Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: June 2018

Thursday, June 28, 2018

1. Peter 3,8-15. 4. Sunday after Trinity

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ

1. Peter 3,8-15a 3418

4. Trinitatis 049

The Eve of the Nativity of John the Baptizer

24. Juni 2018

1. О Triune God, our Baptism covenant, bring to remembrance that You have washed us clean and given us the garment of Christ’s righteousness in this Sacrament, so that we rest in assurance that we are Your child (Starck 242). Amen.

2. »Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, so that you may obtain a blessing. For »Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil« [Psalm 34,12]. Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.

3. The Apostle Peter tells us a truth we may not want to hear: we Christians will suffer on account of our faith in Christ. He then urges us to give a respectful defense of the Christian faith. The English translation is „apology“ (απολογια). The meaning here is not to be sorry but to give a well reasoned reply and a well thought out response to address the issue at hand.

4. We can understand the Gospels and Epistles of the New Testament to be a Christian apology for our faith in Christ. The first and foremost defense of our faith is Christ’s resurrection and the empty tomb. The Apostle Paul gives a succinct defense for the Corinthian Christians: »I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures and that He appeared to Peter, then to the Twelve, then to more than five hundred brothers at one time, then to James, then to all the apostles and last of all, He appeared also to me, Paul. Indeed, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep« (1. Corinthians 15,3-8.20).

5. Saint Paul presents 2 historical facts: Jesus was crucified by the Romans and His tomb was empty 3 days later. The crucifixion was not an issue. The Jews and the Romans knew it had happened. Roman historians mention that Pontius Pilate had executed Jesus. What stirs up the hornets nest is the empty tomb. Again, this is an undisputed fact: the tomb was empty and the body of Jesus was missing. His corpse never turned up; no one found it. A few theories quickly arose to explain this. 1. The disciples must have gone to the wrong tomb. The Christians then argued: well then, take us to the right tomb and show us the corpse of Jesus. 2. Well you disciples must have stolen the body. The Christians then argued: well then, prove it. Present the corpse of Jesus. 3. Well then, you Christians just made this resurrection up; you are just deluded or crazy. The Christians then argued: Mary Magdalene saw the risen Jesus and talked to Him. The apostles saw Him and touched His body. He is a living, breathing Jesus. He ate and drank with us. Peter saw Him, James saw Him and Paul saw Him; furthermore, 500 disciples saw Jesus on the same occasion. The Apostle Paul rightly argues that there is overwhelming eyewitness testimony that: 1. The tomb was empty, 2. Jesus bodily rose from the dead and 3. Over 500 people testify to seeing the risen Jesus. The world cannot even produce His corpse to challenge our Christian proclamation.

6. The resurrection of Jesus is the key piece of evidence in the Christian defense of the faith. Paul states that he is handing on to us what he had received from others: Jesus died and rose. The defense of the faith thus quickly goes to the New Testament as the written documents of those apostles who had witnessed the risen Jesus with their own eyes. We present and defend the Christian faith with and from the biblical texts: they are our primary source. We also use logic, grammar and semantics to present an orderly and reasonable defense of the faith. Thus we also take great care to avoid logical fallacies, to not using Biblical texts out of context and not forcing the Scriptures to say something they do not say.

7. Go in peace, for Christ is your Apology. He justly defended you against the accusations brought forward by the prosecuting Satan. Jesus is your Confidence (Luise Henriette von Brandenburg). He is your Defense and the Right Man who fights for you (Luther). Jesus honors you and your name from the slanders of the world. He speaks well of you and declares you righteous before His Heavenly Father. Such is the love and respect that Jesus lavishes upon you this day and every day; may you do the same for your neighbors. Amen.

8. Let us pray. It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to Your Name, O Most High. „O Holy Spirit, true Leader and Guide of all the elect…. Here we are upon wild and stormy waves, in an evil world; but help us through this all, so that we may finally attain to heaven and arrive at the Fatherland with joy after all these great tribulations“ (Löhe 343-44). Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

Löhe, Wilhelm. Seed-Grains of Prayer: A Manual for Evangelical Christians. Wartburg Publishing House, Chicago circa 1912. Concordia Publishing House; Concordia on Demand.

