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| Norma A. Boeckler |
The First Sunday in Advent, 2019
Pastor Gregory L. Jackson
The Hymn # 245 God Loved the World
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 # 290 We Have A Sure
Ultimate Trust in His Word
The Hymn #306 Lord Jesus Christ
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 #68 The Advent of Our King
- Carl Roper and his wife Lynda.
- Pastor and Mrs. Jim Shrader
- Pastor K and Doc Lito Cruz - dealing with diabetes.
- Those looking for work and a better income.
- Our media ministries - Alec Satin, Norma Boeckler, Travis and Lauren Cartee, Pastor Jordan Palangyos.
- Army Ranger Bob gave the flowers on the altar in honor of Pastor and Mrs. Jackson's 50th wedding anniversary.
- Advent Service and Jacobs, 7 PM Central Standard.
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| The permanent roof for the Bethany Philippine Mission is 25% funded. They need $1500 more so they can start that construction. |
KJV Romans 13:11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. 13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. 14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
KJV Matthew 21:1 And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, 2 Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. 3 And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them. 4 All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, 5 Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass. 6 And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, 7 And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon. 8 And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. 9 And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.
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| Norma A. Boeckler |
First Sunday in Advent - From the Collects of Veit Dietrich
Lord God, heavenly Father, we thank Thee, we bless and praise Thee forever, that Thou didst send Thy Son to rule over us poor sinners, who for our transgressions did justly deserve to remain in the bondage of sin and Satan, and didst give us in Him a meek and righteous King, who by His death became our Savior from sin and eternal death: We beseech Thee so to enlighten, govern and direct us by Thy Holy Spirit, that we may ever remain faithful to this righteous King and Savior, and not, after the manner of the world, be offended with His humble form and despised word, but, firmly believing in Him, obtain eternal salvation; through the same, Thy beloved Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.
Sermon Background for the Gospel Text, Matthew 21:1-9
Why did all the Protestants switch from purple to blue paraments and stoles for Advent? Answer - The Vatican changed the color to honor their invented Immaculate Conception of Mary, December 8, the dogma that Mary never committed an actual sin in her life. The Vatican's other special holy day is the Assumption of Mary, August 15. One of my friends from Notre Dame is a member of a Marian priestly order. I find it strange that all the Lutherans joined (via paraments) without taking their formal vows.
The Sundays and seasons of the Church Year are traditional, and Lutherans kept the ones honoring Christ. The purpose of the entire Bible is to teach faith in Christ. There have always been people and scholars who pursue studies based on the Scriptures, but they often go astray when fascinated by their own ideas or the repetition of old errors.
The teachings of the Scriptures are called mysteries because they are revealed only by the Holy Spirit in the Word. These mysteries include the Holy Trinity, the Unity of the Three Persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
When someone reads the Bible in sincerity and humility, these mysteries become the foundation of their lives, because the Biblical doctrines teach the gracious love of God in Jesus, His only-begotten Son.
Many of us have pets with cataracts, their eyes glaze over a little at a time. Many of us also have the same condition, and we notice that we can see without seeing. That is a combination of the haze and the brain being a wee bit slower. The right way to teach the Scriptures is to open the eyes of people, not to make things hazy.
On the road to Emmaus, Luke 24, the followers saw Jesus but did not see Him. They knew the Scriptures, in a hazy way, but did not comprehend them. Jesus opened the Scriptures to them. He did not teach them statistics and marketing. He did not build up their self-confidence (He called them "fools" and "slow of heart"). He did not order them to set goals for their lives and ministries. He taught them the meaning of the Word.
So we have to set aside all the distractions and pay attention to the Word itself, which is the purest form, the only form of God's direct revelation to us. The Scriptures are super concise, so we need to pay attention to every phrase and to illuminate it with other passages from the Word of God. Books are a partial help but they are like using the phone on the flashlight setting - somewhat helpful but still limited.
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| Norma A. Boeckler |
Ultimate Trust in His Word
KJV Matthew 21:1 And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples,
Some might wonder, as I have, why we would start Advent with this Lenten reading. But this has everything to do with God's sense of time, which is quite different from ours. Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary so He might die for our sins and rise from the tomb. That is even in the prophesy when He was presented at the Temple,
Luke 2:34 And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against;Luther wrote in a sermon, "What kind of greeting is that for a young mother?"
35 (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.
When I go through the entire Old Testament with students, I point out the Gospel in many places where they did not look. Adam and Even were promised the Savior in Gen 3:15 and Eve thought she gave birth to the promised one Gen 4, seldom translated as written). Genesis 15:6 introduces Justification by Faith, which is expanded upon from that point forward.
Every aspect of the Exodus is saturated with Christ and foreshadowing His work, including the Little Gospel of John 3:16.
Isaiah 7 and 9 could only be about the Savior. Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22 are so detailed that they are direct prophesies of those future events. Etc.
Paul often drew those parallels, such as the Old Adam and the New Adam (Christ).
Jesus sending the disciples for transportation is the second step of the major provocations. The first one openly displayed His divinity - the raising of Lazarus from the dead. This was not the first raising of a dead person, but the most dramatic -
- Near Jerusalem;
- A wealthy celebrity known in the area;
- Buried so long that no one doubted his death.
What better way to prove His divinity and mission than to reveal power over life and death? When I offered those facts in a sermon, a Lutheran lady, retired, said, "I have never heard that in my entire life? Where did you get that?" Lenski, Luther, and the text itself - those are the guides and the Source.
2 Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me.
