When Perfection Isn't Enough

Read the whole article at When Perfection Isn't Enough - Mockingbird (mbird.com)

By now, I am sure you’ve seen it. It went viral almost immediately. Sunday, December 3rd, 2023, the Florida State University (FSU) Seminoles were left out of the College Football Playoff (CFP). The video of the team’s reaction while watching the results found its way to screens all over the nation in a matter of minutes. See for yourself here.

Dejected. Shocked. Deflated. Angry. Frustrated. Speechless. Rage. Mistreated.

Why? Well, FSU had just won the Championship for their conference (ACC) the night before. They had completed a perfect season, winning 13 games and losing none. The week prior, they found themselves ranked number 4 in the CFP rankings. Win the ACC Championship, it was assumed, and you’re one of the 4 teams playing for a National Championship.

Wrong.

Leap-frogging the Seminoles into the coveted top 4 were two one loss teams: Alabama and Texas. The perfect, undefeated team moved to number 5. FSU would be on the outside looking in. No Natty for the ‘Noles……………

Read the whole article at When Perfection Isn't Enough - Mockingbird (mbird.com)

[Wednesday] Christmas Characters - Mid-week Advent + Photos

6:30PM Wednesday Dec 6th
5:30PM Potluck Dinner

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yx1t3VlZplI

Step into a festive wonderland at our upcoming Wednesday Advent event! Join us for an enchanting evening filled with Christmas characters spanning from the mischievous Krampus to the beloved St. Nick, and journey through time with Old Testament prophets, Mary, and Joseph. Immerse yourself in the rich tapestry of global holiday traditions, and delight in the joy of singing classic Christmas carols. As a special touch, don your coziest Christmas sweater—don't worry, we'll turn down the AC to keep the holiday spirit alive! It's a magical celebration that brings together the best of Christmas past and present, promising a memorable and heartwarming experience for all.

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What Had happened at Grace this week. 

[Sunday] Christmas Letter - Emmanuel: Joy in the Midst

Ahh the Classic Christmas Letter, where we divulge all the braggadocious details of our year but leave out certain difficult parts of struggle. What details would Zecheriah include in a letter? Helping the Temple? Going mute because of unbelief? Childlessness? But Emmanuel comes into his and our midst bringing songs of joy.

QUESTIONS FOR THE WEEK:  Emmanuel: Joy in the Midst

1.  If you were writing a Christmas card about your life over the past year, what details would you include?  

2. Read Luke 1:5-25, 57-80.   Why do you think Zecheriah doesn’t believe the angel?   What happens to him?   How does Elizabeth respond to the news?  What does she say about God?  What does Zecheriah realize in v.57-69?

3. Read Luke 7: 11-16.   What was the woman’s problem?  How does God visit her?

4. How might you encourage someone this advent season that Jesus has come to be with them?

New Song this Week!

Listen to our recording and the artist rendition.

Also Check every week, to listen to the songs of the week.

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What Had happened at Grace this week. 

New Song! Come Behold the Wondrous Mystery

New Song

Come Behold the Wondrous Mystery

Grace Sunday Recording

Original Artist

Verse 1

Come behold the wondrous mystery
In the dawning of the King
He the theme of heaven’s praises
Robed in frail humanity

In our longing, in our darkness
Now the light of life has come
Look to Christ, who condescended
Took on flesh to ransom us

Verse 2

Come behold the wondrous mystery
He the perfect Son of Man
In His living, in His suffering
Never trace nor stain of sin

See the true and better Adam
Come to save the hell-bound man
Christ the great and sure fulfillment
Of the law; in Him we stand

Verse 3

Come behold the wondrous mystery
Christ the Lord upon the tree
In the stead of ruined sinners
Hangs the Lamb in victory

See the price of our redemption
See the Father’s plan unfold
Bringing many sons to glory
Grace unmeasured, love untold

Verse 4

Come behold the wondrous mystery
Slain by death the God of life
But no grave could e’er restrain Him
Praise the Lord; He is alive!

