St. John's Church Fortress Newsletters
November 01, 2020
Remember the Lord and Be Thankful
The COVID-19 crisis has been hard on everybody. It is so easy to focus on all the negative things – masks, shut-downs, distance learning and home-schooling, social distancing, the politicizing of the pandemic, etc., etc. We are all wondering whether it will ever end. But perhaps one of the blessings of this virus is that it teaches us not to take things for granted, whether things we deem of great importance or simple everyday things. Hopefully, it will make us more acutely aware of God’s blessings all around us...
October 01, 2020
From Cope to Hope
This year has been quite the year so far, hasn’t it? Virus fears. Quarantines. Civil unrest. Rioting. Looting. Violence. Economic uncertainty. Lost celebrations. Wildfires. And all of this in an election year! Is 2020 almost over?! We’ve had to cope with a lot of things this year. But cope we have. We’ve made it through some challenges, and, with God’s help, we will continue to make it through. In fact, throughout this year our members have been planning for when these challenges are over and we’re ready to move forward with our mission: to preach and teach, live, and share God’s love...
September 01, 2020
Read This Psalm About Our Awesome God and King
Has there ever been a year you can remember stranger and more uncertain than this one? The world is full of unrest. There are riots, the threat of a pandemic disease, devastating storms, and even the rumor of giant murder hornets from Japan. On top of everything else there is political upheaval. What could make things worse than having all of these problems fall on an election year when they are being politicized and exploited for the sake of gaining power and winning an election? Many of us may be shaking our heads and asking, what’s next? Could there be anything else laid on our plates? What could be done for an encore?
August 01, 2020
Shelter at Home
March 26th of 2020 the stay at home order was declared. The next day someone emailed me asking if I thought it was just a coincidence that it was on 3/26/20 that Isaiah 26:20 was being carried out. “Yes,” I replied, “I’m certain that it is just a coincidence.” We don’t look for verse numbers (of human invention) to coincide with dates (of human numbering) to interpret the Word of God. That being said, there is certainly much for us to learn today from Isaiah 26. For starters, looking at the context of the chapter we see why God told his people to “shelter at home....
July 01, 2020
DYING FOR SINNERS
This past week someone posted a photo on Facebook of a group of young white people, sitting on a curb, chained together, and wearing t-shirts that said, “So sorry…” The message they were attempting to convey is that they as representatives of the white race are sorry for the abuses that have been heaped by them on the black race over these many years. Certainly, we as Christians condemn racial prejudice, hatred, and abuse of people of any color. The atrocities connected with African slavery are something we find abominable. However, I cannot apologize for someone else who has stepped on your toe...
June 01, 2020
The Anxiety Cure
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:4-7)
“Is anxiety a sin?” A friend from Wisconsin called me a few weeks ago. He wanted to know if anxiety was sinful. I read between that lines understanding that he or someone in his family was anxious. Who can blame him, right? After all there’s a lot to be anxious about right now, isn’t there? We can be anxious about our health. “Will I contract COVID-19? And if I do...
May 01, 2020
Jesus Will Lead Justice to Victory
We are now in the Easter season. We have gone beyond Golgotha and the blood-stained cross to the empty tomb. We continue to celebrate the Resurrection. But even as we look to new life and the joys of Easter, we still look back. We have to. We still need to see the three crosses planted on the Place of the Skull. We still gaze with awe on the cross in the center, stained with the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are reminded that our salvation, although a free gift to us, was not something obtained for free by Jesus. He paid for it dearly. He gave his own life for it. Perfect God became a sinner for us to take away our sin. Immortal God died in our place so that by death he might conquer death for us. For so it had to be. Jesus had to satisfy God’s perfect justice by becoming a perfect sacrifice for all sinners for all time...
April 01, 2020
Death is Swallowed Up!
