Lutheranism 101 - Part 1 Natural Knowledge of God

Welcome to our first online course. We are going to be going over basic Lutheran doctrine. We will cover one section each week. It will consist of some basic teaching from Scripture and from Luther's Small Catechism. There will be questions that you can answer every week and periodically there will be a test. You can either answer these questions and take these tests for yourself and keep them to yourself, or feel free to send the answers in either through this blog or my e-mail address at fredrickhearn7@hotmail.com. You can also mail them into the church if you would like. If you are not a member of this church and desire to be, you can take this course and then meet with me to go over the tests and what you have learned. If you are going to be a member we would also like to see you in church of course.

So where do we start? Well how about at the beginning? In other words let's start with God himself.

How do we know that God even exists? Anyone out there ever see Him? If you have there are treatment facilities available for you. No I don't think any of us have seen God walking down the street lately. So how do we know that there really is such an entity?

Here is a good way to find out. Assuming you are in Phoenix, get in your car and drive a couple of hours north to the Grand Canyon. Walk out on one of those observation points and look out. Yes there is a God!. No it's not the old guy with a white beard and a backpack hiking to the bottoom. Think broader picture here! Look at the vastness and intricate wonder of it all. Did this happen by chance? Now step back from the ledge and feel your heart beating and try to remember all those images of the inside of the human body that you have seen on the Discovery Channel. Do you remember that your body is made up of more than just skin and bones, but also all kinds of veins, and chemicals and plumbing? Your brain is an intricate mass of stuff that would slide through your fingers like mush and yet controls your emotions, your bodily functions and a million other things. Do you also remember that if certain things in your body were off by just a little bit that you would die? Do you think you happened by chance? Now look up at the stars and universe above you. Isn't it interesting that the planet earth just happens to be located at a perfect distance from the sun to sustain life? Isn't it interesting that even in places like Arizona the tempature stays at a point that we don't all burst into flames? Isn't it interesting that the chemicals in our air and in our water are perfect to sustain life and if they there altered just a little bit life would come to an end? Did this happen by chance? Or was there a grand designer who put it all together?

Okay you can stop looking at the stars. Now I want you to look within yourself. Have you ever felt guilt because you knew you did something wrong? If there is no God and everything is random and by chance, why would you feel that? How would you even know if something was wrong? You say because I have a conscience. But where did you get that conscience from? Did it just happen by chance? Or is there a God who created you to know the difference between right and wrong?

The point here is that all people have a natural knowledg of God whether they are a Christian or not. It is impossible to honestly look at the created world around us and not see a designer. It is impossible to look at the complexities of the human body and not see God's hand in it. It is impossible to look at our conscience or the in born knowledge of right and wrong and not see God. The fact of the matter is there are very few Atheists. The ones that are, are living in a delusion.

Here are some Scripture verses you might want to look up: Genesis1:1; Psalm 14:1; Hebrews 3:4; Psalm 19:1; Romans 1:19-20; 2:15; Acts 14:17; Romans 1:32; Acts 17:26-27

Some questions:

According to Acts 17:26-27 what is the reason that God has given this natural knowledge of himself to people?

According to Psalm 14:1 what is an Atheist?

The last question is: Is this natural knowledge of God enough for our salvation?

Next week we will talk more about our knowledge of God and also about the Bible.

Pastor Fred

Readings for week four

I hope that you are not having a hard time keeping up with the readings. I know that are alot at once.

February 26 - Esther 1-4
February 27 - Job 1-3; 38-42
February 28 - Psalm 1; 8; 19; 23
March 1 - Psalm 51; 100; 103; 139
March 2 - Proverbs 1-3
March 3 - Ecclesiastes 1-5; 12; Song of Songs 1-2
March 4 - Isaiah 1-2; 6; 40; 52-55

Get ready for tomorrow as we debut the online course in basis Lutheran doctrine.

