Depression is a vexing condition. It’s part of that huge array of problems that have afflicted us since our first parents fell into sin. Depression is the result of a sin-corrupted body, a defect in how our brains work, just like the fall into sin also affects how our hearts, livers, and stomachs perform. But […]
John 12:12-19, 1 Maccabees 13:43-48, 51-52, Zechariah 9:9-12: The Jesus You Need
March 31, 2015 by
Lent began with Jesus fasting. Immediately after He was baptized, the Holy Spirit led Him into the wilderness to face down the devil. During those 40 days, Jesus chose not to eat food, spending time in prayer and meditation, battling against the tempter. Now those 40 days of temptation, of Lent, draw near to their […]
How We Got the New Testament
March 28, 2015 by
This is our pastor’s newsletter article for April, 2015. It follows last month’s article, “How We Got the Old Testament,” which you can read by clicking here. ——— The Early Church Last month, we looked at how we got the Old Testament. The Church met in council to state which books were Scripture because three traditions […]
Isaiah 53:4-5, Wisdom 2:17-24, Matthew 27:41-43: Jesus eternally heals us
March 18, 2015 by
During these Lenten midweek services, we have pondered passages from the Prophet Isaiah. We considered the startling contrast between what Christ physically looked like in His suffering and how beautiful He is based on what He did, and does, to save us. Jesus had no stately form or majesty that we should look at Him, […]
How We Got the Old Testament
February 23, 2015 by
This is our pastor’s newsletter article for our March 2015 edition of our newsletter. In it, he leaves much out to keep the article a usable length. So, the article is not “bullet proof,” but it does, on the main, cover why the Old Testament contains the books that it does. ———- In this article, we’ll explore how […]
Wisdom 18:14-15, Luke 2:1-20: The Word of God Descended from Heaven’s Royal Throne
December 24, 2014 by
“It came upon a midnight clear, that glorious song of old, from angels bending near the earth to touch their harps of gold: ‘Peace on the earth, goodwill to all, from heaven’s all-gracious King!’ The world in solemn stillness lay to hear the angels sing” (LSB 366). Angels sang that night when Christ was born. […]
1st Maccabees, Lesson 1: Introduction
May 8, 2013 by
Why the Apocrypha When we consider studying a book from what we call the Apocrypha, why should we do so? After all, when we look at our Bible translations, those books are missing from our English-language Bibles and have been so for about 200 years. Are those books part of the Bible? If so, then […]
Palm Sunday Sermon
March 24, 2013 by
Today, we’re saddled with an Old Testament that Jesus and His disciples didn’t use. They used the Septuagint, which was the Old Testament translated into Greek. But what distinguishes their Old Testament from ours even more is that it had books that our Old Testament is lacking. Those were also books that we Lutherans had […]
Review of The Apocrypha: The Lutheran Edition with Notes
September 12, 2012 by
No Longer Missing In Action: The Apocrypha, The Lutheran Edition By Pr. Rich Futrell In 397 AD, at Carthage (today in Tunisia), the Church gathered to resolve an issue: what books being read in the Church are Scripture? Throughout the New Testament Church’s history, there was never complete unanimity on what books made up the […]
Lessons on the Apocrypha
May 14, 2012 by
Believe it or not, the Lutheran Confessions refer to the Apocrypha as “Scripture.” Yet, if you were to read through the Lutheran Confessions, you would find that they never even bother to list the books of the Bible. Why is that? Simply put, we did not have any argument with the Roman Catholic Church on […]