"Man, what a big mouth!" That phrase, "big mouth" (which I'm sure has been used to describe me once or twice before), can mean several things. Usually it's a reference to one who talks too much or especially to one who makes big boasts. But "big mouth" is also a reference to a variety of fish, like the bigmouth goby and the bigmouth buffalo fish, who, as their names imply, have big mouths and swallow their prey whole. This month, as we celebrate the victory that Jesus won for us on Easter, we rejoice that that Easter has a big mouth! It swallows its prey—Death—whole, in one big gulp. Here’s Paul's description of this big-mouthed Easter as in 1 Corinthians 15:54-57...
March 01, 2020
Jesus Came For This Hour
Many times in life we anxiously wait for a particular moment. Maybe it is waiting for the show to begin. Maybe it is waiting for the phone to ring to know if you are going to get the job. Or maybe you have gone through the experience of having been awakened in the middle of the night knowing that it was time, and an anxious husband stands by at that point, trying to be supportive, waiting to see what will happen. For the mother it is an anxious time which drags on and on, full of discomfort and apprehensions. But then, the moment comes! And a new born child is brought into the world. What a glorious hour it is...
February 01, 2020
Plugged Into God’s Love
“Buzzzzzzzzzzzz!” A loud alarm sounded whenever you opened the box unless you knew how to secretly disable the alarm by breaking the close circuit through which the electricity from the battery pack flowed. I’m pretty sure I drove my parents crazy with the constant buzzing coming from my room. But I’m also pretty sure I got an “A” on that science project for demonstrating that a circuit must be closed for electricity to pass through wires and make and electric device work. That’s why there are two prongs on anything you plug into the outlet on the wall. As Valentine’s Day approaches...
January 01, 2020
RENEWAL
Titus 3:4-6 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior.
We have stepped into the New Year. It’s a sort of special time because we regard it as an opportunity to have a new beginning, as if everything can start over fresh and renewed. Some of us may make New Year’s resolutions and hope to leave the problems of the past behind us. Of course, the reality is, many of the old problems are really not left behind. They tend to follow us wherever we go, even into the New Year. The debts, the hard feelings, the illnesses, all have a way rearing their ugly heads again. For sinners such as we, grudges, sickness, sorrow, and creditors are not easily shaken. They tend to continue to taunt and harass us even though we attempt to ignore them and pretend, at least for a brief moment, that they aren’t really there anymore...
December 01, 2019
What Child is This?
A Fortress Article for December 2019
Everything changes when you have a baby. As I write this article, today is the 16th birthday of my oldest son, Josiah. Man, time has sure flown these past 16 years! I look back and think how different life was B.C. (before children)! Before Josiah was born, I’d never changed a diaper, never worried as much as I do as a parent, never felt the weight of responsibility for another person’s soul the way I do now. And now, with four boys at home, paying for tuition, going through a gallon of milk per day, helping with homework, struggling with teenage angst, and sharing in the laughter and joy of having four boys, I can’t imagine my life without any of them...
November 01, 2019
NOW
2 Corinthians 6:1-2 As God's fellow workers we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain. 2 For he says, "In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you." I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation.
As we enter the month of November we also enter into that part of the church year which we refer to as the Season of End Time. During the last four Sundays of the church year we focus on events that teach us about the end of the world, judgment, heaven, and hell. We are reminded that there will be a day when God will bring all things to an end in this world, and what is temporal will be no more. But what is eternal will last forever and ever. At those times in life when we find ourselves standing next to the hospital bed of a dying person...
October 01, 2019
“Thanks for Nothing!”
Well, Fall is officially here. And that means that the harvest is right around the corner. The beans are starting to change color. But with the late start in planting, the corn could use a few more weeks of growth before the harvest. Lord willing the first frost will hold off a little longer. Then the harvest will be bountiful and the income wonderful! Then we would have good reason to offer heartfelt thanks to God! But… what if the frost comes sooner? What if the harvest is small? What if hail came or a tornado and destroyed the crop? What if we yield nothing? We would still have reason to thank God...
