Gary Allen's Photoshop - From MHS 68

Framed donut photographs? My father would have loved that.

The Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity, 2022

 

 

  Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity, 2022

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

Vimeo Link - Click here.

Bethany Lutheran Church, 10 AM Central Daylight Time

The Hymn # 239                 Come Thou Almighty King                         

The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16

Introit

Reward them that wait for Thee, O Lord: 

and let Thy prophets be found faithful.

Hear the prayer of Thy servants: and of Thy people Israel.

Psalm. I was glad when they said unto me: 

Let us go into the house of the Lord.

The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19

Collect

O God, forasmuch as without Thee we are not able to please Thee, mercifully grant that Thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth, etc.

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 #259            Flung to the Heedless Winds

Stumped by the Truth 

Communion Hymn # 307              Draw Now and Take the Body of the Lord 

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 # 54     Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah  

        

Announcements and Prayers

• Therapy, diagnosis - Kermit Way. Improvement, Pastor Jim Shrader. Callie and her parents. C.
• Pastor K and Doc Lito Cruz - dealing with diabetes.
• The I AM Sermons book will have a revision.
• We are working together to improve the audio - and learning a lot in the process.
• Thank you for the birthday greetings and blessings on or about my birthday.

 Graphic by Norma A. Boeckler

    

KJV 1 Corinthians 1:4 I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ; 5 That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge; 6 Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you: 7 So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ: 8 Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

KJV Matthew 22:34 But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. 35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, 36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. 41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42 Saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The Son of David. 43 He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, 44 The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? 45 If David then call him Lord, how is he his son? 46 And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions.

 Graphic based on Norma Boeckler's Art

Eighteenth Sunday After Trinity

Lord God, heavenly Father: We are poor, miserable sinners; we know Thy will, but cannot fulfill it because of the weakness of our flesh and blood, and because our enemy, the devil, will not leave us in peace. Therefore we beseech Thee, shed Thy Holy Spirit in our hearts, that, in steadfast faith, we may cling to Thy Son Jesus Christ, find comfort in His passion and death, believe the forgiveness of sin through Him, and in willing obedience to Thy will lead holy lives on earth, until by Thy grace, through a blessed death, we depart from this world of sorrow, and obtain eternal life, through Thy Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.

Stumped by the Truth

KJV Matthew 22:34 But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. 35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, 36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

The practice of asking questions and being asked in a long-standing Jewish tradition. The rabbi asks the first three and then he is asked the final question.

Krister Standahl, the Dean of Harvard Divinity at the time, gave a lecture to Yale Divinity students. He said Christians should not try to convert Jews. Just after that, Yale's Professor Malherbe gave his class some examples of "To the Jew first and then the Gentiles."  The Apostle Paul returned to his rabbinic clothing and customs to do the very thing Standahl did not approve. It might be added that the Risen Lord Jesus converted Paul, but the Harvard Dean also overlooked that.

37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

One of the interesting facts is that the second has been standard in our culture and it has parallels in all religions. The rationalists think Christianity is borrowed, so that explains it. But that would mean the Lord of Creation had to be taught by religions which deny Him.

When people are afraid to ask or answer honestly about the truth, they become stumped.

So this is the fourth question, with Jesus asking the religious teachers.

This is the opening of the trap.

41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42 Saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The Son of David. 

This is the opening of the trap. 

I have used it many times about minor matters. "Do you expect me to pay?" The vendor says "Yes!" So I add. "You expect me to honor my word?" They say, with some emotion, "Yes we do!"

We were so created that our brains work based on truth and the consequences of truth. That is our gyroscope. Due to our fallen nature, we often skirt the issue, play verbal games, and fail to deal with the truth. But the gyroscope of God's own Creation through the Word (Logos) Jesus works to correct us. 

So I ask the ultimate question, "So shouldn't I expect to honor your word?" Silence always follows as they hurry to honor their word.

The Closing of the Trinitarian Trap

43 He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, 44 The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? 45 If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?

If you are like the rest of the world, including me, this question seems tricky and confusing. Jesus warned that He could phrase things so the hardened would be even more hardened. This is ideal for the college religion class, where the professor makes a joke out of the puzzle. My future wife followed the professor around, knowing he was a Harvard apostate and asked, "How can you teach these things and give Holy Communion at Salem?" (Salem in Moline is where we worshiped. He assisted in Holy Communion there.) He was embarrassed and silent.

This professor declared in class that there was no Trinity in the Bible. When I cited the Great Commission, he said, "That was put on the lips of Jesus by a later editor." (What a grasp of history! He could go back 2,000 years and separate Christ from His teaching!) That exchange made me very interested in the "problems of the Trinity in the Bible."

But wait. The Trinity is in this passage, once we look again, using a faithful translation (KJV). 

The Old Testament is given to us by the Holy Spirit, and the passage Jesus quoted from David's Psalm is 

KJV Psalm 110:1 The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.

God has given us the Scriptures, Old and New Testaments, through the work of the Holy Spirit. The Bible is - by far - the oldest ancient manuscript in existence. The Bible is also the most copied and translated work in the world. In fact, there is no comparison with anything else, whether Homer's Iliad or Shakespeare (Oxford).

I am not an expert in this, but the KJV uses LORD to name the godhead, and Lord in reference to Jesus. So is this not saying?...

Through the Holy Spirit, God the Father said to God the Son, Sit down at My right hand in glory until (the final consumation) I turn Your enemies into Your footstool. (paraphrased)

Someone has said, the Jewish teachers knew the Trinity, and that is entirely possible since it was taught repeatedly in their own Scriptures. What is almost comical is the denial of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the rapidly decaying mainline (apostate) denominations.  

46 And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions.

Silence is the greatest and most powerful sign of denial, because the false teachers know they are stepping off the cliff. They will often rage, fume, and toss out every insult they can, so that others are afraid to correct them. 

Faithful Christians have this to strengthen them 

We are already in the Good Shepherd's flock, so the Lord Jesus Christ shepherds us as we go through life. He uses His staff to guild us and to ward off evil, especially the evil of false teachers, wolves who love to scatter the flock.

We have the eternal Word, so we know that this is a treasure far beyond our ability to measure, as if we have won Fort Knox (without the tax burden). 

We know the Spirit is always helping us with this Word, correcting and comforting us, giving us the peace of forgiveness through faith in Christ. Grace? While everyone is talking about grace, we know that we have access to this grace through faith in the Good Shepherd (Romans 5, John 10, Psalm 23).

This inspired Word is so powerful because it is God the Holy Spirit at work to continue us in life and into eternal life.