Podcasts about holy books

NDLEA Intercepts Cocaine Concealed In Holy Books Enroute Saudi Arabiahttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/ndlea-intercepts-cocaine-concealed-in-holy-books-enroute-saudi-arabia/21/04/2025/#NDLEA #SaudiArabia #Bayelsa #edo #Kano ©April 21st, 2025 ®April 21, 2025 2:42 pm Men of the Nigeria anti-illicit drugs police, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA have intercepted a set of cocaine shipments concealed in Holy Books scheduled to be transported to Saudi Arabia through courier service, just, as the anti-illicit drugs operatives arrested a 22 years old boy said to be supplying hard drugs to bandits in Kano State, this occurred during the preceding week which  the anti-illicit drugs police personnel were attacked and sustained gunshots injuries during raid at Jahi area of Abuja on Thursday night. #OsazuwaAkonedo

Spring is ever so subtly revealing itself here at Alfa Vedic Gardens, as tiny buds are making their first appearance, bird life is once again in abundance, and frogs are in full chorus.  We've been busy in preparation for both farm prep and restocking the shelves site-wide at our on-line store, with a number of new surprises in the works.  We're starting with a whole new look for the popular AV Illumined™ line that is becoming available as we speak. Alfacast is back in full swing this week with Nichole Murphy shedding new light on the nature of this wonderful world that we all call home.  There's quite a kerfuffle as of late concerning the shape of our Earthship, with popular internet theorists taking exceptional umbrage with each other. Mike and Barre like to ponder all sides of any issue, with an ever-present "note-to-self" that nobody really knows the complete truth from this side of the veil, so why not just enjoy the adventure.  Flaws are apparent on both sides of the globe vs flat earth controversyand Nichole brings a common sense, home-schooling approach to the issue that parallels our personal interest in understanding function over form. Nichole Murphy is the owner of The Law of The Luminaires channel on Rumble and The Keystone on telegram. Nichole shows the movement of the Luminaires with a goal of anyone being able to observe the luminaires for themselves without the old false narratives. She bridges the syncretism of Holy Books within the sky through the science of the universe, the Tropical system: The sun and moon's movement between the tropics which mimics the flow of magnetism throughout the Toroidal Earth. Join Mike Winner and Dr. Barre Lando for this great discussion, and be sure to bring your open mind. Show links: https://rumble.com/c/c-4115119 https://lawoftheluminaries.com https://t.me/thebreakdown1718 Join Mike & Barbara O'Neill In North Carolina March 18-22 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sustain-... Learn The True Nature Of Dis-Ease & How Our Bodies Actually Work: https://alfavedic.com/themyth/ Join Our Private Community And Join In The Discussion: https://alfavedic.com/join-us/ Follow our new YT channel: / @offgridelegance Get our favorite blue blocker glasses! https://alfavedic.com/raoptics Learn how to express your law and uphold your rights as one of mankind. https://alfavedic.com/lawformankind Alfa Vedic is an off-grid agriculture & health co-op focused on developing products, media & educational platforms for the betterment of our world. By using advanced scientific methods, cutting-edge technologies and tools derived from the knowledge of the world's greatest minds, the AV community aims to be a model for the future we all want to see. Our comprehensive line of health products and nutrition is available on our website. Most products are hand mixed and formulated right on our off grid farm including our Immortality Teas which we grow on site. Find them all at https://alfavedic.com​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ Follow Alfa Vedic: https://linktr.ee/alfavedic Follow Mike Winner: https://linktr.ee/djmikewinner

All of this week's episodes of It Could Happen Here put together in one large file. The President of Argentina's Meme Coin Scandal How Trump is Changing Trans Healthcare Textbooks and Holy Books feat. Steven Moncelli & Dr. Michael Phillips Democratic Insiders Are Sharing A Warning About Curtis Yarvin, Elon Musk & Neoreactionaries Executive Disorder: White House Weekly #5 You can now listen to all Cool Zone Media shows, 100% ad-free through the Cooler Zone Media subscription, available exclusively on Apple Podcasts. So, open your Apple Podcasts app, search for “Cooler Zone Media” and subscribe today! http://apple.co/coolerzone Sources/Links: The President of Argentina's Meme Coin Scandal https://www.citationneeded.news/issue-77/ https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/argentina-main-stock-index-falls-after-milei-crypto-scandal-2025-02-17/ https://crimethinc.com/2024/06/17/six-months-in-a-neoliberal-dystopia-social-cannibalism-versus-mutual-aid-and-resistance-in-argentina Textbooks and Holy Books feat. Steven Moncelli & Dr. Michael Phillips Dana Goldstein, “Two States. Eight Textbooks. Two American Stories,” New York Times, January 12, 2020. Kevin M. Kruse, One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America (New York: Basic Books, 2015.) James W. Loewen, Lies My History Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1995.) Alan Nadel, Containment Culture: American Narratives, Postmodernism, and the Atomic Age (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1995.) Michael Phillips, White Metropolis: Race, Ethnicity, and Religion in Dallas, 1841-2011 (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2006.) Democratic Insiders Are Sharing A Warning About Curtis Yarvin, Elon Musk & Neoreactionaries https://shatterzone.substack.com/p/democratic-insiders-are-sharing-a Executive Disorder: White House Weekly #5 https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/02/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-reins-in-independent-agencies-to-restore-a-government-that-answers-to-the-american-people/ https://www.jurist.org/news/2025/02/trump-signs-order-declaring-only-president-and-ag-can-interpret-us-law-for-executive-branch/ https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/reevaluating-and-realigning-united-states-foreign-aid/ https://pages.devex.com/rs/685-KBL-765/images/109160-memo.pdf?version=0 https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.277336/gov.uscourts.dcd.277336.21.0_7.pdf https://www.one.org/us/what-we-do/the-issues/foreign-assistance-pause-faq/ https://mutualaidsudan.org/ https://www.state.gov/emergency-humanitarian-waiver-to-foreign-assistance-pause/ https://oig.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/2025-02/USAID%20OIG%20-%20Oversight%20of%20USAID-Funded%20Humanitarian%20Assistance%20Programming%20021025.pdf https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy7x87ev5jyo https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/permanent-workers/employment-based-immigration-fifth-preference-eb-5/about-the-eb-5-visa-classification https://www.npr.org/2025/02/24/nx-s1-5306990/dan-bongino-fbi-deputy-director https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/new-fbi-director-kash-patel-plans-relocate-1500-119064886 https://www.dailyuw.com/news/washington-state-congressional-candidate-set-to-lead-counterterrorism-center/article_251db152-f32f-11ef-b56b-d7ae1ea3885f.html https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/fbi-kash-patel-antifa-blm-terror-groups https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/24/neo-nazi-trump-fbi-chief See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In ‘The Book of the Heart Girt with a Serpent,' more commonly known as Liber LXV, many parables abound which are instructive of Thelemic spirituality. But in chapter V we encounter a parricidal pomp of atheists. I'll look at Crowley's commentary and see how this passage exemplifies Thelemic thought, in the first of our episodes highlighting and delving into the Holy Books of Thelema.

The Simpler Side of Buddhist Doctrine by Kassapa Thera In the Holy Books are many sermons, long and short, full of advice to the average layman. Notable amongst these is the Sigālovāda Suttanta, known as “the Layman's Vinaya” which details correct behaviour for the good layman. Excellent though all such sermons are, none can surpass the brief simple appeal of the words to Nakula's parents, which advise the cultivation of four things: Saddhā, Virtue, Generosity and Wisdom. A striking thing in the Buddha-dhamma is that here we find naught of “Thou shalt” or “Thou shalt not.” When once it is realized that selfishness and self-indulgence cause all our woe, then a wise one strives for self mastery. Sīla is the mastery of speech and action. Of his own free will, the Buddhist “pledges to observe” this precept of virtue, and that. The minimum number of such precepts of virtue that the good Buddhist should observe is five: (1) I undertake to observe the precept to abstain from destroying the life of beings; (2) from taking things not given; (3) from sexual misconduct; (4) from false speech, and (5) from liquor that causes intoxication and heedlessness. The Buddhist has no impossible postulates; he tries to see, as his teacher taught, “things as they really are.” He looks at the world around him and sees that all, all is transitory there. He sees that what is transitory is bound to be sad. All that we love is passing away, and such parting from the loved is suffering. And we, we too are part of the passing show—with greying hair, falling and decaying teeth, disease and death looming ahead—it is all sad. The Buddhist sees that, to what is transient and sad, one clings in vain, and in all this we can see naught of which he can say—with assurance as to the permanent value of such statement—“This is me, this is mine, this is a soul.” by Kassapa Thera 2024 63 minutes 6 seconds Listen to Streaming Audio Your browser does not support the audio element. Download Audio (30MB) Audio copyright, 2024 Pariyatti View this audiobook and more information at Pariyatti. View more books and audio resources available in the Pariyatti bookstore.

The Holy Books of Thelema contain poetic passages that can seem at times sublime or obscure, opulent or opaque. While memorization can seal the text of such books up into one's blood, the practice of reading passages aloud in a ceremonial fashion can add a new level of engagement and interaction with these writings. Edward Mason will join me for a chat on this subject.