September 01, 2019
ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD
1 Corinthians 7:29-31 What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none; 30 those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; 31 those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.
Where did the summer go? Wow, how time flies! The older I get the faster the days seem to pass by. Did you ever find yourself saying things like this? We all have, maybe even in the past few weeks or days. Time does fly by, and as the old adage goes, time waits for no one. It sometimes almost seems cruel that it passes by so quickly that we don’t have enough time to enjoy the things we’d like to or even have enough time to accomplish everything we wish we could...
August 01, 2019
SPEAK LORD, YOUR SERVANTS LISTEN
Have you ever been talking to someone, only to realize ten minutes into the conversation that your message didn't even come close to registering? It just went in one ear and right out the other? Author, Dave Muerer, describes this strange listening problem in his sons in a book called Boyhood Daze: “A huge portion of your son’s life will consist of your supplying him with detailed information that he will not understand, but that you will think he understands because he will nod as you speak to him and even repeat back to you verbatim everything you just said while never understanding a word of it...
July 01, 2019
ACCEPT NO SUBSTITUTES
Have you ever heard of “Hoxsey Therapy?” If you have, you may know of someone who had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, and having been desperate to find a cure, that individual began to pursue alternate treatment methods. In their search such people may have been led to Tijuana Mexico, where, at the Bio-Medical Center they were offered a caustic herbal paste for external cancers or an herbal mixture for "internal" cancers, combined with laxatives, vitamin supplements, and dietary changes which are intended to purge the body of toxins which are said to cause and promote cancer...
June 01, 2019
DANDELIONS
"Then [Jesus] opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." (Luke24:45-47)
Judah and Joel (my 3rd grader going into 4th grade and my Kindergartner going into 1st grade) have a chance to earn some money this spring and summer. They get a bounty when they hunt the wild taraxacum, better known as the "lion's tooth," or dandelion. I've offered them one penny per dandelion that they pick from our yard and bring to me. But the catch is, it doesn't count if the dandelion is white. They have to bring it to me when it's yellow before it can seed. I've tried to stay on top of mowing the lawn short to keep the weed from spreading. I've paid out almost $10 so far to my boys who bring me the yellow heads in neat little rows easy to count by the hundreds! But the dandelions in my yard seem to keep multiplying faster than I can get rid of them...
May 01, 2019
A PROPER FOCUS ON CHRIST
Colossians 3:1-4 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
As I am writing this article, it is the day after the famous cathedral of Notre Dame in France caught fire and burned. Much of the famous structure was destroyed, including the famous spire that was a landmark in Paris since the 1100’s, rising 256 feet into the air. As I watched it fall, it reminded me of the words of the hymn writer, Nikolai F. Grundtvig (1783-1872):
Built on the Rock the Church shall stand
Even when steeples are falling.
Crumbled have spires in every land,
Bells are still chiming and calling.
Calling the young and old to rest,
But above all, the souls distressed;
Longing for rest everlasting.
(Christian Worship 529:1)
April 01, 2019
April Fools?
“How come atheists don’t get an annual holiday when Christians get so many?” an atheist asked his Christian friend. “You do get an annual holiday!” his friend replied. “Every April 1st! You get April fool’s day!” And he quoted Psalm 14:1, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” Last year Easter happened to fall on April 1st. That left many atheists joking that Christians were the fools for believing that a man died and came back to life and that it means anything for them today. This April we again celebrate the resurrection of our Savior from the dead. But are we fools for believing it? The apostle Paul admitted that if Christ were still dead, we are the biggest fools of all: “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith… If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.” (1 Corinthians 15:13-14, 19) But that’s “if”… Paul went on to say that the premise of those conditional sentences were wrong. “But,” Paul continued, “Christ has indeed been raised from the dead!” (1 Corinthians 15:20) And we have so much evidence to believe it! Consider just a few pieces of evidence…
March 01, 2019
WORTHY IS THE LAMB
Revelation 5:6 Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders.
