LutheranLectionary.org

Series A – Second Sunday of Easter – Sunday, April 16, 2023 | Pr. Chris Rosebrough

Welcome to the Teaching Ministry of Kongsvinger Lutheran Church. Kongsvinger is a beacon for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of Northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone, and now, here’s a message from Pastor Chris Rosebrough:

Time Stamp	Transcript
0:22	The holy Gospel
0:29	According to Saint John the 20th chapter foreign
0:37	of that day the first day of the week the door is being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews
0:43	Jesus came and stood among them and said to them peace be with you when he had
0:49	said this he showed them his hands and his side then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord and Jesus said to
0:56	them again peace be with you as the father has sent me even so I am sending you and when he had said this he
1:02	breathed on them and said to them receive the Holy Spirit if you forgive the sins of anyone they are forgiven if
1:09	you withhold forgiveness from anyone it is withheld now Thomas one of the twelve called the twin was not with them when
1:15	Jesus came so the other disciples told him we have seen the Lord but he said to them unless
1:22	I see in his hands the mark of the nails and place my fingers into the mark of the nails and place my hand into his
1:28	side I will never believe eight days later his disciples were inside again
1:33	and Thomas was with them although the doors were locked Jesus came and stood among them and said peace be with you
1:39	and then he said to Thomas put your finger here and see my hands and put out your hand and place it in my side do not
1:45	disbelieve but believe Thomas answered him my Lord and my God Jesus said to him
1:51	have you believed because you’ve seen me blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed now Jesus did many
1:57	other signs in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this book but these are written so that you
2:02	may believe that Jesus is the Christ the son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name this is the gospel
2:09	of the Lord Alleluia Christ is risen
2:15	in the name of Jesus here again the words of our epistle text
2:20	today Peter writes so many decades later after what we’ve heard in Our Gospel text blessed be the God and father of
2:28	our Lord Jesus Christ according to his great Mercy he has caused us to be born
2:33	again to a Living Hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is
2:40	imperishable undefiled and unfading and kept in heaven for you what comforting words we
2:47	have here and you’ll note this is an amazing thing that Peter is writing talking about a Living Hope well he
2:54	knows a thing or two about living hopes because isn’t Christ Our Hope Christ is
3:00	alive he is risen from the dead he’s risen indeed and so Peter here is speaking quite boldly but when we find
3:07	Peter and the other Apostles in Our Gospel texts today they are anything but bold and confident in a Living Hope in
3:15	fact they seem to be quite confused and quite fearful and their fear is actually quite understandable but here again the
3:22	words of Our Gospel text on the evening of that day the day of the Resurrection the women had already been to the tomb
3:28	and the women had come back saying Jesus is risen he’s risen from the dead we’ve
3:33	even seen him touched him we’ve seen a vision of angels all the things that go along with that and the disciples Peter
3:39	and John they run to the tomb to they take a peek inside and they are scratching their heads going what is
3:45	going on right and so it says on the evening of that day so the day of the
3:50	Resurrection Easter Sunday itself they are in an upper room with the doors
3:57	locked for fear of the Jews now what is going on here we kind of
4:04	doesn’t take much imagination to figure out what’s going on here they’re looking for a place to hide out to lay low and
4:12	maybe this is the same upper room that they celebrated the Passover the text doesn’t say but the idea here is is that
4:20	they needed a place to not be in the line of sight of the Jews who had crucified Christ because they feared for
4:28	their own lives have you ever noticed how religious zealotry I’m not talking
4:34	about true faith in Christ religious zealotry and false religions the people
4:40	who hold these religious beliefs that are falsely that are not true they have
4:45	they have a tendency to want to back them up with death right yeah you think of Islam and it’s and it’s proclivity to
4:54	murdering the Infidel all in the name of Allah right and and so that you’ll note
4:59	that they are rightly worried they are rightly fearful and so on that day after
5:05	visiting Jesus’s tomb you can see what’s going on here somebody says we need a place to lay low a place to hide out and
