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Series A – Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost – Sunday, September 7, 2014 | 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 Matthew chapter 18 verses 1 through 20.
0:35	at that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven
0:42	he called a little child and had him stand among them and he said I tell you the truth unless you change and turn and
0:48	become like little children you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven therefore whoever humbles himself like
0:55	this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name
1:01	welcomes me but if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin it would be better for him to have a
1:08	large Millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea
1:14	woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin such things
1:19	must come but woe to the man through whom they come and if your hand or foot causes you to
1:27	sin cut it off throw it away it is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two
1:34	feet and be thrown into the Eternal fire and if your eye causes you to sin gouge it out throw it away it is better for
1:41	you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into the fire of hell
1:47	see that you do not look down on one of these little ones for I tell you that
1:52	they’re angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in Heaven what do you think if a man owns a hundred sheep and
1:59	one of them wanders away will he not leave the 99 on the hills and go and look for the one that wandered off and
2:07	if he finds it I tell you the truth he is happier about that one sheep than about the 99 that did not wander off in
2:15	the same way your father in Heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost if your brother sins
2:22	against you go and show him his fault just between the two of you if he
2:27	listens to you you have one your brother over but if he will not listen take one or
2:32	two others along so that every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three Witnesses if he refuses to
2:40	listen to them tell it to the church and if he refuses to listen even to the church treat him
2:45	as you would a pagan or a tax collector I tell you the truth whatever you bind on Earth will be bound in heaven
2:52	whatever you loose on Earth will be loosed in heaven and again I tell you that if two of you on Earth agree about
2:58	anything you ask for it will be done for you by my Father in heaven for where two
3:03	or three come together in my name there I am with them this is the gospel of the
3:09	Lord we praise to you o Christ in the name of Jesus
3:18	so what were the disciples thinking who’s the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven
3:24	by whose standard are they making this judgment man’s standard the world’s standard I
3:30	mean who’s the greatest in the United States of America is it the richest CEO is it the
3:38	president of the United States who’s the greatest hearing in Oslo
3:44	Minnesota the man with the biggest acreage is it the guys with the green combines
3:50	or the red ones right
3:55	you see we all kind of understand how this greatest thing works right the greatest thing you know it’s talking
4:01	about greatest we’re talking about people who’ve gone out and done great exploits have made a name for themselves
4:08	have risen above everybody else climb the corporate ladder or seize the
4:13	greatest amount of property at land who has the largest house the fanciest car
4:19	the most expensive combine right we all know what greatest means and some
4:25	Scholars wonder if at this point because Jesus has already begun to talk about the fact that he’s going to go to the
4:30	cross and that he’s going to die some Scholars wonder if the disciples are thinking who’s the greatest in the
4:36	Kingdom of Heaven like who’s the greatest disciple so that when you you know die Jesus who’s going to take over
4:41	right yeah so Jesus answers their question and I’m
4:50	going to be reading from my translation today so if you want to follow along in your Bible you can I actually translated
4:57	the text and I’m going to preach from my translation the reason why is because there’s certain things in the Greek that
5:03	I need to tease out okay and I’m a theological nerd in that way so my apologies so let me read in that hour at
5:12	that time the disciples came to Jesus saying who’s the greatest in the kingdom of heaven and he called to himself a
5:17	child and had him stand in the midst of them and he said amen truly I say to you if
5:25	you do not turn around now the NIV says change the ESV says turn the Greek word
5:32	is a little bit stronger than turn it’s like about face do a 180 turn around so
5:38	Jesus in a sense is kind of rebuking them so he’s got this little child tiny little tyke right probably about
5:43	Benjamin’s size okay has him stand in the midst of him and he says if you don’t turn around and become as the
5:50	little children you will not enter the kingdom of heaven now the the
