These passages tell us of a great divide—a divide between God’s Word and man’s word the temptation for man to be his own god—‘you will be like God’). It’s a divide between two religions, two worldviews, two starting points. Simply put, there are only two ways to build your thinking. You can start with the One who knows everything, who has always been there, and who has revealed to us what we need to know. Beginning with Him, we can guild a solid and accurate worldview based on God’s Word. The only other starting point is with sinful man’s fallible word. But by adding man’s word to God’s Word (e.g., adding evolution/millions of years to Genesis), you end up compromising God’s Word, and your starting point is flawed from the beginning. It’s no longer God’s infallible truth. Your starting point then is man’s inherently fallible word” (Gospel Reset by Ken Ham, p.53).
Author Archive: luther
#16- Train them to Commend Themselves To God Each Day
69 Therefore I advise and urge, as I have before, that by means of warning and threat, restraint and punishment, children be trained in due time to shun falsehood and especially to avoid calling upon God’s name in its support. …70 On the other hand, children should be constantly urged and encouraged to honor God’s name and keep it constantly upon their lips in all circumstances and experiences, for true honor to God’s name consists of looking to it for all consolation and therefore calling upon it. Thus, as we have heard above, the heart by faith first gives God the honor due him and then the lips do so by confession….
73 For this purpose it also helps to form the habit of commending ourselves each day to God — our soul and body, wife, children, servants, and all that we have — for his protection against every conceivable need. Thus has originated and continued among us the custom of saying grace and returning thanks at meals and saying other prayers for both morning and evening. 74 From the same source came the custom of children who cross themselves when they see or hear anything monstrous or fearful and exclaim, “Lord God, save us!” “Help, dear Lord Christ!” etc. Thus, too, if anyone meets with unexpected good fortune, however trivial, he may say, “God be praised and thanked!” “This God has bestowed upon me!” etc. Children used to be trained to fast and pray to St. Nicholas and other saints, but the other practices would be more pleasing and acceptable to God than any monastic life and Carthusian holiness. (Large Catechism -Tappert, p. 374-375).
Theology Summary Bible Class, Pt. 35: Babylonian Exile and Return
After Solomon’s death both the southern kingdom of Judah and the northern kingdom of Israel fell. The Prophet Amos (apx. 760-750 B.C.) foretold that God would rebuild the fallen tabernacle of David and bring back the captives (Amos 9:11-15). The Assyrian Empire conquers Israel in 721 B.C. The great tree of God’s people was cut down (Isaiah 11:1,10) because the people had sinned. Though they had not kept the Word of God, the Prophet Isaiah (apx. 701 – 681 B.C.) announces that the merciful God was still keeping His promise to King David. God said, “And I will make an everlasting covenant with you–the sure mercies of David” (Isaiah 55:3-5). Jesus is that shoot or branch that will come from the stump of Jesse. The southern kingdom was taken into Babylonian exile in 586 B.C and Solomon’s Temple was destroyed. The Prophet Jeremiah prophesied about their 70 year exile (apx. 605 B.C. – 537 B.C.) and God’s promise to raise up a Davidic King, a Priest, and a new Temple.
After the exile, the priest Ezra returns to lay the foundation and begin the work of rebuilding, what would later be called Zerubbabel’s Temple (539 B.C. to Mar 12, 516 B.C.). The governor Nehemiah rebuilds the city wall around Jerusalem. The old men who saw this new temple foundation wept (Ezra 3:12-13), as it paled in comparison to Solomon’s temple. The Prophets Haggai and Zechariah, who lived at the time of the rebuilding, spoke of that future coming day. The return of God’s people to Canaan was a wonderful thing, but it was not the promised day of the Messianic King! Haggai 2:9, “‘The glory of this later temple shall be greater than the former,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘And in this place I will give peace.'” When the Old Testament closes, the Prophet Malachi leaves the faithful longing for the hope of the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ .
Handout: Exile-to-Intertestamental.pdf
Overhead 1: Divided-Kingdom-Overheads.pdf
Overhead 2: Kings-Overheads.pdf
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#11A Creation: Building a House
Explaining the Gospel works the same way. We first start with the foundational teaching that God is Creator, and that sin and death entered the world, as recorded in Genesis. That the foundational knowledge needed to understand the next part—the ‘walls’—that God sent His Son to die on the Cross and be raised from the dead, because death is the penalty for sin. This is the power of the gospel, and why Christ can offer us the free gift of salvation. Then we put on the ‘roof.’ One day there’s going to be a new heaven and a new earth. So there we have the gospel, beginning with Genesis and ending with Revelation. It’s really like building a house from the foundation to the roof” (Gospel Reset by Ken Ham, p.40-41).
#15- Bring Up Your Children to Be of Service to God and Man
“174 Therefore let everybody know that it is his chief duty, on pain of losing divine grace, to bring up his children in the fear and knowledge of God, and if they are gifted to give them opportunity to learn and study so that they may be of service wherever they are needed.
