1. He declared you what you might not always feel you are, but what you were from the moment he knew you, before you were you, when he foreknew you.
  2. This feast is the Gospel, “the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes.”
  3. In this article Amy Mantravadi give a short but helpful summary of the differences in Lutheran and Reformed thought regarding assurance.
  4. God has a hall ready for us, for us and for so many more
  5. Confession and absolution offer more than assurance, they gift real and genuine Divine promises.
  6. We know that death does not have the last word in Christ.
  7. The issue is not the existence of so-called inner rings, but our desire and willingness to spend our lives in order to gain from an inner ring what is freely promised in Christ: hope, security, and identity.
  8. We may not all be mass-murdering Nazis. But we all have the same root sin that causes the most egregious criminal activity on the face of the earth. We all have the desire to be our own God.
  9. God wants his word of promise to be the only thing we bank on, the only thing we have confidence in.
  10. Walther’s living legacy is his enduring teaching on how to distinguish the law and the gospel in the Church’s proclamation.
  11. What is undoubtedly true, however, is that St. Peter wasn’t left outside. He wasn’t left weeping. He was restored, as am I, as are you.