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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Finally, we draw near the end of this three-part article on Revelation 1:10-20.
Good communication depends on trust to make such conversation work effectively. The truth springs, first, from God's own promise and the punch put into that promise by the mysterious power of the Holy Spirit.
The white hair of Jesus’ head teaches us that the Gospel is an ancient mystery.
Gospel questions don’t get a Law answer. Religious questions beg for Law answers.
What we notice less often is that this same fear wonders about both the efficacy of the Gospel and the Law.
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’re going to take a little bit of time going through John’s description of the resurrected and exalted Jesus and its significance.
Would you go to the church on the corner knowing that the pastor is an ex-con?
We’re living in the end times. We have been since Pentecost. The earliest Christians believed it, and what’s more, that is what the apostles teach us in Scripture.
Jesus opened our ears and mouth when He baptizes us. Jesus put His fingers into our ears, speaks to us, and washes our sins away.
My biggest criticism of Peterson’s mantra is that it seems to be exclusively a message of Law in a world in desperate need of grace.
True preaching arises when the Holy Spirit steeps the proclaimer in its own cycle of judgment and mercy.