Minnesota Pastoral Conference Place: Mt. Olive Lutheran Church, Detroit Lakes, Minn. Dates: Tuesday-Thursday, October 26-27, beginning at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday Agenda: * Old Testament Exegesis, Obadiah -- Pastor Wayne Eichstadt * New Testament Exegesis, 2 Thessalonians 1:6ff -- Pastor Stephen Kurtzahn * A study of issues related to dying which could be assembled into… Read More »Announcements Read More

“Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia.” (Ezra 1:1 NASB) Seventy years had passed, and the time had come for the Jews taken into exile in Babylon to begin their return… Read More »A Prayer for Difficult Times Read More

“And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32) What makes for a truly happy home and a functional family? There are many things that can contribute to this, but one thing stands above all the rest–living according to the gospel of Christ. This… Read More »Families And Forgiveness Read More

(Zechariah 12:10) It is a long way from our home to Jerusalem. My family and I made this journey because we desire, at least once, to celebrate the Passover in this city. Though we are not Jews, we have come to faith in the God named Jehovah. As we approach the city this Friday morning,… Read More »“They will look upon Me whom they have pierced.” Read More

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, and hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David.” — Luke 1:68-69 White lights delicately outlining the shapes of palm trees. Bright red bows tied around stately saguaro cacti. Temperatures dipping down… Read More »Having The True Spirit Of Christmas Read More

As the word Christian means different things to different people, so also does the term Christian education. Many of the catalogues advertising Christian schools will say that they are “Christ-centered” and “Bible-based.” That certainly sounds good, but experience teaches that further investigation is required to discover whether or not we would agree with those claims.… Read More »CHRISTIAN EDUCATION Read More

Do you remember your Confirmation day? Many of us remember how spring was in the air. How exciting it is when everything seems to be coming to life after a long winter! It’s a new beginning. That is quite fitting for confirmation, don’t you think? We should think of confirmation as a new beginning. Often… Read More »CONFIRMATION AND NEW BEGINNINGS Read More

“Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us. But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this… Read More »Paradise For The Penitent! Read More

The word “orthodox” means “true teaching.” It is the opposite of “heterodox,” which means “other teaching,” that is, teaching other than that which God teaches. So the comparison is true-teaching versus false-teaching. It is used to describe the character of an individual or assembly and the doctrine which they espouse. One Intended Meaning Every sincere… Read More »WHY BE ORTHODOX? Read More

‘If You Don’t Use It, You’ll Lose It’ This statement was overheard recently in a hospital. For the patient it seemed too soon after surgery to be getting out of bed and trying to walk up and down the hallway. He would have preferred to lie in bed a few more days resting. The therapist,… Read More »“Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” — Philippians 2:12 Read More

“And He shall stand and feed in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God; and they shall abide: for now shall He be great unto the ends of the earth” — Micah 5:4 Though He may appear lowly in His Bethlehem birthplace, Jesus is true God,… Read More »Getting Beneath The Tinsel Read More

A Christian cannot be unmoved when contemplating the scene presented in Gethsemane. Here we behold our beloved Lord Jesus in an agony so intense that His sweat became great drops of blood falling to the ground. The sight truly fills us with sorrow, but we are also cheered by it. How can the Lord who… Read More »THE SORROW AND THE JOY OF GETHSEMANE Read More

“Make a joyful noise!” Joy is a very important subject in God’s Word. Words like joy, joyful, rejoice are found over 300 times in the Bible. God makes it very clear, particularly in the Psalms, that He wants His people to be noisy when they are joyful. What the Lord desires is for us to… Read More »JUBILATE Read More

” . . . But speaking the truth in love, may (we) grow up into Him in all things, who is the head, even Christ.” — Ephesians 4:15 The truth hurts. Boy, don’t we know it! Think back on a time when someone bluntly pointed out some flaw in us or some deficiency in our… Read More »SPEAKING THE TRUTH IN LOVE Read More

“Do you think that the words of Scripture mean nothing when they say that the Spirit who dwells within us jealously longs for us? But He gives us more and more grace. Therefore, He says: ‘God resists the proud, but He gives grace to the humble.’ Submit then to God. Resist the devil and he… Read More »ALLOW NOTHING TO COME BETWEEN YOU AND YOUR SALVATION Read More

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey” (Zechariah 9:9). “The king is coming!” This announcement was received with mixed feelings in olden times. If the… Read More »‘The King is coming!’ Read More

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1) These majestic words set the stage for the most-read, most-printed, and most-translated book in history—the Holy Bible. Compare that statement to how Carl Sagan opened the 1980 television series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage: “The cosmos is all there is, or was, or ever… Read More »In Him All Things Consist Read More

“Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” (Ecclesiastes 1:2) In the first two chapters of Ecclesiastes, Solomon relates how he examined the best that life had to offer, especially if one has unlimited resources. His conclusion? Nothing “under the sun” brings lasting contentment and a meaningful life. Worldly accomplishments, wealth, fame, and pleasures leave everyone empty… Read More »Everlasting Meaning Is Found Only in Jesus Read More

“Now the word of the  Lord came to Jonah . . . saying, ‘Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city.'” (Jonah 1:1-2) Jesus calls all who follow Him to do this. Every believer is to share the Gospel of Christ as opportunities present themselves, and to live his life as a witness unto the Lord. Communities of Christians have… Read More »THE LORD IS A SENDING GOD Read More

“Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31) Imagine yourself hiking in the Rocky Mountains under a sky astonishingly blue—the temperature is ideal as the breeze flutters aspen leaves that have begun to turn bright yellow, or on the deck sipping from a hot cup of coffee as… Read More »ANOTHER PERFECT DAY Read More