Palm Prints
GEMS FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT “Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may… Read More »Palm Prints
Articles
Faith’s Certain Hope Concerning Things to Come
STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT “By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each… Read More »Faith’s Certain Hope Concerning Things to Come
Bringing the Little Children
NOTES FROM THE FIELD In this series, those involved with CLC foreign missions profile one aspect of our overseas endeavors. Jesus said, “Let the little… Read More »Bringing the Little Children
Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church Loganville, Georgia
A SLICE OF LIFE IN THE CLC SNAPSHOTS OF CONGREGATIONS FROM AROUND THE CHURCH OF THE LUTHERAN CONFESSION “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,… Read More »Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church Loganville, Georgia
Faith Alone: No Asterisks
COVER STORY
SOLA fide
Every year a debate rages in the baseball world: who should be admitted into the Hall of Fame? In the last few years, the debate has been particularly centered around players from the so-called “Steroid Era.” Should those who broke the rules and enhanced their performances with drugs be let in? Some voters and writers have proposed a solution: let those players into the Hall of Fame on the basis of their accomplishments, but add an asterisk to the record books to show that those accomplishments were marred by the use of performance-enhancing drugs.
As detailed in a recent issue of the Spokesman (July 2017, page 7), Hebrews 11 gives us God’s Hall of Faith. It is not meant to be a comprehensive list of the members, but a small sampling of both faithful people and actions from the Old Testament. However, Hebrews 11 seems to omit much of the important information we know about these Old Testament people. Instead of painting portraits as these people were, God presents us with His glorified saints as He now sees them.Read More »Faith Alone: No Asterisks
St. Stephen Lutheran Church of the San Francisco Peninsula—Mountain View, California
A SLICE OF LIFE IN THE CLC SNAPSHOTS OF CONGREGATIONS FROM AROUND THE CHURCH OF THE LUTHERAN CONFESSION This month’s unique “Slice of Life in… Read More »St. Stephen Lutheran Church of the San Francisco Peninsula—Mountain View, California
“Back to School”
COVER STORY – CHRISTIAN EDUCATION
It’s just a loaded, emotive phrase, isn’t it? “Back to school.” Individual reactions vary wildly, depending on your station in life and how you are wired. Kids who love school get excited, those that don’t, not so much. Some parents tend to hear the phrase with relief, others with a sense of regret, even guilt—“Where did the summer go? We should have carved out more family time.” Teachers get that old familiar knot in their stomachs and, like pretty much every other occasion in life, retailers hear cash registers.
“Back to school” also means something else.
To go “back” means that you first had to step away. Have you ever wondered how or why our current custom of summer vacation started? The standard answer is that it was agrarian-based; school went into recess for three months in the summer because children were needed on the farm. Anyone with any association to farming knows that obviously wasn’t the reason. The busiest times on the farm are planting and harvest (spring and fall) when kids are back in school.
St. Stephen Lutheran Church of the East Bay—Hayward, California
A SLICE OF LIFE IN THE CLC SNAPSHOTS OF CONGREGATIONS FROM AROUND THE CHURCH OF THE LUTHERAN CONFESSION St. Stephen Lutheran Church of the East… Read More »St. Stephen Lutheran Church of the East Bay—Hayward, California
Remember Your Baptism
“See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?”
(Acts 8:36)
When the Ethiopian heard the message of Jesus as the Christ, Who willingly gave His life for the sins of the world, he desired to be baptized into Jesus’ name. Would anything hinder him from receiving this great blessing and from being received by God? Would the color of his skin, his nationality, or his past sins make him unacceptable to the Lord? What joy and relief when Philip took him down into the water and baptized him! Nothing would hinder him from receiving the grace of God in Baptism and being made a child of God. No wonder “he went on his way rejoicing.” (Acts 8:39)
Do you want to go on your way rejoicing today, tomorrow, every day? Then remember your Baptism! Whether you can actually remember the day you were baptized or simply know that you were baptized as a child, remember the fact that you were baptized. For that is the day when you were connected with Jesus and everything He did for you.
Whenever you sin you deserve to die, for “the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23) Remember your Baptism and rejoice, for that is when you were united with Jesus in His death. “Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death.” (Romans 6:3-4) His death counts for you, and all your sins were paid for.
Your Baptism also connected you with Christ’s life. “We were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” (verse 4) We now have a new life with Christ. “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)Read More »Remember Your Baptism
A Fruitful Christian Life
In our family, there are few things we enjoy more than a freshly picked tomato out of our garden. As I write this article, the soil has been prepared and the tomato plants are in the garden and have been caged. We know that we will have to make sure the plants are watered and protected from little hands over the coming months. Our hope is that by the time this August edition of the Lutheran Spokesman arrives, we will be harvesting some of the first-fruits from our tomato plants.
However, those fresh tomatoes are not going to magically appear in our backyard. Nor are those plants going to survive if they are not regularly watered. We need the plant first, and then we need to take care of the plant in order to enjoy those delicious, vine-ripened tomatoes.Read More »A Fruitful Christian Life