Trinity Lutheran Church, Colby, Kansas

09/06/2026

Service video for today:

09/04/2026

"Come and See"
September 4, 2026
This devotion pairs with this weekend’s Lutheran Hour sermon, which can be found at lhm.org.

Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” (John 1:45-46)

With so many artificial intelligence-generated images out there, it’s hard to know what’s real and what’s fake. Recently, a co-worker showed me an image we were planning to use for a project. My first thought when I saw it was, “That’s so AI.” I didn’t want a fabricated image for this project. I wanted something real. And even though the image had come from a credible source, and was purported not to be AI-generated, I was skeptical. It seemed too good to be true. It was a picture-perfect landscape, sun rays glistening over a snow-capped mountain behind a glassy, turquoise, tropical-looking lagoon. I did some digging and found that the image had a photographer credited, so that was promising. But still, something in me couldn’t believe what I was seeing (or wouldn’t believe it). What pushed me over the threshold was when I showed the image to a friend. She looked at it and said, “I’ve been there. Yes, it’s a real place,” she told me. She had dipped her toes in those turquoise waters and skied the snowy slopes in the background. I was converted. Not only do I believe it’s a real place. Now I want to go and see it!

There are many things about Jesus that may seem too good to be true—that He is the Word of God made human, the Word who created you and delights in you—that He has come to dispel the darkness of sin and death and doubt and the devil—that whoever trusts in Him will not be lost forever in the darkness because the darkness wasn’t able to hold Jesus down in death, because He rose from the dead and He promises to raise you from the dead and to make everything beautiful in its time—does it sometimes sound too good to be true? If so, what would it take to convert you, or re-convert you, to bring you over the threshold from doubt to faith, from skepticism to wonder and desire, to dip your toes in God’s life, to jump into the waters of God and explore the mountains of God? It probably wouldn’t just be one thing, but many things—influences, small nudges, bits of evidence. But in another sense, those many things are just one thing: witness. We need a witness. We need witnesses, like my friend, people who’ve been there, who’ve experienced the beauty for themselves and invite us to come (or come back) and see.

As we begin a new season of The Lutheran Hour, that’s what I hope we can do for you in these devotions, broadcasts, podcasts, videos, online courses, booklets and books we offer. I pray that the speakers and the writers and the behind-the-scene workers in this ministry can be something like a friend for you who’s been there, to help you sort out what’s fake, to re-experience the power of Jesus and His Word in the Bible to bring us all over the threshold, and into the household of faith, into life with God—real life, and to become the sort of friends who are willing to say to the skeptical and to the distant, “You come, too.”

WE PRAY: Dear Father, thank You for sending Jesus to be Your Witness, and to make us His. Amen.

This Daily Devotion was written by Rev. Dr. Michael Zeigler, Speaker of The Lutheran Hour.

LHM is a Christian outreach ministry that provides The Lutheran Hour radio program, daily devotions, help topics and booklets, evangelism training, outreach resources for churches, Bible correspondence courses, international ministries, volunteer trips and service projects.

09/03/2026

"Childish"
September 3, 2026
At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to Him a child, He put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one such child in My Name receives Me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” (Matthew 18:1-6)

Jesus’ words here are a comfort to me. All too often I am aware that I am behaving like a little child—dependent, frightened, needing help from someone greater than I am. And our world does not approve of that attitude, especially in adults.

But Jesus does! Jesus calls us to depend on Him—to throw away every reason we have for trusting in ourselves, whether that be education, power, status, or anything else—and instead, to lean wholly on Him. He is happiest when we behave like tired children in the backseat of a car their parents are driving home. What do these children normally do? Do they stay awake, anxiously monitoring their parents’ driving? Of course not! They fall asleep, nodding in their car seats—until the moment their parents lift them out of the car and carry them up to bed.

This is what Jesus wants for us—a trust that is willing to let Jesus handle all of our problems, even the silliest, even the most embarrassing. When we bring all of our problems to Him, even the smallest, we are honoring Him, because that means we trust Him to care about us and not turn us away. The Lord honors that kind of child-like faith. And we are likely to see Him do wonders we did not expect—because we matter to Him, and anything that troubles us is important in His eyes.

This is love, that God would put Himself out to care for us in even the tiniest of ways, as a good parent cares for a child. Such parents will give their lives for their children if that is necessary, and that is exactly what Jesus did for us, dying on that cross to rescue us from the power of sin, death, and the devil. But now that Jesus has completed that work and risen from the dead, He is not done taking care of us! He watches over us every single day, as carefully as you would do for a toddler of your own. We are that loved and that cared for. And so we can trust and lean on Him, even when suffering comes, even when we don’t understand what is happening in our lives and why God is allowing it. Because dependency on Jesus is what we were made for.

