The Feast of Pentecost, 2013
Pastor Gregory L. Jackson
The Hymn #231 We Now Implore 3:38
The Confession
of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual
The
Gospel
Glory be to
Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn #246 Holy, Holy, Holy 3:35
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn #246 Holy, Holy, Holy 3:35
Pentecost – The Word Made Universal
The Communion
Hymn #294 O Word of God 3:31
The Preface p.
24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn # 283 God’s Word 3:90
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn # 283 God’s Word 3:90
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KJV Acts 2:1 And when the
day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it
filled all the house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared unto them
cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. 4 And they were
all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the
Spirit gave them utterance. 5 And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout
men, out of every nation under heaven. 6 Now when this was noised abroad, the
multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them
speak in his own language. 7 And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one
to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? 8 And how hear we
every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? 9 Parthians, and Medes, and
Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in
Pontus, and Asia, 10 Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of
Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretes and
Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. 12
And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What
meaneth this? 13 Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.
KJV John 14:23 Jesus answered
and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will
love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. 24 He that
loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine,
but the Father's which sent me. 25 These things have I spoken unto you, being yet
present with you. 26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost,
whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring
all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. 27 Peace I
leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto
you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. 28 Ye have heard
how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me,
ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is
greater than I. 29 And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when
it is come to pass, ye might believe. 30 Hereafter I will not talk much with
you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. 31 But that
the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me
commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.
Pentecost
O Lord Jesus Christ, Thou almighty Son of God: We beseech
Thee, send Thy Holy Spirit into our hearts, through Thy word, that He may rule
and govern us according to Thy will, comfort us in every temptation and
misfortune, and defend us by Thy truth against every error, so that we may
continue steadfast in the faith, increase in love and all good works, and
firmly trusting in Thy grace, which through death Thou hast purchased for us,
obtain eternal salvation, Thou who reignest, with the Father and the Holy
Ghost, world without end. Amen.
Pentecost – The Word Made Universal
KJV John 14:23 Jesus
answered and said unto him [Judas], If a man love Me, he will keep My Words:
and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with
him.
The Lutheran Hymnal’s lectionary conveniently uses more capital letters
than the KJV does, to make the reading in church more clearly articulated.
Using their scheme of capital letters for all divine pronouns and the Word, we
can see how this one verse is saturated with God’s activity on our behalf. And
it is Trinitarian because all this happens through the Holy Spirit at work in
the Word.
Judas was asking Jesus in
the previous verse, “Why have you shown yourself only to us and not to the
world?” John’s Gospel gives us more background on Judas, so we can understand
the causes of the crucifixion better. One motivation seems to be forcing the
issue, because Judas knew what Jesus could do. He was an eye-witness.
Unfortunately, Judas did not understand what Jesus was teaching. Likewise, the
false teachers begin with one aspect of God’s Word and take off in the opposite
direction. Here is one example, “The Word works, so dream big.” The first
clause is Biblical, but it is overthrown by the second part, which assumes that
by dreaming big, an individual or church can work miracles.”
It would be correct to say,
“The Word of God works, so place your trust in the Word alone, not the schemes
of man. Proclaim the Word at all times, whether they are the right times
or the wrong times.”
Luther asked in his sermon
about the order of this love of Christ and keeping the Word. The Holy Spirit
begins faith in us through the Gospel Promises. Some people believe, find
trouble coming their way, and blame God for making life more unpleasant. This
bad reaction happens especially when new believers are not taught about taking
up the cross. This also develops when children never get proper training. Just
as bankers have almost destroyed banking, Lutherans have almost destroyed
Lutherdom.
As faith in Christ develops,
the believer experiences joy in the Gospel and love for Christ. This is first
experienced in the true meaning of justification by faith, knowing that
believing is forgiving, removing all the burdens that would be placed upon us
as a price for absolution, whether they come from the Law, Satan, or the
assumptions of society.
