MOTTO: “That there be no divisions among you.” I Corinthians 1:10 Appropriately named for the large oak trees which line many of its streets and grace its recreational areas, Oak Park, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, is located immediately …
Category: CL2005
The Duties of Christian Fathers
“And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” –Ephesians 6:4 The closing two chapters of Ephesians give divine counsel to wives and husbands (5:22-33), to children (6:1-3), …
The Ascended Christ’s Gifts to His Church
“Wherefore He saith, When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. …And He gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints …
Christ’s Vicarious Atonement
“…for our offenses.” —Romans 4:25a We Lutherans are often accused of being “obsessed with terminology” when we teach and discuss the doctrines of Holy Scripture, terminology that is nowhere found in the Bible and terminology that hopelessly confuses all but …
The Signs of the Times
Our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, asks, “Can ye not discern the signs of the times?” —Matthew 16:3 It’s Wednesday night, and the hottest teen hangout around is packed and throbbing with what seems an unholy beat. A DJ spins …
Internal Repentance versus External Ashes
Ash Wednesday, (Latin: dies cinerum or day of ashes) is the name given to the first day of Lent. The ritual use of ashes or sackcloth as an outward sign of repentance is an ancient practice found in the Old …
The Savior Looks Forward to His Impending Suffering and Death
“From that time forth began Jesus to show unto His disciples how that He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.” …
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The Meaning of the Season of Lent
During the season of the Church Year known as “Lent,” our spiritual focus is directed specifically towards Jesus’ passive obedience—that part of our Savior’s work of redemption in which He suffered extreme agony of body and soul beginning in the …
The Glorious Light of the Savior’s Epiphany
“For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” —II Corinthians 4:6 A good teaching …