There's nothing you can do
It's all outside of you
You cannot decide to follow Jesus for life with God. Such a decision is foreign to our human nature. Faith, salvation, new life, and sanctification come to us from outside ourselves, from the God revealed in Jesus, the Word...
...of God made flesh. Holy Spirit is on the loose in the shared Word about Jesus and woos us to repentance and faith in Jesus. "Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ." (Romans 10:17)
...I had been an atheist for a decade when I married a Lutheran Christian. I attended a Bible study to find out what this "nonsense" was all about. The Spirit wooed me into faith through the Word read, proclaimed, taught, shared...
...If you're an atheist like I once was, I challenge you to dare to listen to the Word about Jesus with an open mind. If you're a follower of Jesus, as I am by the grace of God, I challenge you to dare to share this Word "with gentleness and reverence."
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1. Late Wednesday/Early Thursday #prayer update on Brian, the 37yo battling the effects of COVID19: Today, I believe, marked fifteen weeks since Brian went to the hospital.
On Wednesday, Brian's fever was down...
2. ...But the infection in the back wound, caused by bedsores, remains. He continues to be on a ventilator.
He will soon be undergoing surgery on the wound, to clean it out and emplace a wound vac...
3. ...That will happen back at the hospital to which he originally went for COVID. (He's been in a transition hospital for some weeks now.) The doctors believe the only way the wound will heal is if this procedure is performed...
1. Preachers and others interested: Who's preaching on Mark 1:39-49 this coming Sunday? Any insights? What Law/Gospel couplets are suggested?
2. Me: I think that Mark 1:39-49 is part of the early "epiphanies" revealing that Jesus is more than just a rabbi teaching. He verifies the inbreaking of the Kingdom through His teaching AND signs. This text adds healing to those signs, along with more exorcisms.
3. The Law seems to be our common human experience of condemnation, deterioration, and death. The Gospel is that Jesus overpowers all these things.
1. #Prayer update regarding Brian, 36yo hospitalized with COVID19 for 11 weeks on Wednesday. This past weekend brought challenges. His oxygen saturation went down; so Brian is back on a ventilator. The oxygen setting is 70%, on full support...
2. Brian also developed an infection and a resulting temperature. A set of cultures were taken yesterday to determine the source of the infection. But he's already receiving antibiotics.
3. Brian is feeling frustrated by this turn of events, as you can imagine.
Doctors advise that the road back for COVID19 patients who have been seriously ill can include a series of rallies and setbacks such as we've seen with Brian. It's hard for him and hard for his family.
1. Simple suggestion, that we pray at the same time each day for our country and world. Say, at 9:00 AM local time, wherever we live. I urge two prayers. "Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy." "Your will be done, Lord." That's it. Let's ask God shown in Christ
2. ...into our world and nation. Our prayer doesn't have to be more than those two petitions. Let's not ask God to bend to our wills, but for us to bend to His will.
3. ...Paul says in Romans 8:26 that "...[the Holy] Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans." What a promise!
1. The Bible teaches that we are justified, counted guiltless of both of our inborn sin and the sins we commit because of that inborn condition, by God's charity (His grace) through our faith in Jesus Christ alone.
2. So what do our good works--things like active love of God and active love of neighbor--have to do with our justification?
Nothing and everything.
3. They have nothing to do with our justification because, first of all, no good work we might do can warrant God's "not guilty" verdict over our sinful lives. Even the good we do in this life will be tinged by sinful self-interest.