Believers know this because
they love to hear the Gospel. The more they know the Gospel, the more they love
to hear its message. Moreover, they are even hungrier for hearing the meaning
of the Word. The dabblers—who include most professional theologians—will quote
Luther ever so often, but they turn away from Luther’s sermons and criticize
them to their fawning audiences. The trouble is, they cannot grasp what Luther
is saying because their rebellion against the Word has darkened their
understanding.
Many times I have read a
passage in Luther’s sermons and thought, “How can this be so?” The more I
thought about it, the more I realized how true it was. Knowing something to be
true spiritually, we can still feel the tug of human reason.
We are raised on sin being
defined as missing the mark, as if we did not try hard enough. Missing
the mark comes from classical Greek, about 500 years before the New Testament.
Five hundred years ago, nervous meant muscular in English because
muscular men had big arm veins, which were called nerves at that time.
Or – rebellion against God.
That is Living Biblesque, but raises the issue – what is rebellion against God?
Jesus defined sin in His own sermon –
The Holy Spirit
will convict the world of sin because they do not completely trust in Me for
forgiveness.
[New Jackson Living
Translation] John 16:8f.
KJV John 16:8 And when he is
come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
9 Of sin, because they believe not on me; 10 Of righteousness, because I go to
my Father, and ye see me no more; 11 Of judgment, because the prince of this
world is judged.
Likewise, we tend to think
of righteous as meaning perfectly obedient, which only certain saints in the
past achieved.
So many works and sin
sermons have pounded into people the message of Gospel mixed with Law, Pietism at
its best – and we are all trained at Pietists. Therefore we think, by nature
and bad training that righteous means someone who proves his faith by doing the
right things. Hoenecke correctly described this as confusing the Christ life
with Christian faith and making the Christian life a requirement for
forgiveness. Therefore no one is really forgiven.
Wherever someone takes away
faith from justification, works are added as a requirement, no matter how much
people talk about grace. There is no grace where works of any kind are required
for forgiveness.
So one precious example
follows – UOJ says everyone is forgiven – tons of grace, eh? A WELS speaker,
Peter Pan, asks, “Are you really worshiping if you are
not using all your gifts?” I never knew worship was such hard work. I
thought worship was receiving grace from God through the Means of Grace, not working
to appease God. No wonder only the works-saints show up for such a
demented definition of worship.
Once we get the
righteousness of faith firmly in our minds and hearts, after reading Luther and
the Book of Concord, we begin to see all the splendid Biblical passages on the
Promises of God to believers – the righteous. The righteous are all those who
believe in Christ for their salvation.
KJV Genesis 7:1 And the LORD
said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous
before me in this generation.
KJV Psalm 1:6 For the LORD
knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall
perish.
KJV Psalm 5:12 For thou,
LORD, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with
a shield.
KJV Psalm 31:18 Let the
lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and
contemptuously against the righteous.
KJV Psalm 52:1 Why boastest
thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man? the goodness of God endureth continually.
2 Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs; like a sharp razor, working deceitfully. 3
Thou lovest evil more than good; and lying rather than to speak
righteousness. Selah. 4 Thou lovest all devouring words, O thou deceitful
tongue. 5 God shall likewise destroy thee for ever, he shall take thee away,
and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place, and root thee out of the land
of the living. Selah. 6 The righteous also shall see, and fear, and shall
laugh at him:
KJV Proverbs 10:3 The LORD
will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish: but he casteth away the
substance of the wicked.
KJV Matthew 10:40 He that
receiveth you receiveth Me, and he that receiveth Me receiveth Him that sent
Me. 41 He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a
prophet's reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a
Righteous Man shall receive a righteous man's reward.
This last saying from
Matthew clearly teaches that receiving an evangelist is the same as receiving
Christ. The one who receives a believer also receives the One Believed In, and
he will receive a believer’s reward.
Of course, many passages
identify righteousness as belonging to God alone, which is why we call
forgiveness the righteousness of faith. This righteousness is identifying as
outside of us, extra nos in Latin, and not within us, as the Roman Catholics
teach.
24 He that loveth Me not keepeth not My
Sayings: and the Word which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father's which sent
Me.
