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Everything that Christians believe and teach can be found in Luther’s Small Catechism.  Luther’s Small Catechism calls everything that Christians believe and teach the ‘six chief parts’.  We call the six chief parts ‘Christian doctrine’.  Sometimes [and, speaking from experience], ‘Christian doctrine’ can be difficult to understand, out of focus, and creates numerous questions [e.g., ‘Why is this important?’; ‘Why is that important?’].  Everything that we believe and teach as Christians, our doctrine [i.e., ‘Christian doctrine’], comes into focus more clearly at Christmas.  Christmas can answer a lot of questions for us. The Ten Commandments.  What is the connection between...

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So the soldiers took charge of Jesus.  Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha).  There they crucified him, and with him two others - one on each side and Jesus in the middle…Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.”  A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips.  When he had received the drink,...

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Jesus speaks words of comfort to His disciples and removes their fear.  What are those words of comfort?  What do Jesus' disciples fear?  How do those words of comfort remove His disciples' fear? "Take heart; it is I.  Do not be afraid" (verse 50).  Jesus speaks these words to His disciples.  His disciples fear for their lives.  They are in a boat on the Sea of Galilee in the middle of an intense storm.  And it's dark.  Not only do they believe that they could die, they also believe that Jesus has abandoned them.  After Jesus orders His disciples to...

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Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.  What does this mean?  We should fear and love God that we may not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it. - The Third Commandment We work.  All of us.  Some of us work harder than others, but we all still work.  I can’t say the same thing about employment.  Some of us are not employed.  This does not mean, however, that those who are not employed do not work.  Not all work is, necessarily, employment and not all employment is, necessarily, work.  The...

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You are sinful.  Your past is sinful.  But your sins are forgiven.  And your sinful past is erased.  Your sinful past is not too sinful for God.  Nothing in your past could ever separate you from the love of God.  “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39).”  Your sinful past is implicitly included in Paul’s list of...

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“Let no one despise your youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.  Until I arrive, give attention to the public reading of scripture, to exhorting, to teaching.” - 1 Timothy 4:12-13 The church is a living, breathing organism.  As with any living, breathing organism, there is a cycle of life, death, and renewal.  There is birth.  There is increase.  There is decrease.  There is death.  So is the life of the church. The church is not a mere building.  The church is composed of members.  They are the church.  As...

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With the season of Christmas suddenly upon us, we are reminded once again that Jesus came to save us from our sins.  Jesus came to give us eternal life.  Jesus came to save us from eternal condemnation (a.k.a.: death).  These facts are sometimes forgotten among all of the images of shepherds and wise men.  These facts are sometimes misplaced among all of the images of Jesus as a baby in a manger surrounded by cows and donkeys.  Lest we forget, the baby Jesus, born in Bethlehem and laid in a manger, would be covered with blood and hanging on a...

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Jesus is faithful in much and we receive a gracious reward.  Note the irony: Jesus is faithful in much and, yet, we receive a gracious reward.  This is explained in the Parable of the Shrewd Manager.  Or the Parable of the Unjust Manager.  Or the Parable of the Shrewd Steward.  Or the Parable of the Unjust Steward.  It probably doesn’t matter what you call it: you probably don’t understand it, anyway.  The Parable of the Shrewd Manager is, arguably, the most misunderstood and misinterpreted parable that Jesus spoke. Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was...

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“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. - Matthew 5:13 Salt, light, Law, Prophets, accomplishment, and righteousness. In a span of only eight verses, Jesus refers to all of these subjects - why? What point is He trying to make? What common thread connects all of these disparate items? Taken as a whole, the one over-riding principle for these eight verses is this: Jesus, the true-light of the world, accomplishes the...

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Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God.  But Jesus said, “As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down.” “Teacher,” they asked, “when will these things happen?  And what will be the sign that they are about to take place?” He replied: “Watch out that you are not deceived.  For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’  Do not follow...

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