OUR PRIMARY MOTIVE

"With us, however, the primary motive is to serve Christ. Thus, if our service to men is frustrated, rebuffed or wiped away, we need not be disheartened. We are merely instruments to render His service. We share His love, not our own, & His love never runs dry." Thomas Hale, Men's Devotional Bible

FED BY THE WORD

"When God's people go to church, they receive God's gifts of forgiveness of sin & eternal life through the preaching of the Word. St. Paul tells us that God sends pastors to preach His Word. He then writes, 'So [saving] faith comes from hearing, & hearing through the word of Christ' (Rom. 10:17). Martin Luther writes, 'The Word & faith are both necessary, & without the Word there can be no faith.'

"Through the pastor's preaching & teaching, God teaches His people how to understand the Word. Having been fed God's Word, God's people return home & continue in that Word. Through the Word, the Holy Spirit nurtures & sustains their saving faith in Jesus Christ. Parents, then, take what the pastor taught, & they teach their children at home, as Luther states in his Small Catechism, 'As the head of the family should teach them in a simple way to his household.'

"As God's people, we desire most what He desires most--our eternal salvation. We yearn & pray that our spouse, children, grandchildren & all our loved ones are in heaven on the Last Day. That is why we return home & continue to be fed in the Word, which includes prayer, hymns, the Creeds & Luther's Small Catechism." Rev. James Baneck, The Lutheran Witness, Feb. 2021

SONGS OF THANKFULNESS & PRAISE *

* LW #88, St. 4

"Grant us grace to see Thee, Lord, Present in Thy holy Word; Grace to imitate Thee now And be pure, as pure art Thou; That we might become like Thee At Thy great epiphany And may praise Thee, ever blest, God in flesh made manifest."

HOW GOOD, LORD, TO BE HERE *

* LW 89, Sts. 4 & 5

"Before we taste of death, We see Your kingdom come; We long to hold the vision bright And make this hill our home.

"How good, Lord, to be here! Yet we may not remain; But since You bid us leave the mount, Come with u to the plain."