Jesus always contrasted
false teaching with the Word, which He received from the Father. Rejecting and
teaching against the Word is a blasphemy against the Son and the Father.
Blasphemy is teaching
against God, and Jesus clearly taught God’s Word about forgiveness of sin.
25 These things have I
spoken unto you, being yet present with you. 26 But the Comforter, which
is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you
all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said
unto you.
So much is taught in this
one section from John’s Gospel. These two verse explain God’s plan for
Pentecost, which was an old Jewish festival.
The disciples would be
guided in a powerful way by the Holy Spirit, so they would remember the
experiences and teachings of Christ in their missions. The Holy Spirit would
complete His only and only Book, which remains a best seller today.
The Word would no longer be
confined to that little backwater area, but spread across the entire world,
with thousands of followers and thousands of New Testament manuscripts.
The Gospel spread among the
Jewish people and in a time of great internal conflict, which was good for the
Christian Church, broke out among the Gentiles as well.
Persecution meant a faster
spread of the Gospel, and martyrdom gave a powerful witness (martyr) to the
pagan Romans, who repented and believed in the only true God instead of their
sick, immoral, works-demanding gods.
Pentecost Quotations
"For neither you nor I could ever know
anything of Christ, or believe on Him, and obtain Him for our Lord, unless it
were offered to us and granted to our hearts by the Holy Ghost through the
preaching of the Gospel. The work is done and accomplished; for Christ has
acquired and gained the treasure for us by His suffering, death, resurrection,
etc. But if the work remained concealed so that no one knew of it, then it
would be in vain and lost. That this treasure, therefore, might not lie buried,
but be appropriated and enjoyed, God has caused the Word to go forth and be
proclaimed, in which He gives the Holy Ghost to bring this treasure home and
appropriate it to us. Therefore sanctifying is nothing else than bringing us to
Christ to receive this good, to which could not attain ourselves."
The Large Catechism, The Creed,
Article III, #38, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House,
1921, p. 689.
"For now we are only half pure and holy, so
that the Holy Ghost has ever [some reason why] to continue His work in us
through the Word, and daily to dispense forgiveness, until we attain to that
life where there will be no more forgiveness, but only perfectly pure and holy
people, full of godliness and righteousness, removed and free from sin, death,
and all evil, in a new, immortal, and glorified body."
The Large Catechism, The Creed,
Article III, #58, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House,
1921, p. 693.
"But outside of this Christian Church,
where the Gospel is not, there is no forgiveness, as also there can be no
holiness [sanctification]. Therefore all who seek and wish to merit holiness
[sanctification], not through the Gospel and forgiveness of sin, but by their
works, have expelled and severed themselves [from this Church]."
The Large Catechism, The Creed,
Article III, #56, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House,
1921, p. 693.
"Everything, therefore, in the Christian
Church is offered to the end that we shall daily obtain there nothing but the
forgiveness of sin through the Word and signs, to comfort and encourage our
consciences as long as we live here. Thus, although we have sins, the [grace of
the] Holy Ghost does not allow them to injure us, because we are in the
Christian Church, where there is nothing but [continuous, uninterupted]
forgiveness of sin, both in that God forgives us, and in that we forgive, bear
with, and help each other."
The Large Catechism, The Creed,
Article III, #55, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House,
1921, p. 693.
"Therefore, before the conversion of man
there are only two efficient causes, namely, the Holy Ghost and the Word of
God, as the instrument of the Holy Ghost, by which He works conversion. This
Word man is [indeed] to hear; however, it is not by his own powers, but only
through the grace and working of the Holy Ghost that he can yield faith to it
and accept it."
Formula of Concord, Epitome, II, Of
the Free Will, #19, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House,
1921, p. 791.
"But as the Confutation condemns us for
having assigned these two parts to repentance, we must show that [not we, but]
Scripture expresses these as the chief parts in repentance and conversion. For
Christ says, Matthew 11:28: Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. Here there are two members. The labor and the
burden signify the contrition, anxiety, and terrors of sin and of death. To
come to Christ is to believe that sins are remitted for Christ's sake; when we
believe, our hearts are quickened by the Holy Ghost through the Word of Christ.
