Want your pastor or priest to discuss politics with you on Sunday morning in the sermon?
Then please read this:
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http://1minutedailyword.com/2012/09/15/1-corinthians-153/
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Thanks to Pastor Mark Anderson for this one.
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And thanks to flickr and j a thorpe, for the photo.
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Filed under: Pastor Mark Anderson's blog, Political Gospels | Leave a comment »
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Or maybe it is we who do the ‘severing’…by what ‘we do’.
This is a short excerpt from one of Pastor Mark’s pastor’s classes on Galatians.
It’s under 10 minutes and may just be the best 10 minutes you spend today:
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Thanks, Pastor Mark.
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And thanks to flickr and Nilanjan Sasmal, for the photo.
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Filed under: 'Severed' from Christ, Galatians, Pastor Mark Anderson, Pastor's class | Leave a comment »
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Yes, it happens.
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Thank you, Pastor Mark.
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And thanks to flickr and ‘Nikko, for the photo.
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Filed under: Pastor Mark Anderson, Sermon | Leave a comment »
It’s hard to hear the truth about ourselves. But it must be done.
Jesus didn’t play the games we play when it comes to giving us an accurate picture of the human heart. He went right after us and laid it all out there.
Many didn’t (don’t) like it. I don’t like it, either…but it’s the truth about me.
Listen to pastor Mark’s sermon for the 14th Sunday after Pentecost:
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Thanks, Pastor Mark.
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And thanks to flickr and victrav, for the photo.
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Filed under: Pastor Mark Anderson, Sermon, What comes out of the human heart? | 1 Comment »
Ephesians 2:8
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,”
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Martin Luther’s attack on free will, where salvation is concerned, has dismayed Lutherans and enfuriated critics ever since. The cry continually goes up, “We have to do something, don’t we?” Luther might respond like this; ‘And just what are you planning on doing? is there something regarding your salvation that Christ has not done for you?’
Here, in his own words, Martin lays the axe to our free-will pretensions.
“For my own part, I frankly confess that even if it were possible, I should not wish to have free choice given to me, or to have anything left in my own hands by which I might strive toward salvation. For, on the one hand, I should be unable to stand firm and keep hold of it amid so many adversities and perils and so many assaults of demons, seeing that even one demon is mightier than all men, and no man at all could be saved; and on the other hand, even if there were no perils or adversities or demons, I should nevertheless have to labor under perpetual uncertainty and to fight as one beating the air [1 Cor 9.26], since even if I lived and worked to eternity, my conscience would never be assured and certain how much it ought to do to satisfy God.
For whatever work might be accomplished, there would always remain an anxious doubt whether it pleased God or whether he required something more, as the experience of all self-justifiers proves, and as I myself learned to my bitter cost through so many years. But now, since God has taken my salvation out of my hands into his, making it depend on his choice and not mine, and has promised to save me, not by my own work or exertion but by his grace and mercy, I am assured and certain both that he is faithful and will not lie to me, and also that he is too great and powerful for any demons or any adversities to be able to break him or to snatch me from him. “No one,” he says, “shall snatch them out of my hand, because my Father who has given them to me is greater than all” [John 10:28 f.].
So it comes about that, if not all, some and indeed many are saved, whereas by the power of free choice none at all would be saved, but all would perish together. Moreover, we are also certain and sure that we please God, not by the merit of our own working, but by the favor of his mercy promised to us, and that if we do less than we should or do it badly, he does not hold this against us, but in a fatherly way pardons and corrects us.” (Luther’s Works, vol. 33, pgs. 288-289“.
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“May the peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
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Thank you, Pastor Mark.
Pastor Mark Anderson’s Daily Devotional blog site
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Filed under: Free will, Pastor Mark Anderson's blog | Leave a comment »
That is a good question.
That is the most recent post over at Tim Challies blog, ‘Informing the Reforming’
I think the book of Romans answers the question quite well. Start with chapter 6.
What do you think?
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Filed under: Baptism, Death, Sin, Tim Challies blog | 4 Comments »
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
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The sign that stood in front of a church building carried the name of the congregation and this slogan: ‘A Church for Families‘. I took it to mean that families are welcome there. That appeared to be the target market, as we say. But are families more welcome than say, the elderly or single people? Or maybe the slogan was referring to a kind of familial closeness that exists there. That might be OK but if a certain level of intimacy is expected of church members, what about those for whom familial intimacy and affection are problematic for a host of understandable reasons?
Close, interpersonal relationships are among the highest values in any society. Human affection is capable of monumental things, to be sure. Direct affection can be powerful and the basis for real friendship, care, even a certain degree of healing. At the same time being a ‘family church’ may mean nothing more than a bunch of friendly folks have settled on a comfortable status quo and are happy to leave it at that. Human affection is a lousy basis for Christian community. In fact, it is no basis at all.
Let me suggest an alternative slogan. How about this; ‘A Church for Enemies‘. ‘Gasp! You can’t be serious!’ Well, actually I’m not and neither are you…when it comes to loving enemies that is. And neither are churches whose deepest roots are family values and deep, human intimacy and relationships. That’s why it’s such an awesome slogan. It points beyond us to a love greater and more enduring than ours. It points to the love of Jesus who gave His life on the cross for people who through their sinfulness reveal themselves to be enemies of innocence, righteousness and holiness, unworthy of being a part of God’s family, people who apart from Him are do nothings – people like you and me.
“May the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
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From Pastor Mark Anderson’s Daily Devotional blog site
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Filed under: Pastor Mark Anderson's blog | 2 Comments »
Not primarily.
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The Lord does comfort us in the battles of life, but He has bigger fish to fry as His primary mission.
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Listen to Pastor Mark’s sermon for Sunday, August 16th, 2012:
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Thank you, Pastor Mark.
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And thanks to flickr and davewebster14, for the photo.
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Filed under: Pastor Mark Anderson, Sermon, to whom shall we go?" | 3 Comments »
I found many things in this class that were helpful to me in being able to properly distinguish the law from the gospel.
And it quite often isn’t all that easy to do. But listen in and see if there’s something in here for you:
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Thank you, Pastor Mark.
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And thanks to flickr and Original Sin, for the photo.
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Filed under: Law and Gospel, Pastor Mark Anderson, Pastor's class | 3 Comments »
What?
Jesus spoke to Nicodemus and laid some heavy ideas on him. Actually these “new” ideas weren’t heavy at all, but they were light…and freeing. But they were radically different and frightening to people stuck in the self-justification/sanctification, living by the law (for righteousness) game.
The sanctification of the righteous, the religion project, the improving yourself in the eyes of God project are all things that work against what Jesus brought to this world, and to you, via His cross and resurrection.
Give this one 10 minutes of your time. It may be the most productive 10 minutes you’ve spent in a long time.
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Thank you, Pastor Mark.
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And thanks to flickr and IPS Inter Press Service, for the photo.
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Filed under: Pastor Mark Anderson, Sanctification, Sermon | 2 Comments »
The Old Adam Lives! 