Micah Dank is back - Well back in Grimerica but first time on Outlawed to chat about this Spiritual Battle. We talk about the Jewish Day of Judgement, the elites vs the people, the 3rd Temple, 4d chess, Religions vs others, the news and the tv lies, the comeback of Jesus, and the study of the bible and the Occult. What is God? What happens to the satanic elites that turn to Religion?   In the last part he goes through his presentation on the astrological Zodiacal symbolism/allegories examples from many of the ancient texts. What about the vapour canopy? Why so much effort and symbolism put into these ancient texts? Was it just to track the seasons?   debunkmywork.com   To gain access to the second half of show and our Plus feed for audio and podcast please clink the link http://www.grimericaoutlawed.ca/support.   For second half of video (when applicable and audio) go to our Substack and Subscribe. https://grimericaoutlawed.substack.com/ or to our Locals  https://grimericaoutlawed.locals.com/ or Rokfin www.Rokfin.com/Grimerica Patreon https://www.patreon.com/grimericaoutlawed   Support the show directly: https://grimerica.ca/support-2/ Outlawed Canadians YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@OutlawedCanadians Our Adultbrain Audiobook Podcast and Website: www.adultbrain.ca Our Audiobook Youtube Channel:  https://www.youtube.com/@adultbrainaudiobookpublishing/videos Darren's book www.acanadianshame.ca Check out our next trip/conference/meetup - Contact at the Cabin www.contactatthecabin.com Other affiliated shows: www.grimerica.ca The OG Grimerica Show www.Rokfin.com/Grimerica Our channel on free speech Rokfin Join the chat / hangout with a bunch of fellow Grimericans  Https://t.me.grimerica https://www.guilded.gg/chat/b7af7266-771d-427f-978c-872a7962a6c2?messageId=c1e1c7cd-c6e9-4eaf-abc9-e6ec0be89ff3   Get your Magic Mushrooms delivered from: Champignon Magique  Get Psychedelics online Leave a review on iTunes and/or Stitcher: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/grimerica-outlawed http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/grimerica-outlawed Sign up for our newsletter http://www.grimerica.ca/news SPAM Graham = and send him your synchronicities, feedback, strange experiences and psychedelic trip reports!! graham@grimerica.com InstaGRAM https://www.instagram.com/the_grimerica_show_podcast/  Purchase swag, with partial proceeds donated to the show www.grimerica.ca/swag Send us a postcard or letter http://www.grimerica.ca/contact/ ART - Napolean Duheme's site http://www.lostbreadcomic.com/  MUSIC Tru Northperception, Felix's Site sirfelix.bandcamp.com  

Questions: How is it that one interprets the same thing differently across time? How is it that one can read a book, have an experience, or observe phenomena and draw completely different conclusions when the only thing different is the time in which it was read, experienced, or observed? Is time a variable in comprehension or understanding? Is it a variable in constructing meaning? A book that seemed so insightful at one point, with the passage of time, can become meaningless. Likewise, books that I once thought meaningless can sometimes become filled with insight, interesting, and important ideas with the passage of time. Same book. Same person. Same brain.

Be Here Now under Maharajji's blanket as Baba Here Love, Sunshine and Baba Ganga Das discuss holy books, Ramakrishna, seeing God in all of it, balance, enlightenment, and more. All of it is applied to our spiritual awakening. “Total compassion means: You are the universe You are all form You are the breath You are the river You are the void You are the desire to be enlightened You are enlightened." - Ram Dass from BE HERE NOW (The Hippie Bible) Big Love Sangha https://biglovesangha.godaddysites.com Baba's Feed Project https://babasfeedproject.love/ Love Love Love Play Play Play Hey!!! It's all OK OM SHAKTI!!! Rest in The Be Love Now moment You get The cosmic joke

Amitai

Peter Levenda, a native of the Bronx, New York City, has an MA in Religious Studies and has published over 20 books, mostly in the area of hermeticism and the occult, and a trilogy of books concerning Nazism and postwar Nazism, as well as a book on China trade. He is most known for Unholy Alliance, which has a foreword by Norman Mailer and which has been translated into a dozen foreign languages, and Sinister Forces: A Grimoire of American Political Witchcraft. He has also published his study of the Asian alchemical influences in the work of Thomas Vaughan, and the influence of Lovecraft on the work of Kenneth Grant. This is a warm November welcome to Season 10 Episode 11 of Thoth-Hermes Podcast. Today's show brings us into conversation with American writer Peter Levenda. Peter has authored a range of titles on histories of American occultism, Nazi occultism, and the dynamics of conspiracy theory. After successfully pursuing an international business career Information Technology, Peter attained an MA in Religious Studies and Asian Studies. Peter is a member of the American Academy of Religion, several societies, and a member of AFIO (the Association of Former Intelligence Officers). Peter is careful to distinguish his expertise as around the context and content of conspiracy, rather than their promulgator. Repeatedly in the interview, he stresses the importance of listeners self-educating on the factors that make populations generally- and occultists specifically- vulnerable to conspiracy content. Peter also clearly notes that he is a “left-leaning” political “independent” capable of engaging with a variety of worldviews. Peter also offers the Adorno “Fascism Scale” as a resource for study. Peter shares formative childhood experiences- rejecting his childhood Catholicism, while retaining the seed of mysticism. A fearful encounter on a mountain in 1963 cemented his personal conviction on the presence of More. High school found Peter conducting seances, reading Crowley and the Tao Te Ching. All of this is reported with a combination of good humor and lasting reverence. A selection of Peter Levenda's published books Rudolf and Peter explore his writing, some of it based around his premise that “America is a haunted house” of unceded territory carrying the displaced and disregarded practices of the First Nations people. Additionally, the influence of encroaching European settlers' own occult traditions and folkways. Turning to the West at large, Peter and Rudolf distinguish between the “traditionalist” and “surrealist” edges of esotericism; one edge flirting with the Authoritarian Right and the other edge liable to persecution from the former. Peter describes the use of “fiction” as parallel to Surrealism in the ability to analogize “truths” that cannot be proven as “non-fiction”, in the midst of grey area on both. Peter suggests this wisdom is present in many Holy Books. Peter identifies “magic” as situated in a space between Science and Religion, with the Shadow of conspiracy theory. A comprehensive take-down of conspiracy mindedness in the contemporary United States follows, including: “longstanding” inadequacy of news media, a population demotivated to learn context for theories, and the dearth of “tik-tok enlightenment”. Peter further names related internal difficulties within occult groups, including sections of the contemporary Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO) and the leadership of the late James Wasserman; the New York-based Wasserman and L...

“Humanists stand for the building of a more humane, just, compassionate, and democratic society using a pragmatic ethics based on human reason, experience, and reliable knowledge-an ethics that judges the consequences of human actions by the well-being of all life on Earth.” - Steven Schafersman “Humanitarianism is an active belief in the value of human life, whereby humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of humanity for moral, altruistic, and emotional reasons. One aspect involves voluntary emergency aid overlapping with human rights advocacy, actions taken by governments, development assistance, and domestic philanthropy. Other critical issues include correlation with religious beliefs, motivation of aid between altruism and social control, market affinity, imperialism and neo-colonialism, gender and class relations, and humanitarian agencies.[1] A practitioner is known as a humanitarian.” I do read all Holy Books repeatedly. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/antonio-myers4/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/antonio-myers4/support

In around 1906 era vulgaris, Aleister Crowley received a flood of inspired texts that would come to be known as some of the core Holy Books of Thelema, taking their place alongside The Book of the Law and Liber 418.Liber B vel Magi is a short text, only a couple of pages in length, which describes one of the most exalted Grades on the Tree of Life, that of the Magus. Join us as Edward Mason and I explore this brief text.

Our guest today says the unedifying term “civil war” bandied describing judicial reform in Israel is a useful device to maintain pressure on both sides to find a solution. Let me be clear: I spent much of July and August 2023 in Israel and the country is not “entering a state of civil war” as former Prime Minister and convicted criminal, Ehud Olmert claimed. There's no curfews, no rubber bullets and no army in place of cops on the streets. But that's not to say this isn't a serious situation. As positions entrench further, is hope for a solution ebbing away? Time for some realpolitik. While in Tel Aviv, I met historian and commentator, Dr. Edy Cohen, PhD. This is the third time Edy's joined me on Jonny Gould's Jewish State - but the first time face to face. Beirut-born Edy has his finger on the pulse of the Arab world. He is a world authority on Muslim holocaust denial, Islamist terrorism and the history of Jewish communities in Arab lands. There's no one with a more amplified voice across the whole of the Middle East than Edy. He tweets almost exclusively in Arabic to over 570,000 followers. In 1991, the Lebanon he was raised in became too hostile, so he and his family fled for their lives and he's lived in Israel ever since. As a native Arabic speaker, Edy tweets through divides, talking directly to Arab audiences on Israel, the Jewish people and the religion which they never get at home. Edy's a Ph.D. in Middle Eastern History from Bar-Ilan University and his 2017 book, “The Holocaust in the Eyes of Mahmoud Abbas” exposes a vicious holocaust denial at the top of the Palestinian Authority. And in “The Mufti and the Jews: his connections to the Nazis”, Edy reveals new evidence of a 1943 plan the Arab leader hatched with the Nazis to exterminate the Jews in mandate Palestine - if World War II had been lost. But the allies won the Battle of El Alamein and so the Holocaust didn't spread in any meaningful sense into the Middle East and Maghreb, where a million more Jews would surely have suffered the same fate as their brothers and sisters in Europe. So let's talk about the collision of events which might lead to the end of the Arab-Israeli conflict, the burning of holy books in Sweden and what Israel has to do with Morocco's territorial ambitions in the Western Sahara! And what precisely is the Saudi/US/Israel offer? “It's bigger than Camp David”, says Professor Chuck Freilich, Israel's former Deputy National Security Adviser, who also appears in this episode to outline the proposition. A Senior Analyst at the Israel Ministry of Defense, policy adviser to a cabinet minister and delegate at the Israeli Mission to the United Nations. Chuck lays out the win-win-win for the US, Saudi and Israel - but as with all peace deals, it's no free lunch. Infact, what's on the table is costly for Israel. Jonny Gould's Jewish State is proudly supported by Dangoor Education.

