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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Perhaps if we indulged our Christian freedom around them, they would come to see that “the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
John had heard Jesus’ voice countless times and seen Him every day over the course of three years, and yet nothing could have prepared him for what he was about to witness.
We are saved by grace, and strictly speaking, not by an offer.
We are caught up in a battle between two kings and two kingdoms. And, whether we like it or not, we are ruled by one king or the other.
Have you ever received a gift for which you were less than thrilled, but you had to pretend you really liked it so as not to offend the giver?
As I write this, I wonder if perhaps I am stretching things a bit thinking that it would be relevant to a considerably more sophisticated audience. Perhaps we already know the Gospel, that we are all sinners.
I visited a senior man at his home the other day. I'll refer to him as “Jim.”
A part of our series on Luther's, Heidelberg Disputation.
I am not a good Lutheran. I have only been around reformation theology for a few years.
He begins with Jesus and ends with Jesus. He is not going to try to complete what Jesus starts.
We’re going to take a little bit of time going through John’s description of the resurrected and exalted Jesus and its significance.
God’s grace is extended to the incorrigible alcoholic as well as to us, the more sophisticated sinners and drunks.