to awaken without Jesus ...

Where Jesus is not with the sinner, the sinner must live and die in his or her sins.
A sinner without Jesus is without the Cross of Christ, His truth, His grace, His blessed substitution for them and their salvation from their sin and themselves as sinners.
If one departs from Christ, departs from the blessed receiving of Him in His Word and Sacrament, who will deliver that person? 
It is a terrible thing when a person remains in their sin. How much more tragic when an infant, conceived and born in sin is denied access to Christ, to His saving grace through the Word.
And how even more tragic is it when parents bring their child to Christ in baptism – and then deny their child any further access to Christ by their refusal to faithfully worship, bring their child to Sunday School and share Christ with their children in the home. Doesn't such a parent force their children to only breath the second-hand spiritually of their mother or father. Such spirituality is pure smoke for it lacks the Holy Breath of the Spirit that God first breathed into their child in baptism.
When one is left to live in sin or the second-hand spirituality of this world, such a person, such a child, is bound to live and breath only what is sin and self. Sin and self become the place where one feels at home, at ease and comfortable, sin and self is the only air their soul is given to breath; and it is in sin and with self alone that such a one dies, waking up in sin and self for all eternity. What shall be the home, the ease, the comfort of such a person, such a child, when he or she realizes that all they have brought with them into eternity is their sin and themselves – with NO means for the breath life and salvation?
In John’s Gospel, Jesus says three times, “You shall die in your sins, unless you believe that I am He (the heaven sent Savior) Jn 8:24.
To believe is to receive Jesus Christ – AS HE IS, not as we would make Him or have Him to be.
To believe is to receive Jesus Christ – AS HE COMES TO US – not as we would have Him come to us.
To believe is to receive Jesus Christ – WHENEVER HE COMES TO US – not when we think we need to receive Him.
The only place on earth or in eternity where sin and our sinful nature and condemnation does not have the final word or work is in Jesus Christ alone. “Blessed are those who (live and) die in the Lord” Rev. 14:13.
Oh what grandness shall be the home, the ease, the comfort and the air of those who are in Christ Jesus as the live and breath by the Holy Air, the Holy Spirit of God now in time.  Surely great shall be the joy and glory of those who awaken in eternity, seeing themselves with Christ – where all sin and sinful self is forever removed.
Lord have mercy on those who refuse to be with Jesus Christ.
Lord have mercy on those who refuse to receive Jesus Christ as He is.
Lord have mercy on those who refuse to receive Jesus Christ as He has chosen to come to us.
Lord have mercy on those who refuse to receive Jesus Christ where He has chosen to come to us.
And Lord have mercy on every child living in the second hand smoke of their parents' sin and selfishness.
Lord have mercy on us all, for our own sin would turn us all together, no less away from Christ our Lord.

- pmwl

Amen.

when the wicked desire of the heart breaks out upon us

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Psalms 51:1-12 (ESV)

It was not just the sins with Bathsheba and ‘Uriah that, David felt. He confesses: “Behold, I was brought forth” in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.” True confession of sin does not look just at outward sins, but feels the heart’s deep corruption and there finds a terribly poisonous fountain from which all sinful deeds spring. There is lying and hatred and unchastity and greed, as the plant is already determined in the seed. This poison has penetrated the heart, so that it is wicked from youth on. Jesus says: “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries,’ fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies” [Mt 15:19].
The Lord allowed David to see Bathsheba, but. He prevented David from hiding his sin with Uriah’s visit at home. If the Spirit cannot show us our sin in any other way, God allows the wicked, hidden desire of the heart to break out on us so that we see the sin for what it is and humble ourselves and pray for grace. He does this because where our sinful desires have taken us is away from our Lord and Savior, only by seeing our sin and where we have followed it, are we able to call upon Him and receive His blessed forgiveness and right relationship with Him. But let no one trifle with sin and do evil in order to learn contrition and to prove the truth of the Lord’s Word! Extinguish the spark so that it doesn’t become a flame! Pray God to spare you from David’s terrible way, and beware of that which lies at the door to ensnare you. God still will not let you taste the bitterness of sin if you are upright (seeking Him and His forgiveness) and want to ‘be obedient toward His Spirit. And such a feeling of sin is always necessary; whoever does not recognize his sin with sorrow and recognize the justice of God’s judgment, also does not know the sweet and blessed peace of His mercy.
Take note of David’s prayer and confession:•these are not the words of a cold heart, but the strong piercing cry for mercy from an eager spirit. It is not an apathetic admission that he is a weak person like everybody else, but the deep and true confession of a wounded soul, that he is an evildoer from birth on. He is not done putting• forth his confession and his prayer, but it is unspeakably important to him to be shown mercy and to be cleansed by the Lord. “Wash me thoroughly,” he says: “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.’’
Do you have the same prayer within you, my soul?
Are you bringing the proper sacrifices of God: a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart?
Humbly pray that God will give you the true spirit of contrition (sorrow over doing wrong rather sorrow over being caught), and say with the prophet: You have fed them with the bread of tears, And given them tears to drink in great measure” [Ps 80:5]
Lord God, we do not have David’s deep humility, but still we feel our corruption and our sinful guilt with remorse and pain. Yes, I am poor and wicked; cleanse me and heal me, O God, for Jesus’ sake. Amen