Pastor Fred

Online Course On Lutheran Doctrine

Well I have not received any suggestions for a Bible study except that we do a study of Lutheran doctrine, so that is what we are going to do. This will start next week so that it can be announced in the Sunday service. We will go through the catechism and hopefully we will have a lot of good group discussion. I have never taught a course over the internet before so this will be new. I am trying to get everyone's email in a group that I can just send out, but I am having some problems with it.
Remember tonight is Ash Wednesday when we remember that we are but dust. Come and join us for a traditional Ash Wednesday service with communion.

Pastor Fred

Week Three Readings and how do you top that.

Sorry again I am a day late with me readings so here they are

February 19 - 2 Kings 1-2, 6-7, 11-12
February 20 - 2 Kings 17-23
February 21 - 1 Chronicles 15-17, 21-22, 28-29
February 22 - 2 Chronicles 5-10, 14-16
February 23 - 2 Chronicles 24-26, 29-35
February 24 - Ezra 3, 6-7
February 25 - Nehemiah 1-2, 4, 6

Went to San Diego Sunday and came home tonight. As we entered Yuma we saw a sign that said Burger King's tallest indoor playroom in the state of Arizona next exit. Well my kids have been raised in Burger King playrooms. Every Friday in Fort Wayne they were always at Burger King with a bunch of other congregation kids playing. So we had to stop. After eating the kids headed for the playroom. Jasmine got right into the tallest indoor playroom in the state of Arizona and she started climbing. At first it was pretty funny we would wave at her and she would wave back. But she kept climbing and going through tubes and in areas we couldn't see her. Now we were starting to get scared. Every time we thought we were going to have to go in to get her she would reappear. In no time at all she was much to our amazement on the third floor of this thing. We tried to coax her down but there was no stopping her. She made it to the top and then even found the slide and came flying down it with a big grin on her face. As we walked out of Burger King I said to Darla well so much for Burger Kings tallest indoor playroom in the state. But I felt kind of bad for Jasmine, I mean what are you going to do after you have conquered the state's tallest playroom at 22 months? How do you top that? But something tells me she hasn't peaked yet.

Pastor Fred

Valentinesq

See if You can find the VALENTINE in John 3:16

For God so loVed the world
That He gaAve
His onLy
BegottEn
SoN
That whosoever
Believeth In Him
Should Not perish
But have Everlasting life.
John 3:16

Speaking of this week's readings, a bunch of you probably had that passage from Ruth read at your wedding. You know I will go where you go and stuff. Great wedding passage until you realize it was a conversation between two women. Don't you just love how Scripture sometimes gets taken out of context? I also think its funny when people quote Scripture that is not really Scripture. For instance get out your concordance and try to find where this often quoted passage is: "God helps those who help themselves." Could you find it? No you couldn't, it is not in the Bible. God does not help those who help themselves, God helps those who finally admit that they cannot help themselves. That is not a quote from the Bible either, but it's at least correct theology.

Jesus will be putting on a light show for us this Sunday so I hope your ready. The original disciples were not.

Still waiting for suggestions for the online Bible study.

Pastor Fred

Readings for week 2, opps

Sorry about that I forgot to post on Sunday. Here are the readings for this week

February 12 - Judges 1-4, 13-16
February 13 - Ruth 1-4
February 14 -1 Samuel 7-10, 12
February 15 - 1 Samuel 15-20, 28, 31
February 16 - 2 Samuel 5-8, 11-13, 15, 18
February 17 - 1 Kings 3, 6-12
February 18 - 1 Kings 17-19, 21

I am still open to suggestions for an online Bible study if anyone has some.

