κήρυξον τὸν λόγον

It is impossible for a person to confess all of their sins. There are too many we have thought and left unthought, and done and left undone to enumerate them all.  It is also impossible to look into a person’s heart and decide if they are actually sorry for their sins. But when we go to the almighty God in humble, heartfelt confession of our sins, we are not alone. We stand before the throne of God in the name and for the sake of Jesus. Therefore, in the sted and by the command of our Lord Jesus Christ, it is impossible for the church to withhold forgiveness from someone who is repentant, no matter how grotesque or heinous their sin actually is. Whoever confesses with their mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believes in their heart that God raised him from the dead, will be saved .  THIS IS MOST CERTAINLY TRUE: YOU HAVE THE KEYS TO FORGIVENESS That is our theme.  I. The Office of the Keys is that special authority which Christ has given to his church on earth to forgive the ...

Jesus said to them, Amen, Amen, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will certainly not see death forever (v 51). How many legs would a dog have if you called his tail a leg? The correct answer: Four. Just because YOU say a tail is a leg that doesn’t make it a leg. Your word is only your word.  But when the Word of God speaks, it comes to pass. It comes to pass because the Word of God makes it so. When God said, Let there be light , light came to be. When Jesus said to men, women, and children that your sins are forgiven , their sins truly were forgiven. In the same way, when Jesus takes the cup, gives thanks, and gives it to his disciples saying, this is my blood of the new covenant poured out for you for the forgiveness of your sins (Mt 26:28), that is exactly what comes to pass.  So today when we hear Jesus say, Amen, Amen, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will certainly not see death forever (v 51) ... guess what? ... You have the Word of God on the matte...

We have reached a turning point on our journey through Lent. After finishing the three Chief Parts of common Christian Doctrine ... the Ten Commandments, the Apostles’ Creed, and the Lord’s Prayer, Martin Luther begins the section on Baptism in the Large Catechism by saying, Every Christian also ought to have at least an ordinary, brief instruction about the Sacraments, because without them he cannot be a Christian (LC IV 1).  Those are pretty strong words, and I hope by the time we’re finished you’ll understand them and agree. 5. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who don’t understand the sacraments. To be sure, that is understandable. A sacrament is a mystery; literally, that’s what the word “sacrament” means. Our world doesn’t understand how water can do such great things, or how Jesus can give us his body and blood for the forgiveness of sins. This is one reason why we confess in the Third Article of the Creed that we can’t by our own reason or strength believe ... but...

All you can eat.  There was a time in life when that phrase was music to my ears ... especially if it involved Grandma’s blackberry cobbler or lemon meringue pie. I definitely could eat a lot of that.  Thirty years ago, that broke my father’s heart. Our oldest daughter Rachael was just a baby then. We had gone to Chester, Illinois to visit Grandma, and so, of course, she made a cobbler. When you are 20-something, you can never eat too much cobbler.  In any case, Dad just happened to be in town, too. He also loved to eat Grandma’s cobbler. After packing up the car to go home, I remember telling Valerie, I’ll be right back. While she waited in the car ... I then went into the kitchen for one last helping of cobbler. Like I said, you can never eat too much of that.  Now, I’ll qualify ... or should I say, quantify ... what happened this way: I didn’t actually eat the whole thing, but after we left, I learned later, Dad sure was completely unsatisfied when he went to the ...

In the Ten Commandments, we learned how holy we should actually live our lives ... and most importantly, how we have failed in that, thus leading us to recognize our need for a savior. In the Apostles’ Creed, which confesses the Gospel of God … the one who created us and redeemed us and sanctifies us to grant us the holy life he requires of us.  Now in the third chief part of the Catechism, the Lord’s Prayer, we will learn how this life of holiness, which we live by faith, is readily made available to us by our gracious God. It comes in prayer. True prayer is the act of faith by which we acknowledge the presence of the gracious God. It’s an act of faith by which we receive the good gifts he has promised and is eager to deliver. It’s the act of faith by which we permit the Gospel to express itself in our lives. Prayer is the act of faith in which we acknowledge that we have a new relationship with the Father and with each other. Prayer is not an act of faith by which we can force Go...