5:12	so one of the Apostles clearly finds a place maybe again it’s that upper room that they use for the Passover we don’t
5:19	know but you can see how they would have slunk in there first they had to like open the door carefully take a look to
5:25	make sure there was nobody inside you know if they had Firearms they’d need to clear the room make sure that everything
5:30	is okay right and then once they’ve got that worked out they’ve got to draw the curtains they don’t want anybody seeing
5:37	in see what’s going on and then once they give the signal that everything’s clear the other disciples come in they
5:43	shut the door and they lock it right this is not a good way to exist
5:49	and so they are there for fear of the Jews and then while they’re there in their
5:56	fear Jesus all of a sudden appears amongst them in the midst of them how
6:01	did he get in well I would note that Jesus being both God and man he’s capable of doing stuff you and I can’t
6:08	do right he didn’t climb in a window and distract them and then and then appear
6:14	he just appeared because he can do that by virtue of the fact that he is God in human flesh and what does Jesus say to
6:22	them I love the fact that Jesus doesn’t come in and scold them what is with you guys come on where’s your faith didn’t I
6:30	tell you I was going to rise from the dead well come on you need to get just you know grow up man up gentlemen this
6:37	is no way for a Chad to behave right this is not how he’s talking right
6:43	instead he speaks words of kindness to them peace Shalom peace be with you and this
6:50	is the peace that comes from God due to the fact that Christ is bled and died for our sins and by his vicarious
6:57	suffering has reconciled us to the father no longer is our sin counted
7:02	against us no longer can sin be pointed to and say this fellow deserves hell because Christ has suffered in our place
7:10	on the cross vicariously peace be with you and Jesus now seeing the shock on
7:18	their face that he’s appeared in their presence he showed them his hands he
7:24	showed them his side and when all of that doubt had given way to the truth of
7:31	the Resurrection yes Jesus rose bodily from the grave just as he said the
7:36	disciples were glad when they saw the Lord and Jesus said peace be with you as
7:41	the father has sent me even I am sending you and when he had said this he breathed on them and said to them
7:48	receive the Holy Spirit yeah it kind of invokes the Book of Genesis there’s
7:53	Adam’s lifeless body right and God breathed into his nostrils the Breath of Life Jesus inspirates
8:00	with the Holy Spirit his disciples to make them his Apostles and send them
8:06	with the power of the Holy Spirit to do the tasks that he has given them to do to be eyewitnesses of the resurrection
8:12	and Proclaim to each and every one of us that in Christ there is forgiveness of sins even as the father has sent me even
8:19	so I am sending you and he said receive the Holy Spirit if you forgive the sins of anyone
8:25	they are forgiven if you withhold forgiveness from anyone it is withheld ah he gives the church the office of the
8:33	keys the keys to bind sins for the impenitent to loose sins for those who
8:39	trust in Christ and repent of their sins this is an authority that the church has to speak on Jesus’s behalf and comfort
8:46	Sinners and to rebuke the impenitent this is a powerful Authority that Christ
8:52	has given to the church and we exercise this Authority every Sunday here so Thomas
8:59	one of the 12 called the twin was not with them when Jesus came we don’t know
9:04	why he missed the meeting maybe he had to find a way to sneak down to the local sushi market and buy himself some sushi
9:11	and grab himself a Dr Pepper we don’t know it doesn’t say so we’re not sure why he missed the meeting so the other
9:18	disciples told him we have seen the Lord and now they’ve begun their work of witnessing to the resurrection of Christ
9:25	himself to the disciple who missed the meeting we have seen the Lord but he
9:31	said to them unless I see in his hands the marks of the nails and place my finger into the marks of the nails and
9:36	place my hand into a side I will never be leave
9:43	hmm does faith come by hearing or faith come by seeing and yeah you’re going to
9:49	know here faith comes by hearing and he’s rejecting but eight days later eight days later the next Eighth Day
9:55	what that what would have been Sunday you’ll note that Jesus has this habit of appearing Sunday after Sunday after
10:01	Sunday is it any wonder that the Cur the Christian Church from its very beginning from its very Inception from its very
10:08	outset no longer worshiped on Shabbat on Saturday instead they gathered to have
10:15	the Lord’s Supper to pray and to hear the words of scripture on Sunday instead
10:21	the Lord’s Day the day that he rose from the dead on the eighth day eight days
