The forgiveness of sins is available because we admit our condition, the need of a Savior, and the truth that the Father sent his Son into the world to accomplish this very thing once and for all.
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We believe in the forgiveness of sins. Pardon does not come by once being forgiven and then no longer sinning. The forgiveness of sins comes to us for his name’s sake, in other words, through the name of Christ.
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“I don’t have to go to church to be a Christian,” he told me. Then he added, “The Bible doesn’t say I have to go to church.” I was so informed by a police officer in the process of a raid on a house.
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What is this holy catholic church? Let us look to the defining words; and let us do so in reverse order, allowing the descriptive words to address the direct object. What is the church?
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If we agree with Luther’s teaching on the third article of the Creed, we are acknowledging that we cannot climb our way to God. We are conceding that we cannot even believe in God without the Holy Spirit’s assistance.
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Jesus did not leave his disciples alone when he ascended. Nor are we alone today; he has given us the same Spirit, his own Spirit, “the Spirit of Christ.”
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We come now to Luther’s teaching on what good it is to know this second article of the Apostles’ Creed. These benefits include the confident hope of redemption, freedom, inclusion, eternal life.
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Peace of heart does not come from good works.
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The Father has appointed Christ alone to judge the world — both the living and all who ever lived. Christ must be the judge of the living and the dead because he is the only one appropriate to the task.
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works can never make a conscience be at peace.
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Being at the right hand of the Father means that Christ Jesus is seated on the throne of all thrones. He has power and authority which excels all others.
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Jesus ascended; he was raised to the Father's side in heaven so that he may share in the fullness of divinity. He is not simply God, nor only a man; Jesus is now God in the flesh, seated at the Father's right hand.
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How to sleep peacefully
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We cannot live with Jesus in eternity if he is not there. If God's Christ is still dead and buried in the ground, we cannot live with him in heaven — nor can we live there without him.
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Do not celebrate a specific day but what happened on that day.
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In reference to yesterday's lesson on Christ Jesus preaching to those spirits in prison, many people want to know who these spirits are and what this prison is exactly. It is enough to know the universality of Christ's sovereignty.
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It is a mystery to me why people want to get rid of the word "hell" in the Apostles' Creed. Are they afraid Christ Jesus cannot handle the place of the damned?
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This is the sum of the gospel.
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Without the resurrection, we have nothing.
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In order to emphasize the fact of Jesus’ death, the creed states that he was buried. Burial is necessary for those who are truly human and have died. In other words, Jesus was not an apparition; he was a man who had actually died.
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Scripture is the best commentary.
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Did Jesus really die? If he is God, can God die? Some say that he did not actually die. It is called the “swoon theory,” meaning Jesus only fainted on the cross, was presumed dead, then carried off to his grave.
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Hell has no hold on those held by Christ.
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Why did God come to earth in human flesh? Why lower himself to such a level (if it really is such a low level)? God did so because love made him do it.
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I can't help myself.
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Jesus, innocent man and holy God, was condemned to suffer the cruelest death the Romans had at their disposal. He would be crucified. His crucifixion was mere expedience in Pilate’s mind.
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Jesus was born of the virgin named Mary but he was conceived by God. The Holy Spirit was the fathering agent, therefore the holy child was of two natures: divine and human. Jesus was born in “the likeness of men," that is, he is similar to a man.
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Why do bad things happen to true believers?
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We moderns, especially in Western cultures, tend to speak of the heart as being an emotional vessel. In the consideration of the ancient Hebrews, the heart was the seat of thought and will, as well as emotion.
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As Jesus is master over life and death, so he is Lord of all things in life and death. He is God over all creation: in heaven, on earth, and even under the earth.
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Quit trying to fix yourself.
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Who needs Slim Jims when God is your portion?
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Thomas, the perennial doubter, at seeing his crucified rabbi alive and standing before him, confessed what John had related at the beginning of his Gospel.
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Bad things can happen for strange reasons.
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As Abraham did not spare his own Son when God commanded it of him, God did not spare his own Son when his will demanded it of himself. Through this precious, only Son, he has redeemed the creation he loves.
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As we weakly work out our salvation, God declares his power against the devil and his kingdom.
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Just as God settled among his people in the Old Testament, God now “tabernacles” among those who believe. He does so through his Son, Christ Jesus, who is the exact image of God.
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Sometimes the Old Testament speaks of the king as an anointed one, a person on whom God’s blessing rests. A priest would pour a flask of oil over the king’s head as a symbol that God had anointed him king.
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God's power is perfected in our weakness.
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The name “Jesus” is the Greek form of the Hebrew “Joshua” (which later morphed into “Jeshua”) which means “the Lord saves.”
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“This is most certainly true!” declares Luther. “What is truth?” responds Pilate. The Truth was standing right in front of him, and he dismissed him as though truth were too difficult to nail down.
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Then what becomes of our boasting?
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God has given us all we need for life. More than that, he has made himself our home. Paul puts it this way: “In him we live and move and have our being.”
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What is being created in the image of God?
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We confess that God is the creator of it all. In the beginning, he made the skies and the land, the heavens and the earth, and by this we mean to say, the universe — everything.
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Bodily discipline is of some value but faith in a greater righteousness is far superior.
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Bodily discipline is of some value but faith in a greater righteousness is far superior.
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When we confess that God is almighty, we are saying something more than that he is strong. This confession also declares that what is impossible with people is possible with God.
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What are you seeking?
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We believe in God as our Father. He is a good Father, having provided all we need in this life. But he is more than a dispenser of goods.
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