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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No matter how great our thirst is, God's abundance not only meets it but quenches it. When we are poor and in need, the Lord is always there to give us grace and mercy without end.
Solomon did not write Ecclesiastes to bum you out. He wrote it to set you free.
Everyone dreads what might happen if political control is captured by the enemy. Paranoia is the characteristic feature of this kind of under-realized eschatology.
"Whom shall we fear?" We fear no one. We're not afraid of anything. Instead, we wait for the Lord with good courage. He will strengthen our hearts, as the psalmist writes (Ps 27:1).
Viewing the Bible as literature is an essential and natural way of engaging the text. But there are also ways in which this practice can get lost.
The Church's hymns help us see our own world from another—and perhaps not so different—vantage point that illuminates the impact of the work of Christ and the general providing and protecting activity of our Creator in our lives.
Imagine a world where love is given to the least. That is what Jesus is inviting His disciples to do in His parable this morning.
It is the Word of the Lord and His Word accomplishes what it says. Our favorable or unfavorable circumstances neither help nor hinder the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
God seeks us so we might find Him, but He does so in ways that do not always make sense to us.
The wisdom of God became man, lived, died, and was raised for the justification of sinners, great and small.
The scope of catechesis from the Reformation was broad and included not only instruction at church but in the home and in schools.
Jesus isn’t any ordinary leader. In spite of all the ways the leaders of our world may let us down, you can trust Jesus to always lead you well.