What a foretaste of deliverance
How unwavering our hope
Christ in power resurrected
As we will be when he comes

What a foretaste of deliverance
How unwavering our hope
Christ in power resurrected
As we will be when he comes

Emmanuel - Joy in the Midst (Teaching Series)

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The Christmas story is filled with struggle where unbelief, loneliness, waisted life, and acceptance fill the pages of the story.  But where there is struggle we find songs filled with Joy and discover God has come, He is Emmanuel,  and brings joy in the midst.

Christmas / Advent Schedule

• Wednesdays December 6th & 13th

  • Potluck Dinner 5:30PM

  • Service 6:30PM

• Christmas Eve

  • Small Communion Sunday Service 10:15am

  • Christmas Eve Service 4PM & 7PM

    • 4PM Service with the Korean Church

• Christmas Day

  • Communion Service 10:15am

• New Years Eve

  • Communion Service 10:15am

• January 7th

  • Normal Sunday Schedule

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Reading Plan
Read around the readings for Sunday

• 12/3/23

  • Psalm 69:16-21

  • Luke 7:11-17

  • Luke 1:8-25

• 12/10/23

  • Isaiah 7:10-16

  • Matthew 9:9-13

  • Matthew 1:18-25

• 12/17/23

  • Micah 5:2-4

  • John 5:1-15

  • Luke 2:8-20

• 12/24/23

  • Luke 2:1-20

  • Luke 1:46-66

• 12/25/23

  • Genesis 1:1-5, 24-28

  • Galatians 4:4-7

  • John 1:1-14

• 12/31/23

  • Psalm 27:11-14

  • Mark 5:24b-34

  • Luke 2:22-40

• 1/7/24

  • Exodus 13:1-10

  • 1 Corinthians 5:6-8

  • Matthew 2:1-18

He Who Comes

Read the rest at He Who Comes (1517.org)

Our text is an advent text, the announcement of the coming of the Lord by John the Baptist. The announcement, it seems, threw people into considerable consternation. So much so that they were led to cry out, “What then shall we do?” And John’s answer is direct and unequivocal: “Bear fruits that befit repentance...He who has two coats, let him share with him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.” (Luke 3:8,11) “Right now the axe is laid to the root of the trees; every tree, therefore, that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Luke 3:9). That’s the way it is when the Lord comes. 

In our day, when some seem to be alarmed about the apparent rebirth of nasty things like “the social gospel,” and similar movements, I suppose there might be some nervousness about the manner in which John the Baptist moves so immediately from the coming of the Lord to giving away your coat and sharing your food. We would much rather, I suppose, that he had spent more time in transition, explaining how the coming of the Lord means first of all that we should devote ourselves to the cultivation of our piety, or pointing out that the gospel really has to do only with man's relationship to God. 

[Sunday] Christ the King Sunday 2023

Just as Christ is “the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end,” at the close of every liturgical year, we look forward, with renewed hope, to Christ’s coming again in glory to reign as Lord forever. In the same way, we also look forward to our own resurrection and the time of a new earth — an earth that is no longer broken by sin and groaning. Christ will come again in glory just as surely as He came the first time, when He was born. So we have these three weeks of “transition” at the end of the “long green season” into the Advent Season: the new beginning of the liturgical year.

QUESTIONS FOR THE WEEK:   Christ The King

1. Skim over Matthew 23-25.  What is Jesus primarily talking about?  How does it make you feel?

2. Think of a time when things seemed out of control in your life, where did you think God was in that time?   

3. Read Matthew 25:31.   At the end times where does Jesus say he (the son of man) will be?   

4. Read Matthew 25:32-40. How do the sheep (the righteous) respond when Jesus tells them all the good kingdom of God work they had been doing and welcomes them into His kingdom?   Think of a time when you didn’t realize when God was doing His Kingdom work through you as you were His hands and feet loving others.

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What Had happened at Grace this week. 