Pastor John gives his take on whether or not Christians should feel obligated to read the holy books of other religions.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/3279340/advertisement

Pastor John gives his take on whether or not Christians should feel obligated to read the holy books of other religions.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/3279343/advertisement

Pastor John gives his take on whether or not Christians should feel obligated to read the holy books of other religions.

Today's Topics: Dying in the New Year with great Catholic Resolutions: 1) Die to Procrastination 2) Die to worrying about how others see me and not how God sees me. 3) Die to seeking self help outside of the Catholic faith (Bible, Holy Books) 4) Die to Gossiping 5) Die to greener grass 6) Die to grudges 7) Die to ....? You decide!

A discussion of two examples of esoteric meaning revealed by the Holy Books of Christianity and Islam, which reveal the hidden workings of reality. Support the show

Today's Reading: John 14:15-21Daily Lectionary: Numbers 20:22-21:9; Luke 20:45-21:19 "Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him." (John 14:21)In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Do you love Jesus? It seems like a silly question to ask a Christian, and yet it was just asked of you. How is it that you love Jesus? Was it something you decided to do one day? Did you will your love for Jesus into existence? Clearly those seem to be unlikely answers. Your love of Jesus, your love for God, did not and could not come from you. Such a love came about because of a Gift that you received, the Gift of faith. This Gift was given to you by the Holy Spirit. Jesus prepares us for that time when He will no longer be among us in the flesh. As upsetting to the disciples as that might have been, that day was drawing ever closer. But Jesus promised that the disciples would not be left alone. You, too, have received that promise, for Jesus has sent the Holy Spirit to you. He comes to give to us the Gift of faith which believes all that God has said and done. By faith, you have to come to know love, true love shown by God to us sinners. It is this love which led Him to send Jesus into creation, to make Jesus our sacrificial Lamb. God has made you known to Him, but more importantly, God has made Himself known to you. He has done so by giving you a name, one that is more important than any other name: child of God. That makes God your Father, and because God is your Father, He desires to give you the greatest Gift in all of creation, and that is the forgiveness of all of your sins. No greater Gift can be given than that, for it is by forgiveness that you are received into the kingdom of God. All that God desires to give you is yours because you have been made a part of Him. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Almighty and ever-living God, You fulfilled Your promise by sending the gift of the Holy Spirit to unite disciples of all nations in the cross and resurrection of Your Son, Jesus Christ. By the preaching of the Gospel spread this gift to the ends of the earth; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (Collect for the Eve of Pentecost)-Rev. Jared Tucher is pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church, Farmers Retreat, IN, and St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Dewberry, IN.Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Duane BamschOver eight sessions, The Messiah: Revealing Jesus in the Old Testament will lead you through the entirety of the Old Testament with daily readings, questions, and discussion prompts. After a brief introduction that reviews Christ's earthly ministry, you will dive into the heart of the Holy Books that have spiritually nourished God's people from creation to today! Now available from Concordia Publishing House.

Daily Lectionary: Numbers 20:1-21; Luke 20:19-44 So they watched him and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor. (Luke 20:20)In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. You have to hand it to the scribes and the chief priests for staying true to themselves. They pretend to be sincere when it comes to Jesus, all while trying to find ways to put Him to death. At least they're consistent in their doubletalk. What was at the heart of their issue with Jesus? For the scribes and chief priests, it came down to one word: power. They had it, and then Jesus came onto the scene, disrupting their powerbase. They could not allow that to happen, and so they sought to do whatever they could to remove Jesus from the picture. Regarding Jesus, it came down to a different word: authority. Jesus had the authority because He spoke the Word of God, not the word of man. That was at the heart of all the issues the people had with Jesus. It wasn't about power, but authority. When you seek to change God's Word in order to keep your power, it is clear that you do not have authority. Jesus, however, has all authority because He IS the authority. He is God in the flesh. If anyone should know what God has said, it would be Jesus. Later, when asking regarding marriage and the resurrection, the scribes and priests were put in their place again, because what they desired wasn't a legitimate answer. They wanted instead to discredit Jesus, show Him to be one who had no authority. And once again, they proved to be on the losing side of things, for Luke records: "For they no longer dared to ask him any question" (Luke 20:40). There is only one authority and that is God's authority. That authority has been revealed to us through His Word, both written and in the flesh of Jesus. God's Word reveals to us the length that God is willing to go to in order to redeem creation. For Christ's sake, your sins have been forgiven, not by man's authority but by God's. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Almighty God, You exalted Your Son to the place of all honor and authority. Enlighten our minds by Your Holy Spirit that, confessing Jesus as Lord, we may be led into all truth; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. -Rev. Jared Tucher is pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church, Farmers Retreat, IN, and St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Dewberry, IN.Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Duane BamschOver eight sessions, The Messiah: Revealing Jesus in the Old Testament will lead you through the entirety of the Old Testament with daily readings, questions, and discussion prompts. After a brief introduction that reviews Christ's earthly ministry, you will dive into the heart of the Holy Books that have spiritually nourished God's people from creation to today! Now available from Concordia Publishing House.

Today's Reading: Small Catechism: Apostle's Creed, First Article part 3Daily Lectionary: Numbers 16:41-17:13; Luke 20:1-18 All this He does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me. (Small Catechism: Apostle's Creed, First Article)In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. When you read the Explanation to the First Article, it's amazing how much God does for us, especially when you look at who we are–sinners. You and I deserve nothing, and yet God grants to us everything. There is no reason for God to do what He does, and yet He does it anyway. We don't even need to ask why, because Luther tells us: "without any merit or worthiness in me." And so, Luther writes in the Large Catechism, "We confess that He does all this out of pure love and goodness, without our merit, as a kind Father. He cares for us so that no evil falls upon us." There is no worthiness in us that causes God to do all that He does. He shows His great love for us in giving us all things to support our earthly body and life. Because of the great things God has given, we want to serve Him with all that we have received. However, according to Luther, we sin daily, even with the gifts God has given. We fail to do as Luther says: "thank and praise, serve and obey Him." It is fortunate for us that we have a gracious God, one who doesn't treat us the way that we deserve. He gives freely, "out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy. . . " That means that you don't have to do anything to earn what God gives; you simply receive from His bountiful goodness. As good as it is to receive temporal gifts from God, it is better to receive eternal gifts, and there can be no greater eternal gift than that of salvation and everlasting life. God has seen fit to give that to you as well, no strings attached, no hoops to jump through. That's what a loving Father does: gives generously. For you, He has done it and there is nothing for you to do except to receive from God the gifts He desires to give. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Almighty God, heavenly Father, Your mercies are new to us every morning and, though we in no wise deserve Your goodness, You abundantly provide for all our wants of body and soul. Give us, we humbly pray, Your Holy Spirit that we may heartily acknowledge Your merciful goodness toward us, give thanks for all Your benefits and cheerfully serve You; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.-Rev. Jared Tucher is pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church, Farmers Retreat, IN, and St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Dewberry, IN.Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Duane BamschOver eight sessions, The Messiah: Revealing Jesus in the Old Testament will lead you through the entirety of the Old Testament with daily readings, questions, and discussion prompts. After a brief introduction that reviews Christ's earthly ministry, you will dive into the heart of the Holy Books that have spiritually nourished God's people from creation to today! Now available from Concordia Publishing House.

Daily Lectionary: Numbers 16:23-40; Luke 19:29-48 "For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation." (Luke 19:43-44)In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Today the Church remembers Justin, a martyr from the early second century. Raised in a pagan home, Justin converted to Christianity and taught the faith in Ephesus and Rome. Sadly, but not unexpected given his upbringing, Justin was martyred along with six others for refusing to make pagan sacrifices and the like. But all was not in vain, for Justin's bold confession of faith would lead to a strengthening of the Christian faith in the early second century. So what does that have to do with you or the Christian Church today? Quite a bit, actually. Justin came to faith in Jesus after being raised a pagan. Such an influence like that would be hard to overcome, and yet Justin did just that, though not without help. The Holy Spirit worked faith in him to believe in Jesus, just as the Holy Spirit has done for you. While facing great persecution for his beliefs, Justin did not relent in his confession of faith. We continue to face that reality today, as the world seems to grow ever more hostile towards the Christian Church. In much the same way that Jesus wept over Jerusalem because of what was happening there, so, too, does He view the Church today. Jesus tells us in Matthew's Gospel, "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account" (Matthew 5:11). The world will be hostile to the Church and She will be persecuted for Her faith in Jesus. You, too, will be persecuted for your faith; Jesus tells us as much. Like the martyrs who have gone before us, may we remain ever faithful to the calling which we have received: faith in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Almighty and everlasting God, You found Your martyr Justin wandering from teacher to teacher, searching for the true God. Grant that all who seek for a deeper knowledge of the sublime wisdom of Your eternal Word may be found by You, who sent Your Son to seek and to save the lost; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (Collect for Justin Martyr)-Rev. Jared Tucher is pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church, Farmers Retreat, IN, and St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Dewberry, IN.Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Duane BamschOver eight sessions, The Messiah: Revealing Jesus in the Old Testament will lead you through the entirety of the Old Testament with daily readings, questions, and discussion prompts. After a brief introduction that reviews Christ's earthly ministry, you will dive into the heart of the Holy Books that have spiritually nourished God's people from creation to today! Now available from Concordia Publishing House.

