The Ninth Sunday after Trinity - 2024

 

Supreme Court Justices - "Tear Down That Moses!" 
The Hypocrisy of the State Separated from the Church

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Bethany Lutheran Church

Springdale, Arkansas - 10 AM Central

Pastor Gregory Jackson

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The Hymn #292          Lord Jesus Christ With Us Abide

The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16

Introit

Behold, God is mine Helper: the Lord is with them that uphold my soul.

He shall reward evil unto mine enemies: cut them off in Thy truth, O Lord.

Psalm. Save me, O God, by Thy name: and judge me by Thy strength.

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

Collect

Let Thy merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of Thy humble servants; and that they may obtain their petitions, make them to ask such things as shall please Thee; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth, etc.

The Epistle and Gradual       

Gradual

O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth: 

who hast set Thy glory above the heavens. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

V. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord: 

that delighteth greatly in His commandments. Hallelujah!

The Gospel              

Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed             p. 22

The Sermon Hymn #267     If God Had Not Been on Our Side

        

Tempting God Is Rebuking His Teaching

The Communion Hymn #263         O Little Flock, Fear Not Thy Foe

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 #657        Beautiful Savior

Prayers and Announcements

• Sarah Buck; Pastor Jim Shrader and Chris Shrader; Kermit Way, Lorie Howell, Norma Boeckler.
• Alicia Meyer Celebrated her birthday yesterday.
• The flowers on the altar are in memory of Christina Jackson, Erin Joy and Bethany Jackson, from Drs. Kermit and Maria Way, Kaela and Brianna.
• One year ago - Pastor Jackson was kicked off the free Christian News list for criticizing Objective Faithless Justification and the horrible Beck Bible, which is no better than the Evil Four - RSV, NRSV, ESV, NIV.

            

 

KJV 1 Corinthians 10:1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat; 4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. 5 But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. 6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. 7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. 8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. 9 Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.10 Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. 11 Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

KJV Luke 16:1 And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. 2 And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward. 3 Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. 4 I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. 5 So he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord? 6 And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. 7 Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore. 8 And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. 9 And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.

Ninth Sunday After Trinity

Lord God, heavenly Father, who hast bountifully given us Thy blessing and our daily bread: We beseech Thee, preserve us from covetousness, and so quicken our hearts that we willingly share Thy blessed gifts with our needy brethren; that we may be found faithful stewards of Thy gifts, and abide in Thy grace when we shall be removed from our stewardship, and shall come before Thy judgment, through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.

Tempting God Is Rebuking His Teaching

KJV 1 Corinthians 10:1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat; 4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.

     This is one of those great passages where the Old Testament and New Testament are so clearly related to Christ. The New Testament is a series of sermons about Jesus Christ. That begins with Genesis 1 teaching and John 1 preaching. And that also means references to the Creation, are taught many ways in the New Testament, the Father commanding - the Son executing the command - the Spirit teaching us, both in the written and spoken Word.

     The Exodus is the second greatest event in the Bible, surpassed only by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, who was active in the Exodus. As Jesus said himself, "Before Abraham was, I AM." (John 8) Therefore, the spectacular events of the Exodus are guided by the Son of God. The pillar that led them was Christ before the Incarnation.

 

5 But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. 6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.

     There was a great cleansing along that massive movement of people to a new land. When they suffered, the Son of God gave them what they needed. But once they had what they wanted, the began berating Moses - and God - they missed the comforts of Egyptian slavery and grew fearful about their possible death in the desert.

Those who doubted after the giving of the Ten Commandments tempted God  - as if they were in charge - and they were overthrown.

     But they were also protected and healed by the bronze serpents in Numbers 21 which foreshadowed the crucifixion, 

John 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. (Numbers 21:6-9)

 7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. 8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.

     As Luther wrote, the Corinthians were in danger of repeating what happened in the Exodus, not just taking God for granted, but insulting Him in their debauchery. This was the Hollywood of ancient days, where everything except the Gospel is honored, because it was tempting and completely wrong. 

9 Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.10 Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. 

     The people of the Exodus enjoyed the presence of the Son of God through the pillar of smoke by day and fire by night. He was protecting them and yet a large group fell into paganism, everything they could imagine. Once the Ten Commandments were given, they and Aaron let loose with idols they created with their own hands. Everything they had from God Himself was thrown away to suit their pleasure.