When Politics Predominates

Read whole article at When Politics Predominates (1517.org)

Among the many great insights of C. F. W. Walther’s The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel is his counsel to preachers that the gospel must predominate in every sermon. Scripture is the manger that holds Christ. We can’t forget to preach the law because it’s the thing that leads us to him. The law’s work of judgment and condemnation hands us over to the Christ, who saves us from sin and death. The work of the law is not the last and final thing but is always penultimate – awaiting its end and fulfillment in the gospel.

Politics is provisional. It belongs in the old world in which sin, death, and the devil reign.

The gospel must predominate because it is the destination, endpoint, and conclusion of the story of Scripture.

Service of Thanks 2023 | Thanksgiving

What, Me Worry – A Sermon For Thanksgiving

Read the whole article here https://mbird.com/bible/what-me-worry-a-sermon-for-thanksgiving/

If there is one thing most human beings are good at, it’s worrying. Even a day set aside to give thanks can become a day set aside for extra worry. Every year, our family has a Wednesday Thanksgiving dinner with another family. It started out as a kind of Friendsgiving before there was such a term. This year we were to be in charge of the hors d’oeuvre and cocktail side of things. So last Sunday, after 4 church services, I began to worry about where to buy the oysters and when to get to the ABC store during a short and busy week.

A certain person I live with suggested that I have a propensity to take something fun and turn it into a burden, draining the joy out of what is supposed to be a nice, relaxed time. As you might imagine, I received this bit of “constructive criticism” less than cheerfully, but as usual, the person I live with was right on the money.

Had I taken to heart the gospel appointed for this Thanksgiving, I might not have needed the “truth spoken in love.” Employing his ability to speak directly to our deepest selves, Jesus says, “I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food?”

Is not life more than food? The answer to that question is debatable on Thanksgiving Day, especially when there are oysters, turkeys and martinis involved. (Now I’ve got you thinking about your own Thanksgiving menu, which is clearly not the intent of Jesus’ question.) His question is eerily prescient, for in the absence of God food has become the great new religion, with celebrity chefs our new great high priests. Foodies are the new disciples and hot restaurants the new cathedrals.

In the absence of God, there is a tremendous amount of sense in making life about food. After all, King Solomon and the prophet Isaiah said as much. So did Dave Matthews in his song Tripping Billies. Summarizing the wisdom of the kings and prophets he sang, “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.” At least the first half of that injunction is on everyone’s agenda this Thanksgiving Day.

To be honest, hedonism isn’t a bad start. However, a hedonistic emphasis on living life hasn’t done anything to solve the worry problem. So, Jesus says something different. “Do not worry about your life.” Some 2000 years later the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea said, “The entire world is worried.” He was talking about the fallout from the bickering between the US and China, but it also serves as a pretty good blanket statement of the human condition in all times and all places.

The entire world is worried. What kind of help is there for our worry? I used to read Mad Magazine growing up. Do you remember the iconic cover of Alfred E. Neuman, a redheaded, gap-toothed boy whose motto was, “What, Me Worry?” Al Feldstein, Mad’s editor, talks about his famous cover boy. “I want a definitive portrait of this kid. I don’t want him to look like an idiot—I want him to be lovable and have an intelligence behind his eyes. But I want him to have this devil-may-care attitude, someone who can maintain a sense of humor while the world is collapsing around him.”

What — me worry? There is great wisdom in maintaining a sense of humor while the world is collapsing around us. I highly recommend it. Not only will having a sense of humor help you when you are seated next to angry Uncle Ralph later today, but humor will be an essential coping mechanism when the deeper problems of life come knocking. The problem is that most of us can’t pull it off, especially when we are bogged down in worry.

Humor is closer to the heart of Jesus’ teaching than hedonism, but we still need more help. So Jesus tells us to become birdwatchers. Birds don’t gather food, he says, and yet our Heavenly Father feeds them. In actual fact, Jesus is a better theologian than ornithologist, because chickadees, nuthatches, jays, and crows can store thousands of seeds per year. Maybe he was just thinking about doves and sparrows — birds that don’t store food. His point, of course, is that, the only real counterpunch to worry is knowing — I mean really knowing — that God will provide all that we need.

