New Testament Church was free to worship
on any day, and chose the first day of the week, (see Acts 20:7) because that
is when Jesus rose from the dead, but maintaining the pattern of weekly
congregational worship. See also Hebrews
10:23-25.
The Church and her ministers have always
been cognizant of the reality that sometimes attending Sunday worship is a
challenge for some members. So, other
regular and occasional opportunities to gather are offered. Try to make Sunday work, but if you cannot,
speak to your pastor about other options.
2) Receive
God’s Word Daily: Read or hear a significant section of the Bible every
day.
He who is of God hears the Words of God. (John 8:47)
Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. (Colossians 3:16) Receive the implanted Word, which is able
to save your soul. (James 1:21)
For 1,600 years after Pentecost, the only
way for the great majority of Christians to have the Word of God in their daily
life was to memorize passages they heard in congregational worship. This is still an excellent practice. But we who are blessed to own Bibles, including
electronic versions on our devices, can and should take advantage of this great
blessing. Your ears have been opened to
the Truth of God by the Holy Spirit. So,
keep them filled with the Word, so that the lies of Satan and the world do not
fill your mind and heart.
Plans
and Resources for Reading or Hearing God’s Word
Portals of Prayer: Use “Portals of Prayer” for yourself or
with your family. Only be sure to use it
well. Set your reading within the brief
order of prayer that is in the front of the booklet. Look up and read the full suggested passages,
not just the verse at the top of each page.
Also, consider adding one additional
Psalm each day to your Portals habit.
(Split your reading of Psalm 119 into its 22 eight-verse sections.) This will take you through all the Psalms
twice each year.
Sunday Insert Devotion - Lectionary
Repetition: Use the devotional plan
built into our weekly Readings Insert.
This practice anchors your weekly devotions to the readings and rhythm
of our Sunday worship: Monday through Wednesday looking back and reviewing last
Sunday’s readings, Thursday through Saturday looking forward to next
Sunday.
Treasury of Daily Prayer: (Or the LSB Daily Lectionary, see below) Consider purchasing the Treasury of Daily
Prayer, (TDP). TDP follows the
liturgical calendar, giving two readings, one Old Testament and one New
Testament, each day, along with prayers, hymn stanzas and brief writings from
the entire history of the Church, all in one volume. In a year with TDP, you will read almost all
of the New Testament, and part of every book in the Bible.
There is a digital version of TDP, available
in the CPH app “InPrayer.” You can also simply
use the reading calendar of TDP, which begins on page 299 of our LSB hymnal, (Daily
Lectionary).
Year through the Bible: To help those who want to take the challenge
of reading the entire Bible in one year, Pastor Warner has a reading plan that
helps you make it through by alternating between Old Testament and New
Testament readings. It also offers a
Psalm or Biblical Canticle each day.
“Beginning With Moses” YouTube
channel: Pastor Gary Schulte of
Zion, Rapid City, is posting short YouTube videos that will take you through
the whole Bible, 10 minutes per day, with faithful and helpful interpretation
along the way. If reading for yourself
is difficult, but you use YouTube, this could be the option for you.
3) Examine
Yourself Daily
Use God’s Word to honestly consider your
own Christian walk. Resources include the
Ten Commandments, or the Table of Duties in the Small Catechism, (LSB 321 and 328, or in your Small Catechism),
or perhaps some word of instruction or command from your daily reading. Self-examination will help you uncover sins
and bad habits, so you can confess them to your heavenly Father and be forgiven
and restored. It will also teach you how
to shape your life to make better choices moving forward.
Keep your self-examination
brief, and use it to move into prayer, so that you do not allow
your sins to beat you up excessively.
God wants to hear your confession, so He can forgive you and build you
up for Christian living, not to make you depressed about your faults. Do deal with honestly with yourself, but then
pray for the Lord’s mercy. He will give
it!
4) Pray
to your Heavenly Father Daily:
Keep your prayers simple, especially if
you are just beginning to add them to your day.
A simple pattern of prayer maintained is better than an intricate
pattern that you cannot keep up. Use the
orders offered in Portals, or TDP, or simply follow your own.
Include the Lord’s Prayer every
day! Pray the Psalms, they are Christ’s
prayers, for you to use. Using written prayers from the Church of centuries
past, and also praying from your heart, speak to your heavenly Father as His
dear child. The Small Catechism offers a
simple way to pray, (LSB 327). There
also written prayers to use on pages 305-318 of LSB. Most of the Psalms are in the front of LSB
The acronym ACTS can also help you
shape your prayers. Your prayers can include Adoration of God for Who He
is and all He does for us; Confession, acknowledging the Truth of God’s
Word, your belief in it, and your admission of the sins you have committed; Thanksgiving
expressed to the Lord for all His benefits; Supplication, asking God for
specific needs, for yourself, your loved ones, your congregation, your
neighbors, the nation, and for the world.