Today's Reading: 1 Peter 4:7-14Daily Lectionary: Numbers 16:1-22; Luke 19:11-28 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:8) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Peter sure has a lofty goal for us, that we love one another earnestly. Clearly Peter never had any enemies and he certainly hasn't met our enemies before, those people who are unworthy of our love. There's a good reason why they're our enemies and we don't love them; all you have to do is ask us and we'll tell you all about it. Sadly, that's not the way that it is supposed to be. God does not want us to love some and hate others. That's not what Jesus teaches us in the Lord's Prayer: "And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." No, God wants us to love all people, despite who they might be and what they may have done. This is because of who we were: enemies of God. Paul tells us, "But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). Since we are sinners, we know that we have a multitude of sins. What does God do with those sins? Does He condemn us for them? No, He forgives them, each and every one of them. He does that out of love for us, His creation. That is because He is our loving Father, and as our Father, God does nothing but love us, loving us to the point of the death of His Son Jesus. We see just how much love covers our multitude of sins. They are covered in Jesus' holiness and righteousness, so much so that God does not see our sins, but only sees Jesus. Every person, from all times and all places have received the forgiveness of their sins on account of Jesus' death and resurrection. They are all people whom God has loved and for whom Christ has died. God doesn't play favorites with regards to His love. If God has created them, then God loves them; and since God has created all, God loves all. That idea of loving everyone is contrary to how we want to behave. God sees us for who we are: sinners in need of salvation. And because we are all sinners, God shows His love to all of us by sending Christ. That is the unconditional love that God has for us, and the same love which we should show others. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Almighty God, grant us a steadfast faith in Jesus Christ, a cheerful hope in Your mercy, and a sincere love for You and one another; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.-Rev. Jared Tucher is pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church, Farmers Retreat, IN, and St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Dewberry, IN.Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Duane BamschOver eight sessions, The Messiah: Revealing Jesus in the Old Testament will lead you through the entirety of the Old Testament with daily readings, questions, and discussion prompts. After a brief introduction that reviews Christ's earthly ministry, you will dive into the heart of the Holy Books that have spiritually nourished God's people from creation to today! Now available from Concordia Publishing House.

Today's Reading: Ezekiel 36:22-28Daily Lectionary:  Numbers 14:25-45; Luke 18:35-19:10 "You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God." (Ezekiel 36:28) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. There are advantages when you belong to something. Belonging to something often means that there are perks. If you're really fortunate, you get rewarded with free stuff just for belonging. You do belong to something, or rather, to someone: God. And when you belong to God, there are some great perks that go with it. You have God's Name placed on you, marking you as part of Him. You receive the free Gift of the forgiveness of your sins. Let's not forget the Gift of everlasting life that you receive by belonging to God. The best part of this: All of it is freely given to you, no punch card required! When you belong to God, everything is freely given to you. That's the promise God gave when He made us His people and He our God. The only thing necessary on your part is faith, and even that is given to you by the Holy Spirit. All of this is yours as a free gift. This is what God had done in the very beginning with Adam and Eve. They were God's people and He their God. They lived together in perfect harmony. Through man's fall into sin, all of that went away. Track throughout the Old Testament how many times God's people walked away from Him, believing in false idols and rejecting God. While the people strayed from God, He never strayed from them. He would remain faithful to them despite the fact that they were unfaithful to Him. That's the great difference between man and God. Man is faithful today but faithless tomorrow. We are easily tempted by the bright and shiny things of this world. We can and do easily forget that we belong to God. Fortunately for us, God does not lose faith in us and forget us. God can't forget us because He made a promise to us, to be our God, and that's not a promise that God takes likely. In fact, God doesn't take any of His promises lightly. Every promise made is a promise kept. You are His people and He is your God, now and forevermore. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. O Lord, keep Your Church with Your perpetual mercy; and because of our frailty we cannot but fall, keep us ever by Your help from all things hurtful and lead us to all things profitable to our salvation; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (Collect for Trinity 14)-Rev. Jared Tucher is pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church, Farmers Retreat, IN, and St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Dewberry, IN.Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Duane BamschOver eight sessions, The Messiah: Revealing Jesus in the Old Testament will lead you through the entirety of the Old Testament with daily readings, questions, and discussion prompts. After a brief introduction that reviews Christ's earthly ministry, you will dive into the heart of the Holy Books that have spiritually nourished God's people from creation to today! Now available from Concordia Publishing House.

Today's Reading: John 15:26-16:4Daily Lectionary: Numbers 14:1-25; Luke 18:18-34 "I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away." (John 16:1) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Have you wondered why Jesus spends so much time with His disciples? If He wanted to get His message out to the mass population, you would think that He would devote more time to being amongst the people, though He does spend His fair share of time with them. In order for the disciples to be strengthened and prepared to go and spread the Word of God, Jesus needs to convey that Word to them. The best way He knows how to do that is to bring them with Him and teach them as much as He can in a short amount of time. The Word of God that was taught to the disciples is that same Word that has been and continues to be taught to you. There is so much that is contained within God's Word, you could never mine every nugget of God's wisdom. What we have recorded in Scripture is what God has decided we need to have–nothing more and nothing less. The purpose is simple according to John: "But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name" (John 20:31). The devil is quite crafty and continues to try to cause doubt in the believer. Anyone who will doubt God and His Word is a win for Satan. This will continue until the day that Jesus returns. Luther tells us, "He will certainly have the devil also around him, who with his lying and murdering day and night will let him have no peace, within or without. . . " (Small Catechism). The only sure defense we have against Satan is God's Word. It is for that reason that Jesus spends so much time with His disciples, to teach them God's Word. It is for that reason that you and I remain in God's Word, and that we will always have before us God's promise of forgiveness and salvation. God's Word, both in its written form and through the Word made flesh, has been given to us, to lead and guide us into the truth. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. O King of glory, Lord of hosts, uplifted in triumph far above all heavens, leave us not without consolation but send us the Spirit of truth whom You promised from the Father; for You live and reign with Him and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (Collect for the Seventh Sunday of Easter)-Rev. Jared Tucher is pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church, Farmers Retreat, IN, and St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Dewberry, IN.Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Duane BamschOver eight sessions, The Messiah: Revealing Jesus in the Old Testament will lead you through the entirety of the Old Testament with daily readings, questions, and discussion prompts. After a brief introduction that reviews Christ's earthly ministry, you will dive into the heart of the Holy Books that have spiritually nourished God's people from creation to today! Now available from Concordia Publishing House.

Today's Reading: Introit for the Seventh Sunday of Easter        (Psalm 27:1, 11a, 12; antiphon: v.7a, 8b, 9a)Daily Lectionary: Numbers 13:1-3, 17-33; Luke 18:1-17 The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is my stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? (From the Introit for the Seventh Sunday of Easter) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Children tend to be fearful of many things, especially of the dark. It's likely because they can't see anything and are afraid of what might happen to them. As we get older, our fears tend to subside and we aren't so easily frightened. When it comes to this present darkness in which we live, it would be easy for us to fear, but there is no reason for us to fear. Though there is darkness, there is Light: Jesus Christ, the Light of the world, the Light no darkness can overcome (John 8:12, 1:5). Satan tried desperately to extinguish this Light, to snuff out our salvation. Try as he might, Satan could not succeed. Tempting Jesus failed. Leading Judas to betray Jesus failed. Crucifying Jesus failed to extinguish the Light. All that Satan could do was sit and watch God's promise of salvation come to fruition. Despite knowing that he has already lost, Satan doesn't go down without a fight. He musters all of his wicked strength to go after the children of God, causing all sorts of trials and temptations to rise up against us. Throughout the darkness, we must remember that we have God for us. That means that nothing can harm us; it means that nothing can be against us (Romans 8:31). As the blood-bought and redeemed children of God, we would do well to remember all that God has done for us, continues to do for us, and will do for us. God has spared us from eternal death and damnation by the sending of Jesus. God protects you from all the assaults of Satan and whatever he can throw at you because Jesus has conquered the darkness. There is nothing that you need to be fearful of because God is your stronghold. God is our salvation. God is your hope. God is your everything. In this earthly life, He provides you everything you need. But more importantly, He grants to you the forgiveness of your sins and the privilege of being called a child of God. There is nothing for you to fear, for the LORD Almighty is with you. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. A mighty fortress is our God, A trusty shield and weapon; He helps us free from ev'ry need That hath us now o'er taken. The old evil foe Now means deadly woe; Deep guile and great might Are his dread arms in fight; On earth is not his equal. ("A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" LSB 656, st.1)-Rev. Jared Tucher is pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church, Farmers Retreat, IN, and St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Dewberry, IN.Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Duane BamschOver eight sessions, The Messiah: Revealing Jesus in the Old Testament will lead you through the entirety of the Old Testament with daily readings, questions, and discussion prompts. After a brief introduction that reviews Christ's earthly ministry, you will dive into the heart of the Holy Books that have spiritually nourished God's people from creation to today! Now available from Concordia Publishing House.

Today's Reading: Acts 1:1-11Daily Lectionary: Numbers 11:24-29; 12:1-16; Luke 17:20-37 And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, "You heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." (Acts 1:4-5)In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Baptism. Baptized with water. Now, baptized with the Holy Spirit. Obviously, this is significant, not just for Jesus, but for the Church as a whole. This is an important point in the lives of the disciples. Jesus has risen from the dead and appeared to them, as well as to many others. In short order, though, Jesus will leave the disciples again. But He promises not to leave them lacking; He promises to send them the Holy Spirit. With the coming of the Holy Spirit, something else will be coming: the gift of faith. Jesus sends the Spirit of truth to guide the disciples into all truth. The truth is nothing short of God's divine plan of salvation that is meant for His creation. The truth is of Jesus Christ, and His salvation of us through His life, death, and resurrection. The work of the Holy Spirit is to create faith in a person. Note that the Spirit does not speak on His own, but rather speaks on behalf of the Father and Jesus, and testifies about Jesus. It's all about Jesus. For the Holy Spirit, it has to be all about Jesus because Jesus is the sole means of salvation. If there is a single message that we need to hear and take to heart, it is that of Jesus Christ, for He is our sole means of salvation. Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to create this wonderful Gift in us called faith. It is that faith which believes in Jesus, believes in His atoning sacrifice for our sins. All of this was promised by God to His people of old, from Adam and Eve all the way up to the disciples and to the early Church. This promise was extended to all peoples of all times and in all places; this promise extends to you as well. God's promise was the promise of salvation, to undo the damning effects of sin at the Fall. God's promise had been made and it was fulfilled. Jesus has come and forgiven us our sins. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. O Lord, You have made the promise of salvation to Your people of old and fulfilled in Your Son, Jesus Christ. Strengthen the faith of Your people, that they would look alone to Jesus for their salvation, trusting in Your great mercy for Your creation; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.-Rev. Jared Tucher is pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church, Farmers Retreat, IN, and St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Dewberry, IN.Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Duane BamschOver eight sessions, The Messiah: Revealing Jesus in the Old Testament will lead you through the entirety of the Old Testament with daily readings, questions, and discussion prompts. After a brief introduction that reviews Christ's earthly ministry, you will dive into the heart of the Holy Books that have spiritually nourished God's people from creation to today! Now available from Concordia Publishing House.

