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Lead Story

“Pay It Forward”

 31st CLC CONVENTION
June 16-19, 2014
Immanuel Lutheran College, Eau Claire, Wisconsin

THEME:
“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.Read More »“Pay It Forward”

Jesus — the Good Shepherd and the Lamb of God

One of the distinctive ways the one true God reveals Himself in Holy Scripture is by referring to Himself as the great “I AM” God. When the Lord appeared to Moses in the burning bush to call him as one of His prophets and Moses asked Him to give His name by which He is to be known, God said, “I AM WHO I AM” (Exodus 3:14).

By identifying Himself with this remarkable name, the Lord was revealing Himself as the very special personal divine being who always was and always will be.

The Son of God who appeared to Moses on this occasion (Exodus 3:2-4) is the great “I AM” God together with the Father and the Holy Spirit. In John’s Gospel record, we find Jesus referring to Himself in various ways as the “I AM” God. To this unique name Jesus added special descriptive identifiers such as “I am the bread of life” (6:35), “I am the light of the world” (8:12), “I am the good shepherd” (10:11),  “I am the resurrection and the life” (11:25), and “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (14:6).

In each of these cases, Jesus makes known wonderful truths about Himself which serve for our blessing and are a source of great comfort. For example, when Jesus tells us He is the bread of life, He helps us to understand that He is spiritual nourishment for our souls, who gives us spiritual and eternal life so that we will never die.Read More »Jesus — the Good Shepherd and the Lamb of God

Christ, the Firstfruits, Is Risen!

“Now Christ has risen from the dead and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20).

Three important festivals came together at the time of the Passover, therefore also at the time of Jesus’ death and resurrection. All three have great significance for our salvation—significance that we do not want to miss.

Together they make up the season of liberation and salvation, showing how carefully God had planned and prepared every detail of our salvation. He pictured it for us 1500 years beforehand so that nothing would be left to chance.

The Passover

The first and most recognizable festival was the Passover itself. Just as the blood of the Passover lamb saved Israel from the plague of death which brought about their freedom from slavery in Egypt, so the blood of Christ, our Passover Lamb, saves us from death and frees us from slavery to sin and Satan.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread

The very next day the Feast of Unleavened Bread began. Israelites were required to remove all leaven from their homes for eight days. This feast was symbolic of how Christ has cleansed us from the leaven of sin.Read More »Christ, the Firstfruits, Is Risen!

Where Is the Lamb?

Abraham offers up the son he loves : Genesis 22:1-19

Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” 

So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.” So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together. Read More »Where Is the Lamb?

The Best Seller of All Time

When people are looking for a good book or e-book to buy and read, they may look over the New York Times Best Seller list.

bible_1_23686529

While there are critics who claim this particular Book should be listed in the fiction genre, there should be no question that it is non-fiction.

Simply because a book is on the Best Seller list doesn’t mean it is worth purchasing and reading. For example, one review of the best selling book Killing Jesus by Bill O’Reilly reports that the author makes the bogus claim that the reason Jesus was killed by the Romans is that He was interfering with the cash flow of tax money (Read what Jesus says in the Gospel record about paying taxes to the Roman government, Matthew 22:21).

Read More »The Best Seller of All Time

Happy New Year!

Do you ever wonder what is so new about “New Year”?

Oh sure, we add another number to the counting of years. We will call it 2014 instead of 2013, but does that really make it new?

The world still has the same problems. Our flesh is still plagued with the same sins. A succession of broken resolutions reminds us that we haven’t really changed. We truly ought to have been consumed in God’s wrath long ago.

We remember that Achan was stoned to death because he coveted and took some of the plunder of Jericho for himself (Joshua 7). We think of the man who was stoned because he gathered sticks on the Sabbath Day to build a fire to cook the manna (Numbers 15). Remember how Ananias and Sapphira dropped dead because they lied to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5).

Are we any less sinful than they? Because of the many times we have sinned, shouldn’t we have been struck down with God’s righteous judgment? ABSOLUTELY!Read More »Happy New Year!

God’s Gift Giving

Years ago in my hometown an elderly woman crafted new pairs of mittens for my brother, my sister, and me every Christmas. It wasn’t that this lady had forgotten what she had given us the year before. But she knew that the mittens she had made the previous year would likely wear out over the winter. She also knew that we children were still growing and would need larger sizes. So out of the goodness of her heart she dedicated her time and effort to keep our hands warm.

But our family friend isn’t the only one who has given us the same Christmas gift every year. Our heavenly Father has too—for countless years! “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…”
(John 3:16).

Of course, we know that Jesus is not born as a Bethlehem Baby each and every year. Our annual Christmas celebration is a remembering of the first time God’s Gift was given, when Jesus was “born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:4-5).

That one-time, God-given Gift should remind each of us every year of what changes…and of what doesn’t change!Read More »God’s Gift Giving

“Oh,Give Thanks to the Lord…!”

“Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!  For His mercy endures forever!” is a familiar prayer expressing our thankfulness to God for the food with which He has blessed us and reminding us to give thanks to God.

Such reminders are always in place because, quite frankly, we don’t always remember to return thanks to God. I am not just talking about thanking Him for food, but also for the countless blessings He graciously pours out upon us every day. Because of our forgetfulness and our tendency to take things for granted, we are apt to be like the nine lepers who, after being healed by Jesus, did not return to thank Him (see Luke 17:12-19). Lord, have mercy upon us for not thanking You as often as we ought!

The prayer  “Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever” is found in a number of psalms (see psalms 106, 107, 118, and 136). Please take your Bible and read Psalm 136. Do you notice how many times the psalmist encourages his readers to give thanks to the Lord? Why is this? Is it perhaps because we need to be repeatedly reminded to give thanks to the Lord for all His goodness towards us?

A striking feature about this psalm is the refrain at the end of each verse. The worship leader would speak the first part of the verse, and the congregation would respond with “For His mercy endures forever.”

I am not just talking about thanking Him for food,
but also for the countless blessings He graciously
pours out upon us every day.

Read More »“Oh,Give Thanks to the Lord…!”

Using the Reformation

Using a gift is a fine way to express appreciation and gratitude.

The sixteenth century Lutheran Reformation was a great gift from God, for through it God restored to us His greatest gifts. Our full and free Salvation in and through Jesus Christ had been put on the shelf by the Roman Catholic Church, which then substituted works that man himself had to accomplish, and God’s undeserved Grace had been shelved in favor of the notion that God infuses grace into man, enabling people to do His will and thus supposedly merit eternal life.

Those precious gifts were all but lost because God’s Word had been put away on a shelf and all but forgotten, being replaced by the teachings of men.Read More »Using the Reformation

“…Him?!”

“…Him?!”

That may not have been the exact word that the prophet Ananias spoke, but it does convey his incredulity at the Lord’s instruction.

There is none better to do mission work, to share the gospel
of the Savior with others,
than you and I. 

The Lord had commanded the prophet in a vision to go to the place where Saul of Tarsus was waiting for him. But the only type of “waiting for him” Ananias could envision was in line with what Saul was known for doing:

“Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name” (Acts 9:13-14). 

It was as much as to say, “…Him?!”

“…Him?!” Ananias saw an enemy of the Savior. But God saw one who would be a great witness to His love, grace, and forgiveness.

Ah, yes! Things had changed concerning Saul since the last time Ananias had heard of him—for now Saul was praying! He was no longer the rabid enemy of Christ and His people that he had been, but he was a “chosen vessel” of the Lord “to bear [His] name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel” (9:15).Read More »“…Him?!”