10:26	later Jesus appeared while the disciples were again in an upper room doors still
10:32	locked fear hasn’t quite given way to courage here but again Jesus comes and
10:39	he speaks to them peace peace be with you you’ll note that today when we gathered on the Lord’s Day Christ has
10:45	come amongst us because we’re two or more gathered Christ is truly present and Christ is speaking to us words of
10:52	Peace in the Absolution that we heard today that Jesus has forgiven you of all
10:57	of your sins he speaks peace to us now he has to deal with his doubting
11:04	disciple the one he also will choose to become an apostle he says put your
11:09	finger here Thomas see my hands put out your hand place it in my side do not be
11:15	disbelieving but believe that’s a better translation of the Greek by the way and now Thomas who said he will never
11:22	believe Jesus who makes allowances for his weaknesses and his doubts
11:28	he can now gives the great confession you are my Lord and my God
11:37	and Jesus said to him have you believed because you’ve seen me but blessed are those who have not seen and yet have
11:45	believed you’ll note that Christ is declaring each and every one of us today blessed we have not seen the Risen Lord
11:52	we trust the eyewitnesses who have told us that they have handled Christ’s flesh
11:57	that they have put their hands and and into the marks of Jesus and into his
12:03	side that they have touched him that they have ate with him that they have listened to him that they have spent time with him after his resurrection we
12:09	trust their words and Christ is declared to us that we are blessed even though we have not seen him and
12:17	Jill note then this gospel text ends with these words now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the
12:22	disciples which are not written in this book in fact most of the Miracles of Christ are not recorded but the ones
12:29	that are recorded are sufficient they are all that we need these signs
12:34	are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the son of God and by believing you might have life in his
12:40	name ah as John writes these words this is the last of the gospels to be written much much later decades later than
12:47	Christ’s death burial resurrection and Ascension and you can hear in these
12:53	words that John writes a certainty a very strong certainty John himself
13:02	hangs on to this living hope that Peter mentioned in our epistle text these are
13:08	not the words of a man who’s cowering in fear these are the words of a man who
13:13	has certainty and it’s here where I’m going to note that again in our epistle text Peter says that we have been born
13:20	again to a Living Hope what is a Living Hope by the way that’s kind of an interesting thing we talk about Hope
13:26	right I have hope regarding certain things in life let me give you an example of something I recently hoped
13:33	for and my hopes were dashed to Pieces it happens from time to time by the way
13:38	um I have you noticed like other people have you noticed that Amazon has seemed to take over the retail world and not
13:46	Not For No Good Reason too I I kind of like the convenience of being able to pull up a web page find the thing I’m
13:53	looking for ordering it and then a few days later it’s showing up on my doorstep it’s really cool and the nice
14:00	thing is is I can legitimately say at this moment as of this time no one has
14:05	been successful in porch pirating any of my Amazon packages and that being the
14:11	case I I have hope that the things that I order on Amazon are going to appear
14:16	miraculously on my doorstep and I will be able to enjoy the things that I’ve purchased well a recent purchase of mine
14:23	in case you haven’t figured this out I like photography I had ordered a couple of items for my camera and for my tripod
14:30	and there were three items in a package that were all put together and sent to me via Amazon and I had hope that they
14:38	would arrive safely and you know I have this thing that I do when I have a package coming I put up the UPS website
14:45	and I put the tracking number in and I look at the progress and I always love the words out for delivery right these
14:52	are great words because then I know that the thing I’ve ordered is going to show up very shortly and I look forward to it
14:58	and it said it arrived by 8 pm APM came and went
15:04	it didn’t arrive 8 30 came and went
15:09	it didn’t arrive I checking the website out for delivery
15:16	right but then my ring camera went off right I got the notification I Heard the
15:21	Bells and I realized ah my package has arrived and so I quickly ran downstairs
15:28	well actually I hobbled this because it was this week yeah just saying there may
15:34	be a broken ankle involved in it but I hobbled down the stairs went and opened
