My Pleasure. Worship: September 27, 2026

From the beginning, God implanted His life-creating power into His creation with the command “Be fruitful and multiply” to animals (Genesis 1:22) and to humans (1:28), with one important difference. You are not an accident or only a product of biology. Every human being is a personal soul. So we confess, “I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them” (Small Catechism, Creed, Explanation of the First Article). Because of our inherited sin, however, “the soul who sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4). Nevertheless, God’s design is for life—eternal life. He declares, “I have no pleasure in the death of anyone” (18:32). Because God so loves you, He sent His Son to take away your sin by the shedding of His blood on the cross. Therefore, “we preach Christ crucified, . . . the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:23–24). Christ died to sin for you. By Holy Baptism, you died with Christ and are raised to new life in Him. The love of God is yours today by faith in the cross of Jesus Christ. The Father’s declaration of Jesus now becomes yours: “My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17).