Lectio Concordia

The Word of Authority – Tuesday

preparing for The Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

Series: Lectio Concordia

January 28, 2025 By Rev. Mark Ryman

• Online jigsaw puzzle of today's reading • Index

• Collect: Your word, Holy Lord, is a lamp to our feet and a light along the way. Open your word to us; disclose your truth so that we may know Christ and the power of his resurrection. Amen.

• Psalm 33:1–9

• Matthew 24:32–35

• We teach that the one holy Church is to continue forever. The Church is the congregation of saints in which the gospel is rightly taught and the sacraments are rightly administered. For the true unity of the Church, it is enough to agree concerning the doctrine of the gospel and the administration of the sacraments. It is not necessary that the same human traditions — rites or ceremonies — should be practiced everywhere. As Paul says, “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call — one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:4–6). [The Defense of the Augsburg Confession, The Church]

• "How Firm a Foundation, Ye Saints of the Lord" Tune

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
is laid for your faith in God's excellent Word!
What more can be said than to you God hath said,
to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?

"Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,
for I am thy God, and will still give thee aid;
I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.

"When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
the rivers of sorrow shall not overflow;
for I will be near thee, thy troubles to bless,
and sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

"When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
my grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;
the flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.

"The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to its foes;
that soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I'll never, no, never, no, never forsake."

• Benediction: May the Word of God be active in you, piercing heart and soul like a two-edged sword, accomplishing the will of the Lord. Amen.

• Memory Verse: The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. (Isaiah 40:8)

• Memory Verse Aid: TGW, TFF, BTWOOG WSF. (I408)