15:39	the door and there were my past where’s my package safely leaning against my door
15:46	but then I noticed something the package was opened
15:51	what so I picked it up it was very light it was supposed to be heavy
15:58	and I looked at the torn top of it looked into my package and there were
16:04	not three items there was only one two of them had been pre-porched pirated
16:14	we’d all only have to worry about porch Pirates we have to worry about pre-porch Pirates now so this is a terrible thing
16:20	and so my hopes that I would be able to enjoy this camera gear have been dashed to pieces and now I have anxiety
16:27	regarding ordering anything on Amazon because I know of the existence of pre-porch pirates right
16:35	excuse me I’m still in therapy over this but but here here’s the point that I’m
16:41	making is that when we talk about Hope in this lifetime you’ll note that the things that we hope
16:47	for we don’t have certainty regarding the things that we hope for we hope that
16:55	things are going to work out but we have a level of understanding that things may not work out as we hope because this
17:03	world in this life because of sin has a way of throwing things curveballs at us
17:08	that make it so that sometimes the things that we are hoping for it doesn’t
17:14	quite work out that way but you’re going to note here Peter in our epistle text talks about the fact
17:21	that we have been caused to be born again to a Living Hope
17:27	here is not just hope it’s a Living Hope and here’s the thing this is the kind of
17:33	hope that is beyond the kind of hope that we have in this world a Living Hope
17:39	is a certainty a confidence that the thing it we are that we’re promised we already have a Living Hope is something
17:47	that isn’t filled with doubt a Living Hope is something that is filled with absolute confidence
17:54	and why is that because Jesus is Our Living Hope because he has risen from
18:00	the grave we know with certainty that the things he has promised he will
18:06	deliver because Christ does not lie and because he has risen from the dead we know that we have forgiveness mercy and
18:13	Grace with God and Peter here even invokes The Inheritance that is still to
18:18	come and you’ll note then Faith as the epistle to the Hebrews says is as faith
18:26	is being sure of what we hope for certain of what we cannot see
18:32	true Living Faith is not about doubt it’s about certainty and you can always
18:38	tell that somebody has fallen under the sway of really bad liberal post-modern
18:43	nonsense when they say things like this that the opposite the enemy of faith is
18:50	certainty you know they this is how they talk in fact recently I was alerted to a fellow on Twitter who has a doctorate
18:57	and it supposedly is a new testament scholar and he posted something like that on Twitter he says that that he
19:04	says doubt is not the enemy of Faith he says certainty is the enemy of faith
19:09	so since he has a PHD it makes it big to do about it and on his Twitter profile as long as well as noting what his
19:16	pronouns are supposed to be right I went ahead and figured well if
19:23	he’s a new testament scholar he probably knows Greek so I copied that verse out from Hebrews faith is you know being
19:31	sure of what we hope for The Confident or certain of what we cannot see copied
19:36	it from the Greek and just sent that to him as a response to his tweet and then I of course had to just put a little bit
19:42	of a dig in there and ask the question how has Satan so deluded you that you reject what how scripture defines Faith
19:49	you know what he did he blocked me yeah conversation ended right
20:00	but all of that being said we have been born again to a Living Hope
20:05	through the resurrection of Jesus Christ and you can see this confidence this
20:11	certainty now born out in the actions of the Apostles in our first reading
20:17	remember the apostles on the day of the resurrection and on the eighth day after the resurrect and the following Sunday
20:22	they were still in an upper room windows drawn doors locked still in fear of the
20:28	Jews the guys who’d crucified Jesus they were still in fear of them but in our
20:33	first reading today something has completely changed
20:39	the men that they feared they are now being drug in to give an accounting for
20:46	the things that they’re doing and they don’t care what the Jews can do to them
20:52	in fact let’s listen to what it says let me back up a little bit in the context in Acts chapter 5 verse 27 it says they
21:01	the Jews they brought them the disciples and they set them before the council
21:06	and the high priest questioned them this is the same guy who tore his robes when
21:13	Jesus was on trial saying he’s blaspheming because he claims to be the Son of God right okay that’s the same
21:19	guy and he says we strictly charged you not to teach in this name yet you have
