Weekly Devotional Guide

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Theme for The Baptism of Our Lord

Jesus was baptized, not because he needed baptism, but because he began fulfilling all righteousness as our substitute.

Hymn #406

Alleluia. You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased. Alleluia.

Father in heaven, at the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River You proclaimed Him Your beloved Son and anointed Him with the Holy Spirit. Make all who are baptized in His name faithful in their calling as Your children and inheritors with Him of everlasting life; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
[Verse and Collect from Lutheran Service Book © 2006 Concordia Publishing House. Used by permission]

Hymns #404, #406, #596, #578, #594, #346, #598

Christian Questions with Their Answers
PREPARED BY DR. MARTIN LUTHER FOR THOSE WHO INTEND TO GO TO THE SACRAMENT

After confession and instruction in the Ten Commandments, the Creed, the Our Father, and the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, the pastor may ask, or Christians may ask themselves these questions:

8. How many Gods are there?
Only one, but there are three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

9. What has Christ done for you that you trust in him?
He died for me and shed his blood for me on the cross for the forgiveness of sins.

10. Did the Father also die for you?
He did not. The Father is God only, as is the Holy Spirit; but the Son is both true God and true man. He died for me and shed his blood for me.

11. How do you know this?
From the holy Gospel, from the words of instituting the Sacrament, and by his body and blood given me as a pledge in the Sacrament.

[to be continued]

Luther's Small Catechism copyright © 1986. Concordia Publishing House. Used by permission of the publisher