Reflections

Daily Lectionary: 2 Kings 5:9-27; Philippians 1:1-20 

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39) 

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. The answer: No. Nei. Nope. Nada. Nein. No way José. Non. Nullus. Impossible. Inconceivable. The question: Can anything separate you from God's love toward you in Christ Jesus? 

The devil will try. The world and culture around you will try. Your own sinful flesh will try. None of them change the fact:. God has loved the world, has loved you, and sent His only-begotten Son Jesus Christ into this world to die for the sins of the world, for your sin, that whoever believes in Him, in Jesus, will not perish but have eternal life. Period. No exceptions. 100% guaranteed. Even the believing is gift to you, not something you have to strive to do. Staying in the faith, to keep believing — guess what, that's all gift to you as well. Talk about a crazy love! God does it all. The Father does the sending of Jesus. Jesus does the saving by His death on the Cross. The Holy Spirit gifts you and keeps you believing in Jesus. It's all God from beginning to end. No wonder nothing in all of creation can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

God is on your side. He loves you and wants you to be with Him, now and eternally. "If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" (Romans 8:31-32) Look at what He gives. He has washed you in the waters of Holy Baptism in His Name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He has absolved you of all your sins. He feeds you with Jesus' Body and Blood in bread and wine to put the forgiveness won on the Cross into you. He preaches His Word into your ear. All gift from the Father through the Son by the Holy Spirit. What can stop God's love for you in Christ Jesus? Nothing. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. 

For no one can condemn me Or set my hope aside; Now hell no more can claim me: Its fury I deride. No sentence now reproves me, No guilt destroys my peace; For Christ, my Savior, loves me And shields me with His grace. ("If God Himself Be for Me" LSB 724, st.5)

-Rev. Daniel Voth, pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Grand Forks, ND.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Duane Bamsch

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.

Today's Reading: Small Catechism: Lord's Prayer, Conclusion

Daily Lectionary: 2 Kings 4:48-5:8; Ephesians 6:1-24 

For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen. What does this mean? This means that I should be certain that these petitions are pleasing to our Father in heaven, and are heard by Him; for He Himself has commanded us to pray in this way and has promised to hear us. Amen, amen, means, "yes, yes, it shall be so." (Small Catechism: Lord's Prayer, Conclusion) 

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. The Church has a way that She prays. The Prayer of the Church in the Divine Service ends each petition with, "Lord in your mercy; hear our prayer" or "In peace, let us pray to the Lord; Lord have mercy." We find a similar addition to the psalms or Introit with the Gloria Patri (Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit), to give glory and praise to the One to whom we have just prayed. 

And so we also have a Church ending, or better, a liturgical ending to the Lord's Prayer, which is not found in most translations of the Bible. It is part of the language of the Church in prayer. This ending is threefold, a doxology, reminding us that as we pray to our Father who art in heaven, we are also praying to the Son and Holy Spirit, the Triune God. To this Triune God alone belongs the eternal kingdom opened to us by the death of Christ, the power which saves us now and eternally, and the glory and praise which we sing in the Church on earth and will sing with the Church in eternity. 

To all of our prayers we add, "Amen." This is an affirmation by Christians that all for which we have prayed, in the Lord's Prayer, in our liturgical prayers, and in our individual daily prayers, has been heard by our God and He is answering those prayers with His, "Yes!" As Paul assures us by inspiration, "He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" (Romans 8:31) The death of Jesus for you and your salvation is the assurance, the pledge and promise, that God will answer every one of your prayers with His "Amen," according to His gracious will. Thus we boldly and confidently pray, "Amen," knowing that God has heard and answered our prayers and caused His will to be done in all things, even our salvation. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. 

We trust, O Lord, in Your great mercy to hear and answer us; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

-Rev. Daniel Voth, pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Grand Forks, ND.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Duane Bamsch

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.

Today's Reading: 2 Corinthians 3:4-11

Daily Lectionary: 2 Kings 4:8-22, 32-37; Ephesians 5:15-33 

For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (2 Corinthians 3:6b) 

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. The letter kills. What letter? Maybe the letter "t," because it looks like a sword standing on end? No! The letter of the Law. If you try to justify yourself before God based only on your ability to keep the Law, the Ten Commandments, you won't be successful. You will die because no one can keep the Law perfectly enough. As a matter of fact, the more you stare at the Law, the more you see that you are a sinner who sins in thought, word, and deed, and deserves nothing but God's temporal and eternal punishment. 

