Mt. Olive Lutheran Church

Mt. Olive Lutheran Church LCMS Church in Rockford, IL
Loving People to Jesus
Sundays at 8 and 11 am

09/07/2026

Lk. 6:41-42 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.” Jesus, it is so easy and convenient to point fingers and to pass blame. We see it already with Adam and Eve, where Adam blames Eve and Eve blames the serpent. We are quick to accuse and blame others for the problems we face and even for our sins, rather than accepting responsibility for our role in creating and perpetuating them, and rather than confessing our sins. Help me first to accept responsibility for my role in my problems and to confess my sins. Second, help me to recognize and constructively utilize the abilities with which You have blessed me to bless and enrich others rather than belittle, diminish, or condemn them. – Mt. 7:1-5; 1 Jn. 1:7-9; 2 Cor. 5:17; 1 Cor. 10:13; Phil. 3:12-16; Eph. 4:1,32

09/06/2026

Lk. 6:39-40 “He also told them this parable: ‘Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.’” Jesus, this passage suggests to me the importance of going into things with our eyes open and prepared. It also suggests to me the importance of choosing good teachers and then actually listening to them. It finally reminds me that as You have called me to be a teacher, YOU have entrusted me with a great response-ability. I need to be responsible with the trust You have placed in me. – 2 Tim. 2:14-16,23-26 – For this, I am humbly and totally dependent upon You, the ultimate teacher. – Mt. 4:19; Jn. 15:4-5; 2 Cor. 3:4-6; Col. 3:16; 2 Tim. 4:2-5

09/05/2026

Lk. 6:37-38 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Jesus, as I understand Scripture, we are to judge behavior – Eph. 5:11; Gal. 6:1 – but we are NOT to judge PEOPLE. You condemn behaviors, but You came not to condemn people, but to save them/us. – Jn. 3:16-17 – You condemn behaviors, as ought we, in order that they might grow. Again, however, You do not condemn people. You value people so much so that You seek and save them/us. – Lk.19:10 – So much so that while we were still sinners and at our worst, You died in our place to atone for our sins. – Ro. 5:7-8; 1 Jn. 2:2 – Your instruction now to us is to love and value others as You have and do love and value us. – Jn. 13:34-35; Eph. 4:32

09/04/2026

Lk. 6:27-33 “But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. ‘If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that.’” Jesus, You call us to love as You love. – Jn. 13:34-35; Ro. 5:7-8 – To love as You love is unconditional love – meaning no exceptions. One cannot love someone with agape love unless one loves everyone with agape love. If you love some but not others, you have a reason for the some – meaning a condition, even if that reason or condition is “they’re family.” Agape love is total commitment love – meaning not only when it is easy, convenient, or comes naturally. Agape love is also an active intentional love – meaning it gets involved and gets its hands dirty. – Mt. 5:38-44; Jn. 3:16-17; Gal. 5:6; 1 Jn. 3:18 – Jesus, I cannot so love, but You can so love through me. Love through me today. – Jn. 15:4-5

09/02/2026

Lk. 6:12-13 “One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles:” Jesus, You frequently went off by Yourself to pray, especially when a major decision was to be made. For me, this is evidence of both Your Divine and Your human natures, and of Your need to keep Your human nature aligned with Your divine nature. I particularly remember Your prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. – Mt. 26:36-44; Lk. 22:39-44 – Jesus, I feel I do pray a lot during the course of any particular day; however, I must confess that I do not spend much time in focused, extensive prayer. Help me find time; no, move me to make time not only for the prayers of the moment, but also for focused, extensive, and intensive prayer. Help me pray by focusing on listening rather than speaking. – Mt. 6:7-8; Jas. 1:5 – Use my prayers as opportunities to bring my mind and heart into alignment with Yours, resulting in making my actions expressions of Your will. – Ro. 12:2; Jas. 1:22