WE PRAY: Dear Jesus, teach me to trust You with the things I hesitate to pray about—the things that seem too small or too silly. Help me rely on You for everything, big and small. Amen.

This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Kari Vo.

09/03/2026

"Fulfilling the Law"
September 2, 2026
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, …. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the Law. For the Commandments … are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the Law. (Romans 13:1-3, 6-10)

This is one of the hardest passages in the Bible for people who want to do right by God and the government both. It’s been a hard passage ever since Paul’s own time, when he was beheaded by the authority of the emperor Nero. It’s easy to see why we have to pay taxes and obey a good government that is doing what God intends it to do; but what happens when we live under a Nero, a Pol Pot, a Hi**er? What happens when government goes bad?

That’s where Paul’s final verses come into play: “Pay to all what is owed to them … Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the Law.” Or as Jesus said it, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s” (Mark 12:17b, NIV).

There are things that rightly belong to government, even a bad government; you’ve probably heard “Salute the uniform if you can’t salute the person wearing it.” But when government comes into conflict with God, Peter had it right: “We must obey God rather than human beings!” (Acts 5:29, NIV) Jesus Himself did this, when He allowed Himself to be arrested by government authorities who had no intention of giving Him a fair trial. But though He handed Himself over, He did not hand over the lives of His disciples, because “Love does no wrong to a neighbor.” Jesus put their lives—and ours—above His own; He rendered to the authorities all the respect and obedience due them, but He gave God what was God’s—His fullest obedience, His life, and our rescue.

“Love is the fulfilling of the Law,” says the Holy Spirit, speaking through Paul. When we have to navigate difficult times (as my husband did when his life was in danger from the Communist authorities), we can look to our Savior Jesus for help following His example of love. He died and rose for us so that we might be God’s own children, joyfully giving Him what is His—our lives, our obedience, and our very selves.

WE PRAY: Lord, when I’m not sure what to do, show me Your way. Amen.

This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Kari Vo.

09/01/2026

"Watching Out for Our Brothers and Sisters"
September 1, 2026
[The Lord said,] “So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from My mouth, you shall give them warning from Me. If I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, that person shall die in his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul.” (Ezekiel 33:7-9)

This is one passage of the Bible that I really don’t like. Not because there’s anything wrong about it! I don’t like it because it scares me—because it asks me to do something really hard, to confront someone else about a serious mess in their life. And I hate doing that. I mean, they’re almost certain to get angry with me, and I don’t know how that’s going to affect our relationship going forward. And so I wish I could chicken out.

But I can’t. Because the Lord has made every Christian a watchman of sorts for other Christians around us. Not that we’re required to keep tabs on every single minor thing they do wrong! But when we see some major sin that has the potential to pull them away from Jesus, and it looks like they aren’t doing a thing to avoid that danger, well … we have to say something. If we love them, we have to speak up.

I’m glad Jesus has given us the Holy Spirit to help us in times like those. Otherwise I’d never find the courage to say or do a single thing. But the Spirit can give us the right words to say (see Matthew 10:19-20), and help us to say those words in love.

And it is love that motivates us when we have to do this very painful thing—not outrage, not a desire to protect the reputation of the family or the church, not even a desire to meddle in someone else’s private affairs. It’s the love of Jesus living in us, reaching out to protect and save, just as He did when He went to the cross for us—taking all our sin and shame upon Himself. He did that so that we could be set free from all of it—so that we could experience the wonderful freedom of the children of God (see Galatians 5:13-14). And now that Jesus has risen from the dead, He gives us life, peace, and forgiveness. And that forgiveness is for all of us, no matter what sin we’ve fallen into. Jesus wants us home and reconciled to God. And He wants all of us—including our brothers and sisters who might be going astray.

WE PRAY: Dear Lord, it’s super hard to talk to people about something so personal as sin. When You want me to do that, please give me Your courage, humility, and love, and speak through me. Amen.

This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Kari Vo.

08/31/2026

"Seeking the Lost"
August 31, 2026
I acknowledged my sin to You, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and You forgave the iniquity of my sin. (Psalm 32:5)

After Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they hid themselves among the trees of Eden. It was a foolish thing to do. God knew what they had done and He certainly knew where to find them. Still, God went looking for them, calling them to repentance, “Where are you? … Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” (Genesis 3:9b, 11b). Even then the Shepherd was seeking the lost. Like our first parents Adam and Eve, we try in vain to cover our sin and shame and engage in futile attempts to hide from the presence of our Creator. We might be successful—for a while—in hiding our sin from people, but we cannot hide from God.