5:56	um word for little children is a pi Dion literally means you know these are the
6:02	smallest children there’s several words for children in Greek these are the smallest ones these are infants newborns
6:09	okay Robin Roger Jesus is talking about your grandchild
6:15	okay if you don’t turn and become like an infant you will not enter the kingdom of heaven
6:23	you just go what infants can’t do anything
6:29	all they can do is receive they don’t do anything except for be fed
6:37	and you know dirty their diapers and you know they’re just kind of needy I mean
6:42	what do how can they be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven but this is what Jesus is saying also keep in mind Jesus
6:50	is also here saying that infants can have faith right yep so if you don’t
6:55	become like a little child you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven therefore whoever will humble himself as this
7:02	child this one is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven and whoever might
7:07	receive one such child in my name receives me now keep this in mind the child is the metaphor so how do we
7:14	receive a child in Jesus name and therefore receive Jesus who are the neediest among us and we’re talking
7:21	about people who are Christians at this point we’re talking about Believers right what is a Believer a Believer is
7:28	somebody who confesses that God is the creator of Heaven and Earth and when you confess that God is the creator of
7:34	Heaven and Earth you confess that you are a creature that you’re not God remember the devil’s
7:41	Temptation in the Garden of Eden was oh when you eat of the fruit you will be like God knowing good and evil temptation is to be like God well if
7:48	you’re God you don’t need anybody right somebody who has faith
7:53	like a child understands that everything they have is received as a gift
7:59	that’s what a child is so when you receive somebody who’s a fellow believer who’s needy
8:06	and you’re actually meeting their needs because they’re a believer while you’re receiving Jesus Jesus says
8:12	this now now Jesus kind of turns things in verse 6 and it gets a little bit dark
8:19	pay attention whoever might cause one of these little ones who have faith in me that’s right you have faith in Jesus you
8:26	are one of Jesus’s little ones yeah I don’t care if you’re 80 years old
8:32	you are one of Jesus’s little ones you’re a tyke you’re receiving from him and now he’s saying this whoever causes
8:40	one of these little ones to have faith in me to stumble or to sin oh it’s better for him to hang a millstone of a
8:46	donkey around his neck and drown in the depths of the sea yeah you notice in your translation it says great Millstone
8:51	the the Greek’s a little bit more fun Millstone of a donkey it says right you know that’s the millstone is the big
8:58	wheel yet you’ve got a big Stone wheel and then you got another wheel a stone wheel on top of it and then you got a
9:03	bar going through it and you hook a donkey up to it and the donkey goes around in a circle right so it would be
9:09	better for you to have that big no stone in the center that the donkey’s using to kind of you know you know grind the
9:15	wheat it would be better for you to tie that around your neck and be thrown into the depths of the sea than to cause one
9:21	of Jesus’s little ones to stumble that tells you about his great love for you
9:27	how jealously he guards you and then he says this woe to the world because of
9:33	the stumbling blocks the things that cause sin it’s necessary for the stumbling blocks to come nevertheless woe to the man
9:40	through whom the stumbling blocks come now keep in mind Jesus doesn’t always doesn’t talk about Sin as only having
9:46	its origin outside of you Jesus also is somebody who understands
9:52	what later was developed as a Doctrine called simul Eustis at picature you’re
9:57	going okay let me explain okay this is a Latin
10:02	phrase and this is one of the phrases that the reformers put together talking about the state of a Christian have you
10:08	ever noticed as a Christian it seems like you’re at odds with yourself right you know one day you want to do good you
10:14	want to help that person out and then the next day you take a knife and you stab him in the back right you know what
10:21	I’m talking about right is it me I’m not the only one that’s done that right okay so the idea here is is that not
10:28	only are the sources of stin and stumbling blocks the world and the Temptations to sin caused by the world
10:34	and the devil but also the sun blocks come with inside of us and the reason why is because as Christians we are
10:41	simultaneously Justified that means we’re declared righteous by Christ okay
10:46	and we’re still sinner at the same time simil simultaneously Eustis Justified at
10:52	piccato or and sinner at the same time we’re sinner Saints now now when the
10:57	Jesus returns in glory to judge the living and the dead will only be Saints right thank God okay can’t wait for that day
11:04	because sometimes being a Christian is just for the birds it’s difficult and Paul picks up on this tension if you
