I've had an Epiphany!

Luke 13:22-30 Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem.   23  Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” He said to them,   24  “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.   25  Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ “But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ 26  “Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ 27  “But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’ 28  “There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth,   when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out.   29  People will come from east and west and north and s...

Christ In Our Home Devotions 15th Sunday after Pentecost True humility 1. Make the sign of the cross over yourself and say: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 2. Pray Luther’s Morning or Evening Prayer: I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, your dear Son, that you have kept me this night from all harm and danger. Keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please you. Into your hands I commend my body and soul and all things. Let your holy angel be with me, that the wicked foe may have no power over me. Amen. I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, your dear Son, that you have graciously kept me this day. Forgive me all my sins, and graciously keep me this night. Into your hands I commend my body and soul and all things. Let your holy angel be with me, that the wicked foe may have no power over me. Amen. 3. Pray the Lord’s Prayer: Our Father in heaven, ...

Last Friday, a classmate of mine, Pastor Gregg Bitter, was called home to heaven when he suffered a massive heart attack. I thank Pastor Peters for filling in for me on Wednesday night for worship and Bible study so I could attend Pastor Bitter’s visitation and funeral in Rice Lake. After singing “In Christ Alone” during the funeral, I wrote a note to share some thoughts with you about funeral planning. Pastor Bitter was only 47. He was in relatively good health. He left behind a wife and three children. We never know when the Lord will call us home. After dad dies, mom and the children go to the funeral home the next day to start funeral preparations. It would be good for you to meet with the funeral home now, while you are still in good health, to start making those preparations – location of the funeral and visitation (at church or the funeral home), a casket and burial plot or cremation, etc. Then the family meets with the pastor to plan the funeral service. If you ha...

I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit—  2  I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.  3  For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race,  4  the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises.  5  Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen. 6  It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.  7  Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”  8  In other words, it is not the ...

Artwork: Gideon choosing his soldiers Artist: Gustave Dore’ Worship Theme: Many think numerous roads lead to eternal glory. “It doesn’t matter what religion you practice—or whether you have none, “they say. “All that matters is that you try to treat others well and do the best you can.” Yet while religions may espouse some noble goals for earthly living, all these goals lead people away from Christ. All fall far short of what God demands for entrance into heaven: perfection (Matthew 5:48). The good news is Jesus came to be perfect in our place. He has given us his perfection in God’s sight (2 Corinthians 5:21). Through faith in him we have eternal life. Jesus is the only way, the narrow door. Old Testament: Judges 7:1-8 Early in the morning, Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and all his men camped at the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh. 2 The LORD said to Gideon, "You have too many men for me to deliver Midian...

Luke 12:49-53 "I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed! 51 Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. 52 From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law." Harold fell in love with his next-door-neighbor when she was a teenager. As their relationship progressed, he told her that he wouldn’t marry her unless she converted to being a Lutheran. That didn’t sit very well with her very Catholic parents. It caused a division within the family. Yifan came to the U.S. as a foreign exchange student to attend classes at an area Lutheran high school. As part...

Christ In Our Home Devotions 14th Sunday after Pentecost The narrow door 1. Make the sign of the cross over yourself and say: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 2. Pray Luther’s Morning or Evening Prayer: I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, your dear Son, that you have kept me this night from all harm and danger. Keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please you. Into your hands I commend my body and soul and all things. Let your holy angel be with me, that the wicked foe may have no power over me. Amen. I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, your dear Son, that you have graciously kept me this day. Forgive me all my sins, and graciously keep me this night. Into your hands I commend my body and soul and all things. Let your holy angel be with me, that the wicked foe may have no power over me. Amen. 3. Pray the Lord’s Prayer: Our Father in heaven...