Pilgrim Worship

Soli Deo Gloria

"Blesséd be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation.” Psalm 68:19

Friday, September 23, 2022

Thursday Psalms: Trust in the Lord!

Blessed Thursday to each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, your Savior!

Today's psalm is Psalm 146, most certainly a psalm of praise to and for Lord. It is the first of five hallelujah [which means Praise the Lord!] psalms which close out this wonderful book of songs & poems. But there is more here for you today than a reminder to Praise the Lord, O my soul! Our opportunity today is to personalize this psalm: read these words and hear God speaking to you.

PSALM 146

¹Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord, O my soul!

²I will praise the Lord as long as I live;

I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

³Put not your trust in princes,

in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.

⁴When his breath departs, he returns to the earth;

on that very day his plans perish.

⁵Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,

whose hope is in the Lord his God,

⁶who made heaven and earth,

the sea, and all that is in them,

who keeps faith forever;

⁷who executes justice for the oppressed,

who gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets the prisoners free;

⁸the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.

The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;

the Lord loves the righteous.

⁹The Lord watches over the sojourners;

he upholds the widow and the fatherless,

but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

¹⁰The Lord will reign forever,

your God, O Zion, to all generations.

Praise the Lord!

Notice the psalmist's confidence and boldness in the first two verses? We should adopt a similar mindset and live this way as long as we live! In the next two verses, the psalmist states what is obvious: neither prince nor any man can produce or influence salvation; our works & plans perish. Of course, this includes you and me. God is reminding us not to trust ourselves either! Our works, our "goodness", nothing we are or have contributes to our salvation. Our hope is only in the Lord [our] God.

Speaking of the Lord, our lives are all about His actions! The psalmist closes this psalm listing many wonderful things the Lord does for His children, including you & me. Read them all, thinking of the ways in which the Lord does these things for YOU. Two examples: You are a prisoner of sin; the Lord sets you free in His forgiveness! Your eyes are blind to His will and promises; God's Word teaches you His ways.

By His mercy and grace, let us all praise the Lord as long as we live, for He is our help and our hope and does all things for us!

Peace in Christ,

Pastor Mark

Pilgrim Lutheran Church, LCMS Burton, Michigan

office: 810.744.1188

mobile: 248.881.7627

Soli Deo Gloria

"Blesséd be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation.” Psalm 68:19

Sunday, September 18, 2022

Pilgrim Worship Sunday September 18, 2022

The Dishonest Steward, an illustration from "Les Paraboles" by Eugène Burnand 1850-1921

Pilgrim Lutheran Church

The Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

September 18, 2022

We're thankful you've come here to watch our service and to worship the one true God!

If you live in the Burton area, please consider joining us on Sunday mornings!

Here is information about today's worship service:

SCRIPTURE READINGS

Old Testament: Amos 8:4–7

Psalm: Psalm 113
Epistle: 1 Timothy 6:6–19
Gospel: Luke 16:1–15

THEME FOR WORSHIP
In the 16th chapter of Luke, Jesus continues teaching about the proper use of possessions, given to us by our merciful Father. This Gospel text immediately follows the parable of the Prodigal Son and amplifies Jesus’ words in Luke 14:33 and Luke 12:31-34.

This text is summarized by Jesus’ very familiar words:

“No servant can serve two masters… You cannot serve God and money.”

But we also have a challenging parable, followed by Jesus’ interpretation, and two application statements. Some of the wording can be rather confusing, so it is important we carefully unpack these verses. In the end, Jesus calls us to serve Him only, who has been, and still is very merciful to us! What a blessing this call is, and the ability God gives us to hear His word and do it!

To watch the video of today's service, please click HERE.

Peace to you on this, the Lord's Day!

Pastor Mark

Pilgrim Lutheran Church, LCMS Burton, Michigan

office: 810.744.1188

mobile: 248.881.7627

Soli Deo Gloria

"Blesséd be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation.” Psalm 68:19

Thursday, September 15, 2022

Thursday Psalms: Praise the Lord!

Blessed Thursday to each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, your Savior!

Doesn't it often seem like all the bad news, all the bad things of this world simply overwhelm the good things? Today we hear of economic suffering for so many people, tomorrow another hateful shooting spree or terrible violence, and next week, who knows?

God knows we need to be reminded of His goodness. He knows we're blessed to keep our focus on His good gifts. And so we turn to His Word, always and full of hopeful expectations. Today we look at Psalm 113...

