Comments on:

The Church is not simply a human organization, and it is never a movement. It’s a Bride. And her Groom is the eternal One, Christ Jesus.

By this promise of the Word, his resurrection is your resurrection. He is the firstfruits, but the firstfruits will have its full harvest. You are his harvest.

His Son, who deserves no humiliation, has let himself be humiliated so that those who deserve no exaltation, that is, you and me and every sinner, may be exalted

Jesus is the escape from the accusation of the Law. He is the stone which the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law rejected, but he has become the chief cornerstone.

You will see the injustice in the world, you will lament the vanity we see all about us, but despair not. Instead, go about your life living in the joy of the forgiveness of all your sins.

We are at the table as those who know that Christ Jesus, who knew no sin, was made sin for us, so that in him we are made the righteousness of God.

The location of His gift giving is in what we call the Divine Service, where He gathers us to where He is lavishly handing out His gifts, forgiving, sustaining and nourishing His very own church, that He has purchased with His own blood.We don't have to guess where our giving Lord may be found, where He is located FOR US for the forgiveness of sins.

The way of escape from our temptation is not for us to somehow out-think the temptation and figure out how to make the better choice, but, according to Paul, to endure, to suffer."

Repenting of clinging to the things of this world for our confidence, we may then turn in faith to the comfort and the certainty given by the Lord who died for the sins of this world.

This is why Lent is not about your works, it’s not about your commitment to God or any other thing in you, but it is all about Jesus headed to Jerusalem to die on the Cross for you. This is what Jeremiah preached, the cross of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins, this is what the entire Old Testament preaches, it's what we preach. Jesus Christ crucified for the sinner.

If our dishonor is the shame we bring upon our own names by our vanity, our honor is the honor he freely bestows upon us.

If he leaves his baptism with the prophet announcing him as the Lamb of God who is taking away the sin of the world, we leave our baptisms announced as the lambs of God who have had their sin taken away.

Repentance in God’s eyes is a gift of the Gospel. He freely cleanses the sinner so that the sinner is turned back to him in faith.

The Mount of Transfiguration testifies the honor that Jesus has for our bodies. He is no spirit-god who despises the physicality of our bodies and the materiality of our lives.

March 2, 2019                  Funeral Service, Nicole Frei   1 John 5:6-12 6 This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth. 7 For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. 8 And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one. 9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son. 10 He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. 11 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.   Luke 9:28-35       In the Name of Jesus.   As we gather here for the funeral service for our sister in the faith Nicole Frei, the Church tomorrow hears the readings for the Transfiguration of our Lord.   On the mount, Jesus stood as a testimony of life. Next to him stood Moses and Elijah. They lived, one of them, about 900 years previous, the other about 1,500 years previous. Yet, here they stood with their Lord, in living bodies, conversing.   Moses and Elijah belonged not to the death of this sinful world and our sinful flesh, but... Learn More

"But it is the Lord’s way to use what is weak and ineffective in world to deliver the gifts of his grace—For God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. [1 Corinthians 1:27]"

For it is Jesus who became poor for you that He might give the riches of His grace, hungry for you that He might feed you His very Body and Blood, He wept for you so that He may wipe away every tear from your eyes as He brings you into the eternal home prepared for you. He was hated and rejected for you that you might be accepted and baptized into His family as a son or daughter with His very name placed upon you.

The guilt, the sin, taken away, atoned for. Isaiah is clean. There is no more Woe, only blessing and grace.