Lutheran Church of the Resurrection

I. The Righteousness of the Law Vs.19 – The Law as a Mirror I turned 53 this past week. Over the last three years I’ve noticed a growing problem I’m having with mirrors. The older I get, the less I like mirrors. I don’t think I’m getting any older but the mirror says otherwise. Mirrors don’t lie. They show you what you really look like, not what you think you look like. Mirrors show me things I’d rather not see. A new wrinkle here, an age spot there, and the hair thing is definitely wrong. The older I get the less I like mirrors.

The law of God is like a mirror. When we look into the law of God, we see ourselves for what we really are. And we never look as good as we think. One look into the mirror of God’s law and we shriek, “Woe is me! For I am undone.” (more…)

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“Jesus loves me, this I know…” How do you know that Jesus loves you? Because you feel it in your heart? Because you think that you are so darn loveable that He just can’t help Himself? Because you’re so healthy, wealthy and happy, the sure and certain signs that Jesus loves you? No. “Jesus loves you, this you know, because the bible tells you so.”

So, what makes the bible so special that it has the authority to overrule the feelings in your heart and your pious opinion of yourself and the circumstances of your life? Or to put the question another way, why can you say, “Jesus loves me, this I know,” even when you don’t feel His love for you, even when you’re not very loveable, and even when the circumstances of your life are the pits?

This is the question that we’re going to wrestle with this morning, just as Jacob wrestled with the Lord. There’s a wonderful blessing to be had from the Lord in understanding and accepting where the authority of the Bible comes from. So, we’re going to wrestle with the Lord for this blessing until we get it, because we believe that this is just the blessing He wants us to have and is anxious to give to us. (more…)

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How are we to respond to Jesus? How are we to respond to His mercy and the new life that He gives us?

I. Jesus Traveled Along The Border of Samaria and Galilee St. Luke writes, "On the way to Jerusalem he was passing between Samaria and Galilee.” It was a travel day for Jesus. For you and me, that seems almost too ordinary to be worth even mentioning. We’re always traveling, going here and there, getting to a meeting, attending a conference, keeping an appointment, classes, music lessons, soccer practice. So, what’s the big deal that Jesus is on His way somewhere too?

Truth is, it’s a very big deal. (more…)

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How do you deal with trouble when it comes your way? How does your faith and trust in God, how does the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, effect the way you deal with trouble when it comes your way? Those are the questions that we’re going to explore together this morning through the experience of the prophet Habakkuk.

Would you take your bible please and turn to Habakkuk. Page 785 in your pew bible. Today, the readings assigned for us to hear and consider together take us to this wonderful little, three chapter book hidden away in the Old Testament. We’re it not for following an assigned set of readings, we’d probably never stop here, which would be a great shame. (more…)

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If seeing is believing, then there are parts of God’s creation that you’re going to miss out on. There is much more to God’s creation than meets the eye. When God created the world in the beginning in those six days, He created a lot more than we humans can see, hear, feel, smell. A portion of what God created is invisible. Well, at least to us it is. God SAW everything He made and He still sees it all, even what we can’t. We know that there’s more to the world than meets the eye because God’s Word tells us so. So, according to the Holy Scriptures and in harmony with the one, holy Christian Church, we say, “I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.”

Angels are created by God. God made angels somewhere in those six days in the beginning. God made angels invisible to us humans, not because He didn’t want us to know about them. In fact, if you read the bible looking for angels, what you’ll see is God’s Word has a lot to say about them. He wants us to know about angels. But, because they’re invisible, the only way we’re going to know anything about them is by the bible.

And, I think that that explains why there are some pretty strange ideas about angels out there. Apart from the bible, we’re left to our own imaginations to explain the invisible. And lots of people today are apart from the bible. (more…)