Because of Adam and Eve's fall into sin, we have inherited the same punishment: we are dust and to dust we will return. God knew that Adam and Eve were dust and because of their disobedience they would return to dust. Prior to hearing the result for their rebellion, Adam and Eve heard God's promise of a Savior. We have heard the same promise of a Savior. God remembered that we too are dust and chose not to leave us in the dust. He sent Jesus to become "dust" for us.

Ash Wednesday

After two years of witnessing as well as participating in the work of Jesus, the disciples were still confused as to who Jesus was. Similarly, our familiarity with whom we think Jesus is breeds indifference to His Word and disobedience to His will. When faith in Jesus becomes routine, we miss the transformation that God intends for us.

Bethlehem Lutheran Church

Nothing could be more obvious than God’s power and control over the universe He created, or His love for us His children, but we still have to be reminded, especially when life hurts.

Bethlehem Lutheran Church

When we look at Jesus’ Word as our authority, we have a much greater security than when we look to our own assumptions

Bethlehem Lutheran Church

A healthy amount of stress is an important aspect of our life. Ten months of non-stop stress due to the COVID pandemic – not so much. The isolation and fear we have experienced has affected how we perceive life. We have a tendency to blur the lines between our sense of urgency and what is an emergency?

Jesus announces, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand," with a true sense of urgency which the disciples hear and urgently respond to when called.

Has the last 10 months of pandemic pressure caused you to down grade your vocation as a witness to Christ's grace from urgent to kind of important? If so, what is needed for the urgent cause of missions to succeed is a corresponding sense of urgency in us which Jesus is and which Jesus gives!

It is common for people to place the Magi next to the shepherds in the nativity sets displayed in their homes, even though Matthew clearly points to a later date for their arrival. The Gentile Magi spent several months traveling hundreds of miles in search of the King of the Jews, while the people to whom He was promised show little to no interest in His arrival. The Gentile seekers desire to worship Him, while Herod, the half-Jewish king, seeks to destroy Him.