In Memory
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| Carl Roper |
- One year ago, Carl Roper passed into eternal life at the age of 76, mourned by his wife Lynda. "I AM - the Resurrection and the Life."
- In therapy and treatment, Randy Anderson; Pastor Jim Shrader, Kermit Way. Medical issues - Marie Way, Chris Shrader. John Hicks - hospitalized for treatment needed.
- Ongoing tests: Pastor Shrader, Kermit Way.
- Christina Jackson continues in medical care, #301.
KJV 1 Corinthians 12:1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. 2 Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led. 3 Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. 4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. 7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. 8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; 9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; 10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: 11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.
KJV Luke 19:41 And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, 42 Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. 43 For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, 44 And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation. 45 And he went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought; 46 Saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves. 47 And he taught daily in the temple. But the chief priests and the scribes and the chief of the people sought to destroy him, 48 And could not find what they might do: for all the people were very attentive to hear him.
Tenth Sunday After Trinity
Almighty and everlasting God, who by Thy Holy Ghost hast revealed unto us the gospel of Thy Son, Jesus Christ: We beseech Thee so to quicken our hearts that we may sincerely receive Thy word, and not make light of it, or hear it without fruit, as did Thy people, the unbelieving Jews, but that we may fear Thee and daily grow in faith in Thy mercy, and finally obtain eternal salvation, through Thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.
Background for the Sermon, Luke 19:41ff.
The Fall of Jerusalem is very important in Bible, because of the history of the nation and the warnings inherent in the narrative. Jesus, the Son of God, knew what would happen. After Rome took over as the "peace-keeper," those who dreamt of the glory days of King David were moved to revolt later and thus invited the armies of Imperial Rome to attack Jerusalem.
Rome was not flexible and never lost a campaign, except for the guerilla war waged by Herman the German. The result in Jerusalem was famine, destruction, and looting for gold. That led to the Temple being leveled - the search for gold hidden somewhere. The warnings apply to us today, since we have ignored the basics of the Constitution, which assumed divine guidance as the guarantor of our peace and prosperity.
The Faith of Jesus - Weeping Over Jerusalem
KJV Luke 19:41 And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, 42 Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.
Jesus knew what was coming, both for Him and Jerusalem. And yet, He was not calling down wrath on the holy city, but expressing His compassion. They longed for a glorious soldier Messiah, who would rid them of the Roman tax collectors and bring unparalleled prosperity and abundance to them.
The address is ironic, because Jeru-salem means a place of peace in Hebrew. Combining the religion (some version of it) and a renewal of the Maccabean era, when Israel was free for a short time. This was a materialistic view of their situation, one which ignored the presence of the Redeemer, whose miraculous works gathered thousands but frightened the religious and secular leaders.
Jerusalem is a place of peace, and Jesus is the Savior (in Hebrew) and therefore Jesus is the ultimate peace-giver. But when people are blinded, all their wrongful efforts make them even blinder.
43 For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, 44 And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.
This warning is a perfect description of Rome's conquest of Jerusalem. They built a wall around the wall to prevent people from leaving or coming in. The city was bulging with pilgrims, but they had access to all the water they needed. The problem was food and the diminishing stores of it.
Rome had an unlimited supply of slaves, plus soldiers to do the work on the wall. All our politicians have impressive walls around their homes, so they must trust in walls, too. Some have the walls strengthened and built higher - just in case.
When people are afraid, they will act in a state of panic. That happened in Jerusalem. The horrible details are found in Josephus, who told the Roman guards he wanted to help their side - and he did, as one of the first public relations expert for a regime. Fear leverages fear, and the city was insane with fear. They were trapped and food was running short.
It was a waiting game that only Rome could win. When they swept into the city, they looked for treasure everywhere and overturned the massive Temple, which was still new. "Not one stone left on another." They pried the massive stones apart to look for gold. If people were suspected of swallowing jewels...
There were so many captives, that they shipped them elsewhere to keep the price of a slave at a decent price. That meant a scattering for Judaism and fertile ground for the Gospel. The Christians (First Lutheran Church, Jerusalem) had already been persecuted out of there - so they were spared. The earlier persecution was a blessing.