Alright, say it with me: The Holy Spirit "has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith." The Spirit gives life by the Gospel, the Good News that on account of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, your sin is forgiven and you have life now that lasts into eternity. This is not your work, accomplished by your keeping the letter of the Law, as if you could, but on account of Jesus for you. He kept that holy Law perfectly in your place and gives His obedience as a gift to you. 

This is the Good News that Paul and other pastors proclaim to you. It is not because they have kept the Law perfectly on their own. They must rely on Jesus the same as you do for their forgiveness. God is the One who calls them and gives to them the ministry of reconciliation, the ministry of proclaiming Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. This is why, when they stand before you in the Divine Service or private confession, they can say, "In the stead and by the command of Christ Jesus, I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." God has given them this Word. It does not come from them, but from God for you. And this Word is more sure than even the words that were carved into rock for Moses. These words have permanent, eternal glory, for they are Christ's words of forgiveness and salvation for you account of His death. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. 

The gifts of grace and peace From absolution flow; The pastor's words are Christ's For us to trust and know. Forgiveness that we need Is granted to us there; The Lord of mercy sends Us forth in His blest care. ("The Gifts Christ Freely Gives" LSB 602, st.3)

-Rev. Daniel Voth, pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Grand Forks, ND.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Duane Bamsch

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.

Today's Reading: Isaiah 29:17-24

Daily Lectionary: 2 Kings 2:19-25; 4:1-7; Ephesians 4:25-5:14 

Is it not yet a very little while until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest? (Isaiah 29:17)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. With the fall into sin, the world was turned upside down. The lush garden of the Lord was turned into a wilderness of thickets and thorns and all sorts of things that can hurt you. Instead of perfectly formed bodies that worked at full capacity, sin brought sicknesses like deafness, blindness, cancer, flus and viruses, muscle aches, papercuts, and hangnails. Instead of listening to the Word of the Lord, we closed our ears and sinned against God and one another. We have lived in this broken, sinful world so long that we don't even realize how upside-down the world is. 

The prophet Isaiah comes with words of turning the upside down world right side up, and it sounds strange to our ears. In a little while, Isaiah proclaimed, God will come to restore all things to the way He created them to be. There will be a day, he promises, when the desolate wilderness will be a fruit-filled field, when the deaf will hear the words of a book proclaimed, when the blind will be able to see, and the poor who have had no reason to rejoice will sing for joy because the Holy One of Israel has acted to redeem creation. 

This restoration of creation began in the life and ministry of Jesus. He has made the deaf to hear the Word of the Holy Scriptures that proclaim life in His Name. He has opened the eyes of all who are spiritually blind and dead in their sins and trespasses by calling them out of darkness into His marvelous light. Sinners are forgiven on account of the craziest upside down action ever to occur: The Son of God dies! Yet by this action, the Lord redeems the world, and sets the upside down world right side up. He has opened your ears to His Word of salvation and declared you His child, the work of His hands in Holy Baptism. 

You are still living in the upside-down world and are not able to see this restoration fully, but by His death, Jesus has turned things right side up. One day He will make it all visible when He returns in glory and brings you into His right-side-up eternity, so that you may stand in awe of the God who saves you. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. 

Creator of the stars of night, Thy people's everlasting Light: O Christ, Redeemer, save us all And hear Thy servants when they call. ("Creator of the Stars of Night" LSB 351, st.1)

-Rev. Daniel Voth, pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Grand Forks, ND.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Duane Bamsch

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.

Today's Reading: Mark 7:31-37

Daily Lectionary: 2 Kings 2:1-18; Ephesians 4:1-24 

And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened." (Mark 7:34) 

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Jesus sighed. You know this sigh. It's the one you might make when you can't believe what you are dealing with. Part frustration. Part sadness. Mix in some disappointment and anger and you have this sigh. How long, O Lord? How long? 