Today's Reading: Luke 24:44-53Daily Lectionary: Numbers 11:1-23, 31-35; Luke 17:1-19 While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. (Luke 24:51) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. We all are familiar with the saying, "Here today, gone tomorrow." Whether we like it or not, what is today will not be tomorrow. This same thought applies to Jesus as well, whether you like it or not. After His three years of ministry, there were people who were more than happy to see Jesus die; this was the prevailing sentiment from the beginning of His ministry. But for as many people who wanted to see Jesus dead, there were just as many who wanted to see Jesus live forever. Their reasons varied: Some admired His teaching, some looked to Jesus as a means of healing the sick. For the disciples, Jesus was their Teacher. He was their Master. He was their Friend. Regardless of who Jesus was, He was not destined to live a long life on earth. He was destined to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. As much as the disciples did not want to hear of Jesus' death, it was necessary. Following our Lord's resurrection, all seemed well with the disciples–Jesus had returned to them! Though the disciples had Jesus back again, Jesus had other plans–He would return to the Father. All of this had been taught to them. All of this was according to God's divine plan for salvation. Luke's Gospel gives us just a glimpse of our Lord's Ascension. In fact, the Ascension itself comprises a single verse: "While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven." Jesus was here yesterday and gone tomorrow. But then, Jesus was here again following the resurrection. How happy the disciples must have been to have Jesus with them once again. But that would not last long, as Jesus needed to return to the Father. All would not be lost after Jesus' Ascension, though, as He would grant to them the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. Because Christ has ascended unto the Father, so we will ascend as well. We will be with Him in glory. We will enjoy all of the benefits Christ has won for us. We have life because Christ has laid down His life and taken it up again in order to grant life for all believers. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Almighty God, as Your only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, ascended into the heavens, so may we also ascend in heart and mind and continually dwell there with Him, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (Collect for the Ascension of Our Lord)-Rev. Jared Tucher is pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church, Farmers Retreat, IN, and St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Dewberry, IN.Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Duane BamschOver eight sessions, The Messiah: Revealing Jesus in the Old Testament will lead you through the entirety of the Old Testament with daily readings, questions, and discussion prompts. After a brief introduction that reviews Christ's earthly ministry, you will dive into the heart of the Holy Books that have spiritually nourished God's people from creation to today! Now available from Concordia Publishing House.

Today's Reading: Small Catechism: Apostles' Creed, First Article part 2Daily Lectionary: Numbers 10:11-36; Luke 16:19-31 He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life. (Small Catechism: Apostles' Creed, First Article) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Did you know that you are rich? It doesn't matter if you don't have a dime in your pocket. You are rich, but that's because your wealth doesn't involve money. We are rich because God has provided everything that we need to support our earthly life. That means the clothes on our backs and the shoes on our feet, the food in our stomachs and the roofs over our heads. Luther sums up our First Article gifts with three simple words: "all I have." But what is that? We know the things we have because we can see them and touch them. But what about the things we can't see and touch? Do we have those as well? Not only does God provide us all that we see, He also provides all that we do not see, namely, our salvation. When a person looks at you, do they see that you are covered in the blood of the Lamb which forgives you all of your sins? Do they see God's Name placed upon you in your Baptism? Do they see that your sins are forgiven for the sake of Christ? None of that is visible to the naked eye, and yet, that is what we have as well. We are wealthy beyond all measure because of the sacrifice that was made for us by Jesus Christ. Through His death and resurrection, all that God intended for creation to have, all that was lost because of sin, has been restored. Everything that was meant for you from before the creation of the world is yours once again because Jesus has died and is risen again. He has made full satisfaction for your sins. All that we need in this life is given to us by God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. All that you need for the life of the world to come, is yours because of Jesus. The best part of all of this is that you don't need to wait until Christ comes again to receive the full benefit of Christ's death and resurrection. It is yours now, for Christ has died for you. All that Christ has to give is yours; all of your sins are forgiven and salvation is yours now. God has richly provided for you, now and forevermore. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. We all believe in one true God. . .  He in soul and body feeds us; All we need His hand provides us. . .  He cares for us by day and night; All things are governed by His might. ("We All Believe in One True God" LSB 954 st.1)-Rev. Jared Tucher is pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church, Farmers Retreat, IN, and St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Dewberry, IN.Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Duane BamschOver eight sessions, The Messiah: Revealing Jesus in the Old Testament will lead you through the entirety of the Old Testament with daily readings, questions, and discussion prompts. After a brief introduction that reviews Christ's earthly ministry, you will dive into the heart of the Holy Books that have spiritually nourished God's people from creation to today! Now available from Concordia Publishing House.

Today's Reading: James 1:22-27Daily Lectionary: Numbers 9:1-23; Luke 16:1-18 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. (James 1:22) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. How do you "do" the Word of God? Martin Luther tells us that we "hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it" (Explanation to the Third Commandment). That's the hearing which James speaks of, but what about the doing of the Word? What does that mean? What does it look like? To be a doer of the Word means to do what the Word says. And what does that Word say? "You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matthew 5:48). To be perfect means to do all that God has commanded of you. It means to do all that His Law says and to do it exactly as He has said to do it, to the letter. But you and I are not capable of keeping the Law perfectly. The only thing we are good at is failing to do what God has commanded of us. If we expect to be perfect, to do all that God commands of us, someone else will have to bring that about. A thought like that goes against everything the world would have us believe. The world wants you to think that you are certainly capable of doing what God tells you to do, that you are capable of saving yourself. The harsh truth is that the world lies to you. The world builds you up, sets you up for something that you are not capable of doing. Fortunately for us, we have One who does set us up, but not for failure. God our heavenly Father sets us up for salvation by making a promise and keeping that promise. There was nothing that Adam and Eve could do to save themselves, just like there is nothing that you can do to save yourself. Jesus, the Word of God made flesh, was sent into this world. He who is the Word is also the doer of the Word. His Word created and His Word saves. He does exactly what God sets out for Him to do: to redeem creation from the devastating and destructive forces of sin, death, and the devil. Jesus does all that the Father commands: He keeps the Word of God perfectly. so He keeps that Law of God perfectly. He keeps all things perfectly, including His sacrificial death and resurrection from the dead. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Lord, Your mercy will not leave me; Ever will Your truth abide. Then in You I will confide. Since Your Word cannot deceive me, My salvation is to me Safe and sure eternally. ("Oh, How Great Is Your Compassion" LSB 559, st.4)-Rev. Jared Tucher is pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church, Farmers Retreat, IN, and St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Dewberry, IN.Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Duane BamschOver eight sessions, The Messiah: Revealing Jesus in the Old Testament will lead you through the entirety of the Old Testament with daily readings, questions, and discussion prompts. After a brief introduction that reviews Christ's earthly ministry, you will dive into the heart of the Holy Books that have spiritually nourished God's people from creation to today! Now available from Concordia Publishing House.

Today's Reading: Numbers 21:4-9Daily Lectionary: Numbers 8:5-26; Luke 15:11-32 From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. (Numbers 21:4) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. "I don't want to!" "No!" "You can't make me!" Does this sound familiar to you? Do you remember ever saying those words yourself? I don't know about you, but I've said those phrases a time or two, probably more recently than I'd want to admit. As God's people began to voice this sentiment, they probably all jumped into the cadence of complaint. But to whom was their complaint directed? Of course this was directed against Moses, because it was Moses who issued the command to move. But where did Moses get the command? "And the people spoke against God and against Moses. . . "(Numbers 21:5). Clearly, all of this was God's fault. It was God's fault that the people were impatient. It was God's fault that the people didn't want to listen to God. It was God's fault that they had no food or water. Blame God for everything and everything will work out for the better, right? That's how God's people thought then and that's how people tend to think today, isn't it? Things go well and we think we were the cause; things go bad and we blame God. What good is there in blaming God? What good is there in trying to go around God and do things our own way? Whenever we try to do things without God, the results are never promising. In fact, we make things worse for ourselves all because we don't want to listen to what God has to say about this and that. What happened to God's people when they chose not to listen? God sent fiery serpents to the people and many died. It was then that the people repented and returned to Moses, asking what they needed to do to be saved. The answer: Look to the fiery serpent and live. You and I do not have a fiery serpent to look at in order to be saved. We have Jesus. We see our salvation as He is lifted high upon the Cross. We see our Jesus in the breaking of the bread. We see Jesus in the waters of Holy Baptism. We see our salvation high and lifted up for us, that we may gaze upon Jesus and be saved. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim Til all the world adore His sacred name. O Lord, once lifted on the glorious tree, As Thou hast promised, draw us all to Thee. ("Lift High the Cross" LSB 837, st.4)-Rev. Jared Tucher is pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church, Farmers Retreat, IN, and St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Dewberry, IN.Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Duane BamschOver eight sessions, The Messiah: Revealing Jesus in the Old Testament will lead you through the entirety of the Old Testament with daily readings, questions, and discussion prompts. After a brief introduction that reviews Christ's earthly ministry, you will dive into the heart of the Holy Books that have spiritually nourished God's people from creation to today! Now available from Concordia Publishing House.

