Overextending?!
“For we are not overextending ourselves…” (2 Corinthians 10:15). You would be hard pressed to find another Lutheran synod that has the outreach overseas based on per capita stateside that the CLC has. We need… Overextending?!
May Each of Us Ever Confess: “Jesus is Lord”!
FROM A CONFIRMATION SERMON The Word of God that deserves special attention on this Confirmation Day is: “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised… May Each of Us Ever Confess: “Jesus is Lord”!
Thank God for Your Spouse
“And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone;
I will make him a helper comparable to him” (Genesis 2:18).
Have you thought of the implications of these words of our God? Adam was living in the Garden of Eden. It was literally a paradise. Everything was perfect. Not just by human standards but by God’s standards. “God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good” (Genesis 1:31). Everything must have been exquisitely beautiful—more beautiful than we can even imagine.
And Adam had it all to himself. He had everything the perfect world had to offer. What a life!
Yet what do we read? God said, “It is not good…” Something was missing—something so important that without it Adam’s life was incomplete. So what was not good? “…that man should be alone.” He didn’t have anyone with whom to share all the goodness of God.Thank God for Your Spouse
The Double Patriot
Today the term patriot is used rather loosely. It has been applied to those who give their lives in defense of their country and also to those who protest against and seek to change the very foundation upon which this country was founded.
So what is patriotism?
Mr. Webster defined it as “love of one’s country; support of its authority, interests, and values.”The Double Patriot
LEARNING TENDERNESS FROM THE MASTER
Pastor Paul Naumann • Tacoma, Washington
“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted…” (Ephesians 4:32).
Years ago, as a young man stood on the threshold of matrimony, an older Christian friend gave him a piece of advice. “Do you want to know the secret to avoiding marital trouble?” he asked.
GOD’S OBSCURE SAINTS
(Seventh in a Series) This edifying series of chapel talks comes from the archives of our Spokesman Assistant Editor, Prof. Em. Paul R. Koch • Eau Claire, Wis. “And Sopater of Berea accompanied him to… GOD’S OBSCURE SAINTS
“Pay It Forward”
31st CLC CONVENTION
June 16-19, 2014
Immanuel Lutheran College, Eau Claire, WisconsinTHEME:
“God Our Savior Desires All Men to be Saved!” (1 Timothy 2:3-4 NKJV)
Essay 1: Jesus is the one Mediator of that truth! (1 Timothy 2:5-6)
Essay 2: We are appointed to proclaim that truth! (1 Timothy 2:7)
“For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time, for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle—I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying—a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.” (1 Timothy 2:3-7)
Back in the year 2000 the movie Pay It Forward was released, based on a book by the same title.
In that connection students in a social studies class were given the assignment to put into action a plan that would change the world for the better. As the story goes, one seventh grade boy came up with the idea that a person who had been done a favor should do a favor for three others—paying it forward instead of paying it back.“Pay It Forward”
The Last Picture
The recording of family histories has changed over the years, from grainy sepia tone, to black and white, to full vivid color, to digital. The storage of these family memories has likewise transitioned from shoeboxes to archival paper with adhesive corners to magnetic pages in bound books to the ethereal album on a smartphone or in the electronic cloud.
Regardless of form and storage, a moment of history frozen in a photograph The Last Picture
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO SIN?
“This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make WHATEVER HAPPENED TO SIN?
Doing the Father’s Will
MEDITATIONS ON JESUS’ SERMON ON THE MOUNT: MATTHEW’S GOSPEL, CHAPTERS FIVE THROUGH SEVEN “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My… Doing the Father’s Will