11:10	remember a few weeks ago we read this from Romans chapter seven let me read this see if this sounds familiar Paul
11:16	writes it says we know that the law is spiritual but I am unspiritual sold as a slave to sin I do not understand what I
11:22	do for what I want to do I don’t do but what I hate to do that’s what I do and if I do what I do not want to do I agree
11:28	that the law is good and it is no longer I myself who does it but it’s sin that’s living in living in me I know that
11:35	nothing good lives in me that is in my sinful nature for I have the desire to do what is good but cannot carry it out
11:42	for what I do is not the good that I want to do no it’s the evil but I don’t want to do this is what I keep on doing
11:48	does this sound familiar to any of you okay it’s like is this not if we if we were to like just put you know cameras
11:54	and hide them in your homes is this not how all of us live as Christians right so we have this tension we have the new
12:02	man regenerated by Christ that’s in us okay and we have the Holy Spirit living
12:07	in us and we are truly New Creations in Christ Jesus and at the same time we
12:12	still have our sinful flesh to contend with and know what the sinful flesh likes to do sin that’s what it excels at that’s what
12:20	its appetite is for and so as Christians we have this tension where we feel like we’re being pulled in two different directions and we are so Jesus picks up
12:29	on this and he he describes it in these terms he says but if your hand or foot
12:35	causes you to stumble notice he’s making a distinction between you and your
12:40	sinful flesh right but if you if your hand or foot causes you to stumble cut it off cast it from
12:47	you it’s better for you to enter into life crippled or lame or having two hands or two feet and then be thrown
12:53	into the Eternal fire okay and he says and if your eye causes you to stumble tear it out cast it from you it’s better
13:00	for you to enter into life with one eye or one-eyed or having two eyes and be
13:05	thrown into the hell of fire now thankfully we don’t celebrate every year at amputation Sunday because I think
13:12	this would just take this this idea just to an extreme you know what I’m saying but the idea behind this is not that is
13:19	the cutting off of your your limbs but in reality the mortification of your
13:25	flesh now so this is what Jesus is talking about it’s talking about mortifying our sinful
13:31	flesh that Wars with the new man within us so how do we do that thankfully the
13:36	Apostle Paul gives us a very practical way to do that and if you have your Pew Bibles I’d like you to open to Romans
13:42	chapter 6 and follow along so how do we mortify the sinful flesh how
13:48	the answer is actually an odd one but it’s a good one the answer is you
13:54	keep returning back in your mind to the Waters of your baptism and you trust the
14:00	promises attached to it here’s what it says in Romans 6. Paul after preaching the gospel so beautifully in Romans 3 4
14:07	and 5 kind of anticipates his critic’s response and he says well what shall we
14:13	what shall we say then shall we go on sinning so that Grace may increase yeah when you preach the gospel that you’re
14:19	totally saved by what Jesus has done not by any works that you have done oftentimes you’ll have people go so what
14:26	you’re saying is I can just sin all I want no no that you’re you’re not hearing
14:34	this properly so Paul Paul asked this question because he gets asked this a lot he said by no means now watch this
14:41	we died to sin how can we live in it any longer
14:47	now answer the question when did you die to sin and he writes or don’t you know that all
14:55	of us who were baptized into Christ were baptized into his death we were
15:01	therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through
15:07	the glory of the father we too might live A New Life if we have been United
15:13	with him like this in his death we will certainly also be United with him in his
15:20	resurrection for we know that our old self was crucified with him with whom with Jesus so that the body of sin might
15:28	be done away with that we should no longer be slaves to sin because anyone who has died has been freed from sin now
15:36	if we died with Christ we believe that we will also live with him for we know that since Christ was raised from the
15:42	dead he cannot die again death no longer has Mastery over him so the death he
15:47	died he died to sin once and for all but the life he lived he lives to God so in
15:54	the same way count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ therefore
16:02	do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you will obey its desires do not
16:07	offer the parts of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness but rather offer yourselves to God as those who
16:13	have been brought from Death to life where in the waters of your baptism and offer the parts of your body to him as
16:19	instruments of righteousness for sin shall not be your master because you are not under the law that you are under
16:25	grace foreign so you want to cut off sin