Today's Reading: John 16:23-33Daily Lectionary:Numbers 3:1-16, 39-48; Luke 14:25-15:10 "I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Many will say that life changed in March 2020 and has not returned to normal. Instead, we are learning what the "new normal" is, whatever that means. But life changed long before 2020. Life changed in the Garden of Eden, and it didn't change for the better. It didn't take long for God's creation to go from perfect to not perfect. There was no in-between with regard to creation's state of being. It wasn't not-quite-perfect; it wasn't mostly perfect; it wasn't anything having to do with perfect, because perfect was left in the rearview mirror. In other words, there was no chance of getting perfection back. In its place, we were left with the complete opposite of perfection: sin. Sin was not meant to be part of God's creation. However, because man chose to listen to the serpent rather than God, sin became intertwined with creation to the point that there would be no way to separate the two. Because of sin, we are left with all sorts of things that God did not desire for us. Sin leads to tribulation, and in this world, there will be no shortage of it. Jesus tells the disciples as much. Sin leads us away from God, eternally separating us from God. Without God, there can be nothing but tribulation. All would seem lost: "seem" being the key word. We have something or rather, someone, working in our favor: Jesus. He has conquered sin, and with it, He has conquered tribulation. Whatever was done by the Fall into sin was undone by Jesus' death upon the Cross. We hear in our communion liturgy, ". . .  through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who on this day overcame death and the grave and by His glorious resurrection opened to us the way of everlasting life. . . " For the Christian, the joys of Easter cannot be confined to a single day, or even to a single single season of the Church year. Instead, every day is a little Easter, a day of rejoicing in Christ's victory over sin and death, once and for all. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Almighty God the Father, through Your only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, You have overcome death and opened the gate of everlasting life to us. Grant that we, who celebrate with joy the day of our Lord's resurrection, may be raised from the death of sin by Your life-giving Spirit; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (Collect for the Sixth Sunday of Easter)-Rev. Jared Tucher is pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church, Farmers Retreat, IN, and St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Dewberry, IN.Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Duane BamschOver eight sessions, The Messiah: Revealing Jesus in the Old Testament will lead you through the entirety of the Old Testament with daily readings, questions, and discussion prompts. After a brief introduction that reviews Christ's earthly ministry, you will dive into the heart of the Holy Books that have spiritually nourished God's people from creation to today! Now available from Concordia Publishing House.

Today's Reading: Introit for the Sixth Sunday of Easter     (Psalm 66:1-2a, 17, 19-20; antiphon: Isaiah 48:20b)Daily Lectionary: Leviticus 26:21-33, 39-44; Luke 14:1-24 Send it out to the end of the earth; say, "The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob!" (Isaiah 48:20b) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. You can almost taste it! Freedom is right around the corner. Summer is coming and the chains of school requirements are about to be cast off. You are ready for whatever the summer has in store for you. Your emotions are running high. The final exams are almost here, or maybe they have already passed and now it is just a matter of biding your time until that final bell rings. In the end, freedom is close at hand.As Isaiah writes to the people of God, he reminds them that freedom approaches for them as well. The shackles of slavery are about to be removed and their shouts of freedom will abound. The one doing the freeing is the one true God. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is the God who will deliver them. He will redeem them from the bondage of the Babylonians. No longer will they be subject to the godless people who have held them captive, but instead they will return to their land, a land flowing with milk and honey. A land given to them by their God. Redemption is at hand.In sin we are held captive to the requirements of the Law. The Law requires us to be perfect in every aspect. On account of our sinful condition it is impossible for us to keep the Law. We are in need of being redeemed. We are in need of being freed from the righteous requirements of the law for our salvation. In Christ we are set free. In Christ the shackles of the righteous requirement of the Law have been taken off. Christ has fulfilled the Law for us. We shout for joy and sing His praises as He has given to us our freedom.In Christ we look to the day of His glorious return. We are prepared for His return in the waters of Baptism. In the Sacrament of the Altar we look back and proclaim His death while at the same time we look forward to His glorious return on the Last Day. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Our hope and expectation, O Jesus, now appear; Arise, O Sun so longed for, O'er this benighted sphere. With hearts and hands uplifted, We plead, O Lord, to see The day of earth's redemption That sets Your people free! ("Rejoice, Rejoice, Believers" LSB 515, st.4)-Rev. Timothy Davis is pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Athens, GA.Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Duane BamschOver eight sessions, The Messiah: Revealing Jesus in the Old Testament will lead you through the entirety of the Old Testament with daily readings, questions, and discussion prompts. After a brief introduction that reviews Christ's earthly ministry, you will dive into the heart of the Holy Books that have spiritually nourished God's people from creation to today! Now available from Concordia Publishing House.

Daily Lectionary: Leviticus 26:1-20; Luke 13:18-35 "When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,' then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.'" (Luke 13:25) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. In the 1970's, American Express advertised that its card was for important people. People who mattered carried their exclusive card. The movie star or famous athlete would conclude, "Do you know me?" then the ad would flash to an American Express card with his name on it while the person would say, "That's why I carry American Express." The idea was that if you could present your American Express card, you were important.As Christ speaks of the kingdom of heaven, He reminds His hearers that salvation is not about how important they are in this world. Your salvation is hinged upon your faith in Christ. The master of the house denies entrance to the foreigners. Who are you? Where do you come from? He does not know the strangers knocking on the door. It is an eerie narrative that Christ delivers. He identifies that there are some who are going to heaven and some who are not. Those who are brought into heaven are known by the master of the house. The Lord knows them. They come from the four corners of the world. As Christ speaks to the people of Jerusalem, He warns them about the dangers of their unbelief and rejection of the son of man. He teaches them that salvation is for the four corners of the world.In your Baptism you are known by your Father in heaven. You are connected to Jesus Christ and it is He who presents you to His Father in heaven. Your salvation is delivered to you through the work of Christ. His works are for You. On the Last Day, in the resurrection, you can be sure that salvation is yours because Christ is known by His Father and Christ knows you. As He knows you, so also the Father knows you. The narrow door is opened wide for you to enter and live in a new, restored earth for all eternity. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. O Lord, You have called us to enter Your kingdom through the narrow door. Guide us by Your Word and Spirit, and lead us now and always into the feast of Your Son, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (Treasury of Daily Prayer, p.283)-Rev. Timothy Davis is pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Athens, GA.Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Duane BamschOver eight sessions, The Messiah: Revealing Jesus in the Old Testament will lead you through the entirety of the Old Testament with daily readings, questions, and discussion prompts. After a brief introduction that reviews Christ's earthly ministry, you will dive into the heart of the Holy Books that have spiritually nourished God's people from creation to today! Now available from Concordia Publishing House.

Daily Lectionary: Leviticus 24:1-23; Luke 12:54-13:17"And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?" (Luke 13:16) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. The great reversal of Luke takes place again. Jesus heals on the Sabbath and is reprimanded for breaking the laws. He just cannot win with these picky church leaders. Nothing is ever right for them. Christ reads Scriptures and explains it, and the leadership wants to stone Him. He shows up at the temple and heals a man with a withered hand, and they accuse Him of Sabbath violations. He heals a woman on the Sabbath and again He is chastised for violating God's ceremonial laws. Christ heals on the Sabbath.The work laws for the historic Jew were strict. No work on the Sabbath was a primary one. Yet there were all kinds of exceptions that could be invoked so that you would not be accused of violating the law. When Christ heals on the Sabbath, it is because that's His day to work. The whole concept of resting is reversed when it comes to Christ. At creation God worked for six days and then rested on the seventh. He declared the seventh day to be a holy day. A day of rest. The Sabbath Day connected God's people to His work and rest cycle. As Christ comes into the temple and synagogues on the Sabbath, a reversal takes place. He is the one working now. Today, Christ works on our Sabbath. As we gather in His Holy sanctuaries on Sunday, the eighth day of the week as well as the day He rose from the dead, we rest while He works. His Holy Word is spoken to us. He absolves us through the work of the Office of the Holy Ministry. He places in our ears His comforting words of reconciliation and forgiveness. He points us back to our Baptisms and gives us comfort in knowing that we belong to Him. He comes to us in His precious Body and Blood in the Sacrament of the Altar for the forgiveness of our sins and strengthening of our faith. He is doing all the work and we are merely resting and receiving. Sunday is the day of our rest and the day that Christ conquers sin, death, and the devil. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.Now have I found consolation, Comfort in my tribulation, Balm to heal the troubled soul. God, my shield from ev'ry terror, Cleanses me from sin and error, Makes my wounded spirit whole. ("Jesus Comes Today with Healing" LSB 620, st.6)-Rev. Timothy Davis is pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Athens, GA.Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Duane BamschOver eight sessions, The Messiah: Revealing Jesus in the Old Testament will lead you through the entirety of the Old Testament with daily readings, questions, and discussion prompts. After a brief introduction that reviews Christ's earthly ministry, you will dive into the heart of the Holy Books that have spiritually nourished God's people from creation to today! Now available from Concordia Publishing House.