PSALM 113
¹Praise the Lord!
      Praise, O servants of the Lord,
            praise the name of the Lord!
²Blessed be the name of the Lord
      from this time forth and forevermore!
³From the rising of the sun to its setting,
      the name of the Lord is to be praised!
⁴The Lord is high above all nations,
      and his glory above the heavens!
⁵Who is like the Lord our God,
      who is seated on high,
⁶who looks far down
      on the heavens and the earth?
⁷He raises the poor from the dust
      and lifts the needy from the ash heap,
⁸to make them sit with princes,
      with the princes of His people.
⁹He gives the barren woman a home,
      making her the joyous mother of children.
Praise the Lord!

But wait, you might say, this is not very fulfilling! This psalm seems to be all about praising God, all fluffy, emotional stuff. This might seem like coming into your kitchen really hungry and finding only whipped cream and pudding to eat! But hold on, there is more here than feel-good emotions!

Yes, the Lord is high above us, He is great and beyond our understanding, and fully deserving of nothing but our praise, all the time. Yes, there is no other God, all other gods are false gods and tools of the devil to pull us away from the Lord, the one true God. But the really great thing about God is that He does not remain high above and far away! In fact, He doesn't only look far down on the heavens and the earth, on us. No, God sent His only Son, Jesus, to come far down to the earth, to be born a man, to become one of us.

Jesus lived among the poor, the needy and all of us, sinful & broken people that we are. Jesus became one of us, and died as one of us, but Jesus is so much more than one of us. Jesus is your Savior! Jesus willingly took upon Himself ALL the punishment that you deserve for your sins, and all the punishment that you WILL deserve for your future sins. Jesus took your punishment so that when you pray to Him "I'm sorry for...", He will respond with "I forgive you!".

And so, since Jesus has made you and me holy and blameless before our Heavenly Father, we do indeed sit with princes, with the princes of His people. Today we sit in honor, as forgiven children of God, and after we die we will spend eternity sitting around the throne of God with the great multitude from every nation [Revelation 7:9-14], praising God forever and ever!

God is love, and His forgiveness is the pinnacle of His love for us. Praise the Lord!

Peace in Christ,

Pastor Mark

Pilgrim Lutheran Church, LCMS Burton, Michigan

office: 810.744.1188

mobile: 248.881.7627

Soli Deo Gloria

"Blesséd be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation.” Psalm 68:19

Monday, September 12, 2022

Pilgrim Worship Sunday September 11, 2022

The Lost Sheep, an illustration from "Les Paraboles" by Eugène Burnand 1850-1921

Pilgrim Lutheran Church

The Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

September 11, 2022

We're thankful you've come here to watch our service and to worship the one true God!

If you live in the Burton area, please consider joining us on Sunday mornings!

Here is information about today's worship service:

SCRIPTURE READINGS

Old Testament: Ezekiel 34:11–24

Psalm: Psalm 119:169–176
Epistle: 1 Timothy 1:5–17
Gospel: Luke 15:1–10

THEME FOR WORSHIP
St Luke describes the scene; amid grumbling religious elites, lots of sinners were drawing near to hear Jesus call them to repent and be saved. Jesus was even eating with them, pointing toward the eternal feasting which will result from their salvation. Jesus then teaches the beautiful parable of the Lost Sheep, describing how faithful shepherds will seek, rescue and restore even just ONE lost sheep. What a comforting image of what Jesus, the perfect Shepherd does for you and me and all His lost children!

Can you be a faithful shepherd and stir up some incredible joy in heaven? With whom can you share confession of sins and forgiveness? Who do you know who is lost in a sin, or does not yet know Jesus? Can you seek diligently like the joyful woman, and help someone become found by their Savior?

To watch the video of today's service, please click HERE.

Peace to you on this, the Lord's Day!

Pastor Mark

Pilgrim Lutheran Church, LCMS Burton, Michigan

office: 810.744.1188

mobile: 248.881.7627

Soli Deo Gloria

"Blesséd be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation.” Psalm 68:19

Friday, September 9, 2022

Thursday Psalms: Life in God's Word

Blessed Thursday to each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, your Savior!

Psalm 119 is of course the longest of the psalms, with an overall theme of living life under God's Law. In this psalm alone David prays more than ten times that God would give him understanding, that he would comprehend and learn God's divine teaching. In this short section below, we hear "loud and clear" David's desire to live Life in God's Word.

PSALM 119:169–176

¹⁶⁹Let my cry come before You, O Lord;

give me understanding according to Your word!