09/01/2026

Lk. 6:6-11 “On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, ‘Get up and stand in front of everyone.’ So he got up and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, ‘I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?’ He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He did so, and his hand was completely restored. But they were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.” Jesus, our doctrines, properly understood, are meant to serve us and to lead us into loving service. They are not meant to oppress or keep us from loving, from serving You and one another. You have told us that all the Law and the Prophets are summed up in the command to love – to love You and to love others. – Mt. 22:37-40; Ro. 13:8-10; Gal. 5:14 – You have said it is by love, not by how correct all our doctrines are, that people will know that we are Your disciples. – Jn. 13:35; Gal 5:6 – Help me to value our Christian doctrines and strive to grow in my knowledge of them and my obedience to them, a – Tim. 4:16 – but even more, help me live out Your love in the service of others. – Ro. 12:1; 1 Cor. 8:1; Eph. 2:8-10; 1 Jn. 3:18; 1 Jn. 4:7-12

08/31/2026

Lk. 6:1-5 “One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels. Some of the Pharisees asked, ‘Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.’ Then Jesus said to them, ‘The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.’” Jesus, the account in Mark’s Gospel continues with You saying, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” – Mk. 2:27-28 – You established a Sabbath to serve us, not to enslave us. You knew we needed Sabbath rest to be renewed and to focus upon our relationship with You for the sake of our relationship and for service in the world. Interestingly, Luther, in his explanation of the 3rd Commandment – “Remember the Sabbath”- does not mention a day or time, but rather an attentiveness to Your Word, whereby we are fed. – Mt. 4:4; Heb. 10:22-25 – Jesus, move me to make time for You, for us, so that I can meaningfully be in the world serving, without being of the world, compromising my beliefs and/or values. – Jn. 17:15-18; Ro. 12:1-2

08/30/2026

Lk. 5:36-39 “He told them this parable: ‘No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new one will not match the old one. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out, and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, 'The old is better.'” Jesus, change is going to happen, and it is necessary, but it can be hard. Even if the present is bad, it is what we know and have learned to manage. The famous seven last words of the church: “We have never done it that way.” We need to respect tradition and where people come from. But we need not be bound by tradition when it has outlived its usefulness. Help us find and respect the delicate balance between the two and help us better navigate it – respecting tradition and moving forward with the new. Help us minister to people, not merely serve tradition or embrace the whim of the moment. – 1 Cor. 9:19-23

08/29/2026

Lk 5:29-32 “Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and 'sinners'?’ Jesus answered them, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.’” Jesus, You came to seek and to save the lost. – Mt. 9:10-13; Mt. 11:18; Lk. 15:1-7; Lk. 19:10 – You have commissioned and sent Your followers to be fishers of men, women, and children, to be ambassadors of Your love and reconciling grace. – Mt. 4:19; Jn. 17:15-17; Acts 1:8; 2 Cor. 5:17-20; 1 Tim. 2:4 – Yet, as I survey most Christians, including myself, other than when our jobs require it, we tend to keep to ourselves, that is, fellow Christians. We tend not to develop meaningful relationships with people outside our faith communities. We fail to actively seek out the lost with Your love and Your saving and transforming grace. Help me to more intentionally seek to reach out in genuine love to those not yet in a meaningful relationship with You – people You love and seek to save.

08/28/2026

Lk 5:27-28 “After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. ‘Follow me,’ Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.” Jesus, a couple of thoughts as I read these verses. You valued, and You invested Yourself in Levi (Matthew), a tax collector who would have been despised and even hated by most Jews, and particularly by the religious Jews of the day. Levi (Matthew) would have had a reputation, a bad reputation, and undoubtedly at least some of that reputation would have been earned. To whom might we liken Levi today – a used car salesman who was known to be shady…a crooked lawyer, a drug pusher,…a stripper, pr******te, or pimp??? Jesus, I don't think You chose Matthew because he was a tax collector, but neither did You discount him for it. If You were calling 12 today in whom to invest, would You choose a pastor, a DCE, a parochial schoolteacher, a deaconess, or would You choose and invest in someone the most religious among us would discount or even despise? More personally, whom do I tend to discount or avoid? You invested in Levi (Matthew), and he wrote the first book in our New Testament. Jesus, help me to see, value, and invest in people, all people, as You see, value, and would have me invest in them. Help me to see, value, and invest in people as You see, value, and have invested in me. – Ro. 5:7-8; Eph. 4:32; 1 Tim. 2:4; 1 Jn. 2:2

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2001 N Alpine Road
Rockford, IL
61107

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+18153993171

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