There is indeed a responsibility for the church to share the gospel in the world, but never at the expense of the church’s charity and mercy for those neighbors who are nearby.
The only hope for idol-addicted sinners who are utterly incapable of decluttering their souls is Jesus, the one at the heart of the gospel, and the only one who stands before the Father with an undivided heart.
More than a friend, Amsdorf was also an important figure in the work of religious reform, providing counsel to Luther on key occasions, shepherding the churches, and defending the faith until his death.

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Advent is one big answer to the question of free will in matters of salvation. God is free. Our will is bound.
As much as the devil and doubts may assail me, God has revealed Himself to me in His Word and answered these pesky questions.
When we say in the benediction, “The LORD make His face shine on you,” grace is what we mean.
The Gospel is our freedom from sin. It is Christ in the mirror, Christ for me and for you.
Galatians 5 isn’t a move beyond Christ to the Christian life. Galatians 5 is the Christian life in Christ.
On this day, the church remembers all the saints who have gone before us.
Rather than calling me to pick burrs off my coat, God’s love strips me of my delusions and cuts to the heart of my disease.
God has forgiven you. That is an objective fact. You can reject it, but it is nevertheless true.
But these good works aren’t done under compulsion. They’re done freely. They aren’t done so that God will love us. They’re done because He loves us.
The following is an excerpt from A Path Strewn with Sinners: A Devotional Study of Mark’s Gospel and His Race to the Cross written by Wade Johnston (1517 Publishing, 2017).
What did Christians do, both when they encountered a Rome in its glory, as when Christ was born, and in it decline, as when Constantine tried to pull stuff back together?
How does that sit with you? It frightens me. Naked, exposed in the eyes of the One to Whom I must give account?