A man who cannot hear has been brought to Jesus, but he has no idea that he should go to Jesus. Not hearing the voice of a loved one is painful. Not hearing the voice of God through the Holy Scriptures? That is eternally dangerous. Remember, they didn't have printed Bibles in their homes to read like you and I do. "Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ" (Romans 10:17), and this man can't hear the Word of Christ who is standing right in front of him. How often have you turned a perfectly good ear from hearing the Word of Christ? Thus Christ sighs. Frustration, sadness, maybe some anger, at what sin has wrought on mankind. 

Jesus takes hold of this man to do for him what no one else can do. Jesus saves him. With healed ears, the man can hear the saving Word of Christ. His tongue is released so that he might proclaim salvation by faith in Christ to others who will hear. The Word of Christ to which Paul refers is the entirety of the Bible, climaxing in the Word made Flesh, Christ Jesus, who was sacrificed on the Cross in order that heaven would "ephphatha," be opened, to all who confess with their mouth, their released tongue, "that Jesus is Lord and believe in [their] heart that God raised him from the dead" (Romans 10:9). The preaching of Jesus Christ and Him crucified for sinners opens the ears and releases the tongue that you might hear the Good News of your salvation and sing the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. By Jesus' death on the Cross, heaven has been opened to you, that hearing the Word of Christ, confessing with your tongue that Jesus is Lord, and believing in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, you will be saved. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. 

Almighty and everlasting God, give us an increase of faith, hope, and charity; and that we may obtain what You have promised, make us love what You have commanded; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (Collect for the 12th Sunday after Trinity)

-Rev. Daniel Voth, pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Grand Forks, ND.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Duane Bamsch

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.

Today's Reading: Introit for the 12th Sunday after Trinity

 (Psalm 70:2b, 4a, 5b; antiphon: v.1-2a)

Daily Lectionary: 1 Kings 19:1-21; Ephesians 3:1-21 

Make haste, O God, to deliver me! O Lord, make haste to help me! (From the Introit for the 12th Sunday after Trinity) 

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. The words of our text are familiar words. They begin both Matins and Vespers. They are the prayers of David and all the saints, asking that the Lord God not remember our sins, but remember His children. God has the worst and greatest memory. 

Because of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, God has the worst memory, an incurable case of amnesia. He can't remember your sins. They have been forgiven, absolved, removed from you completely. Like that answer on the test you just cannot remember, so God cannot remember your sins any longer. They are forgiven in Jesus and forgotten eternally. 

Because of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, God has the greatest memory the world has ever known. He knows and remembers you all the time. You are His child with whom He is well pleased. There is no sin in you on account of Christ. The Triune God has written His Name on your forehead with the sign of the Holy Cross in your Baptism. You are marked as one redeemed, one who has been delivered from sin, death, and the power of the devil. That is why when we sing these words, you may see people make the sign of the Holy Cross upon themselves as they remember their Baptisms. Just as God remembers us whom He has delivered, so we remember the One who has delivered us. 

There will be times in your life when your sins will be hard to forget. They haunt you. Others will remind you of those sins so that you cannot forget them. That is the work of the devil as he seeks your life for himself. It is the devil, the evil one, who remembers your sins and uses them against you to destroy faith.

O Lord, "you are my help and my deliverer" (Psalm 70:5b), David prays and teaches us to pray. When the devil, the world, and your flesh seek your life with remembrance of past sins, turn to your Father, who for the sake of Christ remembers your sins no more. What He does remember is that you are His. You are His fully forgiven child with whom He is well pleased on account of Christ Jesus. Make haste, O Lord, to help us remember this each and every day. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. 

I trust, O Lord, Your holy name; O let me not be put to shame Nor let me be confounded. My faith, O Lord, Be in Your Word Forever firmly grounded. ("I Trust, O Lord, Your Holy Name" LSB 734, st. 1)

-Rev. Daniel Voth, pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Grand Forks, ND.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Duane Bamsch

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.