On page 294 of LSB there is a list of different
prayer themes for each day of the week, which can help shape your prayers. On LSB 295-298 you will find simple orders of
prayer for different times of the day.
Cheerful
Giving Annual Reflection Guide
God loves a cheerful giver. (2nd
Corinthians 9:7)
Whether
we mean giving of our money, our time, our energy, or our kindness, all of us struggle
from time to time to give cheerfully. This
is a sad reality that comes with living in this fallen world, as a believer who
is still a sinner. (Romans 7:7-25)
The Gospel
of free forgiveness in Jesus Christ is ultimately the source of our Christian
cheerfulness, in particular in relation to sharing our material goods. (Luke
19:1-10, John 20:24-31)
So,
to become a cheerful steward, be filled with the Gospel, for it is the power of
God unto Salvation. The Good News of
Christ crucified and resurrected for the forgiveness of sins changes you, and
the more you get, the more the Spirit works on you. So let the Gospel shape you, for your
salvation, and for joy in living. (Colossians
3:12-17, Philippians 2:1-13, John 3:13-18, 1 John 1:1-2:2)
Stewards of the Gospel
It is
a privilege to participate in the Stewardship of the Gospel, by confessing
Christ to your family, friends and neighbors in your daily life, and by
participating and supporting Christ’s Word and Sacrament Ministry, in your local
congregation and beyond. (Mark 5:19, [5:1-20
for context], 1 Peter 3:15, 1 Peter 4:7-11, Acts 17:10-12, 2nd
Corinthians 8:1-5)
One
important part of our Christian Stewardship is our support of the ministry of
our own congregation with our time, abilities and financial resources. The Gospel goes forth from our congregation
through the support of the members of our congregation.
Satan
can make us miserable if we don’t have a plan for our financial giving, as well
as our service in the congregation. If
we are considering week after week how much we should donate, or how much we
should take on to do, all the cheerfulness will most likely be sucked out of
our giving. (1 Peter 5:8)
A Good Habit for Your Financial
Stewardship
One way to
approach you or your household’s financial stewardship is to intentionally and
deliberately consider and pray about how much you would like to give in the
coming year.
The
goal is to make a decision we can live with, and then to do that, without
returning again and again to the
question.
Live with the decision, and
don’t think about how much you want to give or volunteer until next year.
The only reasons to reconsider midyear would be a
significant change in your economic situation,
(whether an increase or decrease in your finances and income),
or a
significant financial challenge at church.
How to:
Over the next two or three weeks, read and re-read the
references in this document and other favorite Gospel stories that come to
mind. (The Christmas story and the Good Friday-Easter story would be great
to include: Matthew 1:18-25 and 26:17-28:20, Luke 2:1-21, John 1:1-18 and 18:1-
20:31)
(continued on the reverse)
Consider, and
discuss within your household as appropriate, the richness of God’s grace
toward you, based on these texts, and on your particular situation.
As you
consider God’s grace toward you, also take a realistic view of your financial
situation and your work and life schedule.
Do you expect to have
more or less income next year? Do you expect to have more or less time
available next year? Are you satisfied
with your level of busy-ness, or do you want to take steps to gain better
control of your schedule?
What
about your financial expenses? Do you
expect them to go up or down?
How much were you able to donate to the
Church last year? How much time did you give
to
serve in the congregation?
Did
this give you joy?
Consider whether you want
to volunteer to serve more in your congregation, or whether you need to scale
back.
Consider
some possible levels of financial giving , on either a weekly or monthly
basis.
What
amount seems possible? What
makes you cheerful?
Pray every day throughout this process,
asking the Holy Spirit to help you reach the right decision.
Make a decision
for your giving in the next year. Write
it down here:
For
the year ____________, I/we, prayerfully intend to support the ministry of my congregation as follows:
Service in Congregation: List current and new areas you will seek to
serve.
_______________________________________________________________
.
Giving
Frequency: (circle one) Monthly Weekly Other _________.
Giving
amount: _________ (amount per period)
for
an annual total of: _________.
We do / do not (circle
one) expect to also be able to support other ministry and mission
opportunities as the opportunity arises.
Once made, set your financial decision aside. Unless your economic situation changes
significantly mid-year, (for the better or for the worse), don’t debate your
giving plan anymore. Let this be your
God given cheerful number for next year.
According to His grace, He will help you meet it.
This is intended as a private matter. You shouldn’t feel any obligation to share it
with anyone outside your household.
Now, go into the New Year with hope, joy and
confidence that the Lord will continue to bless you, and your congregation, and
through both, the world.
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