This recording is a condensed version of the sermon preached at Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church in Mankato, Minnesota on September 7, 2025. You can watch the full recording on our YouTube Channel.

Deuteronomy 30:11-20

"For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off. 12 "It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 13 "Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 14 "But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it. 15 "See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, 16 "in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the LORD your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. 17 "But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, 18 "I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. 19 "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; 20 "that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them."

Theme: Choose Life in Christ

1. The Command Is Clear

2. The Consequences Are Eternal

3. So Cling to the Cross

Josiah Conder was a well known poet, author and hymnwriter in England in the 1800's. He edited a hymnal for his generation and contributed many of his own hymns to the projects. The majority of those hymns are still in use today, either in England or in America, testifying to the value of his work. We only have one of his hymns in TLH, but it has also been included in the Worship Supplement in an updated form, and with a different final verse. 

In its current form, this hymn is a wonderful treatment on the doctrine of justification by grace. There are two foundational Scriptures for this hymn. In John 15:16, Jesus said: “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you."

The Apostle Paul also wrote: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."

The word "grace" is beautifully defined in this hymn, showing our natural human condition "this heart would still refuse You" (v.1) and "taught my darkened heart and mind" (v.2). It also highlight what God has done for us: "Your grace [has] chosen me" and "You removed the sin that stained me" and "grace in Christ has called me."

The hymn also points us to the conclusion of our faith: "from grace to glory," "hope soon change to heavenly glory, faith to sight and prayer to praise" (v.3).

The Apostle Peter wrote: "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy" (1 Peter 2:9-10). 

Thanks be to God's grace in Christ, both in giving us an opportunity to serve Him now, and the assurance that we will be with Him in eternity. Rejoice in that grace, this weekend, and every day of your life!

Devotion

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Prayer List 

Hymn of the Day

In our hymn study this weekend we look at a famous hymn by Welsh hymn writer, William Williams. Williams was known as the "Watts of Wales" comparing him to Isaac Watts of England. In this hymn Williams uses the history of God's Old Testament people as an analogy for our earthly lives. He uses historical accounts of the Manna God provided from heaven for the Israelites, the pillar of cloud and fire, the water that God brought forth out of a rock, and finally the crossing of the Jordan river into the Promised Land of Canaan as illustrations of God's guiding and protecting hand in our lives today. Just as the Children of Israel were strangers in the wilderness, looking ahead to the Promised land of Canaan, so we are also strangers in this world of sin, looking ahead to the Promised Land of Heaven.

Our prayer is that God would guide us, defend and protect us and feed and nurture us both physically and spiritually throughout our earthly lives, until He finally brings us across the river of physical death and delivers us into His eternal kingdom. 

May the LORD enrich our understanding of His word and cause us to appreciate His presence in our lives and His defeat of death in Christ, which gives us confidence in our eternal future!

Devotion

Announcements

Prayer List 

Hymn of the Day

Devotion

Announcements

Prayer List 

Hymn of the Day

This recording is a condensed version of the sermon preached at Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church in Mankato, Minnesota on August 17, 2025. You can watch the full recording on our YouTube Channel.

Psalm 147:12-13

Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion!

For He has strengthened the bars of your gates;

He has blessed your children within you.

Theme: Faith's Strong Gates Protect God's Blessed Children

We will be celebrating Christian Education in our worship this weekend. As we gather this weekend, our hearts and minds will be directed to the importance of God's Word which He has entrusted to His Church as a treasure. Because it is a treasure, Christians are called to pass that treasure of God's truth down from generation to generation as an inheritance.  

Our closing hymn will reinforce these truths. This hymn, written by Danish pastor and hymn writer Nikolai Grundtvig, was originally written as a fifth stanza to Martin Luther's "A Mighty Fortress." While it serve well in that intended role, this hymn also serves as a stand alone hymn, which is how it has been primarily used for the last century.

This hymn is based in part on Psalm 119:105 and 111: "Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path... Your testimonies I have taken as a heritage forever, For they are the rejoicing of my heart." God's Word is a precious treasure that "guides our way" through life and is our support in death. 

Our prayer in this hymn is that God would help us and strengthen us for the task of Christian Education, and the passing on of His Word of truth to the generations to come: "That the generation to come might know them, The children who would be born, That they may arise and declare them to their children, that they may set their hope in God, And not forget the works of God, But keep His commandments" (Psalm 78:6-7).

Lord, thank you for the treasure of Your Word and all the blessings that You offer through it. Give us the wisdom and the strength to pass Your truth on to succeeding generations! Amen.

Devotion

Announcements

Prayer List 

General Pastoral Conference Paper

Hymn of the Day

This recording is a condensed version of the sermon preached at Immanuel Ev. Lutheran Church on August 10, 2025. You can watch the full recording on our YouTube Channel.

Hebrews 10:23-25  

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.  And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. 

1 Corinthians 1:10-12  

Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 

2 Timothy 2:14-18  

Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers.  Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.  But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness.  And their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort,  who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past; and they overthrow the faith of some.

Theme: Fellowship - A Gift from God to be Preserved and Maintained