We are about to begin the penitential walk down the path of Lent once again. It will lead us from the cheers of the crowd who welcomed Jesus on Palm Sunday as the King who came in the name of the Lord, to the temple courts where he drove out the money changers, to the secret place where his enemies plotted against him, to the upper room where he celebrated the Lord’s Supper with his apostles, to the deep distress of Gethsemane, to the mock trials in the palace of the high priests – Annas and Caiaphas, to the Praetorium of Pontius Pilate, to the cross of Golgotha, and to the tomb provided by Joseph Arimathea where they laid his corpse...
February 01, 2019
Forgiven and Forgotten
He forgot Valentine’s Day! She waited until evening, but then finally said in a flat tone, “Happy Valentine’s Day, honey!” He had no excuse. There were plenty of reminders: “Should we go out to eat or to a movie for Valentine’s Day next week?” and “Wouldn’t that make a good gift for Valentine’s Day?” But he forgot Valentines Day. Now he would suffer the consequences. That was five years ago. She eventually forgave him, but he still hears reminders about the year he forgot Valentine’s Day. She forgave. But she hasn’t forgotten. He won’t make that mistake again. Some mistakes can put even our closest relationships in jeopardy. Have you been betrayed by a close friend? Is your connection to parents or children strained because of sin? Does your marriage have forbidden subjects, subjects that you know will only reopen old wounds? Forgiveness was offered, but the hurt feelings didn’t just disappear...
January 01, 2019
A New Start With Christ
Lamentations 3:19-23 I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. 20 I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. 21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: 22 Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
As you look back on the old year that has passed, and step forward into the New Year, are there things you wished you had done differently? Do you wish there was such a thing as a rewind or a do-over on life? The writer of the book of Lamentations, who we believe to have been the prophet Jeremiah, wished such a thing for the people of Israel and Judah. Even though Jeremiah and many others had warned them, they defied God, hardened their hearts against him, and continued to sin until God brought against them temporal judgments and harsh discipline. He gave them over to their enemies, the Assyrians and the Babylonians, and God’s people went into exile...
December 01, 2018
God's Perfect Gift to You
What's the perfect gift? One website suggests that the perfect gift for Christmas 2018 is a device that turns your cell phone into a heads up display in the dash of your car, a tool that cleans eyeglasses, or a device that backs up your videos and photos from your phone. But are those gifts really very practical? And does anyone really need them? Will any of them really last? Is there really such a thing as a perfect gift? Is there a gift that you know is needed? Is there really a gift that will last, not just for a month or a year, but for the long haul? Well, you know, of course that there is. And you know that that perfect gift is the one that God has given to you…
4 But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5 to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. 6 Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir." (Galatians 4:4-7)
November 01, 2018
All Saints and Angels, too
In the book of Revelation we are allowed to take a glimpse into the scene behind the curtain into heaven itself. That is what St. John saw and what he describes to us. The Holy Spirit showed it to him so that both he and we find joy and comfort in the promise of what awaits us there through the redemption Jesus wrought for us by his perfect life and innocent death in our place. Our English translations don’t bear this out very well, but the original Greek text indicates that in heaven, as saints and angels gather before the throne of God, they are singing antiphonally, that is, back and forth to one another...
October 01, 2018
God, Keep Us Faithful
I can only imagine the fear that filled his heart as he stood before the throne. He knew that what he had said and done was punishable by death. And he knew that even if the head of the government was sympathetic, the real leaders of the people, were not. Death was a probable outcome. But what could he do? It was either risk death or deny the truth. And to deny the truth was to deny God. So rather than succumb to the threats levied against him he would take his stand. Boldly, standing on the Word of God, he would not back down. And he would suffer for it. So we find the prophet Daniel at eighty years of age refusing to stop praying to the true God, refusing to pray to the king of Babylon, willing to die for his decision—and be thrown into a den of hungry lions...
