Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod
This is our pastor’s article for the July-August 2013 newsletter. One of the deep enigmas in the current-day church is why we sing what we sing. Few of us have ever given much thought to that. We grew up singing hymns in church, and we like what we like. And we want to sing what [...]
On Thursday afternoon, June 20th, our pastor has a medical appointment. That’s why we won’t be having class that day. We will, however, still have class on Thursday, June 27th. We will continue our study of the Old Testament Apocrypha book of 1st Maccabees. On July 4th, we won’t have class because of Independence Day.
One of our pastor’s sermons was published in the Trinity 2013 issue of Gottesdienst: The Journal of Lutheran Liturgy. Our pastor originally preached the sermon in the journal for a local pastors’ conference, commemorating St. Augustine. To find out more about Gottesdienst, click here. Below is his sermon for the Commemoration of Augustine of Hippo, Pastor [...]
When you read the first two chapters of Genesis, you find that after God created something, He always said that it was good. Well, almost always–the exception is Adam. After God created Adam, He said, “It is not good for the man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18). When God said that, we learn something about [...]
Last week, we learned that scripture is not open for personal interpretation, either when it was originally being written or when we read or hear it. After clearing up the false notion that we may privately interpret Scripture, Peter now delves into the dangers of receiving false teachers (that is, those who have personally interpreted [...]
Judas and his forces were successful is driving out Antiochus’ forces from Jerusalem. He was also able to restore the Temple for proper worship of God. What we don’t know is the response to these events. That’s what we find out today. Read 1 Maccabees 5:1-8 The Edomites were the descendants of Esau. They are [...]
A good father provides for his family. He doesn’t do this by giving what he likes, or by doing what only happens to be convenient. No, he provides for his family by making sacrifices. The father sacrifices his time, pleasure, and personal preferences to provide for his wife and children. And from all that a [...]
Last week, we looked into the mystical union, that we become partakers of God’s divine nature. We learned that God’s indwells within us in His energia, making us “gods” (a dangerous word, but Jesus uses it in John 10). This does not mean that we stop being created beings, for that will never happen–not even [...]
Our pastor was part of Issues Etc. Pastors’ Roundtable on June 6th, 2013. The discussion was on the Parable of the Invited Guests, Luke 14:15-24. Click here to go to the Issues Etc. link for the program.
We see, so far, that Judas is successful as a military leader. He has used brilliant tactics to bring his war to the Seleucids instead of fighting their war where larger numbers of forces and cavalry would destroy him and his forces. Lysias vs. Judas (1 Maccabees 4:26-35) Read 1 Maccabees 4:26-27 - How is [...]