Forgiving your brother is not some heroic achievement. It is simply living in the baptismal reality God has placed you in. You drown the old Adam daily by confessing your sin—every bit of it—and letting Christ speak His absolution again and again. That absolution is not information. It is power. It is the Spirit creating a new heart. And a new heart forgives. Not because the neighbor deserves it. Not because it resolves everything. Not because it feels good. But because Christ has forgiven you—fully, freely, finally—and His forgiveness changes you. View Article →

Sacrifice of Isaac—Abraham’s Faith Is Revealed—Gen. 22:1-19 https://youtube.com/live/CYjsZ47oHa8

“This triangle of truisms; of father, mother and child, cannot be destroyed. It can only destroy those civilisations which disregard it.” —G.K. Chesterton, The Superstition of Divorce

“Those who say that children must not be frightened may mean two things. They may mean (1) that we must not do anything likely to give the child those haunting, disabling, pathological fears against which ordinary courage is helpless: in fact, phobias. His mind must, if possible, be kept clear of things he can’t bear to think of. Or they may mean (2) that we must try to keep out of his mind the knowledge that he is born into a world of death, violence, wounds, adventure, heroism and cowardice, good and evil. If they mean the first I agree with them: but not if they mean the second. The second would indeed be to give children a false impression and feed them on escapism in the bad sense. There is something ludicrous in the idea of so educating a generation which is born to the…atomic bomb. Since it is so likely that they will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage. Otherwise you are making their destiny not brighter but darker.” —C.S. Lewis

Sunday’s OT and Epistle—Micah 6:6-8; Philippians 1:3-11 https://youtube.com/live/4bnmTB2r30s

Isaac Is Born and Ishmael Is Cast Out—Genesis 21:1-21 https://youtube.com/live/pZWR0R5k3Hs

Abraham and Abimelech—Genesis 20:1-18 https://youtube.com/live/UPZ-RmWOo0E

On that cross, the Law is fulfilled. The Sabbath is completed. The Lord of the Sabbath rests His head in death to give eternal rest to the weary. His hands are destroyed so that yours might be restored. His life is taken so that yours might be saved. View Article →

Sarai’s Name Change—Genesis 17:15-27 https://youtube.com/live/_FcT-L1AcVw

At your dinner table, you can choose who to invite. At His table, you don’t. You kneel next to whoever Christ has called — the addict, the widow, the teenager, the skeptic, the one who smells like smoke, the one who never fits in. And Christ feeds you all from the same bread, the same cup, the same crucified body. View Article →