Thursday, June 21, 2018

1. John 1,5-2,6. 3. Sunday after Trinity

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

1. John 1,5-2,6 3318

3. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 048

Mamuold, Abbot at Regensburg, ✠ 1001

17. Juni 2018

1. О Jesus, our Perfect Redeemer, keep us steadfast in the Christian faith, but if we err or become lost, we know that You will search for us and find us, so that we live and die in fellowship with You. Amen. (Starck 326)

2. »This is the message we have heard from Jesus Christ and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. Whoever says: „I know Him“ but does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps His word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in Him: whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same way in which He walked.«

3. God hates sin; He punishes sin and threatens to pour out His wrath upon unrepentant sinners. The Bible contains numerous examples of God executing such justice and judgment. Holiness and wickedness cannot abide together, and so neither can God dwell eternally among sinners. Thus hell was created for the rebellious angels to be their new dwelling place; wicked sinners will dwell there too apart from God’s fellowship.

4. „But isn’t God a God of love? Indeed He is! God hates sin and in His holy justice He must punish sin and condemn sinners, but God’s will is that sinners be saved and spared eternal separation from Him. However, God cannot simply overlooked mankind’s sin, for sin must be atoned for and the sinner must be punished.

5. The Apostle John uses two of the most important Biblical words in his 1. Epistle: propitiation (ἱλασμός), which means „to bring forgiveness or to have mercy“ and: advocate (παράκλητον). Saint John tells us that Jesus is our Advocate and our Propitiator. This is where we see the love of God, for God the Father sent His Only Son to atone for us. Jesus is our Advocate; He intercedes for us before His Father. He affirms the charge against us: we are sinners; we are guilty. Jesus then offers up His defense: these sinners cannot be found guilty, they must be pardoned, for I have taken their place. Jesus, our Advocate, became our Propitiator who appeased His Father through a sacrifice; Jesus atoned for our sins by sacrificing Himself. Jesus became the Chief Sinner on the cross who bore the sin of the entire world, bore our just punishment and bore our condemnation. Jesus has atoned for sin, paid the ransom price and merited the forgiveness of sin.

6. Nikolaus von Zinzendorf writes of Christ propitiation in his hymn Jesus, Thy Blood and Righteousness: „Jesus, be endless praise to Thee, Whose boundless mercy hath for me, For me, and all Thy hands have made, An everlasting ransom paid.“ (LSB 563,6). God’s wrath and punishment of sin is His alien work, for He must deal with wickedness and evil, while His love and mercy is His proper work, for He receives us into His fellowship through the merits of Christ His Son and our Lord. God had reconciled the world to Himself through Christ when mankind was still His enemy (Romans 5,8.10). This reconciliation occurred through Christ’s substitutionary death: He died in our place for us and thus has received the punishment we deserved. In exchange, Jesus gives us His righteousness (der frölicher Wechsel, the blessed exchange).

7. Christ shows us that God is love and He welcomes sinners. In this morning’s Gospel Reading, St. Luke the Evangelist tells us: »Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear Jesus. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying: „This man receives sinners and eats with them.“« (Luke 15,1-2). Indeed, He does, and at the end of His ministry He shared a final Passover meal with His Apostles and instituted that they celebrate it often in remembrance of Him. Today we partake of this Lord’s Supper, remembering that Jesus became our Advocate who shed His own blood and gave up His body to death to be our propitiation. This is God’s love to us revealed in the mercy of Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

8. Let us pray. O Merciful, Gracious Lord, You are slow to anger and abounding in loving-kindness, instill in us the great joy of our salvation so that we are assured of that if we become lost, we are comforted that You seek us out, find us, and return us unto Your holy Church. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Soli Deo Gloria

✠

All quotations from the Book of Concord are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using Die Bekenntnisschriften der evangelisch-lutherischen Kirche, 12. Edition © 1998 by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.

Thursday, June 14, 2018

1. Corinthians 14,1-3.20-25. 2. Trinity

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ

1. Corinthians 14,1-3.20-25 3218

2. Trinitatis 047

Landerich, Bishop of Paris 650

10. Juni 2018

1. О God and Father, our Bountiful Provider, accompany us in all our ways, preserve us from evil and bless our vocation, so that we always experience abundantly your Fatherly faithfulness and grace (Starck 118). Amen.

