New Life's Worship Service on October 12th, 2025, the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

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Before Service Prayer: In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger. Keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. Into Your hands I commend my body and soul and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the wicked foe may have no power over me. Amen. (Luther's Morning Prayer)

Today's Theme: CAUSE /EFFECT - GENEROSITY /GRATITUDE. Gratitude is the appreciation we feel when someone does something kind to us or for us. There are two factors that effect the intensity of gratitude. First, there is the deservedness factor. Say you do a favor for your neighbor. A month later, your neighbor does a favor for you. You are grateful, but not overwhelmingly so, because you deserved his help to some degree. However, if you have been an unkind or selfish neighbor, and yet your neighbor provides help when you are in need, you are extremely grateful precisely because you know you are undeserving. Second, there is the generosity factor. Imagine you pick up the mail for your neighbor for the three days he is out of town. When he gets back, he gives you a hundred dollar bill. You might protest, "This is too generous!" He insists, and so you are very grateful.

Apply this to God. Deservedness. How deserving are we of his blessing? What does God owe us? What has God done for us? What blessings has he given us now? What blessings has he promised us in eternity? As we answer those questions, we are stunned by the undeserved generosity our God has shown us. The effect? We overflow with gratitude.

Today's Service: Service of Word and Sacrament, NPH; used with permission under OneLicense.net #A-800156 and under CCLI license #1132777.

Personal Preparation for Holy Communion: Luther's Christian Questions, p. 295-296 "Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal".

Christian hymns preach Jesus Christ: crucified, risen and seated at God's right hand. The hymns in this service are from "Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal" ©2021 Northwestern Publishing House. Used with permission. Additional hymns: "Christian Worship Supplement" ©2008 Northwestern Publishing House. Used with permission.