Bishop Nils Jakob Laache
330. Trinity 11 – I
BOOK OF FAMILY PRAYER
Slight editing – pmwl

The way to heaven barred by excuses

And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’  Luke 14:17-20 '

It is interesting to ponder the fact that those who kept themselves away from this banquet - excused themselves. Note that the host did not excuse them, but they excused themselves.  In so doing, they made themselves equal to, and in fact superior to, the host in that they decided what was a valid excuse for their refusal to receive the blessings of the host.  Such excusing of self is old as sin. Were there not excuses on the lips of both Adam and Eve's to justify their refusal to attend the banquet of life that the Lord had prepared for them, so that they could attend the banquet offered them by the lie of Satan and consumed by their own hands. 

It is said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.  It can and ought be equally said that the way to heaven is barred by vain and empty excuses. 
What excuse will stand before the face of God? 
Imagine on the last day when the Lord asks why you refused to receive, refused to participate in the worship of the Lord, refused to receive the blessed absolution and sacrament as often as it was offered?  How trivial will your excuses of fatigue, personalities, style of worship, etc appear to even yourself on that day?
Understand that no excuse will stand before the Lord today or on the last day.  The only thing that will avail is forgiveness.  With the Lord there is forgiveness for all sins, even the inexcusable. 

Come to the banquet, everything is ready. 

-pmwl / Hammersten

Love Your Pastors

A excellent article on the relationship of congregations and their pastors.

Thank you President Harrison!

The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod - The Lutheran Witness

To baptize or to teach ... ????

It is a both/and command, not an either/or suggestion.

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matt 28:18-20 (ESV)

Baptism is the foundation God lays and teaching the Scriptures is the building that God erects upon the foundation that Himself has laid. The one who is baptized has received the right and responsibility of discipleship. For the one who is baptized IS into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
To be baptized in the name of the Father gives to the baptized, God as He above all else desires to be and give everything that God as Father can be and give to one created in His image.
To be baptized in the name of God the Son gives to the baptized, the life, the death, and the resurrection of God the Son, Jesus Christ and all the blessings He has won for all by His incarnation through to His ascension.
To be baptized in the name of the Holy Spirit gives to the baptized all the works of God’s Spirit by which the baptized is called, sanctified, and kept in one true faith through the Word of God, until such time as the Holy Spirit shall present the baptized holy and righteous at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
While the blessings of baptism and the name of God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit that is placed upon us are rarely apparent to the human eye, this is no proof that the Word of God and the water of baptism have failed to give and work the works of the Triune God upon the baptized.
What is to become of those who having been blessed with baptism and have been denied the teaching that must follow upon the blessed gift of baptism due to apathy and neglect on their part or that of their parents? How shall they be kept from growing up in the spirit of this world and its ungodliness.
What a blessed gift of God in baptism that though the baptized may fall away from the Lord, the Lord’s promises to not fall away from the baptized. These promises are secure because they are made and kept by God and not the baptized. When the baptized do fall away, they become again a lost child to the Father. The prodigal son could never have gone back to a home where he was not once a child. May the Lord work a blessed remembrance of their baptism in the hearts and minds of all the baptized that have fallen away so that a blessed return may be easier and more quickly accomplished for all.

“Baptized into Your name most holy,
O Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
I claim a place, though weak and lowly.” LSB 590

- pmwl

Where the love of God in Christ is and is not ...

Where the love of God in Jesus Christ is found, it will find a way to express itself because this love is Christ – resurrected and living to live, to love and to serve through faith in Jesus Christ.
If one would know where this love of God in Christ is not found, let that person listen, and they will hear any and every excuse for not letting this love have its way in the life and living of the person who claims to have it.

- pmwl

DRINKING FROM MY SAUCER

I’ve never made a fortune

And it’s probably too late now
But I don’t worry about that much
I’m happy anyhow.

