September 14, 2025
Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Luke 15:2 – “And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, ‘This man receives sinners and eats with them.’”
Thanks be to God: Jesus receives us sinners! What the Pharisees can’t understand, we praise with all our being. We give thanks for the grace of God, and we live by that grace.
The more of it we receive, the more we will want to conform ourselves to the image of our generous and gracious Lord. Knowing the Lord and trusting Him come first, and the desire to imitate Him can’t help but follow.
LCMS Stewardship Bulletin Sentences
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Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Ezekiel 34:11–24; 1 Timothy 1:(5–11) 12–17; Luke 15:1–10
Jesus Christ Is the Great Shepherd of His Sheep
“The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). As He had mercy on Paul, in order to “display his perfect patience” (1 Timothy 1:16), so also does He seek out His sheep “from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness” (Ezekiel 34:12).
To deliver His flock, He “will seek the lost, … bring back the strayed, … bind up the injured, and … strengthen the weak” (Ezekiel 34:16), and “they shall no longer be a prey” (Ezekiel 34:22). He sets over them one great Good Shepherd, the Son of David, who “shall feed them and be their shepherd” (Ezekiel 34:23).
For Christ Jesus is the one man who, “having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them,” would “leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it” (Luke 15:4). When He finds the lost one and brings it home rejoicing, “the angels of God” and all the company of heaven rejoice with Him, with great joy (Luke 15:7, 10).
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Life Thoughts for the Week
Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost - “If we expect to be the one to change hearts by sowing seeds of judgment rather than love, we are changing the mission we have been sent to fulfill.
Please use your Gospel-motivated voice For Life in love and may God bless your efforts!”
Virginia Flo, Lutherans For Life – A Life Quote from Lutherans For Life • lutheransforlife.org
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