St. Patrick and COVID 19 From FLGA District

St. Patrick and COVID 19

St. Patrick’s Day celebrations this year will be very different. While many will still enjoy a green (or amber) beer, there will be no parades, no rowdy gatherings at a neighborhood bar, restaurants will serve far fewer corned beef and cabbage meals to celebrating patrons.

The COVID 19 pandemic has changed everything.

Whether you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day or not, St. Patrick does have something to teach us as we learn to keep our social distance. St. Patrick’s evangelistic methodology may serve our time and context well.

I’ll let you google St. Patrick’s history – the story of his kidnapping, conversion and subsequent return to Ireland to share the Gospel message with the Irish barbarians who had enslaved him. It’s quite a story. What really interests me, however is how he created a Christian movement within local communities. These days especially, I wonder if God has prepared His church – us – for such a time as this.

Patrick understood that the spiritual life and ministry call were not to be lived alone. There were no large (or small) churches to which he could invite the barbarians. He did not work to convert individuals, but through his missional vocation, his way of life, he invited others to observe, live, and practice a life of discipleship with him. Through this lifestyle evangelism, the Holy Spirit converted many to Christianity.

The lesson for us today – as churches are closed for worship, children are sent home for on-line schooling, meetings are cancelled and travel is curtailed – is simple. While we may not gather in large groups, how could our church leaders resource members to have “house churches,” to gather very small groups in their homes or yards, where neighbors could observe the Christian faith in action and hear the Christian Gospel? Could it be that some or even many of these neighbors will become participants, rather than observers? How many will the Holy Spirit bring to faith and Christian confession in the context of these micro-communities or “house churches?”

This was Patrick’s method. But it wasn’t new with Patrick. The believers in the early Christian Church practiced the same (see Acts 2:42-47 and Acts 4). These believers were called “Christians” (Acts 11) because they lived a Christ-life and because they talked about Christ all the time. Something was different as they practiced hospitality and lived godly lives and as they invited their neighbors to live this life with them. Their neighbors took notice. In fact, these “Christians” were especially noticed in the darkest of times. Plague, persecution and famine gave Christians opportunity to demonstrate Jesus’ love as they served their neighbors in His name.

COVID 19 and the suggested – or enforced – precautions to “flatten the curve” offer us, as the church, the opportunity to be the church in fearful and challenging times. We have the opportunity to live life (even in quarantine) on mission, and to share Good News at a time when the news on TV isn’t so good.

I appreciated James Emery White’s statement in his March 16 post, Why We Cancelled Our Weekend Service…And Why You Should Too. He says, “Just because a church takes a break from physically gathering together doesn’t mean it ceases to be the church! We all know that a church is more than bricks and mortar, and while called to gather for worship it is vastly more than the weekend services… At this moment, our culture needs something it doesn’t have. Not simply more test kits, but the peace that surpasses understanding.” How can you share that peace with your neighbors? White says, “By closing a physical door, we may just be opening a spiritual one.”

St. Patrick gave us so much more than green beer – although you might consider having one with your neighbors and sharing the real story of Patrick with them as a starting point for spiritual conversation.

I think he would appreciate that.

Rev. Dr. Peter Meier, FLGA District
Executive Director of Missions and Outreach

For Consideration and Sharing:

As you prepare pastoral letters and communications to the people of your congregation and school, consider how you might use them to highlight the missional opportunities God is giving.
• How could you gather and share faith stories that take place in the midst of the pandemic?
• What scriptures are you sharing to give courage and hope, pointing people to God’s promises?
• What “best practices” are you promoting to involve God’s people in caring for their neighbors?
• Consider sharing any of the above with us as a means of helping and encouraging others!

Grace Member "Jerry Freudenburg " Featured in Lutheran Reporter!

Three-time NBA champion Shaun Livingston remembers his Midwestern Lutheran roots

““Shaun knew Jerry long before Jerry knew him, hardly surprising given their 18-year age difference. Shaun was a little kid, attending church at Trinity, and Jerry was the head pastor’s son, the young man in the wheelchair.”
In spite of that age difference, a friendship was forged — a friendship that has lasted over 20 years.”

In 2016, Concordia Lutheran School, a Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) K–8 grade school in Peoria, Ill., dedicated a major expansion of its facility, including a new gym, stage with sound system, and storm shelter.