2. »Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. For one who speaks in a language speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands Him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. Brothers and sisters, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. In the law it is written: „By people of strange languages and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, and even then they will not listen to Me, says the Lord“ [Isaiah 28,11]. Thus languages are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers but for believers. If, therefore, the whole Church gathers together and all speak in languages, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds? But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you.«

3. In his 1. Epistle to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul expounds upon 2 particular spiritual gifts: prophecy (προφητευητε) and languages (γλωσση). Prophecy is less about foretelling of future events and more about proclaiming a specific action or word of the Lord. The Holy Scriptures, all 66 Books, are prophetic books: they teach and proclaim Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who became man, suffered, died and rose again. Languages or dialects refer to the languages spoken and written by people. In Paul’s day there were 3 prominent languages spoken throughout the Roman empire: Latin, Greek and Aramaic. The Old Testament had been translated from Hebrew into Greek 200 years earlier, and all the New Testament was written in Greek. If the gospel was preached in any of these 3 languages, almost anyone living in the Roman Empire could have a basic understanding of the message.

4. As the Roman Empire became a union of 2 halves, with the East using Greek and the West using Latin, so to did the Church. The Orthodox Christians in the Eastern Roman Empire used Greek, and the Catholic Christians in the Western Roman Empire used Latin. Jerome then translated the Bible from Greek into Latin and by Luther’s day this Vulgate became the official language for the Bible in the Western Church; to translate the Scriptures into the local language or dialect was frowned upon or considered a sacrilege. What had once been a spiritual gift had become a burdensome yolk. The average Christian in the West simply did not have a good grasp of Latin; since the hymns, liturgy and preaching were all in Latin, they became merely spectators of the Divine Service rather than participants in it. Thus prophecy, proclaiming Christ, ceased being effective as most people simply didn’t understand what was being preached.

5. Throughout the Medieval Ages there were various calls for Bible translations into the languages of the local people; these were met with varying degrees of success or failure, but the Vulgate remained the king of the translations used and other local translations were rare. In 1297 the Bible was available in French. By 1395, John Wycliffe had translated the entire Bible into English. In the 1400s there were 13 German translations of the Bible. All of these English, French and German Bibles were translations from the Latin Vulgate, which itself was a translation of the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures. Luther’s translation (1522/34) of the Bible into German was different; he was able to translate from the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures; his translation help standardize German among the Germans, and Tyndale’s translation did the same for the English in 1535. As these Bibles were printed, first the sermons and hymns, then the entire liturgy, transitioned from Latin into the local language of the people.

6. Preaching now reclaimed its role as the chief gift of the Holy Spirit. Hearing the gospel and reading the Scriptures in your own language opens up the treasures in the Word of God to everyone. Paul exhorts us to: »pursue love, and earnestly desire of the spiritual gifts, especially prophecy.« The Holy Spirit has richly blessed His Church with the Scriptures available in almost any language and dialect; He has blessed us with the preached Word of God. To love and honor God is to study His Word, hear it preached and live it in our lives. 20 pages (10,000 words single-spaced) of Holy Scripture can impart the core of the Biblical message to a person; a 5-word sermon of „God forgives you through Jesus.“ strengthens a person to be certain of salvation on account of Christ.

7. The Apostle Paul proclaims: »All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, reproof, correction and training in righteousness, so that the child of God may be complete and equipped for every good work« (2. Timothy 3,16-17). The Scriptures are inspired by God (SD IX,12); the Scriptures are clear, sufficient and effective (have the power) to produce faith in Jesus (Romans 1,16). The Scriptures are inerrant; they are not false and deceitful, but they are true and trustworthy (FC Epitome VII,13; LC IV,57; V,76). The Scriptures are the pure, infallible and unchangeable Word of God (Preface, Book of Concord, 10).