11 Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

     Paul wrote down this letter as a comparison with the Exodus to show how lax and self-centered the Corinthians had become. God had been helping them along the difficult road to freedom, and they put on their glad rags, created idols to worship, and had a riot of fun. They were like the Paris Olympics, which began with the most disgusting, God-mocking, and homosexual displays they could conjure up (with Aaron helping, i.e. the French leaders). The French quickly erased their garbage on the Net because of the uproar, but that was too late.

Tempting God

     America is now in the stage where the denominations tempt God in every possible way. Each downward step gets them more involved in being Antichrists. "We cannot discipline homosexuals and lesbians in our colleges because the federal government will take away the student loans that prop us up." When they were blatant with a college video, Party in the MLC, they attacked me for letting people know. Every college student who participated in that video - posted on Google - was given a "divine call." That is just the tip of the iceberg that sank the Titanic, a ship where the lifeboats were not enough to sink the "unsinkable."

     Once degraded behavior is fun, cute, and a requirement for being a school leader, it only gets worse. I was sent a legal case from a mother whose son was drawn in by LCMS pastors. One pastor said to the other, "You can't do that. We are not in seminary any more!" (What does that suggest?)

     I published a WELS congregational picnic photos where the pastors and the men posed in women's dresses, and the children put make-up on the transvestite WELS laity and the pastor. These were all posted on the Net so everyone could enjoy them. In WELS and LCMS, Sodom and Gomorrah start at the lowest level and become their secrets among one another, including through seminary. Notice how the transvestite quickly become trans-sexual in these times. "All in good fun. Don't be a pill."

     ELCA is only a little beyond what WELS and Missouri have been doing for many decades. That is why they all get along so well at Fuller Seminary, Trinity Divinity, and mega-churches that sell their evil dogma. 

     Some of us are old enough to remember when Scripture was behind the hymns (not songs), the liturgy (not cute plagiarized stories), and the sermons (more cute borrowed stories). 

     I am even old enough to remember the RSV Bible being promoted as so much easier to read in grade school. (Can they read now?) The first thing the RSV did was to remove the Virgin Birth of Christ from Isaiah 7. The RSV put it back with "or young woman" in the footnote. It grew from there, and all the denominations jumped on the chance to make money with the new, corrupted New Testament. 

     And the denominations all won, by selling the new versions of the Bible, training their parochial students, college students, and seminary students. Question that and they will jump on you like a hobo on a hotdog.

Tempting God Even More

     They have this secret sin - which they cherish - by denying and promoting and shading and emphasizing - everyone has already been forgiven! The Lutherans are not alone, because all the mainline Protestant churches teach this too. There are exceptions, but they are underwhelming. That was solidified by the great, popular apostates - Tillich the adulterer, Barth the adulterer, and many more, giving the elite graduate students the power to teach the seminarians, like a storm surge rushing in, crushing, and dragging the debris so much that nothing is left. The heirs of Tillich and Barth became the honored seminary faculty.  I despised one, who was finally nabbed by the conservative Mennonites for an extreme level of seducing the women who were enchanted by him, a student of Barth.

     It is important and necessary to teach Justification by Faith because that is the Chief Article of the Christian Church. As the great Walter Maier taught, the two essentials of Christianity (not just one denomination or another) are the inerrancy of the Scriptures (KJV and the Luther German Bible) and Justification by Faith. Herman Otten published and distributed this book, but Herman and his wife came down hard for Objective Faithless Justification and corrupted Beck Bible (which suggests there was no empty tomb, Mark 16:9-20 is their footnote).

     My Jewish-Christian member has stressed the fact that the Hebrew Old Testament is completely, excruciatingly perfected in its transmission from the earliest days. Changes are not allowed. Mistakes must be burned up and destroyed. 

God Is Mocked Two Ways

     Thus we can see why the Christian Faith is withering away. I can take a weed vine and cut its slender stem near the soil. At once it will curl up a bit and lose color, ever so grand until it is no longer rooted and grounded. The leaves no longer have moisture. They no longer can convert the sun's powerful rays into food. A clever weed will drop seeds and let them take over in the future. 

    I planted and nourished honeysuckle, which is a popular weed around here. I have watered it with rainwater to keep it reaching out for more God-given sunlight. Honeysuckle fans wait for the fragrance and the berries. Objection - "It's just a weed, Greg. I hope you did not pay for a weed!" Yes, I did and I know it will flourish.

Ninth Amendment

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

The flowers are in memory of Christina Jackson, Bethany Joan Marie and Erin Joy.

     

The end.