21:26	filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you intend to bring this man’s blood on us
21:31	too late that’s already happened right so Peter
21:37	and the apostles answered and note here this is way different than what took place in the upper room there’s cowering
21:44	and fear Peter stands up and says well we must obey God rather than men
21:50	what’s it to you okay the god of our fathers raised Jesus whom
21:57	you killed by hanging him on a tree and God exalted him at his right hand as
22:02	leader and savior to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins I love
22:08	that part the Forgiveness of sins because I need that and so do you and he says we’re Witnesses of these things and
22:15	so is the holy spirit whom God has given to those who obey now the Roseboro
22:20	translation then goes on to say and then the Jews went me
22:25	right it says they were enraged and they wanted to kill them
22:35	isn’t that the very thing that they were fearing
22:41	and here’s the thing by my Reckoning at this point
22:48	they had within their power to murder at this point all of Christ’s
22:53	apostles they were all there they could have nipped Christianity in the bud
23:01	do you think Jesus was a block to allow them at this point to be murdered
23:06	even if he had do you think Jesus isn’t capable of spreading the message of the Gospel he is and so these men they don’t
23:14	fear the Jews any longer you’ll note they have a Living Hope
23:21	because Christ is risen from the dead and I would note something here over and again one of the things I have to deal
23:27	with as a pastor are those who have real anxiety real fear guilt even regarding
23:35	the fact that they they well they feel remorse and guilt because they don’t
23:41	have the courage to speak the gospel at times when they
23:48	know that they should or that they could and I would note here rather than
23:53	beating people over the head and saying how dare you not speak the gospel when you know you could and should right
23:58	that’s this is not going to solve the problem instead I would know yeah there are
24:04	times we ought to speak and sometimes we sinfully don’t because like Peter
24:10	like like John like the other Apostles we oftentimes fear others and fear the
24:17	repercussions that we would face in the light of speaking the truth whether that be banned on Twitter or
24:25	Facebook or things like this or we be you know excommunicated from our work for speaking the truth oftentimes We
24:32	Fear those repercussions and we cower just like the apostles did in the upper
24:37	room but you’ll know it wasn’t Jesus scolding them that gave them the confidence that
24:44	living hope that they had and the boldness that followed it was their confidence in Christ’s resurrection that
24:52	then led to the confidence to speak the truth even in the face of the most
24:58	severe and dire of consequences death itself and so I would note that you are in good
25:04	company if you fear speaking the truth we all we all do that but note here the
25:10	confidence to speak the truth is not coming through guilt confidence in speaking the truth comes
25:16	in knowing that Jesus has risen from the dead and because he has risen from the
25:21	dead there is nothing that anybody can do to you so the Pharisees the council
25:27	they wanted to kill the apostles and so Gamaliel a Pharisee a teacher of
25:35	the Pharisees he stands up and basically says listen if this thing is from God you’re
25:41	opposing God we don’t know if it’s from man or God so be careful what you’re doing here and so here’s what happens
25:47	they listen to Gamaliel and rather than murder the apostles and put Christianity
25:53	to an end when they could have they took his advice and they called in
25:58	the apostles and they beat them I’m sure that had to be fun
26:04	right they getting a good beating and one does it doesn’t say how this
26:11	went down but no there’s there’s an actual process that takes place here did they line all 12 of them up
26:19	each on their own pole and then beat them or did they do it one at a time
26:26	did they go well Peter it’s your turn you’re next John hey Andrew get ready
26:33	Bartholomew you’re on Deck yeah how did it go down it doesn’t say it
26:38	just says that they beat them how many of them all of them
26:44	and did they sit there and go oh man we should have stayed in the upper room no
26:50	they beat them and then they said to them do not speak in the name of Jesus at all
26:59	you know what they said to that [Music] right
27:04	so when they left the presence of the council they were rejoicing
27:13	what are you guys rejoicing about praise the Lord praise the Lord let the people
27:18	reach what has gotten into you guys ah we’ve been counted worthy to suffer
27:24	dishonor for the name of Jesus and then what did they do and every day then