Jesus says that the world is worried because the world (i.e. “Gentiles”) needlessly strives after all the things that God is going to give to us anyway. “Indeed, your Heavenly Father knows you need all these things.” To stop striving sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? Striving and worry are birds of a feather. The cessation of striving might land you peacefully and happily at a place where you can open your eyes and see the kingdom of God. And as Jesus says, why not have a look around there first? You know the song: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you.”

The kingdom of God is a place to eat and drink and be merry. It is a place where humor is high on the list of virtues. And most of all, it is a place to give thanks to God who has already given us everything we need. Most of all — His Son. For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, so that all who believe in him may not perish but have everlasting life.

Amen.

[Sunday] Speak Well - Generosity

What she does is pretty outlandish. But while the disciples scold her for being wasteful, Jesus stands up for her. May we stand up for even the foolish, because we might just be emulating the grace of Jesus.

QUESTIONS FOR THE WEEK:   Generosity -Speak Well

1. How does a person’s reputation affect his standing in society?

2. Read Mark 14:1-9.   What do the disciples think about the woman who pours out the nard?  How do they describe what she’s done?  If you were that woman, how would you have felt at that moment?

3. How does Jesus respond to the disciples?  What does Jesus do for this woman?  How does Jesus do this same thing for you?

4. Who will you see this week that is normally slandered?  How might you speak well of them this week?

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What Had happened at Grace this week. 

Alzheimer's Community Care Advocacy Trip 23'

Ed and Pastor Cris had a impactful time advocating for Alzhimer’s rights in the Florida Capital.

Rep Robin Bartleman

Info table at entrance to capital

Corey Recvlohe, Rep, Anderson's Aid

Representative Chip Lamarca

Allan Bramhill, Rep. Mike Beltrain's Aid

Shorty Robbins, Rep. Stevenson Aid

Victoria Mohebpour, Sen. Brodeur's Aid

Julie Fishman, Senator Resalind Osgood Aid.

Kelsey Chase, Rep, Tyler I Sirois Aid

[Sunday] Coveting Abundance - Generosity

We should fear and love God so that we do not scheme to get our neighbor’s inheritance,  house, wife, or get it in a way which only appears right, but help and be of service to them in keeping it.

QUESTIONS FOR THE WEEK:   Generosity - Coveting Abundance

1. -What kinds of things are done under the guise of fair dealing by people who want what belongs to someone else yet do not want to appear dishonest?  How does society aid and abet such practices?

2. Read 1 Kings 21:1-16.  How do Ahab and Jezebel covet?  How are their actions dishonest?  

3. What ways today are we tempted to act in a similar way to Ahab and Jezebel?

1. In a world full of coveting, Jesus “gives his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).  How is Jesus the opposite of the world?  What hope does this hold for you? 

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What Had happened at Grace this week. 

Christmas Box Packing

Giving Ginny a Gift from LWML.

Had fun Packing Many Boxes for those in the world.

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Photos; Crafters, Walther League, Brother's Keeper and Youth Gatherings. Oh My

Did not shoot many pictures of the youth weekend. 400 Students!

Brothers Keeper Packing Bags of toiletries for the homeless in the area.

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Crafters Had fun making angles

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Great time Playing Games at Walter League

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Whose Land Is It?

“This article is from the LCMS Publication the Lutheran Witness. It was originally written in Fall of 2006. It is out side of the current world events and I think is very informative. May we have humblness in this conflict as we say together, Lord have mercy. ”

— Pastor Cris Escher

Whose Land Is It?

November 1, 2006

Editor’s Note: This article by Reed Lessing originally appeared in the November 2006 issue of The Lutheran Witness. Due to increased interest in Dispensationalism resulting from the conflict in Israel, we’re making it available as an online resource.

