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Pictures of Backpacks in Haiti
During back to school we gave Children in Haiti Backpacks
In Defense of Martin Luther
This is an adaptation of the introduction from “In Defense of Martin Luther” written by John Warwick Montgomery (1517 Publishing, 2017). Used with permission.
o defend Martin Luther — whose courage in the face of overwhelming religious and secular attack has become a byword in world history — may well seem a superfluous if not presumptive task. One is reminded of the exchange between an eager young man and the great 19th-century evangelist Charles Finney. Young man: “Mr. Finney, how can I defend the Bible?” Finney: “How would you defend a lion? Let it out of its cage and it will defend itself!”In a very real sense, Finney’s reply is applicable to Luther. Since the monumental and as yet uncompleted labor of the Weimarer Ausgabe began in 1888 and the so-called Luther-research movement commenced in the labors of Karl Holl at Tubingen, the Reformer has been “let out of the cage” of secondary and tertiary interpretations to speak for himself; and his own writings are a magnificent vindication of his person and work.Yet just as the reading of Scripture does not automatically cause all criticisms of it to evaporate, so Luther’s writings do not in themselves eliminate superficial or perverse analyses of him. The poetical ideal expressed by Horace, De mortuis nihil nisi bonum, or “Of the dead say nothing but good,” has seldom been followed, particularly in the treatment of men like Luther whose controversial ideas and acts have elicited violent opposition. In point of fact, the dead — even those who were most adroit in defending their interests while alive — are pitifully at the mercy of their critics after their demise. What our Lord said to Peter concerning old age applies with equal force to death: “When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst wither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee wither thou wouldest not.” Little study of the history of Luther interpretation is needed to demonstrate beyond all question that the Reformer, powerful enough in life to intimidate popes and emperors, has been “girded” again and again with viewpoints appallingly inimical to his true beliefs and has continually been “carried whither he wouldest not” since his death……………..
Read the full article here…..https://www.1517.org/articles/in-defense-of-martin-luther
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The Absolution I Didn't Want [Video][Read]
It’s easy to slip into thinking about forgiveness solely in terms of our authority over it.
Last week at the annual Here We Still Stand Conference, during a conversation with Matt Popovits, I unintentionally stepped into something I wasn’t quite ready to receive. The moment was caught on video, which you can watch above if you would like. While I was trying to get Matt’s thoughts on the psychological effects of the law in general, I used a specific example from my own life - mom guilt - which quickly led to my shaky voice and quiet tears. For reasons I can’t fully explain, all of the pressure, changes, anxiety, and depression I’ve experienced in the past eight months dumped over me at that moment. Both my admittance of guilt, followed by Matt’s pronunciation of absolution, caught me off guard. I wasn’t ready for either, and to be honest, I did not enjoy any minute of it.
For months, I’ve been wrestling with the new balance of motherhood and work. One of the reasons I started working in the theological realm and decided to go back to school to receive my masters in theology was because I was tired of seeing women in theology do nothing more than shed tears about motherhood. And yet here I was, doing precisely that, on camera. I was in front of God only knows how many people and in a situation, where at least momentarily, I had no control.
It’s so easy to slip into thinking about forgiveness solely in terms of our authority over it.When we offer it to people, we think it’s on our accord; when we receive it, we think it’s because we feel ready to be at peace with whoever or whatever has wronged us. In other words, we operate according to the assumption that forgiveness functions (successfully or not) based on our control, our emotion, or our ownership. But Christ doesn’t wait to give us his word of forgiveness until we are rationally, emotionally, or physically contrite, and sometimes he doesn’t even wait for us to recognize what this word is before he pronounces it on us.
Christ’s word of absolution may come before we are ready. We may even misconstrue these words into more law and more guilt. But that doesn’t change the fact that, in Christ, the declaration that we are forgiven and that we are made righteous is both good news and true.
“Giving absolution and receiving it are just two sides of the same faith coin in which we trust God will continue to keep his promises.”
At first, I didn’t hear Matt’s pronunciation of absolution as good news for me. But others did for themselves. That’s how powerful God’s promises are - once they are unleashed on the world, we have absolutely no control of how, when, or on whom the Spirit will use them. All that we are promised is that they will take effect. We see this in the conversion of the Syrophoenician woman whose faith, as theologian Jim Nestingen is fond of saying, came from the rumor of Christ. She believed before she even spoke to him! God’s word is so living and active that it goes to work in secondary and tertiary ways; in ways that surprise us and in ways we will never see.