September 01, 2018
God's Law is My Delight
Dear friends in Christ,
How do we show that we love someone? Perhaps one way is to do things for that person even before he or she asks for them to be done. Many who read this article have a lot more experience with this than others, but even if you’ve only been married for a short time or even if you’re not married at all, you already know that it means a whole lot more to a wife when her husband surprises her with flowers on her birthday or on her anniversary than if she has to tell him to get her some. If it’s just something that is done without prompting or coercion it shows that the occasion means a great deal to the person who celebrates it, and shows that he is thinking about the wife he loves. And so now, let us take it to an even higher plane. What about the God you love? How do you express your love for him?
August 01, 2018
Expect Great Things
1 Corinthians 2:1-5 When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.
Well, it took long enough! But the day has finally come when St. John’s is back to two pastors! Now, it’s time to get to know the new guy. I’m sure that many of you have a lot of questions: “What can we expect from our new pastor?” “Is he outgoing or shy?” “Is he dull or does he have a good sense of humor?” “Is he smart?” All important questions. When Paul went to Corinth, the Corinthians had some similar questions about him: “Was he as good a preacher as Apollos?” “Would he speak with the same authority as Peter?” “Did he have the charisma to help the church grow quickly?” So Paul wrote the Corinthians to tell them what they should (and shouldn’t) expect from their pastor. He wrote to tell them what was most important. And he wrote to tell them to expect great things. And while he told them to expect great things, he also made it clear that they shouldn’t expect those great things from their pastor...
July 01, 2018
Living in Christian freedom.
1 Peter 2:16 Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.
In the month of July we celebrate our nation’s independence. On the Fourth of July in 1776 the Declaration of Independence declared the freedom of the original Thirteen Colonies from the tyrannical rule of Great Britain. It is an occasion we commemorate with fireworks and parades, and rightly so. Freedom is our great treasure in the United States of America. Sadly, however, freedom can be sorely abused. Freedom of the press can give immoral people the right to publish lewd and pornographic literature. Freedom of speech can enable people to slander others. Even freedom of religion, which allows the U.S. Military to consider Satanism as a legitimate religion among all others, can do more...
June 01, 2018
So, What Happens Next?
Acts 2:46-47 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Jesus Christ had died at the hands of his enemies, both fellow Jews and Gentile Romans, just as he had predicted. He was buried and had remained in the grave three days, just as he had foretold. On the third day he rose triumphantly from death, leaving behind the tomb, empty, except for the angelic messengers who waited there for his anxious disciples, to tell them the joyful and astonishing news that Jesus Christ had risen indeed, just as he had promised...
May 01, 2018
HOW DO I KNOW THERE IS A HEAVEN?
Are you really sure that there is really such a place as Japan? Have you ever been there? Most of us would have to say, no, I have never been to Japan. Nevertheless, I know that such a place exits because I know people who have gone here, and have returned with evidence of its existence. I am convinced because the people who have seen it are people whose testimony I trust. I am convinced that Japan really exists. Friends, that's the same way that it is with heaven. None of us has ever been there, but we know that such a place exists because we know someone who's been there and has returned with evidence that it's really there. That Person is Jesus Christ. He is the God-man who came to the earth to save us from our sins. He lived a perfect life in our place, which proved his deity. He died as our substitute to take away our sins. He rose from the dead to confirm the fact that we are justified--forgiven. His followers wrote their eye-witness accounts which confirm that Jesus really lived, died, and rose...
April 01, 2018
THE BELIEVER AND THE RESURRECTION
Try to place yourself in the sandals of the women who first came to the tomb on the morning of the Resurrection. The stone had been rolled away, two angels were there to greet them, and the body of Jesus was no longer there. We do not have to guess at their reaction. The Bible tells us that they were “afraid yet filled with joy.” They were filled with fear and joy at the same time. The fear they experienced was godly fear. They stood in complete awe of God, standing in the presence of his holiness, realizing they were sinful people on whom the sovereign Lord had shown mercy, and on whom he had imparted the blessings of the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. The empty tomb could mean nothing less than that God had kept his promise. His Son, the Messiah, had redeemed them as he promised...
