Zion Lutheran Sioux Falls

Our Bible Reading of the Day is Acts 10:1-48. A faithful and generous centurion named Cornelius has a vision of God’s angel telling him to bring Peter to Caesarea. In Joppa, Peter sees a vision of a sheet descending from the sky, filled with all kinds of animals. The instruction to “kill and eat” confuses Peter since many of the animals on the sheet are considered unclean. The Spirit tells Peter to go to Caesarea. At Cornelius’s home, the Holy Spirit descends on the Gentiles as Peter preaches the Gospel to them. Peter commands the Gentiles to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

This weekend we demonstrate our financial generosity through pledging a portion of our income for our church. Zacchaeus will help us as he shows money’s generous side.

Money Talks! That’s the name of the three-week sermon series we’re in. Today’s money talk comes from 2 Kings 5. The focus? A greedy man named Gehazi.

Today we begin a three-week series called Money Talks and Lot is our focus. Lot, Abraham’s nephew. Lot, whose wife famously became a pillar of salt. Lot, whose life shows us money’s dark side. There is much to learn!

The Feast of the Epiphany centers in the visit of the Magi from the East. While Christmas has focused on the incarnation of our Lord … that is, on God becoming flesh … the season of Epiphany emphasizes the manifestation or self-revelation of God in that same flesh of Christ. The Lord Himself has entered our darkness and rises upon us with the brightness of His true light (Is. 60:1–2). He does so chiefly by His Word of the Gospel, which He causes to be preached within His Church on earth … not only to the Jews but also to Gentiles (Eph. 3:8–10). As the Magi were guided by the promises of Holy Scripture to find and worship the Christ Child with His mother in the house (Matt. 2:5–11), so does He call disciples from all nations by the preaching of His Word to find and worship Him within His Church (Is. 60:3–6). With gold, they confess His royalty; with incense, His deity; and with myrrh, His priestly sacrifice (Matt. 2:11).