loemker

Text: 2 Corinthians 3
Hymn: 399, The Star Proclaims the King is Here
Kretzmann Commentary: 2 Corinthians 3
Bonus Bumper: Kr. Jake Weber, “Thy Strong Word”

Tell some people that God’s Law is the “ministry of death,” and they would be offended. Yet St. Paul does this in 2 Corinthians 3:7. Luther carries this thought into his first thesis of the Heidelberg Disputation:

The law of God, the most salutary doctrine of life, cannot advance man on his way to righteousness, but rather hinders him.

Our sufficiency is from God, not from ourselves. If it were left to us, we would all go to Hell.

“Herod, why this senseless fear, indeed?” Your soul, not your throne, is at stake.

 
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Text: Galatians 4
Hymn: 410, Within the Father’s House
Kretzmann Commentary: Galatians 4
Bonus Bumper: Bobby Fuller Four, I Fought the Law

The Law is good, but it does not make alive. It is a guide for how we should live, but it does not save. It points out our sin and kills us, so that we may wholly trust in Christ for forgiveness and for inheritance into His kingdom.

Within the Father’s house, the Son has found his home. Christ fulfills the law on our behalf and takes the punishment that we deserve. The incarnate Word revealed himself to the Pharisees through the Word (Luke 4:17-21). That is where we find him today.

Chris Loemker again joins us on the organ.

 
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Text: Romans 11
Hymn: 394, Songs of Thankfulness and Praise
Kretzmann Commentary: Romans 11
Bonus Bumper: Handel, Glory Be to God the Father

Israel has killed God’s prophets and demolished His altars, and yet God has not rejected his people. In order for Israel to see what it was missing, God gave the Gospel to the Gentiles as well.

Anthems be to Thee addressed, God in man made manifest!

I’m still on the tail end of a cold, but the hymn turned out well anyway, thanks in no small part to the talents of our guest accompanist, Mr. Chris Loemker, Music Director of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Collinsville, IL.

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