Pastor Fred

Wading Through

I know, I know! Pastor for crying out loud do we really have to read Leviticus? Is it really important that I know how many Kohathites it takes to move the Tent of Meeting?
Well the numbers may not be important but the attention to detail is. What we see in these chapters is the holiness of God. All the elaborate set up was to point them toward his holiness and his care for them. There is also alot that points us forward to the Christ. Like the sacrfical lamb or the scape goat that is released into the wilderness with the sins of the people on his back. If we have a good understanding of this part of the Old Testament it makes the New Testament more understandable.
So do you like good news, bad news jokes? Well then come and hear this week's sermon as we talk about some some real bad news, good news stuff. The text is out of Luke 6:17-26 where Jesus pronounces blessings and woes upon the people.
Also remember the Bible study this Sunday is about worship and the church building.
I am taking suggestions now for an online Bible study. This would be a book of the Bible and I would like to know what book you would like to study? Send me an e-mail with your thoughts. Pastor Fred

Hey Who Turned The Heat Up?

85 degrees yesterday. In Indiana it was 1 degree. I saw people in the Mall yesterday start to take off their coats. So how are the readings going so far? The story of Abraham is always interesting. Abraham makes a very prophetic remark when he answers Isaac question about the lamb. Abraham tells him God will provide the lamb for the sacrifice. The ultimate fulfillment of that is of course found in Jesus' death on the cross. Just like God provided a ram to be sacrficed in place of Isaac, God provides the Lamb of God to be sacrificed in our place as well.
Abraham is an interesting character. At points he shows that he is a great man of faith and then at other points he shows that he is just another sinner. He willingly does what God wants him to do, but then he tries to pass his wife off as his sister to save his own skin.

Then there is Moses. He is much like all of us when God asks us to do something. We try to find every reason under the sun not to. After God has dealt with all of his lame excuses he finally just asks God, "Can't you find someone else to do this?" God shows amazing patience in response to this. He even provides a human solution in place of a divine solution. Remember Moses had complained that he wasn't a speaker, and God said I will take care of that problem, I invented the mouth. But after his additional complaining God says okay how about Aaron. In other words since you don't seem to trust me totally yet I will take some baby steps with you and provide the solution in a human way that is more understandable to you. That is a demonstration of great patience.

For those of you who were not with us last week for the Sunday morning adult class we have decided to do a study on worship and church building. I think you will find this fasinating. It will also help us do some long ranging planning for the future.

If you have any comment feel free to post them or just e-mail me.

Pastor Fred

Let's Start Reading

I hope you are enjoying this wonderful Saturday weather. I know everyone has complained about how cold and rainy it is. But I have checked the weather in Fort Wayne and we are usually 40plus degrees warmer, sometimes even 50 degrees warmer then they are. They also have several inches of snow on the ground. So I am enjoying the weather here. The readings that I am posting this morning don't actually start until Monday. I designed it that way so I could announce it in church tomorrow. You can respond to my comments. You can do it through the blog. You just have to click on the comments word and it will take you to a place to do that. You have to sign up for a google account, but it free and easy to do. I can then post your comments on the blog. If you don't feel comfortable doing that you can just e-mail me at fredrickhearn7@hotmail.com.

This is a 61 day reading plan that comes from www.biblegateway.com It takes highlights from every book of the Bible and gives a good survey. You can either use your Bible to do these readings or you can go on the biblegateway website and read it there in different versions. You can also listen to it on biblegateway as well, that is what I do.

Here are the readings

Feb 5 - Genesis 1-3, 12, 15, 22
Feb 6 - Exodus 1-5
Feb 7 - Exodus 12-14, 20
Feb 8- Leviticus 1, 10, 16, 25
Feb 9 - Numbers 3-4, 6, 11-14
Feb 10 - Deuteronomy 5-8, 28-31, 34
Feb 11 - Joshua 1-6, 23-24

As you can see you are reading whole chapters at a time but not the whole book.

Also this Sunday we will be restarting Adult Bible Class. I will be giving a fun quiz on Lutheran Doctrine. Then we will discuss what you want to study for the next several months. I have four good options for you. 1) A historical study on worship and church building 2) Basic Lutheran Doctrine, 3) Other Religions 4) a Book of the Bible. If you have suggestions please bring those as well. It should be a lot of fun.

Pastor Fred