175 If this were done, God would richly bless us and give us grace so that men might be trained who would be a benefit to the nation and the people. We would also have soundly instructed citizens, virtuous and home-loving wives who would faithfully bring up their children and servants to be godly. 176 Think what deadly harm you do when you are negligent in this respect and fail to bring up your children to usefulness and piety. You bring upon yourself sin and wrath, thus earning hell by the way you have reared your own children, no matter how devout and holy you may be in other respects. 177 Because this commandment is disregarded, God terribly punishes the world; hence there is no longer any civil order, peace, or respect for authority. We all complain about this state of things, but we do not see that it is our own fault. Because of the way we train them, we have unruly and disobedient subjects. (Large Catechism -Tappert, p. 388).
Sermon Video for St. Titus, Bishop and Confessor – January 26, 2019
St. Titus Sermon “To Know the Love of Christ” on Ephesians 3:19
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Theology Summary Bible Class, Pt. 34: Solomon and Divided Kingdom
God appeared to Solomon a second time saying, “Now if you walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statues and My judgments, then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, as I promised to David your father, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man on the throne of Israel'” (1 Kings 9:4-5).
Despite God’s efforts, Solomon did not continue in faithfulness to the Word of God. In his old age, “his wives turned his heart after other gods…” (v.4). “Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and did not fully follow the LORD, as did his father David” (v.6). “So the Lord became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice…” (v.9).
Solomon’s reign extended the boundaries of Israel farther, had more peace, and was more prosperous than David’s. Nevertheless, David’s reign was more pleasing in God’s sight. And it was for the sake of David that God waited until after Solomon’s death to divide the kingdom. The southern kingdom of Judah outlasted the northern kingdom, but in time both were dispersed or taken into exile. There was no longer a reigning son of David and the temple was destroyed in 586 B.C. The prophets of that time began to foretell of a rebuilding of David’s tabernacle (Isaiah 11:1-16).
Handout: The-Third-Genus-King-p12-14.pdf
Handout 2: The-Third-Genus-King-p11.pdf
Overhead 1: Divided-Kingdom-Overheads.pdf
Overhead 2: Kings-Overheads.pdf
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#10A Creation: Gospel Only?
In this current moral climate, we can never assume that people possess a foundational knowledge concerning creation, sin, and death…
But do the generations we are preaching to today really understand what sin is, why there is death in the world, and who Jesus is? I don’t think so. It’s like being told by a doctor that you need an operation, but he has yet to reveal what’s wrong with you or why you need it!” (Gospel Reset by Ken Ham, p.42).
Many Christians are guilty of only preaching part of the gospel, specifically the power and hope of the gospel. But when you preach the power and hope of the gospel, you’re assuming the foundation has already been laid. This is a faulty assumption, especially in our post-Christian, godless culture” (Gospel Reset by Ken Ham, p.41-42).
#14-Spare No Effort, Time or Expense in Educating Your Children
170 The trouble is that no one perceives or heeds this. Everybody acts as if God gave us children for our pleasure and amusement, gave us servants merely to put them to work like cows or asses, and gave us subjects to treat them as we please, as if it were no concern of ours what they learn or how they live. 171 No one is willing to see that this is the command of the divine Majesty, who will solemnly call us to account and punish us for its neglect, nor is it recognized how very necessary it is to devote serious attention to the young. 172 If we want qualified and capable men for both civil and spiritual leadership, we must spare no effort, time, and expense in teaching and educating our children to serve God and mankind. We must not think only of amassing money and property for them. 173 God can provide for them and make them rich without our help, as indeed he does daily. But he has given and entrusted children to us with the command that we train and govern them according to his will; otherwise God would have no need of father and mother. (Large Catechism -Tappert, p. 388).
Theology Summary Bible Class, Pt. 33: 2 Samuel 7:11-16 and Solomon
We return to 2 Samuel 7:11-16 in order to examine God’s promise to build a house for David, to set one of David’s descendants upon the throne and to establish his kingdom. Jesus is that promised son of David, who has established the kingdom of His church, which will stand forever. The second part of verse 14 is a difficult passage to see fulfilled in the sinless Son of God. Nevertheless, Jesus was “numbered with the transgressors” (Is 53:12) and “he was made to be sin for us” (2 Cor 5:21). He was, indeed, chastened by the rods and blows of men.
Second, we saw that despite David’s sins, he continued to hold to the Word of God. He confessed his sin and trusted in the words of forgiveness. He showed forth the fruits of repentance as he bore up under the consequences of his actions (2 Samuel chapters 20-24). The Scriptures continue to hold up David as the ideal king, the one “after God’s own heart” (1 Sam 13:14, Acts 13:22).
This study also examines the beginning of Solomon’s reign (1 Kings chapters 1-8). With the exception “that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places,” (1 Kings 3;3), Solomon’s reign began quite well. God’s exhortation to Solomon is to emulate his father, David. “Now if you walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statues and My judgments, then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, as I promised to David your father, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man on the throne of Israel'” (1 Kings 9:4-5).
Handout: The-Third-Genus-King-p12-14.pdf
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