Abiding Word Lutheran Church of Brenham

05/31/2026

Abiding Word Lutheran Church, Brenham, Texas, Sunday 10:00 a.m. Service

01/23/2026

Given the forecast of sleet and ice starting Saturday afternoon or evening, and temperatures approaching the low 20's by Sunday morning, out of an abundance of caution we are regretfully canceling our church service for Sunday, January 25th. Authorities anticipate many if not all bridges and overpasses to be iced over making driving treacherous. Surface streets will likely be affected as well.

Please stay home and stay warm, and avoid going outside if possible. Forecasted wind chills may reach into the single digits Sunday evening and Monday morning, with the arctic freeze now forecasted to last into Tuesday. It's time to "hunker down", pray, and endure.

Please reach out to any friends whom you feel may not get this email nor our newsletter to let them know there will be no church service this coming Sunday. The office will also be closed on Monday. Normal activities should resume at some point on Tuesday once roads are open again, however we anticipate the church office opening late if at all as the low for Tuesday is now predicted to be 22 degrees!

Please take all possible precautions! Take care and God bless!

09/09/2025

Sunday, the 14th of September, we read the following from the book of Psalms.
Although David wrote the Psalms, we know that it is the Holy Spirit, not man, who inspires the words. The following verses are therefore about God and from God. We cannot pray, come to faith, or even have salvation without God. The Holy Spirit in us clings to God’s words, and the Holy Spirit convicts us to repentance.

Psalm 119:169-176
English Standard Version

169 Let my cry come before you, O Lord;
give me understanding according to your word!
- King David is asking God to GIVE him the ability to pray, cry, and speak to the Lord. We as sinners cannot do such things, nor do we have understanding on our own.

170 Let my plea come before you;
deliver me according to your word.
- King David continues his plea that God seek him out to deliver him from his own sins. King David knows that with the Word, he can be saved and make a plea.

171 My lips will pour forth praise,
for you teach me your statutes.
- With the help of God, (The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), David can properly give praise and learn the way things were meant to be. Without God's help, we cannot discern the statutes of life and order. So, we give thanks to God for meddling in our lives to save us.

172 My tongue will sing of your word,
for all your commandments are right.
- With God’s help, we sing praises for His creation and for His commandments. His commandments give life and stability in our lives as a promise. These commandments are part of the new command to love one another and to be freed from slavery.

173 Let your hand be ready to help me,
for I have chosen your precepts.
- David now please that God’s right hand continue to save us from our sins and condemnation. You will hear this in the Lord’s prayer, “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil!” This is the Gospel.

174 I long for your salvation, O Lord,
and your law is my delight.
- When we know salvation comes from the Lord and not our hands, we can delight in God’s laws. There isn’t a prerequisite to being saved that needs to be completed on our behalf; salvation comes from God’s words and God speaking. God continues to meddle in our lives to free us from being slaves to ourselves. This reflects in God being labeled as a Shepherd who seeks out the lost sheep. The sheep do not seek the shepherd. God is both hidden and revealed. God is the master of Hide and seek. It is only by the power of the Holy Spirit that we can call on Him. We ask that He continually be near to us.

175 Let my soul live and praise you,
and let your rules help me.
- This verse enforces that through the Gospel, we cling to God’s commands in a new light. For example, the first commandment “You shall have no other gods” becomes “I am the Lord your God, you do not need other gods. For I promise to seek you out. Idols do not seek you out or care for you. I care enough to send my son in the form of flesh and send you the Holy Spirit to abide in me.” This new command comes when we are in Christ! It comes with the Holy Spirit. David praises this new yoke. For it is lighter and it yokes us to God!

176 I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant,
for I do not forget your commandments.
- With the Holy Spirit helping to convict us, David knows he has been led astray. Not by God, but by David's yoke and slavery to himself. We often fall into this trap of self-serving. But it is only God who can reveal it to us, and then, with the help of God, plead for forgiveness of sin and pray to Him.

08/19/2025

Learning with the pastor:

This weeks readings:
Isaiah 66:18-23
Psalm 50:1-15
Hebrews 12:4-29
Luke 13:22-30

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%2066%3A18-23%3B%20Psalm%2050%3A1-15%3B%20Hebrews%2012%3A4-29%3B%20Luke%2013%3A22-30&version=ESV

Salvation Is God’s Gift, Not Human Achievement

Psalm: God doesn’t need sacrifices, but saves when people call on Him.

Hebrews: Christ’s blood mediates a better covenant than Sinai.

Luke: Salvation is not about heritage or entitlement, but about knowing Christ.

Isaiah: God Himself brings the nations to see His glory.

“For I know their works and their thoughts, and the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and shall see my glory, and I will set a sign among them. And from them I will send survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, t...

