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I am not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ.
~ Romans 1:16
P.S. your sins are forgiven
for Jesus’ sake.
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/ づ
@anna_murphhh You can’t get any closer to Him than He is to you. “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3).
That’s the Promise of your Baptism.
He IS »your« Shepherd. :)
@cyndeehoward1 Where two or three are gathered in His name, there He is among us.
I’m not much of a talker myself but don’t be shy about DM’ing. Prayers and Christ’s peace.
PRAY FERVENTLY FOR ROD ROSENBLADT IMMEDIATELY
We continue to get significantly negative signs in Dad’s blood. The doctor said that at this point we have to say that Dad is in a state of multi-organ failure. (Kidneys, liver) They keep adding blood but it’s not staying, and no one can see where it’s going. In the mean time all the important levels are going the wrong ways. Too much creatinine, not enough platelets, etc.
More dialysis and units of blood today while we all grind.
PRAY. I know that on a chart, the odds say this doesn't end well. We need divine intercession. NOW.
## UPDATE on Rod Rosenbladt
10:30 AM PST, MON JAN 29 2024
** HOW TO PRAY:
PLEASE PRAY THAT DAD’S KIDNEY FUNCTION IS FULLY RESTORED, THAT THE ANTIBIOTICS FINISH DESTROYING THE REMAINING INFECTIONS, AND THAT HE WAKES QUICKLY WITH MAXIMUM COMFORT AND INDEPENDENT FUNCTION (BREATHING)
So the big news in the last 16 hours is that we found the culprit for all of this - Dad has a gall bladder infection. The doctors believe the antibiotics he is on address his pneumonia as well as the gall bladder infections.
There is now no current plan to do any more poking or surgical procedures, but finally remove him from the sedatives and get him off the ventilator.
That is happening right now. He needs to be breathing independently in the next couple hours to be able to come off the ventilator. His sedation is turned off and he’s off blood pressure meds and his oxygen remains excellent.
So we are here with him to comfort him as he wakes with the tubes down his throat, to help him focus on breathing so they can be removed.
So much good news compared to 1 week ago! We’re almost there. Thank you all for your faithful and ongoing prayers for Dad. Given his age, I’m still amazed at his recovery. And I suspect that in a number of ways, he’ll be in better health than before the infection began.
But, as always, first things first. Further up and further in!
“I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Christ my Lord, or come to Him…”
To the degree this not confessed, the Sacraments and their salvation will be likewise diminished…until it hits absolute zero.
.
"The False gospels of Accommodation"
The religion of accommodation is everywhere today, and it shows.
Seeker-friendly churches allow those who couldn’t care less about the church to define the church, jettisoning everything that resembles historic Christian worship in favor of the latest pop fad.
Many mainline pulpits have become nothing more than stumps from which the latest political cause is trumpeted as the folks in the pews are admonished to care, and care deeply about the myriad plights of the world, as if that were the essential business of the Church.
The religion of accommodation proclaims the false gospels of slick marketing, false optimism, uplifting self-help techniques, and a fussy do-goodism. It has no need for Christ, His cross, and His costly forgiveness.
God’s message of judgement and mercy to this pride-soaked world is not meant to make us feel good about ourselves, meet our perceived needs, or prop up our ideas of what we value as crucially important. God’s message – the entire scope of the biblical revelation – condemns the way we have broken His immutable law while at the same time announcing God’s decision to forgive us.
God forgives not because of us, or in spite of us, but because He chooses to forgive us out of His sheer goodness and mercy.
“For it is by grace that you have been saved through faith and this is not of your own doing. It is the gift of God – not because of works -lest anyone should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)
The task of announcing God’s Word to this world must reflect an unflinching resolve to proclaim both the judgement of God’s law on each and all of us (we have nothing to offer God towards our salvation) even as we proclaim the bloody cross and the glorious resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ as God’s merciful, compassionate response to our sin and rebellion (we are saved by God’s grace through faith alone for Christ’s sake).
The following quote from Gerhard Forde says it well;
”Christ is the end of the law to everyone who has faith. Christ is the only end. There is no other. That is the reason the treatment of the law can and must be so uncompromising. For where the law is watered down or jettisoned we come under the most diabolical illusion of all – that there is no longer any need for Christ. We must not take that road. What the church has to offer in all matters, is not accommodation, but absolution and a new life. That is the greatest service to the neighbor we can do.
It's true that many today may find this to be of small comfort. But that may be only because they fail to realize how desperate the battle is.”
- Pastor Mark Anderson
Things are way worse than we first thought. Dad has sepsis and pneumonia. The flu symptoms masked these dire conditions. Dad is getting great care, but facing organ failure with the sepsis. The doctors are on top of this, and we are very thankful.
PLEASE pray. A lot. Tell others to pray. This is THAT time, brothers and sisters. God bless you greatly, even when times are hard. As Dad has taught us, we connect in our suffering. And we do not take our eyes off our Great and Perfect Healer, Jesus Christ, Who died to save sinners, even sinners like us.
If you will not have Christ in your ear (confession/absolution), stuck in your teeth (the Supper), and washed over you bodily (Baptism), then the Christ in your heart is simply false, unenlightened zeal for God (Romans 10).
Moments ago DOT cameras caught a destructive #tornado moving over I-65 just north of downtown Nashville. Power flashes and even an explosion can be seen in the distance! This storm cell continues to push east this evening!
#TNwx
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. -Psalm 23:5-6
@cslewisbeyond Love which issues from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith. That’s the goal.
That last word is key, since it’s the only thing that makes the rest a reality—presently, where you now stand! Because it’s given to you.
“Doing” can’t touch it.
@eddiebcalvary@pudicat11 Eddie, you uttered the pure gospel in your OP…why do you now bend over backwards to avoid applying it to another sinner? Simply swap “my sin” for “your sin”?
Ironically, that’s bondage. To sin!
God’s promises are never in question!They ARE for you AND me (2 Cor. 1:20)!
@BillyGraham@Receive_Jesus Well, as with all winsome speakers, he’s half right. When Jesus comes into your life, forgives your sin, he’s killing you off to yourself—your ethics and principles!—and raising up a new creature who lives by that promise alone. Faith, not sight! Freedom!
If sanctification is merely a matter of getting used to your justification, then what is heard in a sermon makes ALL the difference—between death and life.
@wendelltalks “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 6:11
God does it to us in Baptism. The rest of our lives are spent simply getting used to that reality, until the last day.
I have some difficult news to share about our sweet baby.
Mia has been diagnosed with a severe form of lissencephaly, a terminal brain malformation characterized by a smooth appearance rather than the usual folds and grooves. (1/5)
@pudicat11 Agree. I had the thought as I was taking the Supper that day—sure, he’s telling me my sins are forgiven—but to what end? The implication in his preaching and teaching is that it’s all to serve the Law in some way. Make something “work”—me, the Law itself, or both.
@pudicat11 One of our interim pastors, in his class this past Sunday, asked—“what do we as Lutherans confess about the will?”
My answer? “A bound will.”
Awkward silence…as he moves to the whiteboard and writes “partial free will”
🤦♂️
Words matter. Especially in preaching.