NBA player Shaun Livingston of the Golden State Warriors was at the ceremony. Livingston, who graduated from Concordia in 2000, gave $1 million to the capital campaign to fund the expansion.

Kirk Wessler, a member of Christ Lutheran Church in Peoria and former sports writer and editor for the Peoria Journal Star, relates the details of Livingston’s gift to the school in his 2016 feature story, “Shaun Livingston and the Friendship Worth More than $1 Million.”

““When our son, Jerry, was very sick, Shaun told us how he had been praying for him every day. Then he followed that by insisting that he fly Jerry from Florida to Peoria for the ‘Evening with Shaun Livingston’ [fundraiser for the Concordia Lutheran School capital campaign]. … Shaun’s love and care to my son … has given my son the feeling that he is valued.””

Wessler tells of Livingston’s childhood in Peoria and his grandfather’s desire that he be in church. So even though the family was not Lutheran, Livingston began attending Trinity Lutheran Church in downtown Peoria because it was the closest church within walking distance.

“At Trinity,” writes Wessler, “Shaun would be baptized, with longtime Concordia teachers Tom and Ruth Ruppert standing as his godparents. He would enroll at Concordia for kindergarten, which was taught by Ruth, and years later, in eighth grade, star for a Lutheran Sports Association state championship basketball team coached by Tom.”……………………………

TIM SALESKA, “THE GOSPEL-CENTERED CHRISTIAN”

Most Christians would agree that the Gospel, the good news about Jesus, is the saving message in the Bible. But if we were to look at how our acceptance of this truth actually influences the way we interpret the Scriptures, or the way we preach and witness, or the way we deal with cultural issues and people outside of the faith, we would soon see our agreement fading.

So, while everyone might agree about the importance of the Gospel as the saving message of the Bible, not everyone agrees with how this belief should be embodied in the various practices of our faith. This raises a lot of questions. For my purposes here, two of them are important, “How do Lutherans understand the relationship between the Gospel and Scripture?” and, “How does our understanding influence our preaching and teaching and our lives together?” These are big questions, and in this paper, I can only start to address them. Though there are any number of directions that my argument could take, I am going to argue specifically that Lutherans have always and should continue to walk a middle road between two ditches into which it is easy to fall. The middle-of-the-road approach for which I am advocating is what I will call a “Gospel–centered approach.” The ditches to be avoided are a so-called Gospel-reductionist approach on the one side and a so-called Biblicist approach on the other

Read the rest in the PDF below.

Original Link is

https://concordiatheology.org/2018/11/tim-saleska-the-gospel-centered-christian/

New Trees In An Old World

All the verbs of our salvation are passive. God calls and gathers people to him through his Gospel. We don’t find him like an explorer finds the headwaters of a river. We are saved by Jesus’ death and resurrection. We don’t save ourselves. We are forgiven by God’s declaration of grace and peace. We can’t forgive ourselves and hope it sticks. It doesn’t, not in relation to God anyway. We are made holy by God, just by God’s Spirit coming close to us. No amount of effort on our part is going to get us one inch closer to heaven. We don’t even actively pray, the Holy Spirit has to pray for us (Romans 8:26). In relation to God, we are perfectly passive. We are receivers, not doers. That’s who God made us to be and that’s what faith reveals to us.

So then, are Christians just supposed to lay around and wait for the resurrection? Or maybe we’re supposed to live large since, we imagine, we can’t do anything one way or the other to affect our salvation. When Christ busts in and permanently interrupts life with his grace and favor, what’s a person to do? The trick is getting the question right. Ask a question that begins with us and we’ll get an answer that serves to satisfy our desires and wants. Then we’re off again, working on our self-salvation projects in the name of God. Ask a question that begins with what Christ does for us, and we’ll get an answer that leavens the whole loaf.....

Why Do We Go to Church?

For most of my Christian experience I was taught and I taught others that church was primarily a place to go to serve, to use your gifts, to bless others. “You don’t go to church to be served but to serve!” This became for me a mantra that I championed for many years as a pastor. I felt it was my duty to deconstruct the “consumer” mentality that so many American Christians seemed to espouse. This emphasis to do something for God actually sells very well in our pragmatic culture. You can rally an army of eager Christians who busy themselves with things to do believing themselves to be living radically for God. In fact, like Peter, we find it very difficult to allow Jesus to serve us (John 13:6). However, I believe that Jesus would say to us what he said to Peter, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” (vs. 8).