Today's Reading: Small Catechism: Apostles' Creed, First Article part 1Daily Lectionary: Leviticus 23:23-44; Luke 12:35-53 "I believe that God has made me and all creatures. . . "(Small Catechism: Apostles' Creed, First Article) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. "Rome was not built in a day!" If you try to claim that Rome was built in a day you would be ridiculed for being ignorant and foolish. Rome could not possibly have been built in a day. The secular world laughs at us when we say that the world was created in six days. "How could that possibly be?" they say. Six days to put all of this together from the simplest organism to the complexities of human life? Impossible! It is inconceivable that the entire creation could come about in 144 hours. The book of Genesis opens up with the simple phrase, "In the beginning God created. . . ." Those simple words leave no doubt that the start of everything, including time, comes from God. He is the source of all that exists. Understanding God as the source of everything is very humbling for mankind. We like to think of ourselves as the creator, not the creation. We work hard to demonstrate how much we have discovered in all of our sciences. We define life's origins in billions of years. We capture light and attempt to determine the origins of the universe. We try to develop life on our own apart from the natural process that God gave us in creation. We take from God's creation and claim it as our own. We use His subatomic particles, His atoms, His molecules, His cells and say, "Look at what WE have created!" In the end it is all God's, and His creation. We have done nothing new.In spite of our desire to lay claim to creation, God still takes care of us. He provides all that we need to sustain this life from day to day. We pray in the Lord's Prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread." He places homes over our heads, parents to raise us, food to feed us, churches for worship, and clothes to cover us. He never stops taking care of us. He not only created you, He also sustains you in all your needs. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. The world seeks after wealth And all that mammon offers Yet never is content Though gold should fill its coffers. I have a higher good, Content with it I'll be: My Jesus is my wealth. What is the world to me! ("What Is the World to Me" LSB 730, st.3)-Rev. Timothy Davis is pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Athens, GA.Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Duane BamschOver eight sessions, The Messiah: Revealing Jesus in the Old Testament will lead you through the entirety of the Old Testament with daily readings, questions, and discussion prompts. After a brief introduction that reviews Christ's earthly ministry, you will dive into the heart of the Holy Books that have spiritually nourished God's people from creation to today! Now available from Concordia Publishing House.

Today's Reading: James 1:16-21Daily Lectionary: Leviticus 23:1-22; Luke 12:13-34 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. (James 1:21) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. God's people are to be holy people. It is how God designed it. Holiness reflects God's holiness. In the Garden of Eden man was created in the holy image of God. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they lost that holiness. The inclination of the heart is opposed to the will of God. Left to ourselves, we want nothing to do with God's desire for us to be holy. Our condition is that we are dead in our transgressions with no ability whatsoever to come to God or to be holy as He is holy. James uses language that reflects the passive nature of our salvation. On account of our sinful condition, we cannot come to God by our own power. Rather, it is God who comes to us. James' words are very specific. He says to "receive" the implanted Word. We do not accept the Word, but rather receive the Word. The doingness is through the work of the Holy Spirit and God's Holy Word is brought to us. Often we will hear someone say that you need to "accept" the Word of God as truth. Unfortunately, that is the wrong language to use when we speak about our relationship with God. We "receive" His Holy Word. The burden is not on us, it cannot be on us, because we are spiritually dead in our sin. James does not stop with just conversion. He reminds his hearers about their new life in Christ. As children of God, we live in a constant tension between the Old Adam and the New Man in Christ. The Old Adam desires to pursue the wants of the flesh and live in filthiness and rampant wickedness. The New Man in Christ desires to live as a holy being, in the image of a holy God. In your Baptism you have put on Christ. Daily, the Old Adam is drowned and the New Man in Christ is resurrected. In that resurrection you live with the robe of Christ's righteousness over you. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Hope of the world, afoot on dusty highways, Showing to wand'ring souls the path of light, Walk Thou beside us Lest the tempting byways Lure us away from Thee to endless night. ("Hope of the World" LSB 690, st.3)-Rev. Timothy Davis is pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Athens, GA.Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Duane BamschOver eight sessions, The Messiah: Revealing Jesus in the Old Testament will lead you through the entirety of the Old Testament with daily readings, questions, and discussion prompts. After a brief introduction that reviews Christ's earthly ministry, you will dive into the heart of the Holy Books that have spiritually nourished God's people from creation to today! Now available from Concordia Publishing House.

Today's Reading: Isaiah 12:1-6Daily Lectionary: Leviticus 21:1-24; Luke 12:1-12 For though you were angry with me, your anger turned away that you might comfort me. (Isaiah 12:1b) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Approaching the end of a school year can be very stressful. The last days, weeks, and months remind us that a chapter of our life is about to end, and a new one is about to begin. The summer months are pressing in on us and plans for travel, vacations, or other summer activities are well underway. It is understandable that there may be some anxiety resting upon our hearts as these times of transition take place. We reflect on the things to come and the things that have transpired. In those reflections, memories of unresolved conflict may arise.It is that unresolved conflict that Satan and sin use to keep us from the comfort of our Father in heaven. Our lives in sin create that chasm between us and Him. He wants nothing more than to draw us back to Him. As God the Father walks in the Garden of Eden, after the Fall, He wants to be with Adam and Eve. They have disobeyed God and have hidden themselves, for they were afraid. The image of God is lost and His wrath is kindled. He curses the serpent, the woman, the man, and even the ground is cursed. God's wrath is finally delivered to His Son Jesus Christ in His death on the Cross. God delivers the punishment of our sin to His Son. His wrath is turned away from us. In His wrathful punishment of His Son on the Cross, our salvation is won. No longer do we fear His wrath, but rather we are covered in the comfort of His unfailing mercy, where the forgiveness of sins and reconciliation have taken place. Joy and comfort are delivered in the message that on the Last Day we will rise from the dead. We will walk upon a restored earth and under a new heaven. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Lord Jesus, by Your Spirit, You give us faith to cast out all fear of confessing the true faith; for we are helpless to save ourselves, and we must trust in You and You alone for our salvation. Keep us faithful to the end, that You will not be ashamed of us when You come in Your glory with Your Father and the holy angels; for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.-Rev. Timothy Davis is pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Athens, GA.Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Duane BamschOver eight sessions, The Messiah: Revealing Jesus in the Old Testament will lead you through the entirety of the Old Testament with daily readings, questions, and discussion prompts. After a brief introduction that reviews Christ's earthly ministry, you will dive into the heart of the Holy Books that have spiritually nourished God's people from creation to today! Now available from Concordia Publishing House.

Today's Reading: John 16:5-15Daily Lectionary: Leviticus 20:1-16, 22-27; Luke 11:37-54 "Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you." (John 16:7) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. The disciples' plan of salvation was not going in the direction they had hoped. Jesus has been doing miracles, teaching in the synagogues, preparing the people for the kingdom to come and now He was talking about leaving and sending a helper. This was not what they had in mind. Jesus cannot leave. The language of death and resurrection was contrary to the way freedom was usually brought to a nation. Now He is speaking of leaving and sending someone else, and this is to our advantage?Christ's words of departure and promise to send the "Helper" were foreign to the disciples. He was promising the sending of the Holy Spirit to equip and enable them to proclaim the Good News of salvation. God's plan of salvation was completely different from what the disciples had in mind. The disciples sought temporal freedom from the Roman Empire. Christ brought to them eternal freedom through His actions and deeds.In our lives we, too, have our own plans. We want our lives to go as we desire. We fail to see or do not want to see God's work in our lives through Christ. Our sinfulness pulls us back from what Christ has delivered to us and points us to the temporal activities in our own situation. The Holy Spirit works in our lives, waging war against the sinful man and pointing us back to the eternal things of God. He delivers to us the Gift of salvation won for us on the Cross. Through the coming of the Holy Spirit, the disciples proclaimed the message of hope and reconciliation to the churches. It is the same message that is proclaimed today: that Christ delivered us through His life, death, and resurrection. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.Come, Holy Light, guide divine, Now cause the Word of life to shine. Teach us to know our God arightAnd call Him Father with delight. From ev'ry error keep us free; Let none but Christ our master beThat we in living faith abide, In Him, our Lord, with all our might confide. Alleluia, alleluia! ("Come, Holy Ghost, God and Lord" LSB 497, st.2)-Rev. Timothy Davis is pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Athens, GA.Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Duane BamschOver eight sessions, The Messiah: Revealing Jesus in the Old Testament will lead you through the entirety of the Old Testament with daily readings, questions, and discussion prompts. After a brief introduction that reviews Christ's earthly ministry, you will dive into the heart of the Holy Books that have spiritually nourished God's people from creation to today! Now available from Concordia Publishing House.

Today's Reading: Introit for the Fifth Sunday of Easter          (Psalm 98:1b, 3-4; antiphon: v.1a, 2b)Daily Lectionary: Leviticus 9:9-18, 26-37; Luke 11:14-36 Oh sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things. (From the Introit for the Fifth Sunday of Easter) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. "God works in mysterious ways!" We hear that phrase frequently in our lives. We attribute the unexplainable to God's mysterious way of interceding in our lives. We reduce His marvelous work to some form of mysticism or magical event taking place. In our sinful, temporal lives we look only at the current activities that surround us. We invoke the Name of God in the hope that He'll be a "fix it" god who resolves our current struggles. We use Him as a handyman to get us through the times that we see as difficult and then we ignore Him when we are comfortable. When tragedy strikes, then we call upon Him again. In sin, our focus is only on the right now. In sin we dictate to God what we believe He needs to do in our lives so that our lives can be comfortable by our standards. We do not want to experience any discomforts that may lead to strengthening of faith and growth in our trust in Him.The psalmist reminds his hearers to sing a new song to the LORD. No longer are they to sing a song of lament and sorrow, but rather a song of joy and comfort. The LORD has done marvelous things in the redemption of His people. No longer are they bound in slavery but they are set free from their enemies. The twofold meaning of the opening stanza of the psalm draws the reader to the immediate temporal lives that the LORD redeemed from earthly slavery and points them to the coming Messiah and His work of redemption. In our lives, God bestows upon us our daily bread of sustenance. We are also reminded of the marvelous work the LORD did through the Gift of redemption. He has redeemed us through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. A new song is sung, proclaiming that we have been set free through the blood of the Lamb. We sing a new song because He has done marvelous things. He has given us eternal life through Christ. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Dear Christians, one and all, rejoice, With exultation springing, And with united heart and voice And holy rapture singing, Proclaim the wonders God has done, How His right arm the vict'ry won. What price our ransom cost Him! ("Dear Christians, One and All, Rejoice" LSB 556, st.1)-Rev. Timothy Davis is pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Athens, GA.Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Duane BamschOver eight sessions, The Messiah: Revealing Jesus in the Old Testament will lead you through the entirety of the Old Testament with daily readings, questions, and discussion prompts. After a brief introduction that reviews Christ's earthly ministry, you will dive into the heart of the Holy Books that have spiritually nourished God's people from creation to today! Now available from Concordia Publishing House.

