Peace in Storms, Courage in Chaos

Word from the Center
Written By Peter Scaer

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Jesus is risen; He is risen indeed! But there’s more good news for those who believe in Him. He clearly says, “Because I live, you will live also” (John 14:19). Wow! What a statement. It calls believers to a confident hope that comes from knowing that even death itself has been conquered by the one who created and redeemed us.

Is all that merely wishful thinking or some “hope against hope” mentality? No way! In our reading, St. Paul calls Jesus Christ the “firstfruits” of those who have fallen asleep. His resurrection is God’s down-payment of lasting hope for all who put their trust in Him. That’s a statement for you. That’s a truth that will transform your life. It will give you peace in the middle of the storms of life, courage in the chaos, and wisdom in the midst of the trials and travails of this world caused by sin and the brokenness of humanity. But, even more, it gives us a hope that endures because it impresses on our hearts and minds the truth that Jesus will have the last say in our lives. The fact that He is our risen, ascended, reigning, and returning Savior provides the ultimate good news and an enduring hope.

When we have hope that is based on God’s action in our world and in our lives, it gives us the confidence and strength to face our future whatever may come. For many Christians around the world every Easter morning begins with the responsive greeting, “He is risen!”  “He is risen indeed!” Those words are more than sentiment or wishful thinking. Those words are rooted in Christ’s victory over death and His promise for our future. You might say that Jesus has the capacity, the tenacity, and the veracity to bring those promises to fruition!

You have a solid and eternal hope available to you because the very Savior of the world makes you this promise: “Because I live, you also will live” (John 14:19). So set your mind anew on His things, on the things above (Colossians 3:1). Pandemics, political strife, social chaos, sexual confusion, cultural vulgarity, and even libertine emptiness are all symptoms and/or consequences of sinful humanity’s “wishful” thinking that life can exist without God. You know better. Life is to be a joyful, abundant exercise of grace through faith in Jesus which is lived out boldly for the sake of our neighbors, friends, strangers, and even our enemies. Put that hope to work in your life. Put the power of Christ’s resurrection and His promise of your resurrection to work. They give you the strength and courage to trust Him and to follow wherever He leads. He is risen, and you will be raised too. A blessed Easter to you all!

The Rev. Dr. Gregory Seltz is the executive director of the Lutheran Center for Religious Liberty.

Be Informed
Marriage + family = fulfillment. Tim Goeglein of Focus on the Family talks you through why this is and how it works.

Be Equipped
“We must recognize that abortion is just the bloody tip of this iceberg of immorality. Beneath it is a culture that doesn’t know the difference between a boy and a girl and gives you the option of changing your view.” Learn why Lutherans are actively marching and standing up for life.

Be Encouraged
“Not only do we believe, dear friends. We confess it. We say publicly what we believe, and we will not be silenced. We read the scriptures and do not accept it when pagans try to change the story, or present a different, politically correct Jesus. For we know what happened on that Good Friday. . . . We know that Jesus ‘has done it.’” –Rev. Larry Beane

See Also
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Peace in Storms, Courage in Chaos
Peace in Storms, Courage in Chaos

Jesus is risen; He is risen indeed! But there’s more good news for those who believe in Him. He clearly says, “Because I live, you will live also” (John 14:19). Wow! What a statement. It calls believers to a confident hope that comes from knowing that even death itself has been conquered by the one who created and redeemed us.

The Lasting Solution
The Lasting Solution

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Faux Repentance and Contrition
Faux Repentance and Contrition

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Children Stay in the Faith When Both Parents Teach Them
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After reviewing what was said at their Baptisms, LCMS confirmands affirm their intention “to continue steadfast in this confession and Church and to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it” (LSB p. 273). Nevertheless, confirmation is often the last time we see some of these young people in church. When they become adults, some children return, but many do not.

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Teach Them How to Think, Not What to Think

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In his book, The Death of Character, James Davison Hunter says,

When Newsweek poses the question, “How Do We Restore a Sense of Right and Wrong” on its cover, it tacitly acknowledges that our “sense of right and wrong” is less and less present to the living memory of our entire culture . . .

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TO HUSBANDS AND TO WIVES

We live in a very strange world. It is world that says men and women are the same. In fact, they are so much the same, that a man can decide he is a woman, or a woman can decide she is a man, and everyone around that individual is supposed to act like this is just the way things are. It is asserted that men and women are completely interchangeable, and so marriage can occur between a man and a woman or between two men or between two women.

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So, God brought all the animals to him. He named them all one by one. While they were good, something just was not right. Dogs and cats just didn’t do it. So, God made woman from his own bones. Now at last man was just like God—two persons in one flesh. Adam So God brought all the animals to him. He named them all one by one. While they were good, something just was not right. Dogs and cats just didn’t do it. So, God made woman from his own bones. Now at last man was just like God—two persons in one flesh. Adam called her woman—she-man and named her Eve (“life”), because she would be the mother of all people. God’s creation was finally complete. He had made marriage and the family. This was very good..

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And so, it happened among us. Everyone knew, not all that long ago, that marriage was between one man and one woman. Obama said so, and even mentioned God. Hillary Clinton made a speech on the senator floor, invoking time and tradition.

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Since the twentieth century, Lutherans have spoken about a “two-kingdoms” doctrine to work out the relationship between church and state

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Since the twentieth century, Lutherans have spoken about a “two-kingdoms” doctrine to work out the relationship between church and state

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Peter Scaer
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