08/05/2025

Learning with the Pastor
Readings for this week can be found at https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2015%3A1-6%3B%20Psalm%2033%3A12-22%3B%20Hebrews%2011%3A1-16%3B%20Luke%2012%3A22-40&version=ESV

Psalm 33:12-22
12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!
Psalm 33:12 begins with a promise from God the Father. In the readings for Sunday, the 10th of August, 2025, our reading from Genesis reveals God’s promise to Abraham. Looking at the stars, Abraham hears the precious love God has for children and creation. “You will receive an heir, he will be your own.” This is a two-fold promise. Abraham will have offspring, and through the offspring---Jesus. God tells Abraham this offspring – the line of Jesus – will create heirs. These heirs are made through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. “And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.” Jesus, eventually born through the lineage of Abraham, will make the children righteous. Re-read Psalm 33:12
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13 The Lord looks down from heaven;
he sees all the children of man;
14 from where he sits enthroned he looks out
on all the inhabitants of the earth,

As God promised to Abraham, the children are disobedient and little terrors. Sin has corrupted them God sees the sin and observes our struggles. Hebrews 11 from the reading this coming Sunday solidifies God’s interaction in the world. Hebrews 11:1-3 “…the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.” This includes faith and promise. Abraham had faith, but was also a sinful man. Only made righteous by God’s promise that he will have offspring that will eventually create heirs in heaven through the spilling of His blood. Hebrews 11:8 “8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.”

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15 he who fashions the hearts of them all
and observes all their deeds.
16 The king is not saved by his great army;
a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.
17 The war horse is a false hope for salvation,
and by its great might it cannot rescue.

Hebrews 11:1-3 “…the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.” Salvation is also the unseen, along with faith. We want to make it visible in our works and deeds. But God reveals this is not how it will work. It is revealed in God’s promise to Abraham, and Abraham and others in the Old Testament looked forward to a time when it is complete, while we look back to the cross. God’s promise is not past tense, but present tense. Always present tense and always passive. It is given. Abraham did nothing of his own merit to deserve this promise or inheritance. Neither did Mary do anything to deserve to carry Jesus. God’s words did all the action through messengers (angels). Trying to prove faith through deeds is fruitless and empty. This kind of talk is not of light, but of the darkness.

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18 Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him,
on those who hope in his steadfast love,
19 that he may deliver their soul from death
and keep them alive in famine.
Hebrews 11:13- 16 “13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had the opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.”
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20 Our soul waits for the Lord;
he is our help and our shield.
21 For our heart is glad in him,
because we trust in his holy name.
22 Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us,
even as we hope in you.

Luke 12:35-37
35 “Stay dressed for action[c] and keep your lamps burning, 36 and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks.

God's Covenant with Abram - After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” But Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascu...

07/23/2025

Learning with the pastor:

Take a moment to go to the following website and read through the Lord's Prayer. Read it, digest it, pray on it.

https://catechism.cph.org/en/lords-prayer.html

Then read the following:

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians%202%3A6-19&version=ESV

Then repeat!

Alive in Christ - Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, accor...

07/08/2025

Learning with the Pastor:

3 things to remember when we read the book of Psalm.

1) Scripture is breathed out by the Holy Spirit and not by man.

2) The book of Psalm is a cry of the Holy Spirit working on King David. Therefore, the Holy Spirit is speaking on behalf of a wretched man.

3) The book of Psalm is the story of Jesus Christ.

Psalm 41

9 Even my close friend in whom I trusted,
who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.

In verse 9, we read the words of Jesus Christ and David. This means that in Christ, this is also your story.

You will hear Jesus speak about not 1, not 2, but several friends who He trusted lift their heel against Him. Remember, Judas betrayed Christ with a kiss of peace and friendship after breaking bread with Christ. You and I break bread with Christ every Sunday at Abiding Word Lutheran Church during communion. We also confess with our lips that Jesus is the Savior. Yet we sin day after day against Him. We lift our heel against Jesus Christ when we sin. We betray Him with our hearts, and yet we declare Him friend ... even a trusted friend. God teaches us that our hearts are tainted with sin, and therefore, the problem. Our hearts are the enemy of God when we speak praises to Him.
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10 But you, O Lord, be gracious to me,
and raise me up, that I may repay them!

In Verse 10, Jesus reveals his prayer to God the Father and the Holy Spirit! In Baptism and receiving communion, we are one with God the Father because of and on behalf of Jesus Christ.

When we read verse 8 "They say, “A deadly thing is poured out on him; he will not rise again from where he lies.” we see our Sin is poured out on Jesus Christ! Satan denies this possibility along with all of the people Satan influences who say, "One man cannot possibly take the weight of sin upon Himself! He will not win! Why do you pray! Why do you believe! This is impossible!"

Yet, Verse 10 reveals His prayer to God the Father. Christ takes the poison of the world upon Himself in the baptism in the river and drinks the cup of sour wine to complete the weight transfer of sin (now you are baptized in Christ to put your sin on Him and drink the cup for the forgiveness of sins). We are raised up with Christ because he became sin....YOUR SIN. And Christ repays us with life by destroying death through death.

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11 By this I know that you delight in me:
my enemy will not shout in triumph over me.

Verse 11 confirms what you have heard so far. God delights in you and all sinners because death is swallowed up completely. Hear this, you wicked...Christ destroys Sin, Death, and the Devil. None of them keep Christ from entering heaven...and through baptism and communion, we can believe and know this to be true. Sin, Death, and the Devil cannot have triumph or the last word. It is through Christ that you put on the armor of God.
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12 But you have upheld me because of my integrity,
and set me in your presence forever.

Because of the work of Christ, His work is now your work through propitiation. He is alive, and His integrity is yours. This is the Gospel! You did not achieve it, Christ achieved it!
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13 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting!
Amen and Amen.

We come to the end in praise. Blessed be the Lord, God of Israel! We keep His statutes because of the Holy Spirit in us. We come to everlasting as God's Word is everlasting and echoes across time with no end and no death. His words continue to create us anew in forgiveness and in love. And therefore we say Amen...Amen!

This is most certainly true!

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