New Year's Eve, 2019
The Circumcision and the Name of Jesus
Pastor Gregory L. Jackson
The Hymn # 110 Across the Sky the Shades of Night
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 Gospel
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn # 123 Our God, Our Help
New Opportunities, Infinite Second Chances
The Hymn # 126 Arise and Shine in Splendor
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 # 552 Abide with Me
Prayers and Announcements
- Thankful for Carl Roper's recovery, Norma Boeckler's birthday, Lynda's improvement, Andrea Anderson's growth and energy, our media ministries, our Philippine mission.
- Pastor and Mrs. Jim ShradePastor K and Doc Lito Cruz - dealing with diabetes.
- Those looking for work and a better income.
- Note the church PayPal address for our Philippine Mission.
- Wednesday, January 8th, Pilgrim's Progress, 7 PM.
Galatians 3:23-29 King James Version (KJV)
23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
29 And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Luke 2:21 King James Version (KJV)
21 And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called Jesus, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
New Opportunities, Infinite Second Chances
Galatians 3:23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. 24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
This is a great passage in Galatians, so no wonder the Antinomians (Anti-Law) have found a resting place there. What they claim is this - "Because the Gospel has come, the Ten Commandments are obsolete." They discount and ignore the fact that the Ten Commandments are the owner's manual for all of Creation. Our country's founders knew that - God commands what is good for us.
The code of American law was based on the "laws of Nature and of Nature's God." Notice how different that is from what is practiced today.
Instead of this, Paul was arguing that we are adults under the Gospel, not motivated by fear of punishment, as a child is, but motivated by love and thanksgiving. However, the Law is good in serving as a tutor and leading us to Christ.
There are only two trees, says Jesus in Matthew 7 - the good tree of faith and the evil tree of unbelief. The good tree can only produce good fruit and the evil tree can only produce corrupt fruit. Anyone who thinks otherwise is going against Creation and against the One who made earth and heaven. These lessons were not drawn from Jesus' observation but built into His Creation to use and display before us.
When one animal mother adopts the orphaned babies of another species, is that a quirk? People observe it in many ways. We just saw a large predatory cat run up to a fawn as the mother ran away. The cat nuzzled the newborn and treated it as its baby in some ways. Who wrote the software to create that response? Our self-indulgent housecat became the ideal mother when her kittens were born. Who taught her to be so good and to do everything right, without a pediatrician's book to study?
In faith we can see that many second chances were given this year - cancer recoveries, injuries healing. Christina had perfect blood sugar counts yesterday. One person wrote that he obtained a job he never expected to have at his age. Watching a baby grow should fill us with wonder, just looking back a few months when the newborn began to grow up.
Many times obstacles provide new opportunities. The difficulties of publishing made me turn everything over to public domain, because the goal is spreading the Word, not fighting for a few more dollars. Who can stop the spread of something for free, which is easily obtained?
The printing press first did that, when the Gutenberg products were infinitely cheaper than hand-copied manuscripts. Anyone could afford the illustrated Small Catechism as a poster to hang in the house. The invention of printing in the West fostered reading, and reading fostered the printing industry.
The problem then was getting past the Pope and his armies and torture chambers. The freedom of the press made the pope almost obsolete, mortally wounded, as predicted in Revelation.
The doctrine of faith means more than a second chance. It means an infinity of chances as God continues to forgive us our sins through faith. Believing is forgiveness, and forgiveness comes from the faith created by the Gospel Word.
The Holy Spirit in the Word literally brings the Savior to us for a meeting. There is no such as last chance with the Savior. His gracious Word works on us, against all sins great and small, especially the most grievous. What would that mean if He only died for trivial sins, for those things we think we can conquer? There is no peace without the Gospel Promise that sins are drowned in God's grace so that Jesus says, "Go and sin no more." That does not mean we are free of sin or that we will never fall into the same sin. (Luther said, "Don't use the Gospel as a pillow to fall asleep on.")
Jesus was so attractive to people because of His gracious manner that drew all people to Him. Many were Pharisees, too. Perfectionists know a lot more about sin than about forgiveness. One perfectionist said, "I could not live with myself without the Gospel."