45 And he went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought;
The Temple courtyard was like church narthex's today, but far larger. Today a church will have:
- Bake sales.
- Slave sales.
- A parking lot fund.
- Bowls to pay for the coffee and cookies.
- Thrivent flower calendars.
- Thrivent napkins.
- Photo albums to give to the agent, because it is "his/her church" for soliciting business. Has Schwan's Food thought of that?
I understand having ways to fund missionaries. In the 19th century women's church group socials supported world missions. People were confident they could spread the Gospel throughout the world and had a magazine, The Christian Century, for that. But that is known as the most Left-wing magazine (if read at all) today.
I often talk to people about the state of congregations today, especially the mainlines. They have lots of huge buildings with huge endowments and 40 people worshiping on Sunday. That old church in Milwaukee that tries to burn down every so often - they have a splendid building and an attendance lower than 100.
46 Saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves.
This is the prophetic message for the Christian Church today. The first part is the intention. The second part is the reality.
The only purpose of the Christian Church is to teach the forgiveness of sin through faith in Christ. That is the Chief Article of Christianity - and all else follows.
The message about Christ must be the same as the Sacred Scriptures teach. No matter how learned and experienced the minister is from all his studies, the Bible judges all books and is judged by no books or human decrees.
Someone can see this violated in every possible way. One evasion is to teach forgiveness without faith, calling that grace, even though Paul plainly said, in Romans 4 - This must be by faith so it can be by grace.
Romans 4:16 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,
So we have an era where "grace" means universal pardon and salvation, and some even cite Romans 4 (a hilariously bad mistake) to justify themselves. There is an entire regiment of Preus's who do that and constantly deceive others as much as they are deceived themselves.
But this is not just a Midwestern fetish - it belongs to all mainline churches and many who consider themselves conservative, confessional , orthodox, or traditional.
The Gospel is "from faith to faith," which is mysterious to many. That is because the modernists have wiped out "the faith of Jesus" from Romans 3, Galatians, and Philippians. We are justified by faith of Jesus - not only faith in Jesus - but primarily faith in Jesus.
This lesson is a clear example. What impresses us most about Jesus before Jerusalem, looking at the place where He would be arrested, tortured, abandoned, denied, and crucified? That walk to Jerusalem required faith in God the Father.
The modernists reject the divinity of Christ, but in their milquetoast, thin gruel paraphrases (NRSV, NIV, ESV) they change the obvious and remove the humanity of Christ from justification, which tends to make people ignore that He is God and man. "Faith in Christ" is what we have when the Gospel moves us to faith through the Holy Spirit in the Word. The faith belonging to Christ is what allowed Him to face the most terrible and cruel end. That is why (Gospel of John) He shook all over when He saw the stone grave of Lazarus, so much like His future resting place for a short time.
There is only one message, so those who depart from teaching faith in Christ, and the faith of Christ, will go as far off track as Amelia Earhart did.
The business model used today is so tacky that one wonders how much longer the same institutions promoting will last.
but ye have made it a den of thieves.
Teaching falsehood with brazen confidence is bad enough, but many of these leaders have no faith at all. They only know "what works" (an odd reversal of the efficacy of the Word, the only thing "that works. Even the Greek word means that the Word works).
Even worse are those cynical crooks who know that the right manipulations will generate the desired results. One Church Growth promoter said, "Do this and you will have a lot of happy campers." He said it so often that I wondered what his purpose was, other than manipulation.
Wake up America - the apostates have stolen your denominations, pension funds, church properties, and seminaries. They will never give them back. They may even be stunned at how much worse their successors are. But - hey - that is the way they were trained. And they hate hearing they are wrong according to the Scriptures. They are a den of thieves - WELS, ELS, LCMS, CLC - adding their crimes to ELCA, the Methodists, liberal Baptists, United Church of Christ, and Calvinists.
47 And he taught daily in the temple. But the chief priests and the scribes and the chief of the people sought to destroy him, 48 And could not find what they might do: for all the people were very attentive to hear him.
Jesus remained teaching until the end, which was delayed by His popular support. But betrayal did the work for their Father Below.
