Here’s the Palm Sunday, 2011 sermon by Pastor Mark:
click here> Palm Sunday, 2011
Filed under: Palm Sunday, Pastor Mark Anderson, Sermon | Leave a comment »
We see clearly that in the name of God, in the name of Jesus, there is salvation. When a person is baptized into the name of the Triune God there is salvation. This is so painfully clear one wonders why it is so hard for some to come to understand. They maintain baptism is the Christian’s work to show loyalty to Jesus and make a profession of faith in him for salvation. There is a dearth of scripture that teaches that fact so it is merely church tradition once again, wrongly, being placed over and against clear scripture.
Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. ESV
For to be baptized in the name of God is to be baptized not by men, but by God Himself. Therefore, although it is performed by human hands, it is nevertheless truly God’s own work. From this fact every one may himself readily infer that it is a far higher work than any work performed by a man or a saint. For what work greater than the work of God can we do?*
Baptism is not man’s work whatsoever. Nor is it the invention of man. Jesus uses the hands and the voice of the minister to apply the water and to invoke the name of God. However, it is clearly Jesus doing the baptism. Jesus has located the delivery of the fruit of the cross in the preached word and in baptism. He cleanses his church and makes it to his sight without spot or wrinkle no matter what sin captivates the heart and mind of the baptized believer. Rather than rejoicing in the sin like the unbeliever he or she will be granted repentance in the same Triune name of God. These are strong and precious promises given to us in God’s word. Jesus has given us such a wonderful gift in baptism that no matter what the world, our own sinful flesh or the devil says or does we remain able to tell them “I am baptized!” Let us believe this good news and live in the peace it gives.
In the name of Jesus. Amen. †
* The Large Catechism of Martin Luther.
Filed under: Baptism | 2 Comments »
I have a friend at work who is pregnant with her first child. A beautiful baby girl (I saw the ultra sound pictures, so I know).
Anyway, we have been discussing Baptizing her baby, vs. dedicating her baby.
So this is for her. If you want to listen also, well…ok. It won’t hurt you to hear about the graciousness of our Lord and how He loves adopting little babies and giving them His name and making them His own…vs. stuff WE PROMISE to do.
Anyway…here it is > Baptism and Holy Communion
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Thanks to flickr for the photo.
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Filed under: Baptism | 9 Comments »
This is our 1st attempt. 
The resolution is a bit low because of the large file that needed to be uploaded to youtube, but it’s not bad. There are a few little glitches, but it’s a good start.
Thanks to Pastor Mark and to Jon Moyer (http://jonmoyerphotography.com/ ) who shot the video and did all the editing.
Fasten your life vest and enjoy the ride! Give it a few minutes, it gets better as it goes..and there are some special guests near the end.
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Thanks to flickr and laylan1 for the photo.
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Filed under: The Bible Cruise | 5 Comments »
…for all those Christians who are constantly prodding people to be better Christians by living up to God’s law (citing whatever law verses from the Bible they happen to be using that day – there’s plenty of them)…
anyway…
here’s the question…
I’m not kidding. I really want to know. I want you to look honestly at yourself and answer that question.
Go ahead, if you’ve got the guts to.
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Thanks to flickr and Bryce Fields for the photo.
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Filed under: Bible Thumpers, Judging others, The Law | 30 Comments »
Did you hear a good sermon today?
Did the preacher tell you how to make your life work a bit better today?
Did you get some good biblical principles on how to be a better husband, or wife, or how to be a more spiritual and committed Christian?
Did they tell you what you can do in your community to be a better citizen, a more caring human being?
If you received some preaching along those lines today, then you were fed a portion of horse dung.
Those things might be a problem in your life and maybe you do need to work on some of those things that you might have a better life, but what do those things have to do with faith in Christ? Absolutely nothing. You can get good advice on how to better yourself just about everywhere these days.
Those things (things that we ‘do’) are law things. The law will save no one. The law always accuses us. It’s demand is a perfect demand, to be fulfilled perfectly by the doer in every instance… and it doesn’t mean tomorrow…but right NOW.
If you heard those things at church today, you are in a place where there is NO GOSPEL. Just law. The law trumps the gospel in a place like that. They might know exactly what the gospel is, and they might even give you the gospel, but if they preached those things to you so that you might become better…then, while you weren’t looking, they ripped the gospel away from you and replaced it with horse dung wrapped in colored foil paper with a curly ribbon.
Those things are law things. There is no life in law things. Things that demand. No life. Yes, maybe in the short term you will see improvement. But in the long run, only death will result from a diet of law. St. Paul himself referred to the 10 Commandments as “the ministry of death”. And law things are NOT ONLY the 10 Commandments, but every single demand that your existence places upon you. All of it is law. God’s law.