27:31	let’s redouble our efforts let’s do this every day now every day in the temple from house to house wherever they went
27:38	and I would say even guys doing it on the internet right they didn’t cease teaching and preaching that Jesus is the
27:45	Christ wow what a change from fearful of death to rejoicing in
27:54	suffering and beating and dishonor well there’s a reason for that
27:59	and has to do with everything that Peter writes about in our epistle again hear these words of the Apostle Peter blessed
28:07	be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ according to his great
28:15	Mercy I’ve read the text a few times but now it’s time to highlight it I love the
28:23	word great here magos in the Greek right it doesn’t say according to his Mercy it
28:31	says according to his megas Mercy great Mercy you’re going to note this when it
28:36	comes to your salvation God isn’t up there trying to figuring out try to figure out how to get the mercy and the
28:42	grace to work so that you can be saved it isn’t like how it works in the accounting world with budgeting okay by
28:49	the way I hated being in the in the corporate world and having to deal with budgets because what budgeting requires
28:55	you to do is engage in Prophecy you have to forecast and predict into the future
29:01	what your expenses are going to be right and here’s what happens when the future doesn’t turn out the way you did it when
29:07	you budgeted right what do the accountants do now we have to stay until the budget right and so you have to
29:14	figure out how to work the finances you gotta take from this pot and put it over
29:19	here in this pot and maybe draw a little from this one in order to get the thing that you need in order to pay for it
29:26	right your salvation is not like this
29:31	God doesn’t sit in there going wow you know
29:36	um I’ve only got this much Mercy that I can hand out here um thankfully that guy died and didn’t believe in me so I can
29:42	take some of the mercy that I would have given to him and I yeah we’re not quite enough here let’s see here uh you know
29:49	he’s not working your salvation out like that according to his great Mercy super
29:56	abundant beyond what you’ve sinned according to his great Mercy he God he
30:03	has caused you to be born again you weren’t Born Again by a free will
30:09	decision to ask Jesus into your heart this text says God has caused you to be
30:15	born again to what to a Living Hope that confident hope that Living Hope
30:21	because Jesus is our living hope he has risen indeed he is our Living Hope and
30:27	so we have been born again to a living hope to the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to what
30:34	an inheritance that is imperishable undefiled
30:40	unfading kept in heaven for you in other words the hope that we are looking for
30:47	the hope that we have been promised there are no pre-porch Pirates who can steal your inheritance in heaven
30:55	it is being guarded by Christ himself and good luck taking even the smallest
31:00	item from The Inheritance that Christ has promised you because he in his great Mercy has bled and died for all of your
31:08	sins so our inheritance imperishable undefiled unfading kept in heaven for
31:15	you who you who by God’s power whose power You Are by God’s power being
31:21	guarded through faith for a Salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last
31:26	time what powerful words you are being guarded by whose power I this morning I
31:33	had a wonderful conversation with one of our Saints who attends here via the Internet she
31:41	has a relative who’s about ready to meet Christ right
31:47	and she kind of confessed it in the midst of all of this then talking about her imminent the imminent death of her
31:54	grandmother that she feels so worn
31:59	out have you noticed how hard the Christian Life is do you ever feel
32:05	worn out isn’t that exactly what scripture says
32:11	that the that the Antichrist would do wear out the Saints
32:19	yeah maybe if you’re not feeling worn out you’re doing it wrong
32:24	but here’s the thing you’re not saved by your efforts your
32:30	faith is not sustained by your efforts your faith is being guarded by God’s
32:35	power what does Paul say when I am weak then I am strong as a result of that note then here yes
32:43	you are worn out you don’t have the strength necessary to
32:50	fight this fight you don’t have the courage needed to Proclaim Christ and him crucified to your family and your
32:57	friends and your co-workers but God’s power is the one that makes it possible
33:03	for you to sustain your faith and it’s through God’s power you yourself are
33:08	being guarded through faith for a Salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time so then in this then
33:15	you rejoice though now for a little while if necessary you’ve been greed by
