Reform. Change. Take something and make it different, better, more pristine. Key words for every aspect of our life.
The day labeled the Reformation is really about Jesus. Romans chapter 3 all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. And later, For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.
You can add nothing to your salvation or your earthly holiness. Jesus has done it all.
This Reformation salvation message is still for you and me today. There is no adding to it or moving on from it and we never grow out of it. It is the one central truth of the Christian faith on which all others stand or fall. Remain in this Word of Truth forever!
These Seeds of Faith have been sown by St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Bridgeport, NE. I’m Pastor Allen Strawn.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Proper 25
Blind Bartimaeus. The blind man who sat by the road. Not really an unusual place to sit, especially if you wanted help or someone to feel sorry for you.
This day, though, would be different than all the others. This day he would see. He heard that Jesus was coming and began to call out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” The cry of faith. Have mercy on me.
We too cry out, for peace from above, for salvation, for the Church, for the whole world, and for everyone who prays and worships the one true God. Lord, have mercy.
And just like Blind Bartimaeus who was given his sight at a simple word of Jesus and followed, so too we are given the mercy that comes down from Jesus in His spoken Word of forgiveness today. And we too follow. Yes, Lord have mercy.
These Seeds of Faith have been sown by St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Bridgeport, NE. I’m Pastor Allen Strawn.
This day, though, would be different than all the others. This day he would see. He heard that Jesus was coming and began to call out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” The cry of faith. Have mercy on me.
We too cry out, for peace from above, for salvation, for the Church, for the whole world, and for everyone who prays and worships the one true God. Lord, have mercy.
And just like Blind Bartimaeus who was given his sight at a simple word of Jesus and followed, so too we are given the mercy that comes down from Jesus in His spoken Word of forgiveness today. And we too follow. Yes, Lord have mercy.
These Seeds of Faith have been sown by St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Bridgeport, NE. I’m Pastor Allen Strawn.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Proper 23
A rich man approached Jesus, calling Him Good Teacher, wanting to know how to get eternal life. Jesus responded to Him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.” Jesus then proceeded to summarize all the commandments for this rich man.
The man responded, “Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.”
Now, how do you think Jesus responded? No one is that good. Everyone sins. Don’t you know you are a sinner.
No, Jesus looked at Him and loved him.
It is easy to overlook this because Jesus then tells the rich man to sell everything. He does this out of love, so that nothing would get in-between Jesus’ relationship with the rich man.
Jesus desires nothing to get in-between us and Him. Not possessions, fame, or pride. He makes our relationship perfect.
These Seeds of Faith have been sown by St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Bridgeport, NE. I’m Pastor Allen Strawn.
The man responded, “Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.”
Now, how do you think Jesus responded? No one is that good. Everyone sins. Don’t you know you are a sinner.
No, Jesus looked at Him and loved him.
It is easy to overlook this because Jesus then tells the rich man to sell everything. He does this out of love, so that nothing would get in-between Jesus’ relationship with the rich man.
Jesus desires nothing to get in-between us and Him. Not possessions, fame, or pride. He makes our relationship perfect.
These Seeds of Faith have been sown by St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Bridgeport, NE. I’m Pastor Allen Strawn.
Proper 22
Marriage. Divorce. Alternative lifestyles. Hot topics for today’s world. Is God’s Word obsolete on these issues of today?
God’s Word is clear and as relevant today as ever. Let us let Jesus, the very Son of God, who is all knowing and only speaks the truth, quote Genesis. “But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘therefore a man will leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and they shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”
Marriage is a pure and precious gift, one created by God, one that our sinful lives destroy. Even these are laid at the foot of Jesus’ cross for His forgiveness.
These Seeds of Faith have been sown by St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Bridgeport, NE. I’m Pastor Allen Strawn.
God’s Word is clear and as relevant today as ever. Let us let Jesus, the very Son of God, who is all knowing and only speaks the truth, quote Genesis. “But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘therefore a man will leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and they shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”
Marriage is a pure and precious gift, one created by God, one that our sinful lives destroy. Even these are laid at the foot of Jesus’ cross for His forgiveness.
These Seeds of Faith have been sown by St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Bridgeport, NE. I’m Pastor Allen Strawn.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
