The 500 Year Legacy of the Reformation: 100% Faithfulness to the Word!
Reformation Sunday November 5, 2017 John 8:31-32 The 500 Year Legacy of the Reformation: 100% Faithfulness to the Word! To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (NIV1984) Dear fellow heirs of the Lutheran Reformation, What is a “legacy”? Whenever I think of a “legacy” I usually think of either something that…
The LORD’s Holy Mountain!
The Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost October 29, 2017 Isaiah 25:6-9 The LORD’s Holy Mountain! On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine—the best of meats and the finest of wines. On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he…
Live a Fruitful Life!
The Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost October 22, 2017 Isaiah 5:1-7 Live A Fruitful Life! I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded…
Thank God for Life!
The Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost October 15, 2017 1 John 2:15-17 Thank God for Life! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, On August 24, 1992 Hurricane Andrew literally roared through the area where I was living. I had sent Brenda and the kids to Orland to keep them safe while I stayed behind. I knew that a number of my members were going to ride out the storm and I wanted to be there— just in case…
Seek the LORD!
The Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost October 8, 2017 Isaiah 55:6-9 Seek the LORD! Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As…
The Bigger Picture
The Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost October 1, 2017 Genesis 50:15-21 The Bigger Picture When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?” So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions before he died: ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and…
The Watchman
The Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost September 24, 2017 Ezekiel 33:7-11 The Watchman “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak out to dissuade him from his ways, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for…
Labor Pains
The Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost September 17, 2017 Jeremiah 15:15-21 Labor Pains You understand, O LORD; remember me and care for me. Avenge me on my persecutors. You are long-suffering—do not take me away; think of how I suffer reproach for your sake. When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, O LORD God Almighty. I never sat in the company of revelers, never made merry with…
Remember– I AM the LORD!
The Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost September 10, 2017 Exodus 6:2-8 Remember— I AM the LORD God also said to Moses, “I am the LORD. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them. I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they lived as aliens. Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom…
The Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Matthew 15:21-28 Strive For a Great Faith! Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession.” Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep…