VERSE FOR TODAY

"My advice to you is this:  Go to God & confess your sins to Him. For He does wonderful miracles, marvels without number. He sends the rain upon the earth to water the fields, & gives prosperity to the poor& humble, & takes sufferers to safety." (Job 5:8-10) The Living Bible

SCARS

"As Jesus' resurrected body was recognized by its scars, so His body, the church, should be known by its scars & tears & the unspeakable joy it knows in spite of,& indeed because of, it all." Michael Card, Men's Devotional Bible

JESUS OUR SUBSTITUTE

"Many writings of the New Testament--perhaps all of them--clearly declare that Jesus has come in our place, in the place of sinners. What we normally mean when we say this might be summed up in the word 'substitute' Because Jesus is in our place as our substitute, He experiences & suffers things so that we do not have to suffer them. This is most importantly the case when the Lord goes to the cross. There, at the same time, He suffers human injustice & true divine justice against human injustice. The world's sin is laid on Him, so that our sin will not be laid on us who believe in Him. Jesus is our substitute. He does things in our place, so that we do not have to do them." Jeffrey Gibs, The Lutheran Witness, April 2021

TODAY'S HYMN OF PRAISE & ADORATION

We Sing the Almighty Power of God, LW #441, Sts. 2, 3, 4, 6)

We sing the wisdom that ordained The sun to rule the day; The moon shines too at His command, And all the star obey.

We sing the goodness of the Lord, Who fills the earth with food, Who formed His creatures by a word And then pronounced them good. 

Lord, how Your wonders are displayed Each time we turn our eyes To view the ground on which we tread Or gaze up at the skies!

On You each moment we depend; If you withdraw, we die. Oh, may we never God offend, Our God forever nigh!