Mount Calvary Lutheran Church Daily Devotional
A Guide for Daily Meditation and Prayer for the Whole Congregation. For the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity
August 20, 2023 through August 27, 2023
What the Bible Says About BEING MADE RIGHTEOUS
The Pharisees had the same view of man and morality as many honorable, hardworking, idealistic, and socially responsible people today. They believed that there is a moral law that people can live up to. If you have done the best you know how, you cannot go wrong or be a lost sinner. But according to the Bible this is to deceive oneself. It makes God out to be a liar and reveals that His word is not within us (1 John 1:8). When we really see what God expects of us, we can never be satisfied with ourselves. Even when I have the will to do good, there is something evil in my nature that makes me prone to jealousy, pride, and self-interest. And even if anyone should keep the law in its entirety and yet fail in one point, he has become guilty of all of it, namely of sinning against God himself. When the law speaks, our mouths are stopped, and the whole world stands guilty before God. There is therefore none righteous except Jesus Christ. But all that He has done He has wrought for us. In our place and for our sakes He has fulfilled all, even the minutest part of the law, in order that by His obedience many will be made righteous (Romans 5:19 & 3:24). Jesus righteousness is our salvation when we believe in Him. That means that our sins are covered over by the righteousness of Christ and that God does not reckon with our sins, neither those which we have committed, or those which are still part of our nature. Both publicans and harlots who repent enter the Kingdom of God. –adapted from Swedish Lutheran pastor Bo Giertz’ “Preaching from the Whole Bible”
The Order of Meditation and Prayer
Pray and confess out loud as much from the order and meditation and prayer as you are able, or as your family size and ages dictate. Learn by heart the verse, catechism, and hymn of the week.
Theme: God’s Mercy Is For Repentant Sinners
Invocation:
In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Apostles Creed
Psalm of the Week — Psalm 50:7-23
Verse of the Week —John 14:2-3, “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”
The Catechism of the Week: Table of Duties – To Employers and Supervisors
Masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with Him. (Eph. 6:9)
Daily Bible Readings (Optional 2nd Reading)
Monday Ezekiel 26:1-21 Psalm 78:1-36
Tuesday Ezekiel 27:1-36 Psalm 78:37-72
Wednesday Ezekiel 28:1-24 Psalm 79:1-13 – Psalm 81:1-16
Thursday Ezekiel 29:1-21 Psalm 82:1-8 – Psalm 84:1-12
Friday Ezekiel 30:1-26 Psalm 85:1-13 – Psalm 88:1-18
Saturday Look ahead to Sunday’s Readings (Hymns: 811, 760, 683 & 790 & 617, 819)
Isaiah 29:17-24; Psalm 146:1-10; 2 Corinthians 3:4-11; Mark 7:31-37
Daily Theme for Lutheran Prayer at Mount Calvary
Mount Calvary Lutheran Prayers for the Week: Collect for Trinity 11
Almighty and everlasting God, always more ready to hear than we to pray and to give more than we either desire or deserve, pour down upon us the abundance of Your mercy, forgiving those things of which our conscience is afraid and giving us those good things that we are not worthy to ask, except through the merits and mediation of Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