Here, therefore, there are these two chief parts, contrition and faith."
Apology of the Augsburg Confession,
Article XII (V), #44, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing
House, 1921, p. 263. Matthew 11:28.
"But if ordination be understood as
applying to the ministry of the Word, we are not unwilling to call ordination a
sacrament. For the ministry of the Word has God's command and glorious
promises. Romans 1:16 The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every
one that believeth. Likewise, Isaiah 55:11: So shall My Word be that goeth
forth out of My mouth; it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall
accomplish that which I please...And it is of advantage, so far as can be done,
to adorn the ministry of the Word with every kind of praise against fanatical
men, who dream that the Holy Ghost is given not through the Word, but because
of certain preparations of their own...."
Apology of the Augsburg Confession,
Article XIII (VII), #11, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing
House, 1921, p. 311. Romans 1:16; Isaiah 55:11.
"But Christ was given for this purpose,
namely, that for His sake there might be bestowed on us the remission of sins,
and the Holy Ghost to bring forth in us new and eternal life, and eternal
righteousness [to manifest Christ in our hearts, as it is written John 16:15:
He shall take of the things of Mine, and show them unto you. Likewise, He works
also other gifts, love, thanksgiving, charity, patience, etc.]. Wherefore the
Law cannot be truly kept unless the Holy Ghost is received through faith...Then
we learn to know how flesh, in security and indifference, does not fear God,
and is not fully certain that we are regarded by God, but imagines that men are
born and die by chance. Then we experience that we do not believe that God
forgives and hears us. But when, on hearing the Gospel and the remission of
sins, we are consoled by faith, we receive the Holy Ghost, so that now we are
able to think aright."
Augsburg Confession, Article III,
#11, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p.
159.
"The Holy Spirit works through the Word and
the Sacraments, which only, in the proper sense, are means of grace. Both the
Word and the Sacraments bring a positive grace, which is offered to all who
receive them outwardly, and which is actually imparted to all who have faith to
embrace it."
Charles P. Krauth, The Conservative
Reformation and Its Theology, Philadelphia: The United Lutheran Publication
House, 1871, p. 127.
"The Holy Spirit teaches man better than
all the books; He teaches him to understand the Scriptures better than he can
understand them from the teaching of any other; and of his own accord he does
everything God wills he should, so the Law dare make no demands upon
him."
Sermons of Martin Luther, III, p. 280.
"The Holy Spirit is given to none except to
those who are in sorrow and fear; in them it produces good fruit. This gift is
so precious and worthy that God does not cast it before dogs. Though the
unrepentant discover it themselves, hearing it preached, they devour it and
know not what they devour."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols.,
ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, III, p. 281f.
"He allows the affliction to remain and to
oppress; yet He employs different tactics to bestow peace; He changes the
heart, removing it from the affliction, not the affliction from the heart. This
is the way it is done: When you are sunk in affliction He so turns your mind
from it and gives you such consolation that you imagine you are dwelling in a
garden of roses."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols.,
ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, III, p. 285.
John 14:23-31.
"Thus true spiritual leaders fight. They
strike Satan dead and rescue souls from him; for to pierce Satan to death is
nothing else than to rescue from him a human being whom he has taken captive by
deceitful teachings. And that is the right kind of spiritual tactics."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols.,
ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, III, p. 289.
John 14:23-31.
"Neither is he [Satan] truthful; he is the
spirit of lies, who, by means of false fear and false comfort having the
appearance of truth, both deceives and destroys. He possesses the art of
filling his own victims with sweet comfort ; that is, he gives them
unbelieving, arrogant, secure, impious hearts...He can even make them joyful;
furthermore, he renders them haughty and proud in their opinions, in their
wisdom and self-made personal holiness; then no threat nor terror of God's
wrath and of eternal damnation moves them, but their hearts grow harder than
steel or adamant."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols.,
ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, III, p. 302.
