'New Testament' Tagged Posts (Page 3)
IMMERSE? DUNK? DIP? POUR? SPRINKLE? SPLASH?
Sam and John argued over how baptism should be done. Sam held out for immersion. He said the person must be dunked all the way under the water. John argued that any method of applying the water was OK as long as it was a Christian baptism in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. John said: “So you would say that the water has to cover you even up to the ankles to make the baptism…
“GLORY!”
In Genesis 15, Abraham sees a vision of a smoking fire pot and a blazing torch moving between the sacrificial animal pieces – a vision of “the glory of the Lord.” This combination of fire and smoke appears in various forms throughout the Old Testament – in the burning bush, in the pillar of cloud and fire in the wilderness, in the thunder, fire and smoke on Mt. Sinai when God gives the Ten Commandments, in the bright cloud…
SIN, GRACE & LOVE
In 1850 Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote a famous novel – The Scarlet Letter. The story is set in 17th century Massachusetts. In the days of Puritan New England, Hester Prynne falls prey to sexual immorality. There is no hiding the matter. She is pregnant out of wedlock. Soon she gives birth to little Pearl. Spoiler alert! The Rev. Mr. Dimmsedale turns out to be the daddy. As punishment for her sin, Hester is sentenced to wear a large, red “A” on…
“An Ever-Fixèd Mark”
Flip on the radio. Surf the stations. What are you likely to hear? Love songs. Songs of new love, romantic love, puppy love, spurned love. At some wedding receptions, anyone who wants the bride and groom to kiss has to sing a song with the word “love” in it. Almost always someone sings: “I’d love to be an Oscar Mayer wiener…” Sit in a high school literature class and it doesn’t take long to figure out that a…
“GRACE, MERCY AND PEACE”
He was born in London in 1725. His father was a sea captain, trading on the waters of the Mediterranean. His mother was a devout woman who taught her boy how to read the Bible and memorize Scripture at an early age. Like St. Paul, he was not illiterate when it came to the Bible. But memorizing the Catechism is no guarantee that one is laying hold of the grace – or that once having it – a person…
LESSONS FROM THE TRANSFIGURATION
On this Sunday before the start of the Lenten season, the Church has always tipped its hat to the account of Christ’s transfiguration. The Gospel of Matthew says that Jesus took Peter, James and John up a high mountain by themselves. “There He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.” There are several lessons in…
GOOD HABITS
Luke tells us that Jesus “went to Nazareth where He had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day He went into the synagogue, as was His custom…” We find similar statements throughout the four Gospels. Each worship day, Jesus could be found in some synagogue or at the temple in Jerusalem. Christ did not stand aloof from the family of believers, gathering only with the strong in faith. He did not think it beneath Him to keep company…
“AND NIGHTLY PITCH MY MOVING TENT”
In 2 Corinthians 5:1, Paul takes the eternal view of things. He says: “Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.” The old Englishman, Isaac Watts, captured Paul’s comparison of our earthly tent and our eternal house in heaven in one of his hymns: “While time on earth is spent, absent from Him I roam, yet nightly pitch my…
FROM THE RAT RACE TO A SOLITARY PLACE
We all talk about the great “rat race” that life can become. In his book, “Sabbath,” Wayne Muller tells the story of Harvard president Neil Rudenstein. One morning Rudenstein overslept. For a perfectionist like him in the midst of a major fund-raising campaign, it was cause for alarm. After years in a system that rewarded frantic overwork, he was just worn out. It took a three-month leave of absence, during which he did little more than read, listen to music…
THE HOLY SPIRIT’S GIFT – THE HOLY BIBLE
How’s your memory of everything you said or heard last year? Have you ever wondered how the evangelists and apostles could remember all the things God wanted them to remember as they wrote the New Testament Scriptures? Jesus answers this in our Gospel lesson in John 14: “The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” The New Testament is…
WHAT IS ZION?
“Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!” said the prophet Zechariah in foretelling Christ’s coming into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. To whom is Zechariah talking? Maybe you have heard of churches which are named Mount Zion or Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church. A book about the history of one Lutheran Church body years ago was called Zion on the Mississippi. The name Zion occurs 150 times in the Old Testament, especially in the psalms and the prophets. So…
AN INTERESTING AND CHALLENGING PASSAGE
A scribe once asked Jesus: “Which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind…” (Matthew 22:37) Sometimes we run across passages in God’s book which require us to wrestle a bit. A case in point is the opening portion of today’s text from Acts 19. So here goes: When Paul returns to Ephesus, he meets some “disciples.” He quizzes…