Certainly the Church ought to be a place where Christians are using their gifts for the good of their neighbor. The NT is full of “one another” imperatives and after washing the disciple's feet Jesus tells his original disciples to follow his example and “wash one another’s feet.” (vv. 14-17) We miss the thrust of this passage however if we lose sight of the fact that at the heart of this command is the ongoing need for the Christian to allow Jesus to wash their own feet. The Christian, according to Jesus, is already clean but has need of a perpetual spiritual cleansing that while already accomplished has ongoing implications as we continue to battle with the world, the flesh, and the devil................

God at the Feet of Sinners

BY JESSICA THOMPSON

"Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him."

The disciples and Christ have just finished their last meal together. The disciples, of course, didn't know this, but Jesus did. As an act displaying his humility and kindness, he kneels before them. Jesus "who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant,”[2] lays aside his outer garments. Presumably, the very same garments that hours later would be stripped off of him and gambled for were the ones that he voluntarily lays aside now to wash his disciples’ feet. Then he takes the towel and ties it around his waist. He pours the water into the basin and begins to wash their feet. He washed the feet of each of the disciples that were there.

Judas, “the one the devil had already put it into the (his) heart to betray him”[3] Christ washes Judas’ feet with the full knowledge of what he was about to do. He stooped and washed this betrayer’s feet. 

Peter, “the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.”..................

Never Buried Alone

“So Elisha died, and they buried him. Now bands of Moabites used to invade the land in the spring of the year. And as a man was being buried, behold, a marauding band was seen and the man was thrown into the grave of Elisha, and as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet.” (2 Kings 13:20-21)

Let’s be honest for a minute. The Bible has some strange stories in it. I’m not talking about just the miraculous nature of many of the stories but rather the seeming randomness of some of them.

This story from 2 Kings 13 is both miraculous and really random. It’s only two verses long and recounts how a dead man was thrown into the grave of a deceased prophet and then came back to life. That’s it. We don’t know his name, his family, what he did after that, or how people responded to his resurrection. We only know he was dead and then he wasn’t. You could read it in 10-seconds and move on, but I suggest that you push pause.

There is a reason why it is there. Like all of the Old Testament, this revival story is pointing to something else–Someone else. And it’s speaking one profound truth.

How Christians Use Fear to Fire God

It goes like this: Maybe a possible scenario pops in our mind, we are faced with a decision to make, or maybe our brains are reacting to a small occurrence in our day but either way, we allow the future to fearfully unravel in our minds.

In the future, all hell breaks loose. The bad thing that popped into our mind now unfolds in gruesome detail (and we definitely believe it is actually going to happen). All the fearful possibilities that surround the decisions we have to make are now unfurling in our brains as if they are the sole definers of our choices. That wayward look we got from our boss, that “non-like” we got on our Instagram feed or that small weird mark we found on our child are all now pointing us to ultimate demise.

The Resurrection is Not Greater than the Cross:

BY BRUCE HILLMAN

We all look forward to Lent’s conclusion and the celebration of Resurrection Sunday. This is the Sunday of victory and joy as the Church enters into the reality that Christ has defeated death and hell, declared victory over such enemies and set history on its final course of consummation. But there is a danger that the joy of Easter will shine with such brightness that it will outshine the cross.

The cross and resurrection are not two independent events. They are forever connected, while distinct, as two sides of a coin can be called, “heads” and “tails” but remain a unified treasure. But there is a danger forever threatening the cross and its power. That danger has traditionally been called a Theology of Glory. The main premise of this false theology is that the cross is a necessary evil. In this view the cross is something we pass on through in order to get to the real point: the resurrection. This view is deeply dangerous because it makes the cross a means to a greater end instead of the end itself. Jesus says, “It is finished” on the cross, not, “Stage one complete, onto stage two”. The Theology of Glory is dangerous in a practical way too because it robs the cross of its power and therefore robs us of our joy and hope.......................

