When Ax Heads Float
It is certainly true that without miracles there can be no Christian Church, no saving faith, no redemption, no life. Foundational are the miracles of incarnation, resurrection and sanctification. Following these are a host of…
When Ax Heads Float
“Why Do You Go Overseas?”
During the past ten years I have made nine trips overseas to work with our brethren in India and Africa. In the course of those years, I have had people ask me why I feel…
Prince of Peace Lutheran Church Hecla, South Dakota
Prince of Peace Lutheran Church was organized on March 9, 1962, by Christians desiring a church that faithfully taught the Word of God and practiced confessional Lutheranism. Hecla is a small town in northeastern South…
An Exciting Opportunity in Liberia
In 2010 a man from Liberia was baptized as an adult and, professing his Christian faith according to what we believe and teach from the Bible, was received into membership at Grace Lutheran Church in…
“BREAD OF LIFE” READINGS January 2017
TLH = The Lutheran Hymnal, 1941; WS = Worship Supplement 2000; LSB = Lutheran Service Book, 2006
Date Verse Reading Comments
Jan 2 TLH 123:1-4 Psalm 90:1-6 We have to admit that we are nothing next to God. What grace that He takes notice
of us at all!
Jan 3 TLH 123:5-6 Psalm 90:7-10 Even those sins we are not aware of are seen by the eyes of our God.
Jan 4 TLH 123:7-8 Psalm 90:11-17 The Lord’s forgiveness, compassion, and unfailing love shall bless us all our days.
Jan 5 TLH 134 John 3:1-4 Jesus revealed Himself as the One sent from God, and the miraculous signs confirmed it.
Jan 6 TLH 127; John 3:5-15 Salvation comes through Spirit-worked faith in Jesus.
LSB 401
Waiting for More than Christmas
The outcome is always the same. Christ and His Church
always come out victorious and all His enemies will be judged.
“‘Surely I am coming quickly.’ Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!”
(Revelation 22:20).
John was in exile, banished to the island of Patmos where he was isolated from the people he loved and prevented from preaching the Word of God to them.
Many of those whom he calls “my little children” were suffering terrible persecution. Some were fed to wild animals or slaughtered by gladiators, others were burned as human torches or crucified. Still others lost homes and businesses and wandered as fugitives, despised by all.
In such terrible times, one longs for and prays for deliverance. As the Children of Israel prayed for God’s deliverance from their cruel slavery in Egypt, so also John pleads with Christ, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!”
Prepared by John the Baptist
We are in a season that involves a great deal of preparation. We prepare our homes and our church buildings with decorations for Christmas. In northern climates, the local hardware stores offer “winter survival [or preparedness] kits.” Such kits are suggested for a driver who might become stranded in his car during a blizzard.
Such preparations are external. The “winter survival kit” includes blankets to protect our bodies from the bone-chilling cold. Our Christmas decorations are hung to make our homes and church buildings appear more beautiful.
When God Gave His Oath
“For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, ‘Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.’ And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute. Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.
Hymn 64 “Jesus, Thy Church with Longing Eyes”
Advent
Hymn 64 is an Advent hymn. Advent is a “three tense” season: the past and the future unite in our present worship.
In the American Heritage Dictionary, the first part of the definition for the word advent is “The coming or arrival of something or someone that is important or worthy of note.” In the Advent part of the church calendar, we look back to the first Advent (coming) of Christ, His birth in Bethlehem, when God came to mankind as a man in order to redeem the world to Himself.
Our Great Commander
And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to…