Pastor Darald Gruen
Pastor's Monthly Message:
But what does it (the Holy Scriptures) say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.
Romans 10:8-17
August 19, 2009
Dear brothers and sisters in Jesus,
Since the summer is drawing to a close, our fall schedule of Bible studies is about to begin. It is important that we take these Bible studies very seriously and that we make use of them faithfully for the following reasons.
1. It is through His Word that God creates saving faith. Though we humans possess a natural knowledge of a supreme being or supreme beings from the existence of the world around us, that natural knowledge is totally insufficient. It does not reveal to us the depths of God’s nature and how He relates with us. We need to be in the Word to know that He is a triune God, that God the Son came and took on flesh to be our Savior, that forgiveness of sin and eternal life are ours simply by faith, and that we are empowered by God to live in a relationship with Him. All this comes from the Word of God which He has graciously given to us. If we are believers today, it is because God at some point has come into us with His Spirit and His Word (the bare Word and the Word with water in Holy Baptism) to create saving faith within us and our children.
2. It is through His Word that God sustains saving faith. Since by nature we do not know the true God or have a correct relationship with Him and since by nature we can only seek to have a works-based relationship with Him, it is absolutely essential that we stay in the Word in order to stay in that correct faith-based relationship with Him. We must stay in the Word in order to keep our eyes upon Jesus and upon a relationship with God that is based upon grace and faith rather than our own works.
3. It is through His Word that God shows us how to live the most positive life here on earth. We humans have a natural knowledge of the moral law and we have a conscience which is designed by God to make decisions based on that moral law. However, since the fall into sin, that natural knowledge of God’s moral law is very corrupted. Thus, for example, people who have never had the Word of God might believe that all forms of sexual immorality are fine or they might believe that aborting their babies is really okay. We humans are by nature so deluded by sin that we often think that right is wrong and that wrong is right. And the unbelieving world around us will certainly not help us to know the truth about right and wrong. But the Word comes and shows us very clearly what is right and what is wrong so that we can know the truth and have the fullest of lives already here on earth. When we actually live what the Word says, we possess the most joyous and peaceful lives that anyone can have on this sin-filled earth.
4. It is through His Word that God enables us to proclaim His truth to others. Once God enables us to know Jesus honestly and truly as our Savior from sin and hell, He gives us the desire to share that truth with others, especially those we love, so that they can have what we have. But how do we do that accurately and correctly? Only the Holy Spirit can enable us to do that through the Word. He enables us to understand the Word and then share it with others. But in order to do that, we have to study it faithfully so that we know how it applies to the depths of our souls. Then we know how to apply it correctly to the souls of others.
So let us study the Word – both in our private devotions at home and in our Bible studies with others at church. May we make faithful use of those opportunities to study the Word of God this year.
In Jesus, our Savior and our Lord,
Pastor Gruen
*Please find a list of upcoming Bible studies on our announcements page.
The Pastor's Message is taken from the monthly Beautiful Bits newsletter, which is available on the downloads page.