mclclititz

This Sunday, we will continue our study of Romans as we look at chapter 10.

In our Gospel for Sunday, Jesus interacts with religious leaders during the week of His crucifixion. They are attempting to trap Him in His words, yet with His greater wisdom He silences them by using the sacred scriptures. Jesus teaches that we are called to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves by teaching that He has come as the Son of David and the Lord of David to fulfill the law of love for us.

We will begin our study of Romans chapter 9. Paul wrestles with the unbelief of his own people and how they rejected the Christ.

Jesus takes issue with human dealings. The religious leaders don’t want Jesus to heal a man on the Sabbath, and as Jesus is in the house He notices everyone always taking the higher place and seeking glory for themselves. While Christ is rejected and hated for doing what is right, He does it anyway. Here we see Christ’s love. He comes for sinful humans that always judge things wrongly. He dies for us, taking the lowest place, to give us life, that we may be exalted.

We will begin a study on Romans 8, “The Flesh & the Spirit.”

Jesus goes to “no man’s land,” the border country between Galilee where Jews lived and Samaria, where their hated enemies the Samaritans lived. What does this say of His love for drawing all men to Himself? Upon arriving at a particular village, ten men who had the terminal disease of leprosy cried out for mercy, asking Him for help. Jesus sent them on their way with a word of promise, and as they went, they were healed. One returned to give glory to God, and he was a foreigner, a Samaritan. “Go your way,” Jesus said, “your faith has saved you.” Jesus brings cleansing, healing, and salvation to sinners and those rendered unclean by disease and death.

Today we welcome Rev. Paul Rockrohr of Norfolk, VA to Mount Calvary. A 2015 graduate of Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Pr. Rockrohr joined the U.S. Navy in April of 2019 after serving for 3 years at St. Luke Lutheran Church in Golden, CO. Pr. Rockrohr will preach at the 9 AM service as well as lead Bible Class at 10:30 AM on the life of a U.S. Navy Chaplain and their role in the U.S. Military. We welcome Chaplain Rockrohr, his wife Stacy, and five children in the name of the Lord. May their service to us and to our country be blessed.

This week we will study Romans 7, “The Law’s Role in the Life of the Believer.”

This Sunday we hear the account of the man who was deaf and had a speech impediment. He was brought to Jesus that He might heal Him. Jesus took the man aside, put His fingers into the man's ears, and spat and touched His tongue. After Jesus sighed, troubled over the man’s condition, Jesus' said "Ephphatha," opening the man's ears, and loosing his tongue so that he spoke plainly. The crowds speak their praises, “He (Jesus) has done all things well, He (Jesus) makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.” We come that we might see what God has done in Christ and that we might consider it rightly.

On Sunday Pr. Bender will preach on the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector who went to the temple. The lowly tax collector came to the temple and prayed, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!" was the one who went down to his house justified before God, not the respectable, outwardly righteous Pharisee who trusted in himself and his own good living (Luke 18:9-14). During the service we will also recognize the 20th anniversary of ordination of Pr. Seifferlein with a special prayer and blessing.

After considering original sin which all mankind has inherited, Paul continues in Romans chapter 6 to speak of the new life that we have in Christ. Do we continue in sin because we are born in sin? We do not. Such would be to deny what we have received in our Baptism.

We gather this Sunday to hear Jesus weeping over Jerusalem and observe His cleansing of the temple. Jesus cleanses the temple that it might be a fit place for His preaching and dwelling. May the Lord cleanse our hearts and remove all that offends, that we might be a fit dwelling for His Word and presence.

We will study Romans chapter 5, beginning with verse 12. As Paul used the Old Testament examples of Abraham and David to support his teaching about justification being by faith and not by the works of the law, now Paul argues the purpose of the Law of Moses and how death came into the world through Adam. Join us for Paul’s whirlwind tour of the Old Testament persons and their place in salvation history!

This Sunday we will read Luke 16:1-13 and hear the curious story of a manager who was fired for misappropriating his master’s funds (The Parable of the Dishonest Manager). We will learn about the gifts and treasures, both physical and spiritual, that He has richly entrusted to us.

We will continue our study of Romans chapters 4 & 5. The righteous are justified by faith.

Jesus speaks to us today about being wary of false prophets. False prophets will be judged, and false teaching cannot save.