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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How can we be sure that we are getting a “solid spiritual diet” and not a “milky” one?
In the sacrament, we receive an earnest of that future promise here and now in the body and blood of Jesus given and shed for us.
As I look back, I choose to remember her as a soul redeemed by Christ.
This is an excerpt from part two of “On Any Given Sunday: The Story of Christ in the Divine Service” by Mike Berg (1517 Publishing, 2023).
The story of salvation is the true story of God doing his unexpected work of salvation for us.
Past, present, and future are tied together in Christ.
My fear of this coming darkness only lasts a moment.
We don't make Church "happen." Only Christ can do so. It's his happening.
When I finished this book, I loved the Bible, and the Bible’s author, even more. And I can’t imagine a better endorsement than that.
Reading includes, on some level, striving. Hearing, on the other hand, remains passive.
God has the power to take that which is small, that which is overlooked, that which is despised, and use it to create something wonderful.
I hope your people expect and even demand this of you. But how we proclaim the central message, that can (and probably should) vary.