Please note that Dr. Lessing does not address the political situation in Israel. Rather, he seeks to address the theological issues related to claims about the land of Israel.

by Reed Lessing

As a parent who survived the toddler years with three children, I still clearly recall the “Toddler Property Laws”: If I like it, it’s mine. If it’s in my hand, it’s mine. If I can take it from you, it’s mine. If I had it a little while ago, it’s mine. It must never appear to be yours in any way; it’s always and forevermore mine!

Over the millennia, numerous rulers, governments, and nations have looked at the land of Israel and said, “Forevermore, mine!”

The land once belonged to the Amorites, as we learn in Genesis 15. Then it was possessed by the Israelites. The Assyrians (2 Kings 17:6), Babylonians (2 Kings 25:22), Persians (2 Chron. 36:23), Greeks (Dan. 11:1–5), and Romans (Luke 3:1) all claimed ownership at times during Old Testament history. And since the end of the New Testament period, the Byzantine, Ottoman, and British empires have looked at this land and said “Mine!”

So whose land is it?

Politically or theologically?

Generally speaking, the question of who owned Palestine was answered politically from 70 A.D., when the Roman army crushed the Jewish rebellion and dismantled Jerusalem, until the 1840s. Whoever had the military might and diplomatic ability owned the land.

In the 1840s, John Nelson Darby, a Plymouth Brethren minister from England, began teaching that the question of Palestine’s ownership needed to be answered theologically.

By introducing the method of biblical interpretation called Premillennial-Dispensationalism, Darby heralded the idea that biblical history is divided into seven “dispensations” or periods of time. The end of the sixth dispensation, he stated, would be triggered by Israel’s return to the land.

Picking up where Darby left off, Cyrus Scofield propagated Premillennial-Dispensationalism in his influential Scofield Reference Bible, first published in 1909. The Scofield Reference Bible is the single most important document espousing the teaching that God permanently gave the land of Palestine to the Jews.

Prior to these teachings of Darby and Scofield, most Christians (including Lutherans) understood the ownership of Palestine to be a political issue, not a theological issue.

All of that has changed. It is estimated that 40 million Christians in the United States now embrace the idea that the present-day state of Israel created by the United Nations in 1948 is by divine decree and is a sign that we live in “the last days.”

The ‘Left Behind’ effect

Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye have taken Scofield’s ideas and disseminated them via their “Left Behind” series of novels. The authors believe the fuse that ignited “the last days” was ethnic Israel’s return to the land of Palestine in 1948. They call this “the super sign of biblical prophecy” because they believe this event will trigger the rapture of the Church, which could occur at any moment.

The rapture will be followed by seven years of suffering and destruction, called the tribulation. After this, Christ will visibly return as Judge and usher in the seventh dispensation, His 1,000-year reign on earth. During this time, unbelievers will increase in numbers. Christ will return (again) and bring all evil to an end. He will usher in the new heavens and new earth. The key to the unfolding of these events, they believe, is that the land of Palestine forever belongs to the Jews.

What does the Bible say?

The Old Testament declares that the land of Canaan (approximately present-day Israel and Palestine, plus adjoining coastal lands and parts of Lebanon and Syria) belongs to the Lord (cf. Ps. 24:1); He is the one who gave it to Israel (Deut. 6:10–11), and He is the One who can take it away (Lev. 26:33). Land could not be permanently bought or sold (cf. 1 Kings 21:1–16); it could not be given away, let alone stolen or confiscated. The land in the Old Testament was always a means for a greater end, the coming of Jesus Christ in the fullness of time (Gen. 17:1–7; Gal. 3:14, 29; 4:4). To a large extent, however, it was Israel’s belief that it—not the Lord—owned the land that led to the Northern Kingdom’s exile of 721 B.C. to Assyria and the Southern Kingdom’s exile of 587 B.C. to Babylon.

When Jesus speaks about the land in Luke 19:41–44, He makes no reference to it ever being restored to the Jews. Rather, He taught His disciples to look forward — not to a Jewish return to the land — but to the coming of the Son of Man in His glory on the Last Day (Matt. 24:30–31; Luke 21:25–28; Dan. 7:13–14).