So often I can get caught up

In all that others have
Then the eyes of holy faith
Sight for me my true riches
As I am drinking from my saucer
‘Cause my cup has overflowed.
 
And as I go along life’s way
I’m reaping better than I sow
I’m drinking from my saucer
‘Cause my cup has overflowed.

Haven’t go a lot of riches

And sometimes the going’s tough
But I’ve got loving ones around me
And that makes me rich enough.

I thank Christ’s for his blessings
And the mercies He’s bestowed
I’m drinking from my saucer
‘Cause my cup has overflowed.

O, Remember times when things went wrong

My faith wore somewhat thin
But all at once the dark clouds broke
And sun peeped through again.

So Lord, help me not to gripe
About the tough rows that I’ve hoed
I’m drinking from my saucer
‘Cause my cup has overflowed.

If Christ gives me strength and courage

When the way grows steep and rough
I’ll not ask for other blessings
I’m already blessed enough.

And may I never be too busy
To help others bear their loads
Then I’ll keep drinking from my saucer
‘Cause my cup has overflowed.

I offer this poem that a now sainted man named Vernon Fuchs gave me while serving in my first congregation, Zion Lutheran Church in Farmersville, Illinois.  Thank you Vernon

 

pmwl

When God is gone ... fairy tales arrive

"With every theorizing, 'Did God say?' we place ourselves outside the truth ...  'When God is gone,' says Luther, 'the fairy tales arrive.'  When His word is no longer understood as a demand, a threat, a challenge, but is regarded as speculative truth, then man becomes a fool in his wisdom (Rom 1:18) and his wisdom becomes foolishness to God ... By the catagories of our thinking we remain bound to this empirical world and end in irreconcilable, inescapable theoretical and practical contradictions, that indeed point to a domain beyond these limitations which, however, can never be grasped by actual experience. ... On the ruins of perished glory humbled man learns to seek the word of the Gospel."  

A. Koberlie - God's Judgment on Man's Self-sanctification, The Quest for Holiness p. 40, 41 & 47

Considering a thought, an action, or a word by asking:

This study note from Proverbs 6:1-19 speaks well of the examined life of the baptized that always leads us to take our old Adam, i.e. sinful nature back to our Lord in repentence that it be put to death and the new life in us come forth. The questions are excellent for anyone seeking actively live the faith they confess. 

"God’s Law shows us not only our sins but also their motivations and consequences.
Consider a thought, an action, or a word by asking:
Why am I doing this?
Where could it take me?
Can I do this in the name of the Lord?
God hates sin so deeply that He sent His Son to take away sin’s power—its curses and its eternal consequences.
In Christ, we are forgiven and empowered to overcome sin.
Good-for-nothings are made into God’s precious and valuable sons and daughters.
Lord, You know my heart. Forgive those times when sin, not Your grace and Spirit, has motivated me. Take my words, Lord, my hands, and my feet, and use them for Your good purposes. May all who follow You speak well of one another and know the peace that comes with wisdom rooted in Your Word. In Jesus’ name. Amen."
Concordia Publishing House (2009-10-31). The Lutheran Study Bible (Kindle Locations 74238-74243). Concordia Publishing House. Kindle Edition.

For your thoughts and considerations!!!
 
pmwl

You, Your sin - in Light of the Gospel Now or Later

Many consider and judge their sins and sinfulness, in light of their own individual consciences. As such, they tend to believe them to be manageable.

But what is such a person, or any person to consider and judge if they and their sins are set in the light of, not God’s Law, but of the Holy Gospel in Jesus Christ?

When seen and considered in light of God’s holiness in Jesus, do we and our sins become rightly unmanageable and frightful?

When set into the light of God’s infinite love for you in Jesus Christ, do we and our sins rightly become awful and loathsome?
How shall anyone stand when the Gospel reveals all our sins, those known to others and those we keep secret to ourselves?

What an awful day it shall be when all our secrets sins shall be judged and every hidden shame revealed.

Your life and mine are filled with secret sins, sins we attempt to manage by our own conscience, cleverness and coverings.

Will you leave these sins and your sinfulness to be judged by the Gospel on the last day when no plea shall be heard?

Or will you in this present day bring them into the light, as Christ, who is the Gospel, is in the light so the blood of Christ may purify you from them all? (1Jn 1:7).

It is for you to daily choose.

The judgment of the Gospel in this present day is nothing other than repentance and the forgiveness of sins.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 Jn 1:9

-pmwl