Kindle Notes & Highlights
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December 13, 2021 - August 10, 2022
The answer is that Lutherans worship only God in Jesus Christ.
the Lutheran Church is both the oldest and one of the largest. It was founded upon Jesus Christ and carried on by his faithful followers today. It is a true expression of the one true Holy catholic and apostolic church.
His reforms also included the knowledge that Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper were the only true sacraments of the church
Needless to say, church isn’t the only place where the holy happens. Sacramental moments can occur at any moment, any place, and to anybody. Watching something get born. Making love. A walk on the beach. Somebody coming to see you when you’re sick. A meal with people you love. Looking into a stranger’s eyes and finding out he’s not a stranger. If we weren’t blind as bats, we might see that life itself is sacramental.
Fourth, read the Bible with imagination. Put yourself in the story. Try to be present as if you were actually there at each event watching.
You are not just seeking information, but seeking the person of Jesus, who in the process will end up finding you.
Baptism is first and foremost God’s action. Baptism unites us with the risen Christ and makes us members of God’s family. Through water united with the power of God’s creative and redeeming word, the waters of baptism wash away and cleans the guilt of our sins, confer upon us God’s grace, deliver us from the power of death, and assure us eternal life in God’s Kingdom.
When we say Christ is present in the Holy Communion, this is not a spiritual presence but a physical presence when we receive into our hands and mouths his true body and blood.
the Spirit is that which brings life. We define the church as the Body of Christ, and therefore would say that it is the Holy Spirit that gives life to the body of Christ, the church.
The true church is not the Lutheran Church, the Baptist Church, the Episcopal Church, the Catholic Church, the Methodist Church, or any other. Rather, the true church exists universally wherever and whenever people are joined to Jesus Christ through water (baptism) and the Word (the gospel).