8. Holy Scripture is the Word of God, and the word of God is the Holy Scriptures. This Bible tells us about our salvation through Jesus Christ, the Word of God made flash (John 3,14). We put our faith and hope in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus; we believe in Him because we have heard His gospel preached to us and read His gospel in the Bible. The Apostle John proclaims: »the Holy Scriptures, the Bible, are written so that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing we may have a life in His Name« (John 20,31). Thus Martin Luther exhorts us in his Small Catechism to: „not despise preaching and God’s Word, but hold it sacred and gladly here and learn it“ (SC 3. Commandment). Through the preaching of the Word and by reading the Bible we are shown Christ; He is the Theme and Cornerstone of the Holy Scriptures. Let us boast in Christ and gladly receive Him and the blessings He promises as written in His Word. Let us humbly confess that we are poor, miserable sinners who deserve only God’s wrath, and proudly affirm that Christ is our Savior who gives us forgiveness. Amen.

9. Let us pray. O Lord, You are our Strength, our Rock, our Fortress and our Deliverer; help us to gratefully receive Your gifts, so that our faith is strengthened and our good works flourish. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27. Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

Saturday, June 9, 2018

Jeremiah 23,16-29. 1. Sunday after Trinity

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Jeremiah 23,16-29 3118

1. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 046

Caecilius, Pastor at Carthage 211.

Franz August Otto Pieper, Pastor and Theologian. ✠ 1931

3. Juni 2018

1. О Bountiful and Gracious God, how great and glorious You are, make us rich in our soul and give us a Godly heart, so that we may live as the new creation Christ our Lord has made us to be. Amen. (Starck 118)

2. »Thus says the Lord of hosts: „Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord: „It shall be well with you“; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say: „No disaster will come upon you.“ For who among them has stood in the council of the Lord to see and to hear His Word, or who has paid attention to His Word and listened? Behold, the storm of the Lord! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked. The anger of the Lord will not turn back until He has executed and accomplished the intents of His heart. In the latter days you will understand it clearly. I did not send the prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in My council, then they would have proclaimed My words to My people, and they would have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their deeds. Am I a God at hand, and not a God far away? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? Do I not fill heaven and earth? I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My Name, saying: „I have dreamed, I have dreamed!“ How long shall there be lies in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, who think to make My people forget My Name by their dreams that they tell one another, even as their fathers forgot My Name for Baal? Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let him who has My Word speak My Word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? Is not My Word like fire, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?“«

3. Everyone boasts in proclaiming the Word of the Lord. Everyone claims to be speaking the truth. But not everyone who claims to speak for the Lord, in fact, does. In Moses’ day, his own brother, Aaron, made a golden calf to represent the gods who brought them out of Egypt (Exodus 32, 1-4). In Jeremiah’s day, false prophets said all would be well for Judah, but Jeremiah spoke for the Lord who said those false prophets are like their ancestors who forgot the Name of the Lord and instead remembered him as the golden bull Baal that Aaron had made for them. In the days the apostles, Christians claiming to speak for James, the bishop (leader) of the Jerusalem church, said the Gentile Christians must be circumcised and follow the Mosaic dietary laws. 100 years later, Marcion rejected the Old Testament and declared the God of Israel to be an angry and wrathful God, but he taught an edited New Testament of Luke’s Gospel and 10 of Paul’s Epistles were the true scriptures that proclaimed God to be a loving and forgiving God. Those who speak for God have always contended against the false prophets.

4. Nothing has changed within the Church of the 21. century. False teachers rise up and seek to proclaim a false gospel. The Lord’s words to the false prophets in Jeremiah’s day apply to the false teachers in our day: »They speak visions of their own minds, from the mouth of the Lord. They continually say to those who despise the word of the Lord: „It shall be well with you“; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say: „No disaster will befall you.“« Our sinful human nature does not want to hear the law accusing us of sin and wickedness. Our flesh would prefer to hear the sweet words that all is well. The false gospel of „Jesus plus something we do“ makes sense to our corrupted minds; surely I must add something to this gospel to earn it and be blessed by it; nothing in life is free, so neither is the gospel. Thus goes the argument of the false teachers. The Apostle Paul deals with some false teachers in his Epistle to the Galatians.