Jesus makes only several explicit references to the land in the Gospels. The strongest is in the Beatitudes. In Matt. 5:5, the Savior quotes from Ps. 37:11, where the blessing of the meek is the inheritance of the land. Yet, it is not the land of Israel, but the entire earth that the meek will inherit (cf. Rom. 4:13). And, in light of the strong eschatological dimensions of the Sermon on the Mount, this earth is the “new heaven and the new earth, the home of righteousness” (2 Peter 3:13).

Until the Day of Pentecost, the disciples shared the same nationalistic understanding of the land as the other Jews of the first century (cf. Luke 24:21; Acts 1:6). But after the coming of the Holy Spirit, they began to use Old Testament language concerning the land in new ways. One example comes from Peter, who speaks of our inheritance that, unlike the land of Palestine, “can never perish, spoil, or fade” (1 Peter 1:4).

The book of Hebrews is filled with examples of how the New Testament reinterprets “the land.” Christians have the land, described as the rest into which they have entered through Christ (Heb. 4:1–11). In Heb. 11:13–16, the central Gospel motif is the land. The pilgrimage of faith is set in three scenes: a land from which they set out in faith, the present context of wandering, and the hoped-for homeland that is a “better,” indeed a “heavenly” city.

Shadows or reality?

“The hope of the baptized is not
placed on current events in the
Middle East. Rather we are called
to fix our eyes on Jesus.”

Premillennial-Dispensationalists believe that Israel’s resettlement of the land in 1948 is the key to a correct understanding of the end times. They contend that Old Testament prophecies regarding not only the land, but also such promises as the rebuilding of the Temple and the reinstitution of its sacrifices, must be literally fulfilled.

It is clear from Scripture, however, that these Old Testament promises are to be read in light of the New Testament. The Old Testament revelation of God’s acts in the history of Israel consists of shadows, images, forms, and prophecies. The New Testament announces the reality, substance, and final fulfillment of these promises in the person and work of Jesus Christ (John 5:39; Luke 24:44).

The question, then, is not whether the land-promises of the Old Testament are to be understood literally or spiritually. Rather, it’s a question of whether they should be understood in terms of Old Testament shadows or in terms of New Testament realities.

When the New Testament is allowed to interpret the Old Testament, it follows that the 1948 state of Israel is not a prophetic realization of the Messianic kingdom of Jesus Christ. His kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36). Furthermore, a day should not be anticipated in which Christ’s kingdom will manifest Jewish distinctives, whether by its location in the land of Palestine, its capital in Jerusalem, its constituency, or its ceremonial institutions and practices. The Old Testament needs to be viewed in light of Jesus Christ.

The land-promises that God gave to Abraham were made effective through Christ, Abraham’s true Seed (Gal. 3:16). All spiritual benefits are derived from Jesus, and apart from Him there is no participation in the promises made to Abraham (Gal. 3:26–29). These promises are not directed toward any particular ethnic group. The Church — not Jews or the Israelis — is the true Israel of God, and the baptized are the children of Abraham.

When Premillennial-Dispensationalists point to the modern state of Israel as a concrete manifestation of God’s presence, they overlook the fact that God has left visible and tangible signs indicating that He is with His people. First John 5:7–8 states: “For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.” God testifies to being present with His Church right now by means of the Spirit-inspired and Christ-centered Old and New Testament Scriptures, the water of Baptism, and the true body and blood of Jesus in Holy Communion.

The assurance of God working in the world is therefore not based on the return of the Jews to their ancestral land, but rather on the sure Word of promise of forgiveness of sins imparted in the means of grace, the Gospel and the Sacraments.

There is no suggestion that Jesus or the apostles believed the Jewish people still have a divine right to the land, or that the Jewish possession of the land would be an important — let alone central aspect of God’s plan for the world. The land was promised to Abraham, taken possession of under Joshua, lost in the Assyrian and Babylonian exiles, regained by Judah upon Cyrus’ decree in 538 B.C., and reinterpreted by Jesus, Paul, and others as a new heaven and new earth.