God sent His Son, Jesus our Lord, “to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10b). In His work of seeking and saving, the Son of God would, in the end, have no place to hide. He was nailed to a cross in full view of angry, shocked, and grieving spectators. He was taunted and ridiculed by His enemies. In His own body He carried our sin and shame—Adam’s sin and ours, the sins of all people—as He hung in helpless weakness for the world to see. His Heavenly Father saw Him and turned away, abandoning His Son to suffering and death as Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46b). Finally, Jesus’ body was taken down and sealed in a tomb. Then, on the third day, He rose from the dead! He appeared to His chosen witnesses, His victory over sin and death clearly displayed in wounds that marked His living body. As the apostle Paul explains, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins … But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead” (1 Corinthians 15:17, 20a).

Our sin and guilt were nailed to the cross, judged and condemned in the body of our crucified Savior. In humble, repentant trust, confident in the forgiveness won at the cross and empty tomb, we declare, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.” God forgives the iniquity, that is, the guilt of our sin. There is no need to hide. God sees us through the cross of His Son, and as far as He is concerned, we never committed those sins. The guilt is gone. The transgressions we confessed are removed forever from the sight of God. Finally, the day will come when we will stand in God’s eternal presence and shout for joy over our salvation. Until then, we can be certain that the Shepherd is still seeking the lost.

WE PRAY: Dear Savior, I will praise You now and forever for the forgiveness that You won for me on the cross. Amen.

This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Carol Geisler.

08/31/2026

Sermon Video from Sunday

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08/30/2026

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08/30/2026

+ Baptized into Christ - Saturday August 29, 2026 - Butch, Paige and Tyler Cox + Praise be to God for contuning to give the good gifts won by Jesus to all who hear and believe! Feel free for leave your encouragement below!

08/28/2026

"God’s Word at Work in the World"
August 28, 2026
This devotion pairs with this weekend’s Lutheran Hour sermon, which can be found at lhm.org.

Again He [Jesus] began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about Him, so that He got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. And He was teaching them many things in parables, and in His teaching He said to them: “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some of the seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. Other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” And He said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Mark 4:1-9)

Very often Jesus told stories; they’re called “parables.” Jesus’ stories always had some contact with real life, with the day-to-day life people knew. Let’s consider the well-known “Parable of the Sower.” It’s about a man who sowed seed by hand. Jesus tells us the seed fell in four distinct places: along a path, on rocky ground, among thorns, and into good soil. In the first three places, the seed did not take root. The seed that reached the good soil, however, produced grain, growing into a substantial yield. So far, the story makes perfect sense to Jesus’ listeners.

But then Jesus says, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” This comment left His hearers scratching their heads, and they later asked Him to explain. His story isn’t about getting the most bang for your buck at the farmer’s market. It’s about how the Word of God works in people’s lives—and this is news Jesus’ followers need to know in their proclamation of God’s Word.

People receive the Word of God in different ways. Critics don’t give it a second chance. The devil keeps the Word from their hard hearts. Others receive the Word enthusiastically but don’t grow in it; they don’t stick with Jesus when discrimination or persecution comes. Still others are preoccupied with the things of this world, and that chokes it out. But the good soil, ah, that’s what you and I want to be! To be sinners who receive the forgiving and hope-giving Word of Christ! To grow in reverence for the loving rule and reign of God! To be followers of Jesus who produce godly fruit in our lives. May we be the good soil in whom the love of God’s kingdom grows!

And when we speak of Jesus to others, we know that it is God attending to His Word. He tells us in Isaiah 55:11, “so shall My Word be that goes out from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty.” You are not alone in proclaiming the Word, nor must you have the exactly right answer every time. God is doing His work! There is a generation in need of the goodness of the Gospel. They are scraping to find meaning in life. Friendships, jobs, and a long line of relationships have let them down. But the Gospel will not. This is the importance of what you have to share.

This is the importance of telling others about Jesus.

WE PRAY: Heavenly Father, let me speak boldly of Your love to others. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Based on “Tell Me a Story!” a sermon by Rev. Dr. Dale Meyer, Speaker Emeritus for The Lutheran Hour

LHM is a Christian outreach ministry that provides The Lutheran Hour radio program, daily devotions, help topics and booklets, evangelism training, outreach resources for churches, Bible correspondence courses, international ministries, volunteer trips and service projects.