John 14:23-31.
"Again, with truly pious hearts, which in
many respects are timid and tender, his [Satan's] practice is just the
opposite. He tortures them with everything terrible that can be imagined,
martyring and piercing them as with fiery darts, until they may find no good
thing nor comfort before God. His object in both cases is to ruin souls by
means of his lies and to lead them to eternal death."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols.,
ed. John N. Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, III, p. 302. John
14:23-31
"Therefore, let God's Word be of more
authority to you than your own feelings and the judgment of the whole world; do
not give God the lie and rob yourself of the Spirit of truth."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols.,
ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, III, p. 304.
John 14:23-31.
"In the eyes of the world, and even in her
own estimation, she has not the appearance of a prosperous and well ordered organization;
rather she is a scattered group of poor, miserable orphans, without leader,
protection or help upon earth. All the world laughs at her and ridicules her as
a great fool in thinking that she is the Church and comprises the people of
God. Furthermore, each individual is so burdened and oppressed in his need and
suffering as to feel that no one else lies so low or is so far from help as he."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols.,
ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, III, p. 304f.
John 14:23-31.
"It will not do for individuals to
formulate their own ideas of conduct, act accordingly and then say that the
Church is led by the Holy Spirit."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols.,
ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, III, p. 320.
John 14:23-31.
"Secondly, it is shown here that this Word
precedes, or must be spoken beforehand, and that afterwards the Holy Spirit
works through the Word. One must not reverse the order and dream of a Holy
Spirit who works without the Word and before the Word, but one who comes with
and through the Word and goes no farther than the Word goes."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols.,
ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, III, p. 329.
John 14:23-31.
"We hear God's Word, which is in fact the
preaching of the Holy Spirit, who is at all times present with it, but it does
not always at once reach the heart and be accepted by faith; yea, in the case
of those who are moved by the Holy Spirit and gladly receive the Word, it does
not at once bear fruit."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols.,
ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, III, p. 330.
John 14:23-31.
"Likewise, in the matter of preaching, we
must make selection that order may be preserved. But since all who are
Christians have authority to preach, what will be the outcome? for women will
also want to preach. No so. St. Paul forbids women to put themselves forward as
preachers in a congregation of men and says: They should be subject to their
husbands."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols.,
ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, III, p. 375. 1
Timothy 2:11-12.
"Paul does not speak of opposing or
antagonistic doctrines, but of those placed beside the true doctrine; they are
additions, making divisions. Paul calls it a rival doctrine, an addition, an
occasion of stumbling, an offense and a byway, when on establishes the
conscience upon his own goodness or deeds. Now the Gospel is sensitive,
complete and pre-eminent: it must be intolerant of additions and rival
teachings."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols.,
ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, III, p. 376.
Romans 16:16-17.
"The world desires such wolf preaching, and
is not worthy of anything better since it will not hear nor respect Christ.
Hence it is that there are so few true Christians and faithful preachers,
always outnumbered by the members of the false church."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols.,
ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, III, p. 385.
Deuteronomy 29:19.
"For you do not find Him; He finds you. For
the preachers come from Him, not from you. Your faith comes from Him, not from
you. And everything that works faith within you comes from Him, not from you."
What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3
vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, I, p.
345. Matthew 21:1-9.
"(3) Hollazius (ib.): 'The Word of God, as
such, cannot be conceived of without the divine virtue, or the Holy Spirit, who
is inseparable from His Word. For if the Holy Spirit could be separated from
the Word of God, it would not be the Word of God or of the Spirit, but a word
of man. Nor is there any other Word of God, which is in God, or with which the
men of God have been inspired, than that which is given in the Scriptures or is
preached or is treasured up in the human mind. But, as it cannot be denied that
that is the divine will, counsel, mind, and the wisdom of God, so it cannot be
destitute of the divine virtue or efficacy.'"
Heinrich Schmid, Doctrinal Theology
of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, trans., Charles A. Hay and Henry E. Jacobs,
Philadelphia: United Lutheran Publication House, 1899, p.
