Resurrection Lutheran Church and School Newport News VA

09/15/2026

5-Day Bible Reading Plan and Devotional Guide

Based on the Sermon: "Please Forgive Me"

Day 2: The King Who Cancels the Debt

Reading: Colossians 2:13-14 — God made us alive together with Christ, having forgiven all our trespasses, canceling the record of debt that stood against us, nailing it to the cross.

Devotional: The king in Jesus' parable did not restructure the debt. He did not offer a payment plan or reduce the balance to something more manageable. He canceled it entirely. This is not a picture of a God who meets us halfway. This is a picture of a God who absorbs the full cost of what we owe so that we walk out of His presence owing nothing. When Jesus said "it is finished" from the cross, He was not announcing a down payment. He was declaring a completed transaction. The guilt is gone. The record is cleared. The sinner is free. This is the foundation on which everything else in the Christian life is built, including our ability to forgive those who have wronged us.

Reflection: Do you live as someone who has been fully forgiven, or do you still carry guilt that Christ has already nailed to the cross?

Practical Application: Write down a sin or failure you have struggled to release from your own conscience. Then write the words "canceled in Christ" over it as a declaration of what the cross has accomplished.

09/14/2026

5-Day Bible Reading Plan and Devotional Guide

Based on the Sermon: "Please Forgive Me"

Day 1: The Weight of What We Owe

Reading: Romans 3:23-24 — All have sinned and fallen short of God's glory, yet are justified freely by His grace through the redemption found in Christ Jesus.

Devotional: Before we can understand forgiveness, we must understand the debt. The servant in Jesus' parable owed an amount so staggering it defied calculation. That is not an accident. Jesus chose that number deliberately to describe the weight of sin before a holy God. We often minimize what we owe because we compare ourselves to other people rather than to God's perfection. But the law does not grade on a curve. When we stand before God, we bring nothing that can settle the account. No record of good behavior, no years of faithful attendance, no sincere intentions can erase what is owed. The beginning of genuine forgiveness toward others starts here, in the honest recognition that we ourselves are hopelessly indebted and utterly dependent on mercy we did not earn.
Reflection: In what ways have you minimized your own sin by comparing yourself to others rather than to God's standard?
Practical Application: Spend time today in honest confession, naming specific sins before God without excuse or comparison. Let the weight of what you owe settle in before you receive the relief of what Christ has done.

09/13/2026

Sunday Worship

09/11/2026

5-Day Bible Reading Plan and Devotional Guide Based on the Sermon: "Less or More"

Day 5: Less of Me, More of Christ

Reading: Galatians 2:20

Devotional: Paul's declaration in Galatians 2:20 captures the entire rhythm of the Christian life: it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. The sermon frames this beautifully: less pride, less anger, less bitterness, less of the need to always be right, and more of Jesus. This is not self-improvement. This is surrender. When we decrease, Christ increases in us, and with Him comes more grace, more mercy, more capacity to pursue the broken and restore the lost. You were found by the shepherd. You are forgiven at the cross. Now live as one who has been found, and go looking for others.

09/10/2026

5-Day Bible Reading Plan and Devotional Guide
Based on the Sermon: "Less or More"

Day 4: Forgiveness Received, Forgiveness Extended

Reading: Colossians 3:12-14

Devotional: Paul writes in Colossians 3 that believers are to clothe themselves with compassion, kindness, humility, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving as the Lord has forgiven them. Notice the order. Forgiveness flows outward from forgiveness already received. You do not forgive others in order to earn God's grace. You forgive because you have already been overwhelmed by it. When you stand before someone who has wounded you and find it nearly impossible to extend mercy, return to the cross. Remember what was carried there on your behalf. The one who forgave you everything now calls you to forgive something.

09/09/2026

5-Day Bible Reading Plan and Devotional Guide Based on the Sermon: "Less or More"

Day 3: The Goal Is Always Restoration

Reading: Matthew 18:15-20

Devotional: When someone wrongs us, our natural instinct is to protect ourselves, to win, to be vindicated. But Jesus redirects that instinct entirely. He does not say go and make your case. He says go and seek your brother. The goal, as the sermon reminds us, is not winning the argument but gaining back the relationship. This requires humility, and humility is costly. It means admitting you may not have the full picture. It means saying three of the hardest words in any language: I was wrong. But consider this: restoration, not victory, is what reflects the heart of the shepherd who came looking for you.

09/08/2026

5-Day Bible Reading Plan and Devotional Guide
Based on the Sermon: "Less or More"

Day 2: The Cross as the Final Pursuit

Reading: Romans 5:6-8

Devotional: In Romans 5, Paul makes clear that Christ died for us while we were still sinners, not after we had cleaned ourselves up or proven our worth. This is the staggering logic of the gospel. The shepherd pursued the wandering sheep all the way to the cross. There, Jesus carried every sin you have ever committed: the pride, the bitterness, the gossip, the failure to love, the failure to forgive. He carried it all and died under its weight so that you would not have to. You did not deserve that pursuit. Neither did anyone else. That is precisely what makes it grace.

09/08/2026

Another great article about our new child care center!

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16JBE2M6AoV/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Resurrection Lutheran Church in Newport News just opened the largest licensed childcare provider in Hampton Roads, with room for 250 kids and their families. We continue to pray for this new ministry as it grows and serves our community in the SED. Read the full story: https://www.whro.org/business-growth/2026-09-02/a-newport-news-church-just-became-the-regions-largest-childcare-provider-a-huge-shortage-remains

09/08/2026

Save the date for Worship in the Park! 🧺

09/07/2026

5-Day Bible Reading Plan and Devotional Guide Based on the Sermon: "Less or More"

Day 1: The Shepherd Who Pursues

Reading: Matthew 18:10-14

Devotional: We often imagine that our relationship with God depends on our ability to find our way back to Him. But the parable of the lost sheep tells a different story. The shepherd does not wait. He goes. He searches. He pursues. You were once that wandering sheep, separated from the fold not by accident but by your own turning away. And yet God did not post a sign and hope you would return. He came looking. Before you ever took a step toward Him, He had already taken a thousand steps toward you. Rest in that today.