The hope of the baptized, therefore, is not placed on current events in the Middle East. Rather, we are called to fix our eyes on Jesus as we long and pray for His Second and Final Advent. On that day, He will raise us from the dead and usher us into the new heavens and the new earth. Then Jesus will lovingly gaze upon all the baptized and say, “I have redeemed you, I have called you by name, you are always and forevermore mine!” (cf. Is. 43:1).

Photo: LCMS Communications/Erik M. Lunsford

A Quick History of the Holy Land

Before Christ

Some scholars use Bible lineages to date Abraham around this time. Commanded by God, he leaves Ur, a wealthy, corrupt city in today’s southern Iraq, and later, leaves Haran in today’s southern Turkey. He receives God’s word to “give you this land.”

1450: Egypt’s pharaohs subjugate the Canaanites, including Abraham’s descendants.

1250–1200: A probably period when the Israelites enter the Holy Land after their Exodus from Egypt and reclaim the land from diverse Canaanites.

980–935: Kings David and Solomon build a rich Israel empire. Solomon’s Temple is built.

930: Shortly after Solomon’s death, the Kingdom is divided between North (Israel) and South (Judah).

722–721: The Assyrians conquer the Northern Kingdom of Israel. The 10 tribes are deported and disappear from history.

606–581: King Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian army conquers Judah, destroys Jerusalem, including the Temple. Judeans are taken to Babylon.

539: The Medes and Persians (from modern-day Iran) capture Babylon. God induces King Cyrus to allow the Jews to return to their land. They rebuild the Temple.

332: Alexander the Great’s Greek army sweeps across the Holy Land.

323: After Alexander’s death, his generals, Ptolemy in Egypt and Seleucid in Syria battle for the land.

63: Roman armies under Pompey overrun the land and begin a 600-year rule. Herod the Great becomes ruler of Judea.

After Christ

4 B.C.–A.D. 27: Christ’s life and ministry in Israel.

A.D. 30–300: The new faith reaches out vigorously to Gentiles, answering Christ’s call to “teach all nations, baptizing them.”

330: The Christian Byzantine Empire begins when Emperor Constantine is converted to Christianity.

By 640: Muslim armies drive Byzantine Christians from the Holy Land; they rule for a while from Baghdad. Jerusalem is recognized as a holy city in Islam and the Temple Mount as the place where Muhammad ascended to heaven.

1099–1291: European crusaders establish the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem.

1516: Ottoman Turks overwhelm the Holy Land. It remains in Muslim control until World War II.

1920: Britain installs monarchies in Iraq and Transjordan. The latter governs Palestine. Fleeing Europe and Russia, Jews flood into Palestine from 1920 on.

1947: The United Nations divides Palestine into two states, one Jewish, one Arab. Jerusalem to be administered by the UN to avoid conflict.

1948: Israel, populated by Jewish refugees from Europe, Africa, and Asia, proclaims itself a nation. Open warfare between the New Israel and its Arab neighbors makes refugees of Palestinians.

Some Important Definitions:

Amillenialism: This is the historic teaching of the Church that there will not be a literal, 1,000-year earthly kingdom of Jesus. This view is better termed “realized millennialism” because it embraces the idea that Christ is reigning now. The “thousand years” of Rev. 20:1–10 is intended to be understood figuratively as a reference to the time of Christ’s reign as King from the day of His Ascension until the Last Day. Hence, the millennium is a present reality (Christ’s heavenly reign), not a future hope (Christ’s rule on earth after His return).

Dispensationalism: This is a system of biblical interpretations that distinguishes seven distinct periods or “dispensations” in biblical history:

1. Innocence (before the Fall);

2. Conscience (from the Fall to Noah);

3. Human Government (from Noah to Abraham);

4. Promise (from Abraham to Moses);

5. Law (from Moses to Christ);

6. Grace (the church age);

7. the Kingdom (the millennium).

Last Days: The phrase “the last days” appears 27 times in the New Testament. Premillennial-Dispensationalists teach that with the creation of the 1948 state of Israel, the world has entered the last days. However, in most biblical instances, it is used of the eschatological epoch, which began with the coming of Jesus Christ.