16:31	don’t cut your hands off return back to the Waters of your baptism where your sinful flesh was
16:37	crucified with Christ this is how we mortify the flesh by
16:43	believing the promises that God has given us regarding our right standing
16:49	before him the washing away of our sins are being united in Christ’s death and Resurrection in our baptisms our hearts
16:56	being circumcised by the hand of Christ these are the ways in which we mortify our sinful flesh and this is what Paul
17:02	just said in Romans 6. so Jesus in Matthew now we’ll go back to our text in
17:07	Matthew 18 is hinting at this okay and he’s talking about this conflict that we
17:13	have with our own sinful flesh and he talks about cutting things off well the
17:19	way we cut them off now is not by taking a knife or a saw and hacking off an arm or a leg but the way we cut off sin is
17:27	by returning back to our baptism and trusting the promises of God regarding them that’s how that’s done
17:33	so then Jesus now keep in mind this is all under the context as we’ve been reading Jesus is talking about the
17:39	little ones you you’re his little ones right and so he says this pay attention
17:44	verse 10 see to it that you do not despise one of these little ones the little ones who trust in Jesus for I say
17:52	to you that they’re angels in heaven always see the face of my father who is in heaven this is one of the passages
17:58	that hints at kind of it’s ever so fleeting you could just see it so quick that those who are believers
18:06	have angels literally assigned to protect and guard
18:11	and keep there it is right there and Jesus says and their Angels the angels of the
18:17	little ones oh they see the face of the father always and then you go can you tell me more
18:24	about that and just as soon as Jesus says it he’s on to the next thing just little glimpses of it this is not for us
18:30	to see right now we believe this by faith this is not something we see by sight and then he says so what do you
18:36	all think that’s what he says it’s in the plural I put that in the plural My translation what do you all think yeah because in in Greek they it’s either you
18:44	singular or you plural and you plural is just like if you’re from Texas it’s y’all okay so
18:51	um I put that in my translations all the time so what do y’all think if a man has a hundred sheep and go and one goes
18:57	astray from him would he not leave the 99 upon the hills and go and look for the wandering one the wandering one now
19:05	listen carefully to what’s going on here keep in mind everything’s in the context of the little ones the little ones the
19:11	children the infants these are the ones who are greatest in the kingdom of heaven and now one of these little ones
19:17	has wandered off okay and Jesus says this that he’s going to leave the 99 in
19:25	the hills and he’s going to go look for the wandering one and if he happens to find it truly I say to you he rejoices
19:32	more over it than over the 99 that did not wander thus it is not the will of
19:39	your father in Heaven that one of these little ones should perish right so when
19:44	somebody who is baptized who confesses Christ wanders off it’s not the will of
19:50	the father that they should perish instead that they should be found they’re out wandering now then how does
19:56	this look this is where we get to the great church discipline text everybody knows this
20:02	this is the church discipline text here Matthew 18 verse 15 right but keep in
20:07	mind you don’t properly understand church discipline unless you understand this is in the context of Jesus
20:13	searching for his wandering little ones if you just read at verse 15 and not
20:20	keep in mind this is in the context of a loving Jesus a sacrificial Jesus a
20:25	Shepherd Jesus whose heart is aching over that lost little sheep
20:31	you don’t understand church discipline if you think Church disciplines is just about taking out the hammer and smashing
20:38	a sinner you don’t understand church discipline at all church discipline is not about smashing
20:46	somebody who’s sinning church discipline ultimately is the way in which Jesus is hunting and searching
20:54	for one of his lost little ones that’s what the context of this is so he says this but if your brother sins
21:02	against you ah now we’ve got we’ve got a Wandering sheep go and reprove and
21:08	correct him between you and him alone if he listens to you you have gained your brother
21:13	now notice what this doesn’t say I have to be blunt this text does not
21:19	say if your brother sins against you get on the phone and start letting everybody know what a rotten scoundrel he is
21:27	doesn’t say get on Facebook and start messaging and making snotty little
21:33	comments about him no why because the he’s one of Jesus’s
21:39	little ones and he’s wandering right so if your brother sins against you this
21:45	is how Jesus goes and finds his little sheep you go and you correct him between
21:50	you and him alone if he listens to you you’ve gained your brother the Sheep has come home right