March 01, 2018
REMEMBER WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT
I did it just the other day… I needed something at the store, so I drove there and went in; but somehow I Got sidetracked. I bought a whole shopping basket full of stuff, paid for it, and I was halfway home before I realized that the main item for which I had gone to the store in the first place was not among the items I had purchased. I had to turn around and go all the way back to get it. How silly of me. It reminds me of the way we sometimes set our priorities when it comes to spiritual things. The first disciples of Jesus had the same problem. Jesus had told them he had to go to Jerusalem to be arrested, tried and condemned, to be horribly mistreated, and finally to die. However, every time he said that, he would always remind them that he would also rise again from death. That was the main thing...
February 01, 2018
THIS IS LOVE
1 John 4:10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
The season of Lent is upon us. The word “Lent” is from an Old English term, Lenten, which means “Spring,” and is related to the word “lengthen,” since during the days when Lent takes place, the time of daylight lengthens, and nights are shorter. However, in the Christian worship calendar, Lent is more than just the observance of springtime. It denotes the six weeks between Ash Wednesday and Easter when we contemplate the Passion of Christ, that is, all he endured by his sacrificial life and death in order to save us from our sins. It is a time of penitential reflection. Ironically, Ash Wednesday falls on the same day that we celebrate the secular observance of St. Valentine’s Day. On that day we focus on love, and give one another valentine hearts and gifts connected with the legend of St. Valentine. The emphasis is romance...
January 01, 2018
What's in a Name?
Luke 2:21 On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived. What is in a name? Often in literature, names given to people have significance. It is especially true in the Bible. For example: Eve, whose name means “Life,” was so named because she was the mother of all living people. Moses means “Drawn Out,” for he was drawn out of the Nile River when he was found by the daughter of Pharaoh. Jacob, whose name means the “Heal-grabber,” was given this title for he was holding unto his twin brother’s heel when was being delivered from his mother’s womb, and he ended up living up to his name by tripping people with deceit throughout his life. Nabal, was the man who foolishly defied King David when David asked him for help, thus David almost put him to death, and would have if it had not been for the intervention of Nabal’s wife, Abigail. Ironically Nabal means “fool,” for he was a fool...
December 01, 2017
The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.
Advent is a season of hope. The blue paraments remind us of the color of the sky where we look in hope for the Lord’s revelation and return. We light candles on a wreath, week by week adding the light of yet another and another. Each time we re-light the wreath it indicates the dispelling of the darkness until the day when we celebrate the fulfillment of the hope that is ours in God. In many ways Advent depicts the life of the Christian. The writer of the book of Proverbs describes the life of the Christian in this way: The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.
November 01, 2017
It’s the End of the World!
Daniel 12:2-3 Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. 3 Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever. Often when things don’t go the way we had planned or when we make a mistake we might say, “Oh well, it’s not the end of the world.” In spite of our foibles and errors life will still go on and the earth will not fall apart on account of us. Or will it?
October 01, 2017
The Reformation and the Shortage of Called Workers
As many of us have come to know, there is a shortage of called workers – pastors, teachers, and staff
ministers. Many ask the question, why? There may be any number of reasons. Perhaps there are some who
honestly know that is not where their gifts lie. They may not be good teachers or speakers, but realize that
God can use them more effectively in other capacities...