So, if you want to be a big fan of Moses and the Law, in order that you might progress higher and higher up the Christian ladder of obedience and spirituality…I wish you a lot of luck. You will need it. In the end, you’ll only become despairing of your Christian life, or you will become prideful in it. And then, you are in BIG Trouble, with a capital ‘T’.
You need to have the law DONE TO YOU. Not to make you better…but asserted in it’s full force of perfection (the way Jesus did in the Sermon on the Mount) in order to kill you off to any idea that you can handle it, or tame the law to make it work for you. You cannot. No one can. “No one will be justified in the sight of the law.” And when you have been sufficiently cut off at the knees by that Word of law, then the gospel should be handed over to you freely. Completely. Devoid of any little thing that you must do in order for it to be effective in your life. “Come forth Lazarus!” He will raise you. He will breathe new life into your lifeless corpse. He will open up the future for you, yet again, where you were once hopeless. When you go to church, you need to know how to listen for the law, and then the gospel. That is your job in all of this. Don’t be hoodwinked by the new Moses who comes dressesd up as Jesus, while fomenting death. There is only one Jesus and He came, He comes, to free you from the bonds of death, and to give you what only He can…new life, forgiveness, and salvation in Him.
Here’s today’s sermon from where I got the inspiration for this post:
click here > Christian Transcendence nonsense
(If you are used to having the carrot dangled in front of you each week at church, then you probably won’t care for this sermon which puts all of that baloney to death…and gives you what you really need… which is all the more reason why you should hear it)
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Thanks to flickr and Lacejoy for the photo.
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Filed under: Pastor Mark Anderson, Sermon, The Christian Life | 18 Comments »
click below
> Martin Luther on Christian Liberty
This class is just 49 minutes long and packed with great, freedom giving gospel and awesome “ALL or NOTHING” Lutheran theology.
If you re only going to listen to one great class on Christian freedom this weekend, make it this one.
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Thanks to flickr and honecr5 for the photo.
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Filed under: Christian Freedom, Luther, Pastor Mark Anderson | 8 Comments »
Pelagius was a moral reformer and like all moral reformers he didn’t want a theology that allowed people to relax. So he said that man must use his God-given strength to climb the ladder. Sin is not original, it is only a bad habit that humans have gotten into. It is passed on by imitation not by heredity. What we must do is bend every effort to better ourselves and reverse the course of immorality and corruption the world has taken. To arms against evil!
That was Pelagius’ call. But the church from the beginning has resisted this call-at least in the precise form in which Pelagius put it. Why? Because, as St.Augustine-with St. Paul- said, it makes the cross of no effect. It is a call to man’s pride and pride is the deadliest of sins-especially when it thinks itself to be busy with religious affairs. It is a call which completely disregards the fact that it was man’s moral pride and religious fervor that killed God’s Son. It sets men climbing the heavenly ladder indeed, but it has no grace. It only grinds real humanity in the dust. In other words, it does not take the Grace of God as revealed in the cross at it’s word. There is no room left for mercy and love. The cross is only an example of moral striving. It is a complete misreading both of divine action and the human condition.
– Gerhard Forde
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Thanks to Brent Gordon for providing me the opportunity to take this from his facebook page.
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Filed under: Gerhard Forde | 5 Comments »
This is for REAL SINNERS…ONLY! We have estranged ourselves from God and this is the…
(find out for yourself …except you, Roger) > For Real Sinners, ONLY
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This evening’s Lenten sermon for April 6, 2011
Theme: Estrangement from each other
Estrangement from God
Romans 6
Baptism
Holy Communion
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Thanks flickr and weastman for the photo.
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Filed under: Lent, Pastor Mark Anderson, Sermon | 1 Comment »
Baptism…that’s how.
Check out the great post concerning baptism and the assurance that God wants
you to have in yours, over at David’s blog:
http://fivepintlutheran.blogspot.com/
Who does the baptising?
If we do it, then how can we trust in it?
If God does it, then can’t it be fully trusted?
Does anything really happen in baptism, anyway?
Do you feel like you are a Christian and strong in the faith one day…and then the next day or week, you have almost forgotten about Jesus and wonder just how much of a Christian you really are?
Baptism is a topic that often flies under the radar, so we like to bring it out in the open every once in awhile.
Thanks to David over at ‘Five Pint Lutheran’ for bringing it to the fore yet once again.
Here’s another good one on the assurance of your election:
click here> The-assurance-of-your-election
(This is a re-post from a while back).
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Filed under: Assurance, Baptism | 1 Comment »
The Old Adam Lives! 