Millennium: Derived from the Latin for 1,000 years. Premillennial-Dispensationalists understand the 1,000 years of Revelation 20 as literal. But the Bible teaches that Christ is reigning now, and that His gracious rule that began on the day of His Ascension will continue until the Last day, when He will hand “over the kingdom to God the Father after He has destroyed all dominion, authority and power” (1 Cor. 15:24).

Premillennialism: The belief that the Second Advent will occur before the millennium. This view holds that Scripture is to be interpreted in a “literalistic” manner; the Church and Israel are two distinct groups for whom God has a divine plan; the Church is a mystery, unrevealed in the Old Testament; and the “age of the Church” must be completed before God can resume His main program.

Rapture: This refers to the events described in 1 Thes. 4:14–17, when believers will be “raptured” or “caught up” (Latin: rapiemur) in the clouds to meet Christ in the air at His Second Coming. When used by Premillennial-Dispensationalists the term refers to Christ’s secret coming, when all believers and all children who have not reached the age of accountability are suddenly removed from the earth before the seven-year tribulation.

Premillennial-Dispensationalists understand these four terms to be synonymous: Israelite, Hebrew, Jew, and Israeli. In this way, they are able to apply God’s land-promises to the Israelites of the Old Testament to modern-day Jews, and especially with the 1948 state of Israel. But these four terms have different definitions:

Israelite: An Old Testament believer in Yahweh (the Lord), the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Hebrew: Used by Israelites in the Old Testament to identify themselves to non-Israelites.

Jew: This term means either an ethnicity or an adherent to “Judaism,” which is not the Christ-centered faith of the Old Testament.

Israeli: A citizen of the 1948 state of Israel, which is not the same Israel of the Old Testament. Israelis are sometimes called “secular Jews.”

For a more comprehensive response to the Premillennial-Dispensational theology that undergirds the “Left Behind” series, read the document from the LCMS Committee on Theology and Church Relations (CTCR) titled, The End Times: A Study on Eschatology and Millennialism and the 2004 CTCR document titled, A Lutheran Response to the Left Behind Series, along with its accompanying Bible Study.

[Sunday] Steal Generosity - Generosity

We should fear and love God so that we do not take our neighbor’s money or possessions, or get them in any dishonest way, but help him to improve and protect his possessions and income.

QUESTIONS FOR THE WEEK:   Generosity - Steal Generosity

1. -

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What Had happened at Grace this week. 

Meet the New Members Oct 23'

Pictured

• A.J. Di Mattia (Mick),

• Pamela & Gary Cotterill, Tommy, Nicole, Kailey & Paisley,

• Joseph & Lena Weiler, Jane, Edward & Sophie,

• Tony & Blythe Barreto, Zoya & Izi

Not Pictured

• Fabrice Larose & Emily Sellas, Kenadi, Atlas & Titus,

• Michael Evangelista,

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Week 6 Forgiving Challenge Together group: Sanctification

Vance and Betsy Together Groups
Wednesdays 2pm

Pastor Cris’ Together Group Meets

Monday Starts at 7PM at Pastor’s House
Thursday Morning at 11am
Video recording releases Friday mornings.

Together Group Video Week 6

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Discussion Guide | Week 6

[Sunday] Honored Blessing - Generosity

This is from the confession

Honor your father and mother, and your days will be blessed. Jacob contemplates his long history filled with selfishness, dishonor, and greed and chooses to see the abundance of God by honoring Pharaoh with a blessing.

QUESTIONS FOR THE WEEK:   Generosity - Honored Blessing

1. How is honoring different from loving?

2. Read Genesis 47:1-12.  How does Jacob describe his life?  

3. At the end of his life, how and why does he honor Pharoah?  What is surprising about that?

4. In what ways are parents God’s earthly representatives? Living in the abundance of God, how can we be free to honor our parents and leaders around us?

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What Had happened at Grace this week.