Jolly Ol’ Saint Nicholas In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  1 John 4:10-11 The writer to the...

Christ is Coming Soon, Therefore, Encourage Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 For eight years, this message has been sent out each week.  Occasionally, I will receive an appreciative response regarding a particular “Encourage.”  Most weeks though there is...

For All This Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 Dr. Luther writes, “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, ‘Repent’ he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.”  However, he does...

Christ Is Not Safe, But He Is Good Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it!  Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy   before the Lord, for he comes, for he comes to judge the...

A Different Kind of King Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”  John 18:36 The history of...

Ordinary Saints And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.   Colossians 3:17 As bells toll in churches as they observe All Saints Day, it is a time to give thanks to God for...

The Intersection of the Red Sea and Calvary For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same...

God Makes All Things Good "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”  And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making...

A Different Kind of Community But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.  1 Peter 2:9 You know the words.  “Sometimes you...

A Patchwork of Colors and Shapes You are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined...