Confirmation Sunday was May 6.
Photo courtesy of Richard Thies
Please pray for our newly confirmed members, that they stand firm in their faith in our Triune God.
Everyone who acknowledges Me before men, I also will acknowledge before My Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 10
This article written by Pastor Sam Schuldheisz was published in the Huntington Beach Wave newspaper and also on the Steadfast Lutherans website
The Protestant reformer, Martin Luther, once said, “The Christian Church is a mouth-house of God.” So, whose words will the Church speak? Jesus’ words to be exact. Words like the ones Jesus gave his church at ascension.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” Matthew 28:19-20)
But how do Jesus’ words come to us? Enter the Holy Spirit and Pentecost.
This article written by Pastor RJ Runewald was originally posted on his blog.
Motherhood. Being a mom is perhaps one of the most difficult, thankless, overlooked, and exhausting callings that God has created. And it is also one of the most important callings that there is. When I walk in the door after a busy day of work, I am able to leave my work behind and my kids are excited to play and have fun with daddy. My wife on the other hand, when she has a difficult day at home as a mom, she’s still got to be a mom. And while daddy walks in the door for fun times, mommy just spent hours trying to get a meal ready, discipline a two-year-old, and straighten up the house. Have I mentioned that being a mom is difficult?
A Message from Pastor Hale
The last gasps of a dying church are ostensibly for Christ, but actually against His servants. The pattern is repeated over and over. From the Israelite treatment of the true prophets until today when pastors are thrown out of their divine office of shepherd for superficial reasons. In a real person who claims to speak for the living Lord is where the rubber meets the road. Doctrine is fine and religious talk can be tolerated in theory, but the messenger is all too often shot when the divine message becomes wearisome to hardened sinners.
The Gospel and the message of repentance are not academic issues. We are called to choose between our family, friends, earthly loyalties and Christ. Christ demands our honor, worship, and praise as the living God. But Jesus exercises His authority through the Word proclaimed by pastors by confronting sinners with condemnation and offering the repentant His forgiveness. His servants, pastors called by Him, are to preach what the people need, not what they want to hear or they think is right. Sinners must be threatened with divine wrath and told they cannot continue in wickedness and be saved. While some congregations sin by ignoring God’s call and running off His servants, some pastors sin by being weak and cowardly and not preaching the full, undiluted counsel of the Lord. Both errors are egregious and feed disdain for Christ and His saving Word.
This article by Pastor Mark Surburg was originally published April 2018 on Sunburg's Blog
Do you want your church to be popular? Of course you do! Every pastor loves to see the church growing in numbers. Congregation members are excited to be at a church that is clearly thriving and successful. The good news is that this is possible for you. It will take work, but if you live in the United States there is a clear roadmap to success.
First, don’t talk about doctrine. We live at time when post-modernism has taught people that there is no such thing as truth, or right and wrong. Doctrine is very much about truth – the claim that there is teaching that is right and teaching that is wrong. This is guaranteed to turn off people. Because of this yours will, of course, be a non-denominational church. Denominations (or to use that old fashioned word, “confessions”) have historically been differentiated by doctrine. Opt out of the denominational game and intentionally avoid doctrine altogether.
This article was written by Pastor Sam Schuldheisz and published on The Orange County Register
Most people know about the Christian holy days of Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter. But what’s Ascension Day? In France it’s a civil holiday. In Germany it’s called Himmelfahrt (roughly translated, “heaven bound”). And yet, Huntington Beach’s Main Street saw no Ascension Day parade. Belle Terra wasn’t overrun by Ascension Day sales. Nowadays Jesus’ ascension is largely ignored or forgotten.
However, since the first century Jesus’ ascension is a joyous day, concluding the Easter season. It’s no day for moping about like Eeyore, “Oh bother. Jesus is gone. Now I’m all alone.” Rather, Jesus’ ascension is good news for you.
Zion thanks God for Rev. Bartelt!
For 12 years Rev. Bartelt has faithfully served as Choir Director here at Zion. He is now retiring from his service.
(He is not going anywhere. He will enjoy spending more time as Husband, Dad, and Grandfather. Rev. Bartelt will remain a part of the body of Christ at Zion.)
On May 13 we will gather at 9:15 in the Lakeview Room for a time of thanksgiving. We will have a card shower as well. There is a basket in the narthex to receive the cards.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3)
This article by Rev. Eric Brown originally appeared on the Higher Things Dare to Be Lutheran website.
On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread... - Acts 20:7
From the early days of the church we've worshiped on Sunday morning. Please note that I'm not saying that you can't go to a Saturday night service or anything like that - but very early on in church history the standard became to gather together on Sunday morning and celebrate the Lord's Supper. There's a very good and simple reason for this.
This article written by the president of the LCMS, Matthew C. Harrison, was originally published on the LCMS blog website.
Friedrich Pfotenhauer was president of the LCMS from 1911 to 1935. In 1897, on the 50th anniversary of the Synod, he was president of the Minnesota and Dakota District. He said the following to the gathered district pastors and laypeople:
This article written by Matthew J. Garnett was originally published on the Lutheran Reporter website.
“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor.1:18).
I can’t imagine St. Paul’s words here being any truer than they are for the Lutheran church I attend each Sunday. Walk into that place during any given service, and you’ll see men dressed in what can only be described as togas with colorful sashes, waving their hands about in all kinds of strange ways, and making what seem to be hubristic statements like “I forgive you all your sins.” All this takes place while the people in the congregation bow and kneel and do weird things with their hands in response to the colorfully dressed men leading the service.
To be sure, there was a time when I would have unequivocally labeled all of this as “folly.” But now, as someone who has tried everything from Christian Fundamentalism to witchcraft, I must say, I love it. Once it was foolish; now it is genuine, meaningful, and indeed, divinely powerful.
