We all need to be fed and in many and various ways. Sunday mornings are about spiritual nutrition without which we will suffer spiritual attrition. The Word and Sacraments are not reduced to information transfer and ritual. They are the very means through which the Holy Spirit works to feed our faith!

Just “knowing” that I love my wife is not enough. I am called to actively love her.

Just “knowing” the content of the Gospel is not enough. I need to receive God’s active love and service towards me through His Word and Sacrament. This is why we come to worship and this is why we call our worship “Divine Service”: it is where God serves us to keep us spiritually strong.

Tomorrow we consider from Matthew 14 how the Lord feeds us. We will consider what drives Him to you (His great compassion) and under what circumstances He comes (in desolation of your sin) and yet how by His grace, He serves you and feeds you. We will consider how we live in His service (ministry) in three different ways. Come and be equipped!

We will also receive the precious body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Supper is called a “means of grace” because it is through the Supper that we receive God’s grace. Here the forgiveness of sins is continually distributed and received over and over again. Jesus is host and He feeds us through this pure Gospel gift of His very body and blood.

Come and be blessed! Come and rejoice!

Here is an excerpt from tomorrow’s service:

“How the Lord Feeds You” (St. Matthew 14:13-21)

For Your Life in Christ the Week of the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, August 3^rd, 2014

Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church of Irvine, CA (LC-MS)

Pastor Espinosa

 

Introduction: Jesus our Savior had and has compassion!

1. The word in the original language is splagchnizomai. It means that “his gut moved” or his inward parts poured forth. His heart goes out to you in a deep, personal, and true way. He really, really cares and it always leads to His acting; doing something about it!
2. Notice how St. Matthew tracks His observations, compassion, and action:

Matthew 4:23: “And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.”

 

Matthew 9:36: “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”

 

Matthew 14:14: “When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.”

 

1. These Scriptures describe more than just sympathy (sameness of feeling) or empathy (the ability to share in another’s emotions, thoughts, or feelings). Christ is so deeply moved when He sees His people in real need that He is so internally moved, it causes Him to act and help driven by deep love.
2. How does He act; what does He do?
3. He preaches the good news.
4. He heals disease and sickness (remember what has been promised to us all at the end).
5. He intervenes for and helps the harassed and helpless.

 

Part I: Where Does This Ministry Take Place?

1. Matthew 14:13 = “[Jesus] withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place…”; Matthew 14:15 = the disciples say, “This is a desolate place…”.
2. We too are in a desolate place in the sense that we live in a place impacted by the desolation of sin, the world, and the evil one:
3. Think of the desolation represented by the Ebola virus and the havoc it is causing in West Africa.
4. Consider the desolation of continued war, airline disasters, and the nightmare of kids taking the lives of others before taking their own.
5. Consider your own desolation as you face the daily battle against your sinful nature and the guilt, shame and fear it produces in your heart.
6. 1^st Peter 2:11 calls us “sojourners and exiles”!
7. The hymn “I’m But a Stranger Here” stanza one: “I’m but a stranger here, Heav’n is my home; Earth is a desert drear, Heav’n is my home. Danger and sorrow stand Round me on ev’ry hand; Heav’n is my fatherland, Heav’n is my home.”
8. These are indications of desolation. Jesus does not avoid the desolate places, but enters into them. He comes to us.

In Jesus’ Love,

Pastor Al