“When a church changes its values to match the current culture, it is no longer following the Bible, but instead is following the lost.”

Is your church following the Word of God or the culture?

1. If a church is more concerned with gaining numbers and money than it is in sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, then it is probably time to look for a new church.

2. “We preach Christ crucified!” The cross is the heart of the gospel message. Christ came to offer his life as a ransom to pay the price for our sins. A church that will remove Christ’s sacrificial death and the cross, is a church that has fallen away from the Word of God.

3. If a church says that trials and hardships come into a person’s life because they do not have enough faith, something is wrong. Certainly Christ faced trials and hardship; are we to conclude then, that Christ did not have enough faith?

4. Does the church preach that we are all sinful and unclean? Does it preach that Christ died and rose to pay the price for our sin? Does it preach that we are saved by God’s grace through faith? Does the church preach the “Triune God?” If not, you may need to look for a different church.

5. Is the pastoral leadership more important than the Word of God? Do we come to hear the pastor, or to hear the Word of God? Is the pastor more concerned about making fans for himself or for God?

6. Does the pastor talk about the reality of sin and that we are all sinners and have fallen short of the glory of God?

7. Does the church stress entertainment over the proclamation of the gospel? Are you coming to see a different show every week?

8. Does your church preach from the Bible? Is the Word of God the guiding principle of the sermons and the teaching of the church?

9. Does your church proclaim the importance of repentance? Does your church offer forgiveness without requiring the confession sin? Does your church offer salvation without repentance? Does your church offer eternal life without commitment?

10. Does your church proclaim that Christ was physically raised from the dead on Easter and that all who believe will also be physically raised to new life?

If your church is more concerned with matching its values to the culture, you may want to look for a different church.

Veritas, Curt

Ghandi said, “A nation’s greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members.”

Two thousand years ago, Christians living in Rome would nightly go out to the town garbage dump and into the woods surrounding the city, to rescue children who had been abandoned and left to die by their parents. Literally tens of thousands of children had been saved over the next three centuries.

Shortly before the beginning of World War 2, Nicholas Winton, made aware of the Nazi persecution of Jews in Europe, began an underground railroad to save the lives of Jewish children. Winton bribed, tricked, forged, and did whatever was necessary to get children safely to Great Britain. By the time Winton was done he had saved the lives of 669 children.

Yet two thousand years after those early Christians and eighty years after Nick Winton, this nation has so devalued human life that two states have passed laws allowing children to be killed during birth and a third is proposing a law which says that a child born may be left to die if the mother decides she does not want the baby. Those who wrote and supported those laws and those who stand idly by and do nothing are morally bankrupt.

It is God alone who is the author of life. It is God alone who said, “BEFORE I FORMED YOU IN THE WOMB I KNEW YOU, AND BEFORE YOU WERE BORN I CONSECRATED YOU.” Now we have men and women who believe they are greater than God. Evil men and women who want to treat the weakest in our nation like a piece of garbage.

If one looks back at history, we can see where unchecked evil takes us.

When churches in the south refused to condemn slavery, slavery flourished. When churches in Germany refused to condemn Nazi tyranny, twelve million people died in places like Auschwitz.

And if we, as the church remain silent now, if we refuse to speak out against such evil, then we are doing nothing more than aiding and abetting that evil.

Edmund Burke said, “All that is required for evil to triumph is for enough good men to do nothing.” Dante said, “The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in the time of moral crisis preserve their neutrality.”

Fifty, one hundred, a thousand years from now - we, too, will be judged by how we treated the weakest members. What will be the verdict?

Veritas, Curt

In a few short weeks, the Church will be moving into the Season of Lent.  The forty days of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends with Pasion Sunday, which is the beginning of Holy Week.
 
Lent is traditionally a time for meditation, reflection, and self-examination.  It is a time for us to “count the cost for my sins.”  For you see it was not the Jewish leadership, it was not the Romans, but it was our sins that put Christ on the cross.  Had we not rebelled against God and his Word, there would have been no need for Christ to suffer and die on the cross.
    
Sadly, the Church is losing the significance of Lent.  Church “gurus” tell us that people don’t want to hear about sin, sacrifice, and death.  They want to hear a message that is happy and joyful.  Don’t “beat me up” by talking about sin, sacrifice, and death.  Those things turn people off.
   
Many churches skip Lent altogether.   They go right from Ash Wednesday to Easter.  “Don’t weigh me down, don’t burden me with a crown of thorns, nails, and crosses.”  “Instead, I want to be told that I am a good person and that if I believe in Jesus, nothing bad will ever happen to me and I will become rich and famous.”
 
Hmmm... How does one justify that kind of thinking, preaching, and teaching with Jesus’ words, “If anyone would come after me, let him pick up his cross and deny himself and follow me.  For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it”?
 
The heart of God’s Word is that of “sacrificial love.”  A sacrificial love that is displayed when a Father gives up his Son to pay for the sins of all people.  A sacrificial love that is displayed when the Son says, “Not my will, but thy will be done.”
 
Lent is not so much a time for grieving, but a time to reflect and meditate on God’s unfailing, sacrificial love for someone like me.  As the old hymn goes, “Amazing grace how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.”
 
Lent is a time to understand that I did nothing to receive God’s grace, rather I am a recipient of God’s grace because of the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
   
To bypass Lent and go directly to Easter is to fail to understand exactly what it cost God to save us from sin and death.

