Try this one on for size:
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Thanks, Pastor Mark.
Thanks to flickr and trincheta, for the photo of Harry Houdini.
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Pastor Mark finishes up the first major section of Romans (the old eon).
If anyone thinks that Paul will soften his view of mankind and what he has wrought through his/her willful disobedience to God, then you have another thing coming. If this view does not paint you into the corner…then…well…God help you.
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I tried to fix the recording…but I only made it worse. (kind of like when we focus on our obedience to God)
Anyway, I try again when I get some time. Hopefully within a day or two. Sorry about that.
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Thank you, Pastor Mark.
And thanks also to flickr and to Hawaiin Sea, for the photo of the cryogenic capsules.
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That’s right. And there is a reason to not fear the Last Judgment (or God’s judgment on you).
Listen in to Pastor Mark’s sermon for Ascension Sunday, 2012. There are some good reasons to have authentic Hope, because Christ ascended into Heaven.
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Thanks, Pastor Mark.
And thank you to flickr and Chez VH, for the photo of Michelangelo’s ‘Last Judgment’ in the Sistine Chapel.
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I’ve fallen a bit behind on some of the things I wanted to put up on this blog as of late. We recorded last Tues. evening’s ‘Life with God’ class that Pastor Mark is doing on Romans. The first part of the class recorded just fine, but the last half of the class had some very bad sound distortion. Why? Who knows. I’ll make an attempt to clean it up and possibly put up any of it that is salvagable. I’m in the process of moving, and with work and all I haven’t been able to devote as much time here as I like. But things should normalize within a couple of weeks.
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There have been some really good posts put up lately at Pastor Mark’s blog, in case you haven’t been there in a while http://www.lightofthemaster.com/apps/blog.
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If any of you are in So. Cal. this weekend, you are invited to worship with us at 10 am on Sunday http://www.lightofthemaster.com/directions. Immediately following the worship service (May 20th, 2012) and before the start of the worship service for ‘Jesus’ Love Curch’, the Korean Lutheran congregation that shares our church building and campus with us, there will be a BBQ put on by both our congregations. The Koreans wll provide the main courses and LCM will provide the desserts, etc. It will be a lot of fun and LOTS of great food.
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Thanks to flickr and ijinden, for the photo.
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Filed under: Misc. | 1 Comment »
There are several very specific, important things that God gives us in our baptisms.
Listen in to the sermon that Pastor Mark gave just minutes after the Baptism of little Emma Marie, and hopefully you’ll have a better understanding of why we Lutherans baptize infants…or anyone else for that matter.
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OK…put your water wings on if you need them…we’re in the deep end now.
Take the plunge…the water is fine.
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This excerpt from the last class in the series on Trinitarian and Christological controversies, deals with the question of prayer in the life of the Christian.
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I will put the entire class up in a day or two.
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Give a listen to the 6 minute clip :
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Filed under: Pastor Mark Anderson, Pastor's class, Prayer | 2 Comments »
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He grafts you onto Himself and gives you His power to do His will. Right?
Just how does this work?
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Listen in to Pastor Mark’s sermon for the 5th Sunday of Easter:
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2 Corinthians 4:5
“For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord,…”
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The world is full of agendas. I have them and so do you. There is a story told about a man who joined a congregation. He was eventually elected to the church council where he beligerently began to push his own ideas about what the church should be about. After a year or so he called on the pastor to announce that he was leaving the congregation. Since he could not get his way, he was moving on.
Over the long centuries many agendas have threatened to overwhelm the essential business of the church. Occasionally they have succeeded, at least temporarily. At times political agendas have dominated. This was especially true during the centuries following the collapse of the Roman empire. The church found itself holding the reigns of political power. The resulting abuses were predictable. At other times, the moral agenda has threatened to replace the Gospel with Law, equating the Christian faith with a list of do’s and don’ts. Today, advocacy of the latest social agenda has become the de facto gospel in many chuches.
Of course, none of this is new. St. Paul found himself, again and again, having to remediate congregations and individuals under his care. His theme was constant; Christ and His cross must be central. Fifteen centuries later, Martin Luther took up the same Gospel cause.
The painter Lucas Cranach was a friend and supporter of Martin Luther and many of his works were in support of Reformation themes. The Cranach painting above is located at St. Mary’s church in Wittenberg, Germany (it is also permanently on the header of my blog). If you look closely, you will see that Cranach has painted the crucified Christ just above the altar table, directly in front of where the preacher stands. He has depicted Martin Luther preaching, with one hand on the Bible and the other pointed toward Jesus Christ crucifed. Cranach is clarifying the agenda and making it clear to those called to preach, and to the congregation, that Jesus Christ is the Church’s agenda and the proper subject of the Church’s preaching.
As long as the church exists in time, God’s people will be tempted to replace God’s agenda with our own. But thanks be to God that He keeps hold of His Church in love and brings us back to Christ, whose agenda is to love sinners and bring them, at last, out of death to life.
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From Pastor Mark Anderson’s blog http://www.lightofthemaster.com/apps/blog on 5-5-2012
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What happened to class #2? We did record it but the dorky sound guy (me) messed something up so that it cannot be transferred from the CD. Pastor Mark does recap that class at the start of this class (#3), so you won’t be missing too much.
We’re starting to move into a bit deeper water now, so grab your Bible and enjoy the class.
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The Old Adam Lives! 