June 19, 2025

Today's Reading: Catechism: The Lord's Prayer - The Seventh Petition

Daily Lectionary: Proverbs 22:1-21; John 18:1-14

But deliver us from evil.

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

It’s dark down here. There’s a lot of evil in the world. It’s one of the rare places we can agree with the atheists. The difference is that we can find an evil one, the devil, stirring the pot. We can label the roots of so many of the evil things men do to each other in the 10 Commandments. Even if you don’t know the name of it, though, the prayer stands. We want to be free from it. Deliver us from evil. Deliver us from everything that works for our harm under the kingdom of Satan.

We pray in this Petition, in summary, that our Father in heaven would rescue us from every evil of body and soul, possessions and reputation, and finally, when our last hour comes, give us a blessed end, and graciously take us from this valley of sorrow to Himself in heaven.

If you make this a future event, Christianity becomes nothing more than a race to the end, which is why so many Christians talk about life in heaven more than life today. If you see God delivering you from evil everywhere His name is hallowed, everywhere His kingdom is manifest, and everywhere His will is done, there can be comfort today, too. You were delivered from evil where God has brought you His holy name and given You His Holy Spirit. You can find deliverance from evil in God’s church. Here, your sins are forgiven, and you are given an identity not rooted in shame and vice. Here, you are tied to the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting in a way that even the prince of this world cannot undo.

Here, you are kept safe and secure until, at last, you join the church triumphant at rest. In all of it, the comfort lies in the source of deliverance, not the distance you happen to be from the evil. God remains the source of every good, even in the face of death. He has already worked a blessed end for you upon the cross, that even in the darkest of days when evil seems to pervade everything, you can look to your victory in Christ’s death and find certainty that you are already delivered. The difference between the church triumphant and the church militant, the saints in heaven and the saints on earth, isn’t that one has been finally delivered, and the other doesn’t get that yet. All of us are delivered from evil; it’s just that some of us who are at rest can see it a little clearer.

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

From evil, Lord, deliver us; The times and days are perilous. Redeem us from eternal death, And, when we yield our dying breath, Console us, grant us calm release, And take our souls to You in peace. (LSB 766:8)

- Rev. Harrison Goodman, Higher Things Executive Director of Mission and Theology.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY.

In Clarifying the Great Commission, Rev. Daniel Christian Voth identifies common omissions from our collective understanding of Jesus’ farewell discourse—omissions that turn Christ’s promises of forgiveness, life, and salvation into a legalistic command. Come and discover a richer understanding of The Great Commission.

June 18, 2025

Today's Reading: John 17:1-26

Daily Lectionary: Proverbs 20:5-25; Proverbs 21:1-31; John 17:1-26

“When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you,” (John 17:1)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you.” The hour has finally come for the Son to be glorified. Apparently, that wasn’t when 5000 folks were willing to follow Him days out into the middle of nowhere just to listen to Him talk. Or in feeding all of them with five loaves of bread and two fish. Or in the water turned into wine that made Jesus the hero of the party. Or in walking on water. Or in the calming of the storm. Or in resisting the devil in the wilderness in a 40 day trial of wills. Jesus wasn’t glorified in making everything look easy. He wasn’t glorified in power. The hour where the Son of God was glorified was about the third hour, as He hung from the cross to be mocked by His enemies. Not in strength, but weakness. Not in being admired, but humiliated. Not in the things the world respects and we sinners covet, but as He was despised and we esteemed Him not. When He was stricken, smitten, and afflicted for you. There, He won for you eternal life. There, He reveals something of God we’d never otherwise see. Because that’s what glory really means.

Glory is a loaded word in the Bible. It doesn’t just mean cool stuff. When the Bible says glory, it’s a word for God’s presence. It means God is actually there. The glory of the Lord is the presence of the Lord. So when angel choirs sang “glory to God in the highest” to shepherds, it was because God was present on earth, lying in a manger. When the glory of the Lord dwelt on Sinai, and a cloud covered it, and Moses entered the cloud, it was to talk to God who was present there. Where God locates Himself, His glory shines. God can work everywhere and anywhere, but that His glory shines in certain places means these are where He works with purpose for you.

The Son was glorified on the cross, and the word glory takes a new shape. This is where God wants to be present, not just everywhere, but for you. Not just in power, but in mercy. This is where the fullness of His will is revealed. Look at the Son of God suffer for you. He bears your sins. He bears your weakness today. And He wins for you a victory that none of these things can rob from you.

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Go to dark Gethsemane, All who feel the tempter's pow'r; Your Redeemer's conflict see, Watch with Him one bitter hour; Turn not from His griefs away; Learn from Jesus Christ to pray. (LSB 436:1)

- Rev. Harrison Goodman, Higher Things Executive Director of Mission and Theology.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY.

In Clarifying the Great Commission, Rev. Daniel Christian Voth identifies common omissions from our collective understanding of Jesus’ farewell discourse—omissions that turn Christ’s promises of forgiveness, life, and salvation into a legalistic command. Come and discover a richer understanding of The Great Commission.

June 17, 2025

Today's Reading: Acts 2:14a, 22-36

Daily Lectionary: Proverbs 17:1-28; Proverbs 18:1-20:4; John 16:17-33

“this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.” (Acts 2:23–24)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Peter preaches the best sermon I’ve ever heard. Jesus saves sinners. You’re sinners. It’s beautiful in its simplicity, but it completely shapes how to read the Old Testament. The plan and foreknowledge of God was to crucify the Son. For all the prophesy we look through in the Old Testament to find fulfilled in Jesus, there should be no surprise that Jesus dies and rises. David says concerning Him, “For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the path of life…” (Psalm 16:10-11) Through the cross. Out of the tomb. No other conclusion was possible. David spoke about the resurrection of Christ as if it was a given, even though it hadn’t played itself out in time yet. The resurrection was a given. All the sins are atoned for. The wages of sin is death. So there can be no more death. Of course, there’s a resurrection.

This Jesus, you crucified, too. Foretold in the Old Testament, He bore your sins. Had there been no David, no Moses, no Patriarchs or faithful kings, Christ would have chosen to save you by bearing the same cross. It’s a truth we know. But it also means the Old Testament is for you. Read it to find Jesus there. It’s more than just a history of what happened before Christianity. It is the religion of all who have faith in the triune living God. The same religion. The same hope. The forgiveness of sins and life everlasting. That’s yours now, too, because this Jesus, whom you crucified, is risen.

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Jesus lives! The vict'ry's won! Death no longer can appall me; Jesus lives! Death's reign is done! From the grave will Christ recall me. Brighter scenes will then commence; This shall be my confidence. (LSB 490:1)

- Rev. Harrison Goodman, Higher Things Executive Director of Mission and Theology.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY.

In Clarifying the Great Commission, Rev. Daniel Christian Voth identifies common omissions from our collective understanding of Jesus’ farewell discourse—omissions that turn Christ’s promises of forgiveness, life, and salvation into a legalistic command. Come and discover a richer understanding of The Great Commission.