Secure In His Righteousness

BY DOMINICK SANTORE

Allow me to paint a picture for you:

I knew a man in my old neighborhood. He was an old leathery-faced balding biker with facial tattoos. He was the kind of guy that when you saw him, and his scowl heading in your direction, you thought about crossing the street, just in case. I met him at my old church’s neighborhood food pantry. Once you got to know him, you found out his wasn’t that bad. He was headstrong and had a temper sometimes, but he could also be quite sweet in some ways. He was also drunk or high around us too many of those times to count.

Including on Sundays.

Eventually, on occasion, he would come to church, sit way in the back and listen to the worship. If you glanced his way, you’d be surprised to see this old biker guy with tears in his eyes. He’d always leave at the end of worship, that was enough church for him, but not before leaving a couple of dollars on the pastor’s chair up front. I don’t think he was trying to buy his way into heaven. I do think for a guy that had so many struggles and temptations to overcome, it was the best he could muster as an outward expression repentance and worship. He didn’t get it like so many of us armchair theologians do. But I believe he still got it in a raw, unpolished way. He passed away a few years ago, never seeming to gain a true and continuous earthly victory over all his issues, but I do believe he rests with the Lord today, finally free of the curse of all his struggles with sin.....

Shut Out

“‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.’”  -Revelation 3:20

For many years, I read this as a “salvation” verse.  Jesus is knocking on the door of the hearts of the unsaved, asking to come in.  To me, it represented individual free will regarding the choice each must make as to whether or not to answer Jesus’ knock which was accompanied by his promise of what he will do for the one who does choose to open the door.  It was a picture of Jesus respectfully waiting for an invitation to save us.  Then, I read the context.

This verse comes at the end of Jesus’ personal messages to seven specific churches, as conveyed to and related by the Apostle John.  In Revelation 1:13, John sees Jesus “in the midst” of these churches.  These words, “in the midst”, are the same words used in Matthew 18:20 where Jesus promised that, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”  These messages were given by Jesus to different groups of those who were gathered in his name. 

The church in Laodicea is the last church of the seven to whom Jesus spoke.  He begins by identifying himself to them as the Amen and the faithful and true witness, emphasizing that what he was about to say regarding them was trustworthy, and intimating that they would likely disagree.  Then, in verse 15, he launches into what could be called a diagnosis:

“‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.’”

This church, gathered in Jesus’ name, held one picture of who they were while Jesus himself held quite another.  They were supremely satisfied with themselves. They were fat and happy with what they thought they had achieved.  Jesus quotes them as saying, “I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.”  Take note of all of those I’s!  Their focus was on their own accomplishments and they were completely unaware of anything they lacked.  The Laodicean Church was neither coldly against Christ nor were they burning with passion for him.  They simply felt no need of him at all, and because of that he warns them that he will spit them out of his mouth.

Why Can't We Make Images of God

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. ”

— Exodus 20:4-6

Commands like this one in Exodus 20 sound strange. What a harsh thing for God to say. If God is invisible, why not have pictures, statues, or images? We are visual creatures after all.

God grounds his reasoning for this command in what he has done for Israel in redeeming her from slavery. This second commandment flows from the first. The Lord gives such commands because he is holy, just, and good. He deserves our respect, love, and obedience not only because he has the “superior firepower,” but because he has created us for love and obedience.

Religions in the Ancient World

In the ancient world religion, magic, and superstition were often intertwined. It was very common to attempt to control a deity through secret names, incantations, and idols. Controlling divine powers, so you could have better crops or a large family, was a primary objective in religion.

The Lord makes the second commandment in this specific context. He cannot be confined by anything or anyone; he cannot be coerced to give grace or love. It was through images and idols that the ancient world sought to control their gods. To make such an image is to do violence to God and his character (Deut. 16:22; Lev. 26:1). That is why creating idols comes with such harsh-sounding punishments (Ps. 97:7). The unique authority and transcendence of God is a proper basis for his commands since he alone can decide how to be worshiped.

When Doctrine Becomes Idolatry

I’m a drug addict. Specifically, a recovering drug addict. More specific, a grateful recovering drug addict. And as I sit here now, clear-headed, I can reflect on what it was like just before drug use pushed me over the edge of sanity and I hit bottom. I remember that my preferred daily cocktail of chemicals was cannabis, hallucinogens, and prescription narcotics. Then, thank God, they threw me into a ditch of hopelessness that I couldn't crawl out of, and I knew it. I’d used up all my tomorrows. No more free day passes. I was awoken to the fact that I hadn’t been using drugs, drugs had been using me, and they’d used me up.