This text "encourages and demands faith" as Luther wrote:
Luther:
2. This Gospel encourages and demands faith, for it prefigures Christ coming with grace, whom none may receive or accept save he who believes him to be the man, and has the mind, as this Gospel portrays in Christ. Nothing but the mercy, tenderness and kindness of Christ are here shown, and he who so receives and believes on him is saved. He sits not upon a proud steed, an animal of war, nor does he come in great pomp and power, but sitting upon an ass, an animal of peace fit only for burdens and labor and a help to man. He indicates by this that he comes not to frighten man, nor to drive or crush him, but to help him and to carry his burden for him. And although it was the custom of the country to ride on asses and to use horses for war, as the Scriptures often tell us, yet here the object is to show that the entrance of this king shall be meek and lowly.
Again it also shows the pomp and conduct of the disciples towards Christ who bring the colt to Christ, set him thereon, and spread their garments in the way; also that of the multitude who also spread their garments in the way and cut branches from the trees. They manifested no fear nor terror, but only blessed confidence in him as one for whom they dared to do such things and who would take it kindly and readily consent to it.
This is all arranged for each and every one of us, that we might have faith and never lose faith in the mercy and kindness of God.
Jesus was born of the Virgin that His divinity might also be His humanity, that His humanity might be fully expressed in His suffering for us and His resurrection for us.
To help our doubts and confusion, God has completely interwoven His Old Testament Scriptures with the Gospel Promises so that we see clearly that this was His plan from the beginning, that His Word is always certain and clear.
Faith in the mercy of God gives us purpose. We can see that whatever our backgrounds and history have been, God has directed our ways and shaped us so we can glorify Him in faith.
As Luther noted, the Messiah did not ride on a war-horse or don armor, as warrior-kings do. One Byzantine emperor took a chariot to war, instead of riding a horse, and that was seen by his people as taking a taxi rather than being a leader. Jesus entered Jerusalem as the king, but as the King of Mercy, the One Giving Life.
3 And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them.
Animals were especially valuable then, so we are expected to believe that the disciples could walk up to an abode and take two animals away without major objections. Mark has very specific details and they suggest Jesus knowing the owner. That could be true, but it is just as likely that this is another miracle and beyond our reduction to simple facts. People start to realize that sort of miracle when they know how certain facts came together in their lives, in a remarkable way, and changed their lives, protected their lives, or gave their lives new meaning.
One of my students said a giant tree limb fell on the her father's car and hers on the driveway, and both of them escaped harm. I pointed out that Paul Gerhardt wrote a hymn about the concept of God's protection from harm.
One mother decided to keep her child, and he became one of the great running backs for Ohio State. The anti-life people went wild over that story.
4 All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, 5 Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.
This was done to encourage and demand faith. You doubt God could do this when He arranged the arrival of His Son and predicted it for everyone to read and know - centuries in advance? And yet God is not able to do this little thing you ask? But of course He can.
When we ask in faith we also expect in faith, that is that God in His wisdom will answer us according to His supreme will and mercy. It is not faith to demand time, place, and manner, because that is ordering God around. He responds by showing He is God and not the latest workman sent over by Takl or Porch.com.
Strangely, many gurus who claim to be God's Chosen Men do exactly that. They talk people into demanding from God and use themselves as good examples, which makes them Professors Doubt. But those examples always blow up in public and show that God is not to be mocked.
Did not the big Lutheran synods engage in demanding growth from God and got the opposite, alarming shrinkage? One ordained pastor said on a forum, "We need to see how other denominations are doing over the same period of time?" Yes, that is the key to wisdom, statistics.
Not only we have faith in Jesus, but we also see Him as our example. He entered Jerusalem meek, not armed for war, and yet He brought down the mightiest empire in the world. The greatest empire could not stop the power of the tiniest group of believers, even with sporadic and brutal persecution.
6 And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, 7 And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon.
The disciples did as commanded and they honored their Teacher by putting their clothes down on the beasts. War horses were bedecked with armor, so they could survive battles. Faith and kindness win the most battles, and won the ultimate battle of sin, death, and Satan.
8 And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. 9 And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.
We all like to say that many of those people were gathered at the cross to jeer Him. However, both displays were important. Some began and completed the journey of faith at the raising of Lazarus, at the Palm Sunday entrance, or at the cross. God planted the living Seed of the Word in each case.
The Apostolic Church did not begin with 12 disciples, but with 500 witnesses to the resurrection of Christ. That is only a hint at how many believers were in the region when Jesus ascended to heaven. It was not "Oh, what are they among so many!" but "Look at how many potential missions were already present."
Each person is a mission start. There is no telling where the Word will go from that person - sometimes through marriage and family, sometimes from a church vocation, sometimes from another way to communicate the Gospel.
When I think of the Word of God and its power, I see in my hands an envelope of Fever Few seeds. Ha. More like Fever Few powder. The seeds are so tiny that one good sneeze will scatter the seeds from a tiny glassine envelope in a small paper envelope. But Fever Few stays green most of the winter. At zero degrees it looks sick and dead, but in the sunlight at 30, it is green again and building up power for spring.
How do we define what one person with the Word can do? It is like filling up a barrel with pebbles. No difference at first - we think. But keep going and the barrel is full.
- Where have thousands of Biblical graphics gone (Norma Boeckler)?
- Where have ebooks and print books gone (Alec Satin)?
- Where have meditations been heard on YouTube (Travis and Lauren Cartee)?
- Where have the edited and scattered books gone (Members and volunteers)? Africa, Philippines, and Australia, besides America.
- How far will the Philippine mission reach (Pastor Palanyos)?
- How many services have been watched (20,000+)? Who started them (Brett Meyer)
- The blog started with about 20 views a day. Now it is read second most often - in Russia and the Ukraine.
