The Twin Steeples Podcast

Hymn 351 - Love Divine, All Love Excelling

This weekend we end of the Gesima Sundays and prepare to enter the season of Lent. Lent points us to the Love of God which is revealed in His work of salvation in the work of Jesus. It is fitting as we prepare to focus on that salvation that we reflect on the great LOVE of God which was caused our salvation. 

The hymn that will be the focus of our service this weekend is the hymn "Love Divine, all Love Excelling" by Charles Wesley. Wesley grew up in the Anglican church but founded what we know today as the Methodist Church. Their focus was on Bible study and the work of God the Holy Spirit who brings us to faith, which we can see come out in this hymn. The hymn is addressed to Jesus, the "Love Divine" with a prayer that He would continue His work of salvation, begun at the cross, in us through the Holy Spirit. It reminds us that God work is not completed when we are brought to faith, but continues on throughout our lives, until we are called out of this life to our home of heaven. This hymn highlights all the way through the work of God's love for mankind. While it doesn't specifically mention our sin, it show our utter weakness and inability to save ourselves. It is God's love -- and it alone -- that accomplishes our redemption and sanctification.

Join us as we study this hymn about the love of God shows in both Christ's redemption and the Spirit's work of sanctification. Rejoice in that perfect LOVE of God!

February 26, 2025

• Devotion
  • 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5

 

• Announcements
  • Sunday School and Bible Class
  • Women's Study Guild
  • Craft du Jour
  • Women Who Hike
  • Ladies Bible Study
  • Women's Bible Study
  • Anchored in Hope
  • Basketball Tournaments
  • Ash Wednesday
  • Soup Supper
  • Communion Opportunities
  • Red Cross Blood Drive

 

• Prayer List 
  • Pastor John Hein
  • Pastor Tim Wheaton
  • Jim Lien
  • Lilia Howley
  • Bernice Geiger
  • Mission in Liberia

 

• Hymn 494 “Awake, Thou Spirit, Who Didst Fire”  

Hymn 500 - May God Bestow on Us His Grace

This week we study the hymn "May God Bestow on Us His Grace" (Hymn 500 in The Lutheran Hymnal), written by Martin Luther in the 1524.    

This hymn is a poetic version of Psalm 67 which is often called the Mission Psalm. This hymn, like Psalm 67 is a prayer to God, that God would bless His people and that they in turn would be a witness to the unbelieving world around them. This is a beautiful and very applicable prayer for us in our world still today as fewer people in our lives are Christian then ever before. We are surrounded by opportunities to be a witness to the Savior of all people to the people around us.  

This hymn highlights several important truths. First, all of our blessings, both physical and spiritual come from God. He is the giver of all things, and those blessings are to be used for our good, but also for the good of those around us and to God's glory. Second, God's Means of Grace -- the Gospel in Word and Sacrament - are the means by which He gives us His spiritual blessings, which include bringing us to faith, keeping us in the faith, forgives us our sins, and brings us to heaven. When we separate ourselves from His Means of Grace we separate ourselves from God and from His blessings, to our spiritual harm.

This hymn is a prayer that God would bless us through His Word and Sacrament and through them equip us to be faithful witness of Jesus and His blessings to the world around us that "the ends of the earth shall fear Him" (Psalm 67:7). As Luther says: "Let all the world praise Him alone; Let solemn awe possess us." May the LORD create such solemn awe in each of us through the hearing of His Holy Word!

Join us as we study this hymn which is a fitting and beneficial prayer for us to pray still today!

February 19, 2025

• Devotion
  • 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

 

• Announcements
  • Sunday School and Bible Class
  • Church Council
  • Ambassadors
  • Women's Study Guild
  • Ladies Bible Study
  • Craft du Jour
  • Women Who Hike
  • Ash Wednesday
  • Red Cross Blood Drive

 

• Prayer List 
  • Pastor John Hein
  • Pastor Tim Wheaton
  • Jim Lien
  • Lilia Howley
  • College Age Students
  • Mission in India

 

• Hymn 376 “Rock of Ages” 

Hymn 377 - Salvation unto Us Has Come

This weekend we enter into a short season between Epiphany and Lent called the Gesima Sundays. These names of these three weeks roughly count down the days until the celebration of Jesus' resurrection. On the first of these Sundays, Septuagesima (70 days), we reflect on our guilt and unworthiness before God and His mercy in giving us what we do not deserve.

The hymn that will be the focus of our service this weekend is the great reformation hymn by Paul Speratus "Salvation unto Us has Come." This hymn was written and included in the first Lutheran Hymnal published in 1523. It is a beautiful declaration of the sinner's salvation by Grace, through Faith, and in Christ Jesus, and powerfully reveals that we cannot be saved by our own works or efforts. This truth was particularly true in the 1500's in contrast to the false teaching of salvation by works as taught in Roman Catholicism, but it is just as needed today. The religions of the world that many people are confronted by today all teach salvation by works, and even many Christian denominations fall into the error of emphasizing man's works over God's grace. The rich Scriptural truths proclaimed in this hymn are as needed today as they were 500 years ago! In addition, these powerful words are combined with a powerful tune which matches its joy and confidence in Christ's work for us.

Join us as we study this hymn about our inability to save ourselves and the joy and comfort of knowing that Jesus has made the "full atonement" for our sins by taking on our flesh and giving His life as the ransom to set us free.