The revelation that I was powerless over my addiction, that my life had become unmanageable, drove me, eventually, to get clean. I found a twelve step meeting. I relapsed several times. In the in-between times though, I didn’t recognize that I was using my “drug problem” to hide my “reality problem.” Even though I attended meetings, listened to other addicts tell their story, and shared my personal tales of insanity, I still, all too often, transferred my addiction onto other stuff I imagined could give me relief. One example was when I threw myself into cycling. Four hours a day on a bike. Six hours a day on weekends, until my wife demanded I choose between her and our son or go semi-pro to make a living racing. And that’s the way it went for years. Until I dedicated myself to working a program of recovery I flitted from one new addiction-feeding distraction to another. Not surprising, the result was still the same. Self-destructive tendencies. Relationships neglected. Responsibilities put off, self-justifications, self-preservation at all costs, everything custom designed to escape having to deal with reality as it is, not as I would have it be.

What Should You Do When You Don't Feel Like a Christian

In my last year of seminary, almost everything went wrong. I was about to graduate with no job prospects. I was in debt. My wife had just miscarried, and finals were about to begin. My wife wanted me to finish; she wanted us to move out of that stage of life. I didn’t want to let her down, but I felt guilty for studying. As Sunday approached, I didn’t want to go to church; I didn’t feel like a Christian. My faith felt weak.

I had the right answers. I knew the theology. I had received a good education, but I had such a hard time praying. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe God was there, or that I believed God didn’t care, or that God was not good because he had allowed evil to come my way. It was much more complicated. I just didn’t feel well; I knew God wasn't to blame.

I blamed myself. That semester was stressful. In the rush to study and finish strong while trying to secure a job and complete my internship responsibilities at my local church, I was constantly frustrated, exhausted, and irritable. I brought these feelings home to my wife. I caused her a lot of stress as she worried about our future, a future for which I had failed to adequately prepare. This is what I told myself; I couldn’t help it. I remember that as we sat together in the hospital, all feelings of hope dissipated.

As Sunday approached, I didn’t feel like a Christian, but I went to church anyway. My plan was simple. I was going to keep trying to be a Christian. I was going to keep trying to pray, but I wasn’t going to pretend that everything was okay when it wasn’t...................

((Please Consider reading this article, it is good))

How to ‘Deny Yourself’ Without Destroying Yourself

““Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.” ”

— Mark 8:34-35

Have you ever been in a relationship with someone who was too demanding? Perhaps they wanted so much of your attention that you felt like you were slowly vanishing? This kind of co-dependency can be toxic. So what do we do with the demands that Jesus extends to His followers? Does He ask too much of us? Does following Jesus require us to be self-deprecating?

Consider this passage from the middle of the Gospel of Mark, the climax of the story. Jesus asks His disciples who people are saying He is and what they think about his mission. Then He asks them who they think he is. Peter answers, and his answer is right on. But as one of my Pepperdine theology professors would tell us, small theological boats should stay close to shore. Peter should have quit while he was ahead.

Jesus begins to elaborate on Peter’s answer, and Peter quickly corrects Him, earning sharp words from Jesus. But the story doesn’t end there. It ends with an invitation. You can’t follow Jesus by doing anything less than losing your life. Jesus is saying that through weakness, powerlessness and death grow victory, strength and life. That what might look nonsensical or like a stumbling block or scandal actually holds the key to being a follower of Jesus and being part of transforming the world we live in.

When I first presented these ideas in a course I was teaching, my students challenged this self-denial. Many of them were familiar with relationships that seemed to suck the life out of them and asked why endorse a Christian idea that simply enables unhealthy relational dynamics? And they were rightly cautious of a “depraved” view of the self that in the name of self-denial felt simply like self-deprecation. I am a Christian so I have to give up everything including myself. So the question is how does this spiritual call of denial not become co-dependency or self-deprecating?

Let me clarify. Co-dependency is what we call it when someone attends to the desires and needs of another person at the expense of one’s own needs, often found in relationships. Co-dependency is often found where addiction and violence are present...........................

Here We Are Now. Entertain Us.