September 01, 2017
God’s Comfort Calls Us from the Caves of Despair
Have you ever done your absolute best at something, but even after all your hard work things just didn’t turn out the way you had expected them to? Well, that was Elijah’s problem. He had served the Lord diligently, trying to rid the land of Baal worship and to turn the hearts of the people back to the living God. In a contest against the priests of Baal on Mt. Carmel, Elijah called on God who sent down fire from heaven in the sight of all the people, to prove that the Lord is God and that there is no other. The priests of Baal were revealed as false prophets. Baal was exposed as being no god at all, but only a worthless idol. Therefore, Elijah commanded the people of God who witnessed the event, to put Baal’s priests to death, and the people followed Elijah’s extreme command, proving that they believed what Elijah had taught them about the living God...
August 01, 2017
Summer Is Almost Over
Not long ago skeptics tried to discredit the Bible when they came across the above verses from Proverbs which made the claim that during the summer ants store up food for the winter so that they have provisions when food cannot otherwise be found. Those who scoffed at this passage of Scripture claimed that Solomon must have kicked over an ant hill one day and saw the ant eggs in the nursery of the colony and mistook it for grain. They tried to mock at his ignorance. However, more recently there is undeniable evidence produced in the world of entomology that there are indeed harvester ants,” as they are referred to, which do indeed store up food in the summer so that they have a food supply to live on during the winter...
July 01, 2017
"If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
The month of July is for Americans, the celebration of our freedom. July 4th commemorates the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Independence, signed by the founding fathers of this country has gone down into history as one the most important documents our nation has. For those who know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, the greatest document given to the citizens of God’s kingdom is the Bible. For there we find more than freedom from mere earthly enemies, but freedom from the enemies of the soul -- Satan, sin, and death...
June 01, 2017
God Has Ascended Amid Shouts of Joy
Forty days have passed since the celebration of our Lord’s resurrection on Easter morning. Throughout that forty day period, Jesus appeared, disappeared, and reappeared to his disciples to prove to them he was alive and that he would never leave them nor forsake them. However, on the fortieth day, the Bible tells us how he led them to the Mount of Olives, lifted his hands to bless them, and ascended into heaven. Clouds of glory hid Jesus from their sight...
May 01, 2017
Jesus Will Lead Justice to Victory
We are now in the Easter season. We have gone beyond Golgotha and the blood stained cross to the empty tomb. We have celebrated the Resurrection. But even as we look ahead to new life and the joys of Easter, we still look back. We have to. We still need to see the three crosses planted on the Place of the Skull. We still gaze with awe on the cross in the center, stained with the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are reminded...
April 01, 2017
Thoughts from Martin Luther’s Sermon about Thomas on the Comfort of The Resurrection
John the Evangelist further writes that Thomas was not present when the Lord appeared the first time to his assembled disciples on Easter evening. Now that the Lord comes just at the time St. Thomas is the first time absent does not take place without a reason; for Christ could have easily chosen an hour when Thomas could have been found in company with the other apostles. But it took place for our instruction and consolation that the Lord's resurrection might receive more and stronger evidence and documentary testimony. Now, on Easter...
March 01, 2017
Jesus Came for This Hour
Many times in life, we anxiously wait for a particular moment. Maybe it is waiting for the show to begin. Maybe it is waiting for the phone to ring or a text to pop up to know if you got the job or to know how the outcome of an operation a loved one is undergoing or to know if the baby has been born or to know if a loved one got home okay while dealing with inclement weather. Perhaps such anxious events from our own lives can begin to give us a sample of all that Jesus endured for us...
February 01, 2017
Glory and Dishonor Extreme Salvation
Luke 9:28-36 About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him.
January 01, 2017
How Lovely Shines the Morning Star
The ancient Western Church set aside January sixth of each year as the Festival of the Epiphany. At Christmas we hear that the Jesus was born the Son of David of the tribe of Judah. Since the promise of a Savior was first made to the children of Abraham, the people who surrounded Jesus were Jewish: Mary and Joseph, Simeon, Anna even the shepherds who kept watch over their flocks on the hills surrounding Bethlehem....