Daily Lectionary: 1 Kings 18:20-40; Ephesians 2:1-22 

And Hannah prayed and said, "My heart exults in the Lord; my horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation." (1 Samuel 2:1)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. I once heard a pastor say that God answers prayer in four ways: "Yes," "No," "Let's do it my way," "You've got to be kidding me!" Paul writes, "For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you … was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes" (2 Corinthians 1:19). God's answer to prayer is always, "Yes." It may not seem like it this side of heaven, because that "Yes" often includes "In God's time, according to God's way." 

Hannah had no children. She prayed to God for a son and in due time, God's "Yes" was manifest. Hannah's boy was Samuel, a great prophet and last judge in Israel. After Samuel was born, Hannah "lent him to the Lord" (1 Samuel 1:28) and sang a prayer, the opening verse of our text for today. 

Does it sound familiar? Hannah's song foreshadows another sung prayer we call the Magnificat, the Song of Mary in Luke 1. Both of these faithful women rejoiced in the promises of the Lord God that He would provide salvation for His people. For Hannah, it would be the life-long service of her boy child to minister to the people of God. For Mary, it would be the life-giving sacrifice of her boy child to save the world. Both of these faithful women believed the Word that God's messenger delivered to them, no matter how unlikely it seemed that that Word could be fulfilled. 

This, then, is what we learn from God's Word via these faithful women: What God has spoken through His Word, He will bring to fulfillment. God promised Eve that a day would come when one of her sons would crush the works of the devil. God inspired Hannah's son Samuel to prophesy that one of David's sons would sit on God's throne forever. Mary's Son was the fulfillment of these promises. Jesus is the Son of David, the Christ, by whom the ancient serpent is crushed as Jesus dies on the Cross to forgive sin, all sin, your sin. In Holy Baptism, God has declared you His child, born not of a woman, but of the Spirit. When you pray to your Father in heaven, like Hannah, He will answer you with a resounding, "Yes," according to His will. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. 

To Hannah, praying childless Before Your throne of grace, You gave a son and called him To serve before Your face. Grant us her perseverance; Lord, teach us how to pray And trust in Your deliv'rance When darkness hides our way. ("For All the Faithful Women" LSB 855, st.6)

-Rev. Daniel Voth, pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Grand Forks, ND.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Duane Bamsch

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.

Today's Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:1-10

Daily Lectionary: 1 Kings 18:1-19; Ephesians 1:1-23 

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. (1 Corinthians 15:3-4) 

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Paul makes it very simple. There is one message, one Gospel, that saves: Christ died for your sins in accordance with everything God has ever said in the Bible. Christ was buried. Christ was resurrected on the Third Day, again in accordance with everything God has ever said in the Bible. Believe this, hold fast to this, cling to this for dear life, for it is life, eternal life, life that knows no end. 

Change the message and you don't have the Gospel. Make the message about you and your life, not the death and resurrection of Jesus, and you don't have the Gospel. Ignore the Old Testament and you lose the richness of the Gospel that looked forward to and predicted that Jesus would have to die to forgive your sins and be raised to life again to grant you eternal life. Skip Good Friday and the death of Jesus, and there's no reason for an Easter Sunday. Leave Jesus dead on the Cross and you've got no hope in this life and certainly not in the age to come. 

This is of first importance, the most important of the importants: Jesus died for your sins, was buried, and three days later arose to life that will not end. Nothing else changes your life now and your life to come in eternity. This earliest version of our creeds, and their source, is why we confess the creeds every day and especially on Sundays. When something is important you want to remember it all the time. So confess the creed every day. It will guard and protect you from ever forgetting what is the most important thing in life: the Good News, the Gospel in which you stand, by which you are being saved. Christ died for your sins in accordance with the Scriptures, He was buried, and was raised to life on the Third Day in accordance with the Scriptures. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. 

If Christ had not been raised from death Our faith would be in vain, Our preaching but a waste of breath, Our sin and guilt remain. But now the Lord is ris'n indeed; He rules in earth and heav'n: His Gospel meets a world of need—In Christ we are forgiv'n. ("If Christ Had Not Been Raised from Death" LSB 486, st.1)

-Rev. Daniel Voth, pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Grand Forks, ND.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Duane Bamsch

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.

