I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go into the house of the LORD.” (Psalm 122)
In Name + of Jesus. Amen. Glad to go to church? Really? Pull over the covers, hit the snooze, sleep in, it is the weekend. It is football season. Glad to go to church? Indeed you are – for you are the NEW creation in Christ.
The 3rd Commandment: Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
What does this mean? We should fear and love God that we may not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred, and gladly hear and learn it.
Gladly hear and learn the Word of God. What is it that Holies the Sabbath Day? The Word of God. Go to church! Sinners get to go to hear the proclamation of the Gospel! We get to confess our sins to the Lord (1 John 1). I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents. (Luke 15)
Repenting of our sin and turning to Jesus in faith, our sins are forgiven. Rejoicing in Christ mercy. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. (Psalm 51)
O LORD, I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells. (Psalm 26) The House of God is WHERE the Lord gives out His gifts. In Church we see the FOUNT OF MERCY. Where the flood of forgiveness never runs out.
You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6)
With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. (Isaiah 12)
We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. (Romans 6)
Walking by the Spirit you live the sanctified life. Fighting against your sin. (Repenting). The fruit of repentance is to live by faith. To love God and serve your neighbor. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. (Romans 6)
God’s Word is the power for you to live the sanctified life. Living selflessly, giving yourself to serve one another. God’s Word fills you with peace and mercy all for the sake of Christ. We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4)
You shall love your neighbor as yourself…..the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. (Galatians 5)
Entering the House of the Lord with gladness because Jesus is here. Christ is in His Word. We have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus…Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Hebrews 10)
Jesus is here with His good gifts of life and salvation overflowing through His Holy Word and His Blessed Sacraments. Gladly we enter the Lord's House at His invitation. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations. (Psalm 100)