BY PAUL DUNK

Do you remember way back in May 2007, Charlie and his brother Harry were sitting on a chair when Charlie bit Harry's finger? The little guys broke the internet.

Do you remember the double rainbow of 2010?

Here we are now - entertain us. ~ Kurt Cobain

Like myself, you probably laughed at Charlie, the double rainbow and the innumerable amount of funny videos that went viral since.

Needless to say, these two videos are old news and the next big thing is being uploaded as I type this.

We love the next big thing.
The next innovative thing.
The next money making thing.
The next fashionable thing.
The next technological thing.
The next entertaining thing.
The next fitness thing.
The next dietary thing.
The next funny thing.

Here we are now. entertain us.

As preachers, we have to deliver a message every seven days. As worshippers, you are on the receiving end those messages  - every seven days. We all come to worship - every seven days.

Now, according to Jesus and the New Testament, He's supposed to be smack dab in the centre of our worship - every seven days. Gathering around the same thing seems like a pretty tall order for people who are always in search of the next big thing.

Now, if us preachers present the gospel repeatedly in anticipated ways, with predictable phrases and pithy go-to sayings, we are inviting you to nod off.

Here's the challenge. If, for fear of your impending boredom, we don't preach about Jesus - every seven days, we've abandoned our call.

Preaching is, quite literally, proclaiming Christ and Him crucified. It's supposed to be our jam. So if we aren't speaking about Him, there's someone more qualified to speak to you about the topic we decided to speak to you about.

Full disclosure here: if us pastors get off the Christ Alone bus, we're of very little value to you. We're not as inspiring as Margaret Thatcher, we don't have the business acumen of Ken Blanchard and we're not nearly as entertaining as Jimmy Fallon.

As Jared Wilson states in his book Gospel Wakefulness, "We must routinely present the unchanging gospel in a way that does justice to its earthshaking announcement. This doesn’t mean we need to set it up with a power ballad or dress it up. It means we present it like life or death stuff."

If it's not important to us as worshippers that Christ is presented weekly from the scriptures, or that our children grow up learning God's law and God's gospel, we will come into our churches like viral video junkies, tired of yesterdays-news-Jesus, looking for the preacher to give us our next double rainbow.

If Christ doesn't need to be central, then any talk that inspires us to be better people is cool beans. Jesus got airtime in the last series, so this next series is about me? Perfect. Hearing about Jesus every seven days seems like overkill anyhow. Besides, I don't care if my kids are taught the actual bible, so long as the teaching helps them develop good morals and ethics. Plus they like the roller coaster in the world class children's program.

Here we are now. Entertain us.

Over in the other ditch, our ears can itch in a different way. In that ditch we're so bored with the Lord, we assume Christ, bypass His grace and go straight to intellectual stimulus via academic lectures that are so theologically nuanced, Christ ends up playing the background to the finer points of theology. While our airtight doctrine is presented with a level of accuracy that would rival the church fathers who crafted the Westminster Catechism, the power of Christ and His grace can still be conspicuously missing from those types of sermons.

We can puff our chests out because our children memorized the catechisms, but if Jesus isn't front and centre, they can grow up to be like mechanics who know where all the bolts go but have never experienced the joy of driving with the wind in their hair. They're bored with the Lord too.

Here we are now. Entertai... meh. Intellectually stimulate us............................

Just Because You Forgive, it Doesn’t Mean You Have to Trust Again

“I know I’m supposed to forgive,” a woman said to me at a recent seminar. “But, I just can’t open myself up to that kind of hurt anymore. I know I should forgive him and trust him, but if I let him back in, the same thing will happen, and I can’t go through that again.”

“Who said anything about ‘trusting’ him?” I asked. “I don’t think you should trust him either.”

“But you said I was supposed to forgive him, and if I do that, doesn’t that mean giving him another chance? Don’t I have to open up to him again?”

“No, you don’t,” I replied. “Forgiveness and trust are two totally different things. In fact, that’s part of your problem. Every time he’s done this, he’s come back and apologized, and you have just accepted him right back into your life, and nothing has changed. You trusted him, nothing was different, and he did it again. I don’t think that’s wise.”

“Well,” she asked, “How can I forgive him without opening myself up to being hurt again?”