Today's Reading: Small Catechism: Lord's Prayer, Seventh Petition

Daily Lectionary: 1 Kings 16:29-17:24; 2 Corinthians 9:1-15 

But deliver us from evil. What does this mean? We pray in this petition, in summary, that our Father in heaven would rescue us from every evil of body and soul, possessions and reputation, and finally, when our last hour comes, give us a blessed end, and graciously take us from this valley of sorrow to Himself in heaven. (Small Catechism: Seventh Petition) 

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Yesterday, we heard about the temptation which Cain gave into that caused him to sin. The Lord had warned Cain that sin was "crouching at the door" (Genesis 4:7), waiting to pounce like a lion ready to kill its prey. Peter writes, "Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8). You can hear the same language in what Peter writes as you do when the Lord speaks to Cain and which Luther echoes in the catechism. 

Evil is all around us. We don't have to go searching for it. It finds us. Like a lion crouching in readiness to pounce on its prey, so the devil, along with the world and our own sinful flesh, is ready to unleash all sorts of evil on us in an effort to cause us to reject God and His gift of salvation in Christ Jesus. 

Thus Jesus teaches us to pray for ourselves and all other Christians that our Father in heaven would save us. Save us from the assaults of the evil one. Save us from the unbelieving world that wants us to be just like it. Save us from our own flesh that would rather indulge in sin and  would reject salvation by grace through faith in Christ Jesus. 

Save us He does. In love, the Father sent His Son into this world to rescue, to save us from sin, death, and every evil, including the evil one, the devil. Jesus has taken an evil death away from us by His death on the Cross and given to us His blessed resurrection, so that when our time on this earth comes to its end, we can fall asleep in Jesus in peace. In Jesus, we have been delivered from the great evil of unbelief and we look forward to the day when Jesus will call us to Himself where we will be eternally freed from all evil of body and soul. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. 

Lead us not into temptation, O Lord, but help us by Your Spirit to subdue our flesh, to turn from the world and its ways, and to overcome the devil with all his wiles. Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer. Amen.

-Rev. Daniel Voth, pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Grand Forks, ND.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Duane Bamsch

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.

Today's Reading: Genesis 4:1-15

Daily Lectionary: 1 Kings 12:20-13:5, 33-34; 2 Corinthians 8:1-24 

And the Lord said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground." (Genesis 4:10)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. The Lord says to Cain, "What have you done?" It echoes what the Lord said to Adam and Eve, "Where are you?" (Genesis 3:9) We all have Cain in us. In his anger, Cain was tempted to sin. You are tempted in various ways to sin. The Lord comes to you through His Word to empower you to resist temptation and not sin. Yet, because like Cain you are a child of Adam and Eve, you give into temptation and sin. Sin results in consequences. For Cain, it means he becomes a fugitive and wanderer of the earth, always on the verge of death. You and I, because of our sin, are fugitives from God and wanderers of this earth, too, always on the verge of death. 

Along comes another shepherd, the Good Shepherd who is led outside of the city to be killed. Abel points us to Jesus. The Good Shepherd has been killed outside the city to save sinful fugitives and wanderers. Jesus has been killed to forgive you all your sins, all the times you have given into temptation and sinned. 

Then He was buried. His bloody corpse was laid in a tomb in the ground. Your brother's blood cries to the Father from the ground. And what does it cry? The Lord says, "What have you done?" and the voice of your brother Jesus' blood cries out, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). The blood of Christ Jesus, your brother, cries out forgiveness, for you. 

Therefore, you are no longer a fugitive. "Now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ" (Ephesians 2:13). You are no longer a wanderer. "In my Father's house are many rooms. . . If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also" (John 14:2-3). You have been marked with the sign of the holy Cross in Holy Baptism, so that death can no longer kill you eternally. The voice of the blood of your brother Jesus, the Good Shepherd, has cried out a better Word than the blood of Abel, a Word of Absolution for you. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. 

In Adam we have all been one, One huge rebellious man; We all have fled that evening voice That sought us as we ran. But Thy strong love, it sought us still And sent Thine only Son That we might hear His Shepherd's voice And, hearing Him, be one. ("In Adam We Have All Been One" LSB 569 sts.1, 3)

-Rev. Daniel Voth, pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Grand Forks, ND.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Duane Bamsch

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.