505.
"The Lutheran theologians, in general, had
reason to illustrate very particularly the doctrine of the operation of the
Word of God, in order to oppose the Enthusiasts and Mystics, who held that the
Holy Spirit operated rather irrespectively of the Word than through it; and to
oppose also the Calvinists, who, led by their doctrine of predestination, would
not grant that the Word possessed this power per se, but only in such cases
where God chose...."
Heinrich Schmid, The Doctrinal
Theology of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, trans., Charles A. Hay, Henry E.
Jacobs, Philadelphia: Lutheran Publication Society, 1889, p.
511.
"Mrs. Barnhill looked at me and said, with
such a loving look in her gray eyes, 'Oh, Grace, Christ said, 'No man cometh
unto the Father but by Me,' and, my dear, you have no way of approach to a holy
God unless you come through Christ, His Son, as your Saviour.' "The
Scripture which she quoted," Mrs. Fuller continues, "was the Sword of
the Spirit, and at that moment Unitarianism was killed forever in my heart. I
saw the light like a flash and believed at that moment, though I said nothing.
She had quoted God's Word, the Spirit had used it, and, believing, I instantly
became a new creation in Christ Jesus. She might have talked and even argued
with me about it, but instead she just used the Word." [conversion of Mrs. Grace Fuller, wife
of Charles Fuller, Old Fashioned Revival Hour broadcast, founder of Fuller
Seminary]
J. Elwin Wright, The Old Fashioned
Revival Hour and the Broadcasters, Boston: The Fellowship Press, 1940, p.
54.
5 comments:
Light of Life Lutheran Church, Covington Wa. under Pastor Jared conducted their own Purpose Driven study when the occultic book first came out. (Pastor Jared was nurtured by the WELS Church Growth fanatics at Sem. With the help of the congregation wrote their own Creeds, studied under Baptist Reggie McNeal and wrote and promoted some horrendous CGM drivel).
The whole Rick Warren occultic, New Age, New World Order drive reminds me of how he is fullfiling the three stages of error.
Speaking to the Islamic Society of North America recently Warren said, "“People don't want to be tolerated, they want to be respected, they want to be listened to. They want to be valued." "I am not interested in interfaith dialogue, I am interested in interfaith projects," Warren said. "Talk is very cheap."
http://www.isna.net/articles/News/Rick-Warren-calls-on-Muslims-and-Christians-to-work-together.aspx
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/warren-convention-muslims-2483889-interfaith-want
When the only money available comes from and through the New Age Roman Catholic religion the faithless in the Lutheran Synods will embrace anything for their share. And the sheeple in the pews will coo their unwitting approval, "All for the love of lost souls!"
I am all for non unionistic working as a Christian Church for the love of lost souls. But if it's not done in, through and with the pure Word in doctrine and practice then it is not love. Then it harms and does not help. Just as Christ says Luke 17:1-2, "Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones." Then it is not for love when what they bring is false teaching.
http://www.wels.net/cgi-bin/site.pl?1518&cuTopic_topicID=941&cuItem_itemID=23728
Richard L. Gurgel, "My copy of The Purpose Driven Life proclaims: “Over Six Million Copies Sold.” Obviously many have read it and benefited. The temptation for us as Lutherans is to ignore such books, since in our justifiable fear of pietism1 we are sometimes timid about encouraging biblical piety."
http://www.wels.net/cgi-bin/site.pl?1712&cxDatabase_databaseID=1&id=7090&magazine=Forward%20in%20Christ
Valleskey again. He is a perfect example of why to get rid of self-promoting heretics.
These men found their niche when it comes to promising prosperity to mismanaged religions. Various religions lap it up believing these men have the answers to enriching their earthly institutions. Why trust in God when these false prophets offer certainty?
One person said, it's o.k. to read it, "just use discerment." To many that have read it, they seem to be unable to do just that, but instead eat it up and spew it back out and influence those around them with pastors standing on the side lines cheering for their "doers" pushing the envelope and encouraging others to do the same.