33:21	various trials every time I read that text I sit there and go why is it that God seemed to find it necessary you know
33:27	because it makes it sound like maybe there’s some Christians that won’t be necessary for them to go through trials not so with me not so with you right
33:35	you’ll note it is necessary I think he’s kind of talking tongue-in-cheek here even though if necessary and it is that
33:43	you’ve been greed by various trials so that the tested genuineness of your faith
33:49	and listen to these words your faith more precious than gold
33:57	and here’s where I’m going to extend the sermon just a little bit more I I love watch scrolling through social media and
34:04	seeing some very interesting tick tocks and reels and things like this on on social media and I recently saw an
34:11	interesting reel put out by a fellow who was dealing with the fact that there seems to be a double standard in the
34:17	dating world at least he perceives that there is and so he put a tick tock out about it and so he he puts in the
34:24	scenario a situation where he’s on a first date with somebody he’s met through an online dating app they get
34:29	into the vehicle and the gal starts talking about things like well let me ask you a question do you live with your
34:35	parents no I live by myself do you have any roommates no I don’t have any roommates at all I pay for my own house
34:42	how’s your credit score perfect uh what kind of job do you have I work in
34:48	management and he has a nice car to boot and by the world standards he has very
34:54	high value as as a person in a relationship so he starts asking the
34:59	same questions of the gal you know well what about you do you do you live on your own oh no I live with my parents oh
35:05	how’s your credit score well we’re working on it well what do you do for a living well you know my parents were subsidizing me
35:12	and I hope to get a job soon high value versus low value and in The
35:19	Tick Tock he says get out of my car right get out of my car so you’ll know the world teaches us to
35:25	think in terms of value and not value worthlessness versus things that are
35:30	high value I would note that everybody in the world seems to believe that gold
35:35	is precious and has high value what’s more precious than gold
35:44	the very faith that has been given to you by God to trust in Jesus Christ for the
35:50	Forgiveness of your sins it is more precious than gold itself it
35:56	is of higher value than anything because Faith always looks to the thing
36:02	that it trusts in the reason our faith is more precious than gold is because our faith is in
36:08	Jesus Christ how does one evaluate the value of Jesus himself
36:14	and so our faith is tested and even though gold perishes through fire while
36:20	it’s tested all of this testing is done so that we may be found to Res that in a
36:26	way that results in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ
36:31	and here we hear an echo of Our Gospel text today Jesus says to Thomas you have
36:37	believed me because you’ve seen me blessed is the one who has not seen me and yet believes and here Peter says
36:43	these words kind of in an echo though you have not seen him you love him
36:50	though you do not now see him you believe in him and you rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with
36:56	Glory and now you are obtaining the outcome of your faith what is the outcome of our
37:02	faith and if somebody from Houston says that you might have your best life now no
37:09	what is the outcome of your face the salvation of your souls
37:14	so brothers and sisters Christ is risen indeed and we have been born again to a Living
37:20	Hope a confidence a surety a certainty that Christ will make good on his
37:26	promises that we are reconciled to God the Father we have received the Forgiveness of sins because he has risen
37:31	from the grave we now have boldness and confidence to speak the good news to others so that they can share in this
37:37	Joy with us and all the while God by his power is guarding our faith and we will see the
37:44	result of it when he appears and we are obtaining the outcome of our faith the
37:50	Terminus of it is what the very salvation of our souls and because Jesus is risen that is
37:57	exactly what we have today and tomorrow and on into eternity an inheritance that
38:03	is imperishable undefiled unfading kept in heaven no pre-porch pirate can steal
38:08	it from you hmm a Living Hope
38:14	sounds like everything doesn’t it because it is Alleluia Christ is risen

If you would like to support the teaching ministry of Kongsvinger Lutheran Church, you can do so by sending a tax-free donation to: Kongsvinger Lutheran Church 15950 470th Ave NW, Oslo, MN 56744 We thank you for your support. All of our teaching messages may be freely distributed as long as you do not edit or change the content of the message, and, again, thank you for listening.