Daily Lectionary: Leviticus 18:1-7, 20-19:8; Luke 11:1-13 "Father, hallowed be your name. . . " (Luke 11:2b) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. God gives His Holy Name to us. A Name that is above all names. A Name that is more than just an identification. His Name is set apart from all other names and clarifies who He is and what He has done. In our world today, names bring identity to individuals and have become symbols of success. Families have names that are passed down from generation to generation. Companies have names, and with those names come branding and marketing logos. Schools are given names and mascots of those schools are given names, too. Everything has a name.God's Name is unique. His Name brings comfort that no other name on earth can bring. His Name is holy, not because we make it holy but because He declares it to be holy. In our sinfulness we loathe His Holy Name. We use it frivolously and toss it around as some insignificant name. We use His Name to deride, to curse, to swear, to lie, to deceive. We take His Holy Name and cast it among the names of other false gods and equate the value of His Name with their names. In the end, we really want nothing to do with His Name.It is God who wants something to do with you. In His unfathomable love for you, He has called you by name. In your Baptism, the Name of the Triune God was given to you. In His Name and with the waters of Baptism you were washed and cleansed with the forgiveness of sins. You received the sign of the cross both upon your forehead and upon your heart to mark you as one redeemed by Christ the crucified. The benefits of His death and resurrection are yours through Baptism. As you are sent into this world you carry His Name upon you. He takes you and equips and enables you to serve in the vocations that He has created. He has prepared you for His glorious return when every knee shall bow and every mouth confess His Holy Name. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. At the name of Jesus Ev'ry knee shall bow Ev'ry tongue confess Him King of glory now, 'Tis the Father's pleasure We should call Him Lord, Who from the beginning Was the mighty word. ("At the Name of Jesus" LSB 512, st.1)-Rev. Timothy Davis is pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Athens, GA.Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Duane BamschOver eight sessions, The Messiah: Revealing Jesus in the Old Testament will lead you through the entirety of the Old Testament with daily readings, questions, and discussion prompts. After a brief introduction that reviews Christ's earthly ministry, you will dive into the heart of the Holy Books that have spiritually nourished God's people from creation to today! Now available from Concordia Publishing House.

Daily Lectionary: Leviticus 17:1-16; Luke 10:23-42 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" (Luke 10:29) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. The lawyer was really pressing Jesus in order to justify himself. "So tell me Jesus, who really is my neighbor?" The ambiguity of the word "neighbor" was working on the heart of the lawyer. The reality that all people could be the lawyer's neighbors did not sit well with him. The lawyer was only looking at himself to fulfill the Law. His original question regarding what he must do to inherit eternal life showed that he was a man who was all about the Law. His salvation was up to him.Jesus delivers to him the parable of the Good Samaritan. It's a parable that many of us are familiar with and have heard throughout our lives. Often we are placed in the parable as the one who is helping and assisting. We are the ones working to demonstrate our validity before others. We see ourselves as the "Good Samaritan." Unfortunately, when we insert ourselves as the one doing the action, we usurp the work of Christ. The lawyer wants to know two things: What must I do to inherit eternal life, and who is my neighbor? With both of these questions he is seeking justification. It is the latter question that answers the first question. The Good Samaritan is not him! It is not us! Reading the text through the work of Christ we see that Christ is the Good Samaritan and we are the person lying in the road (half) dead because of our sins. We have been beaten down and left for dead by the world. Christ comes as the person least likely to help us. In our sinfulness we despise Christ just as the Samaritans were loathed by the Jewish people. He is the neighbor who serves us and restores us to life. He pays for all our needs and then He is coming again to claim us. No longer are we left dead along the road. The Good Samaritan has washed your wounds in the waters of Baptism. He has restored you with the nurturing strengthening of faith in the Eucharist. You are in His everlasting care until He returns in the resurrection of the dead. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Christ has our host surrounded With clouds of martyrs bright, Who wave their palms in triumph And fire us for the fight. Then Christ the cross ascended To save a world undone And, suffering for the sinful, Our full redemption won. ("Christ Is the World's Redeemer" LSB 539, st.2)-Rev. Timothy Davis is pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Athens, GA.Audio Reflections Speaker: Rev. Duane BamschOver eight sessions, The Messiah: Revealing Jesus in the Old Testament will lead you through the entirety of the Old Testament with daily readings, questions, and discussion prompts. After a brief introduction that reviews Christ's earthly ministry, you will dive into the heart of the Holy Books that have spiritually nourished God's people from creation to today! Now available from Concordia Publishing House.

My second ep about the apostolic fathers, those who followed the disciples. Here I discuss the anonymous authors of the epistle of Barnabas, the gospel of Peter, and the Shepherd of Hermas. All of them were candidates for inclusion in the New Testament. We should be grateful that the virulent anti-Jewishness of the epistle of Barnabas never made it. The gospel of Peter was a best-seller, more popular than the gospel of Mark. It gives an account of the actual resurrection, which none of our canonical gospels do. And what a whacky account it is! The Shepherd was often referred to by the fathers, and is to this day popular with Christians. The Shepherd brims with homely homilies and sermons. The final father is the famously long-lived Bishop Polycarp. It is said that he was mentored by the disciple John, and corresponded with Ignatius. He may have known the great Christian figures of the mid-second century: Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Marcion, and Montanus. If that is so, Polycarp was the man who joined the disciples to the fathers of the imperial church.

16:18 Podcast - #6 A silver bullet? What if I were to tell you that there is a “silver bullet” for proving the Qur'an, and thus the Islamic faith, false? Introduction What if I were to tell you that there is a “silver bullet” for proving the Qur'an, and thus the Islamic faith, false? Admittedly, I may be oversimplifying things, but, as Christians, we know that all other systems of belief will ultimately prove to be false before God. It may not be as simple as proving to someone that gravity exists or that the Earth is round, but it may not be as difficult as you might think. In lieu of sounding like some sort of expert, I want to say that I know very little about the Qur'an, and the Muslim faith, but I have begun to become a student of it so that I may be better equipped to evangelize my Islamic friends and neighbors. Understanding Islam compared to Christianity Inerrancy and Infallibility Any Muslim worth their salt will tell you that absolutely everything in the Qur'an is true, always has been true, and always will be true – I expect the same statement about the Bible to come from my Christian friends, as well. Likewise, the Qur'an, which is claimed by traditional Islamic orthodoxy to be the un-created word of Allah, untainted by human hands, would be proven wrong at any given point, then any honest Muslim would have to accept the fact that Allah is wrong and thus not the true God. The nature of God This brings up an interesting difference between what Muslims believe about the Qur'an and what Christians believe about the Bible. Both Christianity and Islam claim that their God was never created. In Greek mythology, as a contrast, you have the god Chaos, who I guess embodied the empty void in their creation account, and the goddess Gaea (or, the goddess who embodied the earth) and they somehow procreated and started the process of producing other gods and goddess to rule different parts of our universe. My point is that the creation of a god in Greek mythology is not a difficult thing to accept or understand. This, however, is utter blasphemy for the Christian and Muslim. But what is the difference, then, with regard to how our Holy Books came into our hands? The Holy Books For the Christian, we believe that, over the millennia, God used human authors as his medium for writing down His words. Does this mean, then, that the words of God are tainted by human hands? If by tainted, you mean involving errors or untruths, then no. However, if you mean including the author's individual touch, voice, and even intention then yes. The wonderous mystery of the Bible is that we have God's Word transmitted through God's people in a perfect way. This is not quite a shared view for the Muslim, however. Sheikh Abu Ammar Yasir Qadhi, author of Ulum Al Qur'an: An Introduction to the Sciences of the Qur'an, offers the most widely held, orthodox view of the Qur'an. He says in his book, “One of the more appropriate definitions is as follows: The Qur'an is the Arabic speech of Allah, which he revealed to Muhammad in wordings and meaning.” He also says, “The words of the Qur'an are from Allah, and not from Jibreel, or even Muhammad, as some of the innovated sects of Islam...allege.” Moving to Apologetics Textual Criticism How then does this understanding of the Qur'an help us, as Christians seeking to speak apologetically for the Bible and attempting to win arguments against the Qur'an? It lays a heavy load upon both the Word of God and the Qur'an. Both claim they are the Word of the only true God, so one must be completely true and the other completely false. For millennia, people have tried to prove the Bible wrong, and many have claimed they have done so, but time and time again all “evidence” against the Bible and the Word of God ultimately proves to be faulty. The main attacks against the Bible have come in the form of textual criticism, but the Bible is supported by far more early manuscripts than any other ancient writin...

S1:E17

In this episode, I share a bit about my past with religion (Christianity), and why I see religion as a drug. I also discuss what the word religion means in a Western context, why everyone (especially religious people) believes they are not religious yet everyone else is, the role of holy books (religions) in the formation of human morals, and why humans evolved to need religion, or rather, needed religion to evolve.