May the Lord bless you from Zion, he who made heaven and earth! (Psalm 134:3) As we come to the Lord’s Table each week near the end of worship, this is one of the ways in which the Lord blesses us, His people. We have blessed His name, and now He blesses us through this communion meal of […]
Grace
Baptism Now Saves You: Baptism as a Means of Grace
Introduction What if I told you that Baptism now saves you? How would you react? Would you call me a heretic? Would it make you nervous? This is the thought experiment I ran this week online. Of course as people act so often online, I was immediately accused of being everything from a Lutheran to […]
Unless the Father Draws; John 6:41-47
41 So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 43 Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who […]
Given to Christ; John 6:36-37
36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. Introduction I am of the belief that John chapter 6 is one of the great chapters in the entire […]
Jesus Cleanses the Temple, John 2:13-22
Before we focus exclusively on our passage, I want to consider the wedding at Cana and the temple cleansing together, and why they might have been placed side by side in chapter 2. The gospel writer, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, placed these two accounts next to one another on purpose, […]