The Mercy of God

I don't go to church to hear about healing my hurts and I cry Lord Have Mercy often. I go to hear  Christ took my sins away and redeemed me from death and devil and to partake of the Sacrament. The penalty for my sin without Christ would be  far greater pain than being forlorn of a woman or not living "the abundant life". I think the point that is missed with abundant life types is Christ dying for your sins and having the Gift of  Eternal life and life with him now this is the abundant life, because it lasts forever in faith which alone justifies,  through him we have peace with God  a far greater gift than rubies. Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. This is wonderful but yet is taken as given when it is something we can and should cherish every day. Grace and Mercy came at a big price Christ's life yet it is so free and given freely to those of us who ask and unfortunately too cheap for many, that is the sad part.

The  life we have now is not guaranteed to be easy and is often not worldly abundant.Consider our Lord's life here wasn't easy and if we look further it was not a cake walk for the Apostles either. There are many occasions in our lives where we may have to suffer as well. Doesn't sound too abundant does it. But Our Lord says in the Gospel of John 10:10 I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. He came so that we could have life abundantly not to give us material things as some sort of reward for living the Christian life. This abundance is also in the midst of suffering as he is Gracious. Paul calls it letting Christ's power rest on him    2 Corinthians 12: 9-10 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. ¹⁰ For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. If you look and see he makes it even in suffering because Christ provided him what he needed and it was not worldly abundance.

 Believing in Jesus does not guarantee you a trophy wife or husband, a Ferrari, or someone else's version of the abundant life. No it is life eternal and abundant with him because of God's Grace and Mercy, Christ's Atonement, and the gift of the Holy Ghost who strengthens and creates faith. This is the Mercy of God and His Good News which is often what abundant lifers want to hear, when they wake up from Joel Osteen and his deceptions.

Living abundantly in Christ is not about living aloha. Those wordly things  the prosperity pimps are pushing are stumbling blocks and distractions and are not always there. Where does the person who breaks over and over again after listening to another Christless Self Help Sermon go? Hopefully to Christ . But since we are sheep until we finally learn that the preaching isn't helping because there is no mercy dispensed only failures that we could not live up to anyway, we will usually keep coming back for more to dos.

 So if your abundant life is running out go to Christ and ask for his abundance and not the abundance of the world which is fleeting.

Pledge!

Something I experienced in the past and to me is akin to a humiliating "Altar Call". A few years ago I was going to a church ( A WELS Church actually, so far my church now has not done this) and that is to make a financial pledge for the beautification of the Lord's Church( in other words the one I was going to). Well I gave an offering that is consistent with my income what happened to that money? The money I was giving was not the gift that they were looking for.They wanted me to put my money in the plate up at the altar with a gift to the Lord. Apparently I wasn't giving enough and I am still not as the sinner I am , I cannot thank God enough for his Gift of Life in Jesus. The church needed new carpet, new paint, and new pew cushions because we are out to grow God's Kingdom. They said that they had a vision for the church and that this was what God wanted. My reply was this, I think that God told us what he wanted when he sent Jesus into this world and when Jesus ascended to heaven. In otherwords, God told the apostles that the mission was to go forth and preach the Gospel to all nations and baptize them in the name of The Father,  The Son, and The Holy Ghost. I don't see anything about interior decorating and Jesus taught people anywhere and everywhere.

 Part of the plan was to spend the funds on failed programs that the church wanted that were essentially programs that the false teaching Evangelical Church up the street had in place. These programs were there to attract the fallen evangelicals to our church and give them the same stuff they left the Evangelical Church for only with a Lutheran flavor. Guess what it is the same program! Our new Programs  were to be purpose driven, fireproofing, and 7 days of sex and yes these would build our church and along with the new building we would be on the "Glory Road" from 300 members to 600 members.

So what were going to get out of this? At the Judgment Day we could stand confidently before the Lord and tell him that we gave to build His church that got so many more butts in the pew. For those of us who didn't we were going to have to account to the Lord as to why we did not give and go up to the altar to drop off our pledge card.

How dare this church ever think of calling itself Lutheran or Christ Centered! This is stench of works based righteousness that has infected the Christian Faith and has made many so called "Christians" congregants of civil religion. Just look at the McChurches and Rick Warren's quotes and "peace less plan" no Christ Centricity or preaching at all! Only more to dos for the Christian.

 One of the main problems with the Wisconsin Synod is the Office of the Ministry.  The Pastoral Ministry is often subjugated to the desires of the congregation. Since the congregations have most of the control the office of the pastor his guidance, counsel and teaching are often treated as fodder by the Pharisaical sheep who run the various boards that are not ministries but are considered ministries that essentially believe themselves equal to the Pastoral Office. This means a school teacher has the same calling and in the eyes of this congregation as much teaching authority as the pastor. This congregation wanted to be BIG. They envied the movie theater down the street and probably would have served popcorn and Coke just like them for you to enjoy when the hip new pastor arrived. The current pastor was just too Law, too Gospel, and too doctrinal and old school. Well the hip pastor arrived and the Muslims moved in and the church has declined, no new families only more enemies. Kind of like Luther said that the Turk is a sort of tutor to lead us to look to Christ, he said something similar to this but I can' t remember where. But I think this church and this church body may be to far gone to see the forest between the trees.

 The Confessional Lutheran Church has the most to offer for anyone wanting to know Christ and remain in him and we do not need to do this by gimmickry and METHOBAPTOCOSTAL theology that is antithetical to the pure Scriptural teaching. However, the Church that I just wrote about is  not one of those that has anything different to offer from the McChurch they so envied.