"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." Ephesians 2:8-10

Faith Comes By Hearing the Word of Christ

This past Sunday was the Twenty-Fifth Sunday After Trinity Sunday.
The Scripture readings were:

Exodus 32:1-20 or Job 14:1-6, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Matthew 24:15-28 or Luke 17:20-30

"The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed" (Luke 17:20). You must use your ears and not your eyes. For God's kingdom in this world is one of faith, and faith comes by hearing the Word of Christ. The people of Israel, however, wanted to walk not by faith but by sight. When Moses delayed in coming down the mountain, they decided to make a visible god for themselves, the golden calf (Ex. 32:1). Upon such faithless and false worshipers God's judgment comes. Only on the Last Day will our faith be turned to sight. "For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man" (Matt. 24:27). The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, and He will gather His people to Himself, both the living and the dead. In a world in which our days are few and full of trouble (Job 14:1), let us comfort one another with these words of the resurrection and the coming of our Lord Jesus.

© The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (lcms.org/worship). Used by permission. All rights reserved.

We welcome all to join us in worship this Sunday. We also invite you to listen to our weekly radio broadcast Sunday from 10-10:30 AM on radio station WIKI 95.3FM or stream on your favorite device at WIKI's website, clicking On Air, then Listen Online. The pastors of our circuit take turns to produce Light from the Cross. Also, you may want to consider other worship resources such as Worship Anew - a 30 minute video worship service which you can stream on-demand, KFUO AM, our LCMS radio station, which can be streamed live or on-demand, and Issues, ETC, which offers a vast array of Christian topics and discussions. We are blessed to have Lutheran podcasts such as these.

May the LORD bless you and keep you, may He make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you, May His countenance shine upon you, and give you peace.

Numbers 6:24-26