¹⁷⁰Let my plea come before You;

deliver me according to Your word.

¹⁷¹My lips will pour forth praise,

for You teach me Your statutes.

¹⁷²My tongue will sing of Your word,

for all Your commandments are right.

¹⁷³Let Your hand be ready to help me,

for I have chosen Your precepts.

¹⁷⁴I long for Your salvation, O Lord,

And Your law is my delight.

¹⁷⁵Let my soul live and praise You,

and let Your rules help me.

¹⁷⁶I have gone astray like a lost sheep;

seek Your servant, for I do not forget Your commandments.

What a great example and prayer for you and I today! What a great encouragement to set up a new routine, to read and pray over God's written words every day! Don't make it a big intimidating plan; even if you just open your Bible to any book and start reading & praying, the Holy Spirit will give you His gifts!

And notice verse 174. The psalmist is looking forward to the Lord's salvation, one of hundreds of Old Testament pointers to the coming life of Jesus our Savior. We are blessed to live on this side of Calvary's cross and the empty tomb, knowing that our salvation has already been purchased by Jesus! Thanks be to God, that you & I can rest with full assurance of our salvation, as we confess our sins to God our Father, and receive His complete forgiveness!

Peace in Christ, living Life in God's Word!

Pastor Mark

Pilgrim Lutheran Church, LCMS Burton, Michigan

office: 810.744.1188

mobile: 248.881.7627

Soli Deo Gloria

"Blesséd be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation.” Psalm 68:19

Monday, September 5, 2022

Pilgrim Worship Sunday September 4, 2022

Pilgrim Lutheran Church

The Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

September 4, 2022

We're thankful you've come here to watch our service and to worship the one true God!

If you live in the Burton area, please consider joining us on Sunday mornings!

Here is information about todays worship service:

SCRIPTURE READINGS

Old Testament: Deuteronomy 30:15–20

Psalm: Psalm 1
Epistle: Philemon 1–21
Gospel: Luke 14:25–35

OUR THEME FOR WORSHIP
Jesus, who is God’s Word, calls us to come after Him and to be His disciple. To Christians, this sounds good, and many of us strive and desire to be Jesus’ disciples. But in this difficult text, Jesus points out the costs of discipleship, which may include divisions in our families, renouncing our possessions and all manner of crosses we must bear. From our perspective, the disciple life is costly.

Because this text so directly points us to these harsh truths, we often tend to ignore these words, or give up on discipleship, convinced we can’t afford these costs. Thankfully, we’ll also discover our heavenly Father’s mercy & grace in this text.

To watch the video of today's service, please click HERE.

Peace to you on this, the Lord's Day!

Pastor Mark

Pilgrim Lutheran Church, LCMS Burton, Michigan

office: 810.744.1188

mobile: 248.881.7627

Soli Deo Gloria

"Blesséd be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation.” Psalm 68:19

Friday, September 2, 2022

Thursday Psalms: Delight in the Lord!

Blessed Thursday to each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, your Savior!

What a beautiful psalm with which to begin God's collection of 150 psalms! God gives us a very simple description of God-pleasing life. In this Sunday's gospel text, Jesus describes the costs of being His disciple. But here, we have a simple promise of God: you are blessed when you seek to understand and follow God's will every day.

PSALM 1
¹Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
    nor stands in the way of sinners,
    nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
²but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and on His law he meditates day and night.
³He is like a tree planted by streams of water
    that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.
          In all that he does, he prospers.
⁴The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
⁵Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
    nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
⁶for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
                but the way of the wicked will perish.

In this psalm, God does not raise a standard we cannot keep. God does not say "Blessed is the person who keeps the law of the Lord, which of course is impossible for our sinful selves. God calls us to find delight, happiness and contentment in His law, knowing it was given in love for our benefit. God calls us to meditate upon it, to keep His will in our minds all the time. Don't fill your mind with the useless or harmful pollution the world gives, but rather immerse yourself in God's Word.

And what will result in one's life, lived under God's direction and delighting in His law? A person who is sturdy and fruitful in good works for God and His people. When drought and struggles come, faith and trust in the law of the Lord will neither wither nor fade. Rather, because this person seeks to follow God's will, he will prosper in his work.

Peace to you in Christ, who comforts us in His steadfast love!

Pastor Mark

Pilgrim Lutheran Church, LCMS Burton, Michigan

office: 810.744.1188

mobile: 248.881.7627