December 01, 2016
Dispel the Darkness
The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day. (Proverbs 4:18 NIV 1984)
Advent is the season of hope. The blue paraments remind us of the color of the sky where we look in hope for the Lord’s revelation and return. We...
November 01, 2016
“Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it..."
On October 19, 1512, the 29-year-old priest, Martin Luther, received his doctorate degree in theology. He immediately launched into lecturing on the book of the Bible he probably knew the best - Psalms. While he was in the monastery, the Psalter was used frequently during the seven hours each day which were set aside for prayer and meditation on God's Word (called The Canonical Hours).
Dr. Luther began one of his lectures on Psalm 127 this way...
October 01, 2016
Not New Teachings, But Teachings that Renew
1 Peter 1:23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.
Whatever is altered in order to conform to the Word of God is no innovation. All customs, no matter how good they are, must give way to the Word of God...
September 01, 2016
The Antidote for Object-Specific Apathy
What do dogs, prisons and American church bodies have in common? (No, this is not a stale joke from a late-night comedy show). Answer: Object-Specific Apathy, more commonly known as Learned Helplessness.
In 1967 Martin Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania conducted experiments on dogs and found out that the inability to control an electric shock made that test group whine as they passively lay down and submitted to the shock...
August 01, 2016
It's Summer Again
Genesis 8:20-22 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. 21 The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. 22 "As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease."
July 01, 2016
True Freedom - Accept No Substitutes
Galatians 1:6-10
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel-- which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!
June 01, 2016
Emptying the Ocean into a Dixie Cup
Since the Middle Ages, there has been a legend about St. Augustine (A.D 354 - 430). As he was walking along the seashore he came across a boy who had dug a hole in the sand. He watched carefully as the lad ran to the sea, scooped up water with a shell and ran back to pour its contents into his newly-constructed reservoir. "What are you doing?" Augustine asked. "I'm emptying the ocean into this hole" the boy replied. "How do you expect to get such a huge ocean into such a small hole?"
May 01, 2016
CELEBRATE THE ASCENSION OF OUR LORD
He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe. (Ephesians 4:10) On Thursday, May 5th this year, we will celebrate the Ascension of Jesus. Sadly, it is a celebration that sometimes gets lost somewhere between Easter and Pentecost, and if truth be told, there are many congregations, even in our synod, that do not celebrate it. However...
April 01, 2016
Christ Is Risen! He is risen, indeed!
Many Easters ago, as I was walking to church in the pre-dawn darkness, a woman met me at the door and greeted me with the familiar Easter Acclamation, "Christ is risen!" Not being steeped in church tradition, she had hit upon one of the several black holes in my Christian etiquette. Like the mother of our Lord, I was troubled by her words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. I vaguely remembered hearing it before and realized that there was a proper way to reply. I just couldn't recall what it was. In that nanosecond of confusion there was nothing left to do but blurt out the only sanctified words that came to my feeble mind: "You betcha!"
March 01, 2016
Sing the Easter Hymn of Praise
Psalm 96:1-3 Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth. Sing to the LORD, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.
For several weeks -- six to be exact -- we celebrated the season of Lent. We focused on the Lord’s Passion and listened to the detailed account of the events of Holy Week. From the triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to the
February 01, 2016
In The Year of Our Lord 2015
A Year that calls for humble repentance for our sins…and joy over God’s lavish Grace The Holy Spirit saw fit, at times, to keep attendance: five thousand men, not to mention women and children, were fed miraculously in that Galilean wilderness; three thousand were converted to Christ on that first New Testament Pentecost. The Holy Spirit recorded these numbers to impress us with the might and mercy of Mary’s Son, our God and Savior. He wanted to put faces to the fact that “the Word of the Lord grows.”
January 01, 2016
A NEW BEGINNING RENEWED IN CHRIST
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. Welcome to the New Year. It’s a sort of special time because we regard it as an opportunity to have a new beginning, as if everything can start over fresh and renewed.
◄
1 / 1
►