“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news” (Isaiah 52:7 NIV).
“I sure could use a little good news for a change!” Do you ever have such thoughts? You encounter the plethora of tragic news stories broadcast on TV and the internet: natural disasters like earthquakes and floods causing widespread destruction; nations at each other’s throats, firing missiles at one another;
“For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (Hebrews 5:12-14).
“When he [Samson] came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting against him. Then the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him; and the ropes that were on his arms became like flax that is burned with fire, and his bonds broke loose from his hands. He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand and took it, and killed a thousand men with it” (Judges 15:14-15, suggested reading: all of chapter 15).
Many have had the privilege of meeting and getting to know Raju Bhitrakoti over the past few years as he attended Immanuel Lutheran Seminary and visited many CLC congregations. The Himalayan Church of the Lutheran…
Our Saviour Evangelical Lutheran Church of Cadillac, Michigan, originally began holding services in a town twenty-five miles south of Cadillac. In 1994 Pastor Mark Bernthal of Gethsemane Lutheran Church (Saginaw, Michigan) started holding services every…
The short answer to this question is that infants are in need of the same forgiveness that adults need, because they have inherited the sinful nature of their parents. Jesus said to Nicodemus, “That which…
These brief topics were written to help Christians think about the ways in which they share the Gospel with others. Here’s a test that measures not your intelligence quotient, but rather your “Invitation Quotient.”Use this…
I remember the summer I was a tour-bus driver in Glacier National Park. Drivers were taught park history, information, and geological features. It wasn’t any surprise to me that the “geological features” section was full of terms, time frames, and explanations from evolutionary geology. It got old in a hurry. How absolutely refreshing one evening, in the quiet of my room, to open up to Genesis 1 and read the Lord’s simple, straightforward account of the miraculous creation of the heavens and the earth!
In the beginning God created. God said, and it was so.
The heavens, the earth, light, firmament (atmosphere), seas, dry land, vegetation, sun, moon, stars, fish, fowl, cattle, creeping things, beasts. And He made man, male and female. Everything was very good!
How easy to follow! How simple! The beauties, intricacies, and mysteries of the world, all created by God in six days. Even a child can grasp it!
Our minds were designed by our Creator to work on the basis of logic. Researchers tell us that this is why optical illusions work on us. Our brains, in attempting to see patterns in chaos, will often fill in “missing” information allowing us to see things that aren’t actually present. We all like logic and order in our lives, to different extents. We want to know the sun will rise tomorrow and that two plus two will still equal four. However, our God has given us our logic and reasoning ability to figure out problems and day-to-day strategies in this physical life. There is a whole different set of rules for our spiritual one.
I have held my fair share of gym memberships over the years—enough to realize the purpose behind all the machines that you find there. They aren’t there just to get your body into a wide variety of physical positions—sitting, standing, lying down, bending over. Their purpose is to exercise, and thereby strengthen, the various
muscles of your body as you go through the various positions and the ever-increasing amounts of resistance.
It is the same when it comes to worship—it also comes with a purpose!
The word for “worship” in the New Testament Greek carries with it the idea of a person literally lying prostrate before someone else. Picture for yourself, perhaps, the thousands of Muslims at the call to prayer, on their knees with their foreheads to the ground. Better yet, picture Martin Luther in the movies made of his life, where he is lying completely flat on his face on the cold stone floor of the church. That is the word picture behind the idea of “worship.”