Veritas, 
Curt

The wind blows sharp and cold off the “Lake” as you walk along Michigan Avenue in Chicago, in December. But thankfully, as you walk down the stairs to Lower Wacker Drive, the wind is no longer a factor.

I noticed the flickering Christmas lights and the yellowing tinsel that hung, as a celebration of the season, in the window of the Billy Goat Tavern. As I entered I looked around and saw the usual crowd. The Luciano brothers who ran a midnight auto supply out of their garage, Aldreman Jack Hayes, who never met a bribe he didn’t take, and Mary Jane Schmidt, who never met a man she didn’t like.

Back in a corner booth were my two good friends, Martin Luther, the reformer, and Philip Melancthon, writer of the Augsburg Confession. As I walked to the back booth I held up three fingers and Jack, the bartender, nodded.

I stood at the booth watching Melancthon reading the “Trib,” and Luther working on his Christmas Eve sermon. Melancthon peered over the “Trib” and said, “What happened to our Cubs? Where was Bryant’s head and what was up with Baez and the big ‘hug”?

Luther didn’t look up from his notes and said, “Sit down, Joe. Good to see you.” Jack brought us our three beers and we toasted. “To 2019 and may the Christ return!”

“Got your Christmas sermon done, Joe?” asked Luther. “I’m struggling,” I replied. “How do you take the same old thing and make it relevant?”

Luther gave me a sideways look and said, “What is wrong with you? Think of the angel’s message, Joe. ‘Today a savior has been born to you.’ It is new, it is refreshing, it is a hope; a sure and certain hope that God has, is, and will act again. The world is dying. People are looking for hope in all the wrong places. It is up to us, the faithful, to declare that the coming of Christ in Bethlehem was not a one time event, but a foretelling, a promise of God’s Kingdom coming in its completeness. The message is that Christ came to fulfill all your hopes, and He is coming again to make all things right and new. That’s the message of Christmas.”

I looked up, and for the first time I saw hope in the eyes of all that were in the tavern.

I left the Billy Goat realizing that Christmas was not a one time event, but a promise of what is to come.

A blessed Christmas to all!

Veritas, Curt

“The NEW YEAR is one of the most important things in life. Comes to us very clean, it’s perfect when it arrives and puts itself in our hands. It hopes that we have learned something from LAST YEAR.”

For far too many of us the things that drive us, the things that give us meaning, the things we believe will bring us satisfaction are wealth, fame, and power. Since early on we were told that wealth, fame, and power were the signs of success. The reality is that these things are what the “world” says are important. Jesus said, “You are in the world, but don’t be of the world.” What Jesus meant by that was to place the meaning of your life in something far greater than what the world has to offer. The Word of God tells us that if we want to walk in the light, instead of stumbling around in the dark, we should embrace the “3 F’s.”

1. FAITH in God. It means worshipping, not when there is nothing else to do or when it is convenient, but worshipping regularly every Sunday or on Wednesday, spending time in God’s Word, spending time daily in prayer, spending time in daily devotions. Draw closer to God in 2019.

2. FAMILY. That means making quality time for our families. Sharing our values, our beliefs, and our FAITH with our families. The faith is to be passed on parent to child, parent to child. The less time we, as parents, spend in our relationship with God, the less our children will spend with God, and their children’s children, until one day there may be no more faith.

3. FRIENDS. That means developing friendships with other people who share our values and our FAITH. Choose friends wisely. Choose friends who are walking in the light of God. Friends who will support you and your FAITH, not people who will lead you away from God and His truth. Friends who have your “SIX” and will not betray you.

This NEW YEAR comes to us clean and perfect. For 2019, let the 3 F’s lead you into God’s LIGHT!

Veritas,

Curt

Ask someone what is significant about October 31, and the vast majority of people will say, “Halloween.” The reality is that October 31 marks the five hundred and first anniversary of the Reformation. A priest, named Martin Luther, hung 95 theses (discussion statements) on the church door in Wittenberg, Germany. The goal of these discussion statements was to have the Church take a serious look at itself and see if it was being true to the teachings of the Word of God.

Every institution, including the church, needs to take a serious look at itself from time to time to see if it is being true to its foundational principles. Luther believed that the foundational principle of the Church was, and is, the Word of God. One of the phrases that came out of the Reformation was that of “Sola Scriptura” which means “Scripture Alone.”

The guiding force, the “true North,” for the Church is the Word of God and the Word of God alone. The Church’s sole reason for existing is to follow and proclaim the Word of God. Everything that the church does is driven by the Word of God and is done for the express purpose of proclaiming the Word of God.

Jesus’ command to the Church was to “go 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…”

The mission statement of Immanuel Lutheran Church is quite simple. “To Proclaim, Live, and Share God’s Word.” Our sermons, our Sunday School, our youth, and our educational programs are grounded in the fact that we have, are now, and always will proclaim God’s Word and God’s Word alone.

“To live,” means that the decisions we make in life, are guided by God’s Word and by God’s Word alone. Living it out means we are kind, caring, forgiving, and loving. The Word of God literally affects me in the way I relate to others, my work, leisure time activities, and the list goes on and on.

“To share,” means that I support those who go to the ends of the earth bringing God’s Word to those who have never heard it. It means providing for the poor, the widow, and the orphan. “To share” also means that I am not ashamed to share my faith, my belief in God with others.

If the Word of God is not the final authority on all matters of faith and life, are we the Church?

Veritas, Curt