Luther neither removed the Apocrypha from the Bible nor discouraged its use. Rather, he received and preserved the ancient distinction inherited from the fathers: the Apocrypha is valuable, edifying, and worthy of reading, but it is not Holy Scripture and therefore cannot serve as the foundation of Christian doctrine.
The confessors at Augsburg remind us that every generation of Christians is called to bear witness to the gospel amid the challenges and pressures of its own age. As they confessed Christ before emperors and kingdoms, so the Church continues to confess Him before the world today.
When Jesus washes you with baptismal water, you can rest assured that the Lion of Judah is on the move.

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Two things are ultimately certain in life, and they are not death and taxes. It is Jesus’ return and the preservation of His people until that day.
Jesus continues to breathe His gifts on His beloved. He continues to breathe absolution upon sinners like me and you, He continues to fill us with the Holy Spirit and all His comfort.
This week’s miracle invites you to engage in an honest consideration of something pressing for every believer at some time in their lives: God’s silence.
He will plead guilty on our behalf, and suffer the death sentence in our place.
Our Creator wants to restore us to a right relationship with him and all creation. So, in his goodness and mercy, he sent his Son to for us what we couldn't do for ourselves.
Today we need to promote almost the reverse – to talk it like they walk it – the know-how and courage to engage in social discourse that reflects the truth of God’s revelation.
Although human reason pretends to understand a great deal about work and word of God. The glory of it is too bright, the longer he beholds it the blinder he becomes.
His word is what strengthens and changes our hearts. The Lord God will bring us victory.
If the feeding of the 5000 invited an emphasis on Jesus’ COMPASSION, this week’s miracle invites a sermon focused on Jesus’ AUTHORITY.
We trust God's Word because Jesus never fails us. He is our daily comfort when struggles and afflictions find us.
There is no justification except by faith alone. The radical forgiveness itself puts the old to death and calls forth the new.
“Rembrandt goes so deep into the mysterious that he says things for which there are no words in any language.”