5. „The preachers of another gospel did not come straight out against Christ. The Apostle Paul says, “Watch out—they are not straight-forward.” He gives some clues to help us recognize what is going on. “They make much of you”—persuasive talkers. What are they working you toward? They may indeed say lots of nice things in praise of Christ. Then comes the hook: “Oh, how I love Jesus, oh, how I love Jesus.” Then if you want to make sure of Christ, there is something you better see you to, you better work on. Christ plus something more. That “something more” that is added to Christ is clearly from people. This is quite clear when it is referenced to humans, evidenced by humans. The history of the church tells of the unapostolic succession of things added to Christ as “Christ clinchers,” evidences that can show that Christ really works. What is it you look for it to make Christ for sure? The preachers of another gospel in the churches of Galatia were thumping circumcision. Christ is great. We don’t deny all the good things that Paul has been telling you about Him, but if you want to be sure it is okay with you before God, you jolly well better be circumcised, for that is undoubtedly commanded by God. So they had God and His Law on their side—it is in the Bible. The preachers nowadays who preach another gospel, what are they thumping as additions to Christ to make sure that it is okay with you before God? If He is blessing you, why is that? If you want to be sure of God’s blessings, what is it you had better be doing? Are you tithing? Are you happy? Here is how to make it happen with Jesus“ (Nagel 159-160).

6. So the televangelists’ promise: „Send in your love offering and God will bless you“ brings a comfort to our itching ears. Or: „If you support the nation of Israel, then God will look favorably upon you.“ They even quote the Bible with that one: »Abraham, I the Lord, will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed« (Genesis 12,2-3). You don’t want God’s curse do you? Then you better support Israel without question or criticism so you are guaranteed of His blessing on your life.

7. That’s how the false prophets of Jeremiah’s day argued. God won’t curse us; we are the descendants of Abraham. He must bless us; He promised to do so. They reasoned: yes, we have a problem with idols and we hold Baal in high esteem along with the Lord, but He isn’t going to punish us. He isn’t going to actually curse us. All will be well. Except God was indeed going to curse Israel for their long-standing sin of idolatry that had persisted generation after generation. Israel had ceased to be Israel for they had forsaken the God of their father Abraham.

8. The nation of Israel today is not the Israel of Jeremiah’s day and it is not the Israel of Jesus’ day. In 2018, all Israel has is the land, but they do not have possession Mt. Zion, they do not have the temple and the covenant of Sinai is no longer valid as they have no sacrifices. If God is blessing Israel today, then He is not doing a very good job of it: they have no temple, no priests and no forgiveness as mandated through Moses at Sinai. The promise of false teachers of certainty and blessing by Christ plus something more is always bad news.

9. „Faith plus obedience is not faith alone. It is not Christ alone. The Apostle Paul makes it clear that another gospel is not the gospel at all. And what is not the gospel is then clearly recognizable as the law. And if that is how you want it with God, there is no bad news worse than that“ (Nagel 160).

10. Certainty and blessing are grounded upon Christ alone. Jesus is the True Israel blessed by His Father; He is the Faithful Israel who kept the law in its most minute detail for us. Our certainty is grounded upon Christ. At one point in His ministry Jesus asked His apostles: who do you say that I am? Simon Peter answering for all the apostles in unison said to Jesus: You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Jesus’ response to that confession was: »Blessed are you Simon Peter! Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven has revealed this to you« (Matthew 16,15-17). This is the confession of the new testament which fulfills and has replaced the Old Testament.

11. The gospel is: we are blessed on account of Christ. We don’t need to add anything to Christ to get His blessing, for He gives us His blessing in full by grace through faith. „We were baptized into Christ. Christ has set us free. Stand fast, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery“ (Nagel 160). Rejoice in the gospel. Amen.

12. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, Your testimonies are righteous forever; keep safe and pure among us the pure gospel, so that we may the assurance of eternal life. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Soli Deo Gloria

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4^th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27^th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Thursday, June 28, 2018

1. Peter 3,8-15. 4. Sunday after Trinity

Thursday, June 21, 2018

1. John 1,5-2,6. 3. Sunday after Trinity

Thursday, June 14, 2018

1. Corinthians 14,1-3.20-25. 2. Trinity

Saturday, June 9, 2018

Jeremiah 23,16-29. 1. Sunday after Trinity