Hearing that Matt’s word had impacted others, in turn, impacted me. I don’t want to claim that the multidimensionality of absolution is always this black and white. To do so would be to wrongly assert, again, that the fruit of the Holy Spirit is limited to our own experiences and our own authority. We cannot assume to know when or even for whom forgiveness will function - we are only commanded to faithfully hand God’s word over to others and also to believe his words when they are delivered to us. Giving absolution and receiving it are just two sides of the same faith coin in which we trust God will continue to keep his promises.
So, just as Matt did, we hand out forgiveness when we see someone in need of it. Sometimes this happens in response to a co-worker’s apology. Sometimes, it follows a friend’s confession that they’ve messed up their marriage. Sometimes it’s needed to comfort the conscience of a loved one stuck in the clutches of the law’s terror, and sometimes it is essential after a new mom unintentionally unloads her guilt.
When we hear the words of forgiveness in Christ in our own ears, whether they are intentionally said to us or to another, we must believe they are true and true for us.
God’s word has the power to forgive, to create faith, to comfort the guilt-laden and downtrodden. This much is certain.
![Freedom and Why We’re Afraid of It: Dave Zahl [Video]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1603545118502-EG710AT8PM935OW4IYLV/maxresdefault%5B1%5D.jpg)
Freedom and Why We’re Afraid of It: Dave Zahl [Video]
Here We Still Stand is a Two Day Digital Celebration of The Freedom of the Christian: The theme of our 2020 Here We Still Stand Conference is The Freedom of the Christian.
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![Mask Myths and Covid 19! [Video]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1603228355946-14N758JLVXB82KO3LX89/maxresdefault%5B1%5D.jpg)
Mask Myths and Covid 19! [Video]
Bottom line: Masks work. They are safe for almost everyone to wear, and the more people that wear them along with adhering to physical distancing and other strategies, then that’s more lives we’ll save. But there’s still a lot of confusion and misinformation out there when it comes both to wearing masks and the actual risks of getting infected with COVID-19. In this video I address a few of the most common myths and misunderstandings using scientific evidence. #WearAMask
This is where pastor Cris got his information from last sunday.
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I Am Jonah
In the end, my only hope is that Jesus is always the initiator of mercy. He pursues me, even when I am unfaithful.
As a little girl, I learned that there was a prophet named Jonah that God rescued by sending a great fish to swallow him and carry him safely to land. As an adult, I learned that Jonah was, basically, a jerk who chose to run away from God rather than go and preach to his enemies, because he knew that God was going to have mercy on them and he didn’t want any part of that. Today, I learned that I am Jonah.
Read the rest at
Watch Party - Presidents Equip Conference
Apparently, Registration is closed.
you are will welcome to join us.
Watch Party at Grace
Thursday 10Am -Noon
Friday & Saturday 9Am - Noon
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[Bible Study] 9,10 Commandment Zoom to Scripture
[Bible Study] 9,10 Commandment Zoom to Scripture
Albany man rescued from Lake George by priests on a floating tiki bar
"How funny is it that I've been sober for seven years and I get saved by a tiki bar?" MacDonald laughed.
LAKE GEORGE - It was a choppy afternoon on the lake and Jimmy MacDonald from Albany was paddling in a kayak.
As MacDonald tells it, he drifted away from his wife and step kids because he was taking pictures with his new smartphone "and not really paying attention."
As he tried to make his way back, the water got choppier, and he paddled harder before he tipped over and lost his paddle.
He was in about 30 feet of water, his ill-fitting life jacket coming up over his head, and he was holding onto the kayak with one hand and his new $1,400 smartphone with the other.
He says people -- other kayakers and canoeists -- were passing by in the distance, but the former amateur boxer's pride wouldn't let him scream for help. So for several exhausting minutes he kept trying to right the kayak.
"That's when I said, 'Alright, I think I might die today. I think this might be it.' I prayed to my lord and savior Jesus Christ for help," MacDonald said.
Greg Barrett is a captain for Tiki Tours.
"A lot of things aligned that day," Barrett said.
He typically pilots partiers, but not on this day.