Good question. We hear this problem over and over again. People have been hurt, and they do one of two things. Either they confront the other person about something that has happened, the other person says he’s sorry, and they forgive, open themselves up again, and blindly trust. Or, in fear of opening themselves up again, they avoid the conversation altogether and hold onto the hurt, fearing that forgiveness will make them vulnerable once again.

How do you resolve this dilemma?

The simplest way to help you to organize your thoughts as you confront this problem is to remember three points:.........................

Faith In A Sea Of Unbelief - Martin Luther

BY MARTIN LUTHER

And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?” –Matthew 8:23-27

This narrative, gives us an example of faith and unbelief, in order that we may learn how mighty the power of faith is, and that it of necessity has to do with great and terrible things and that it accomplishes nothing but wonders; and that on the other hand unbelief is so fainthearted, shamefaced and trembling with fear that it can do nothing whatever. An illustration of this we see in this experience of the disciples, which shows the real state of their hearts. First, as they in company with Christ entered the ship, all was calm and they experienced nothing unusual, and had any one asked them them if they believed, they would have answered, Yes. But they were not conscious of how their hearts trusted in the calm sea and the signs for fair weather, and that thus their faith was founded upon what their natural eyes saw. But when the tempest comes and the waves fill the boat, their faith vanishes; because the calm and peace in which they trusted took wings and flew away, therefore they fly with the calm and peace, and nothing is left but unbelief.

I'm Done Trying To Follow Jesus

BY DANIEL EMERY PRICE

Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.” Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.” (John 13:36-38)

One of the most famous things Jesus ever said was “Follow me.” He said it over and over. So much that it was recorded more than twenty times in the New Testament. Jesus says it first to Peter (Matthew 4:19). Perhaps this is why Peter is so confused when he hears Jesus saying he cannot follow Him where He is going. No one can.

Some people think Jesus is talking about ascending to the Father in this text, but that misses the context. Jesus is on His way to the cross. Satan has already entered Judas and he is on his way to betray Jesus as these words are spoken. Eventually He will transition to talk about going “to prepare a place for you” but the context here is His betrayal and crucifixion, not the ascension.

When Peter says he will “lay down his life for Jesus” he thinks he is willing to die to save Him. Could anything be more backwards? Sadly our thinking is often just as twisted. Like Peter we make all kinds of bold promises to God. We talk about living for Jesus and even dying for Jesus. We talk about “working on our relationship with God” (if I never hear that phrase again I will die happy). All of these things are simply vain attempts to follow Jesus where He says we cannot go.

Immanuel: God With Us

BY JESSICA THOMPSON

“’and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means God with us)”

Is there no sweeter sound than Immanuel? Christ’s name, God with us. Those three words heal an ocean of hurts, give courage to the weakest heart, and lifts the head of the weariest pilgrim. In those three words all of our hope rests.

GOD

“For by him all things were created. He is the beginning. For in him all the fullness of God was please to dwell. He is preeminent.”

The Creator became part of creation. The Creation creates Himself a human hand in order to join hands with His creation. Life comes to die. Love comes to be hated. Jesus, the Christ child, the God man, sustained all of creation while he was being born. He was God, yet he stooped down to us. He came to us. He lived a life of restrained power. Only using his deity to help and to heal. The crippled walk again, the blind able to see, dead people alive, disease and sickness healed. And if all this wasn’t enough He “saved people from their sin.” His most awe inspiring display of power was when he was stripped, mocked, beaten, humiliated, and finally murdered. There on that cross he did accomplish the unimaginable; Forgiveness of sins. Then he followed that by being raised for our justification. Perfectly forgiven, perfectly holy, that is now our record.

WITH

This God, the sustainer of all, the first and the last, He is with us. The holidays can be a lonely time for so many of us. In the midst of the laughter and the celebrations we can feel isolated. We look around and it seems like every other person has everything we want, friends, family, happiness. Or maybe you have lost a loved one, and this time of the year increases the ache to see them again and that ache makes you feel empty. Or maybe you look at your life and think what am I doing here? Why is my family a mess, why don’t I have any friends? The temptations to despair are abounding. We see friends giving other friends presents, we hear about the best party ever, we see pictures on social media and the empty ache creeps in and invades your soul. To you, to those of you feeling the longing for something better, something more, Jesus speaks his name to you “God WITH us”.............................