21:57	but if he does not listen Take Along with you one or two more in order that by the mouth of two or three
22:04	Witnesses every word might be established this is a sheep that doesn’t want to
22:09	come home not only is this a Wandering little one now this is an obstinate wandering
22:15	little one who thinks that the Wilderness is a great place for sheep to be out and about it’s a dangerous place
22:21	that says this but if he refuses to listen to them then you tell it to the church
22:28	in other words let me get make this practical if somebody who’s a Christian
22:34	sins against you in their in we’re all members of this congregation right let’s
22:39	come up with a fictitious story here let’s say that Don has said something Nary about Richard right okay so Richard
22:49	he does the right thing here he goes to Don he says don don brother
22:54	I’m concerned for you you’ve sinned against me repent and be forgiven
23:02	and Don says I’ll go pound sand not that Tom would ever say that right okay so don tells Richard to go pound sand now
23:09	what’s Richard do does he come to me the pastor nope not yet I’m not involved yet
23:15	so Richard says okay Roger and Janet we got to go talk to Don so Richard Roger and Janet they all meet
23:23	with Dawn and they say Don brother brother you’ve sinned repent and be forgiven
23:29	notice it’s not just repent but be forgiven right Christ bled and died for you you’re
23:34	baptized that ties little ones who are in Jesus they seek forgiveness they seek
23:41	reconciliation they want to be forgiven repent on but repent and Don says get
23:47	out of my house then what
23:53	go back with him a few more times and beg him to repent all in love the goal
23:58	is reconciliation this is what church discipline looks like
24:03	doesn’t sound very disciplinary when you put it this way so Dawn persists and refuses to repent
24:12	now you bring it to me only after you’ve done this do you bring it to me so I go
24:17	to Dawn and I beg with him and plead with him to repent to be forgiven to be reconciled to God and to his brothers
24:24	and sisters but he refuses now what
24:30	Well church here’s what Jesus says but if he does not listen Take Along
24:36	with you one or two more in order to buy the mouth of two or three Witnesses every word might be established but if
24:43	if he refuses to listen to them tell it to the church but if he also refuses to
24:49	listen to the church he is to be to you like a pagan unbeliever and a tax
24:54	collector now let’s make something very clear here
24:59	Pagan unbeliever and tax collector does not mean that we are to shun them
25:05	how did Jesus treat Pagan unbelievers and tax collectors he called them to
25:10	repent and to be forgiven and preach the good news to them as if they were unbelievers right so that’s how we’re to treat somebody who refuses to repent and
25:17	to be forgiven right that’s how you treat a pagan tax collector now years ago years ago I was a member
25:26	of a lcms congregation and there was a gal who was having an affair
25:34	and her husband in love pleaded with her to repent and she wouldn’t
25:40	so he brought two or more witnesses pleading with her to repent and to be forgiven
25:46	and she wouldn’t one of the most somber and serious moments I’ve ever been in the church
25:53	was when at the beginning of a Divine service in an lcms congregation the
25:59	pastor read these words this is from the right of excommunication from the holy
26:04	Christian Church let me set this up for you here’s what it says excommunication is a solemn declaration
26:10	spoken by the pastor and it’s best announced in the Divine service like the spoken word of absolution
26:18	excommunication is the voice of God himself remember the word says if you forgive the sins of any they will have
26:25	been forgiven if you retain the sins of any they will have been retained there’s two keys a
26:31	binding key and a losing key and Jesus references them both in Our Gospel text so excommunication is none other than
26:39	the voice of God himself that we hear through his called and ordained servant of the word the right normally takes place during
26:45	the Divine service immediately before the service of confession and Absolution so the pastor stands and here’s what he
26:52	says I’m going to put in I’m going to plug in a name here we’ll use the name
26:57	Brittany because there’s no Brittany’s here okay so listen to this
27:02	pastor says beloved in the Lord Christ Our Lord says in The Gospel
27:07	According to Saint John if you forgive the sins of any they are forgiven them if you retain the sins of any they are
27:14	retained as a called and ordained servant of the word I must make known to you that our
27:20	fellow member Brittany has by continued impenitance despised
27:27	her baptism it’s terrible how can you despise such a
27:34	great gift as the Forgiveness of your sins that you don’t want to be forgiven
27:41	listen to the spirit in which this is written by continued impenitance she has
27:47	despised her baptism she was under church discipline and although repeatedly admonished from the
27:54	word of God she has refused to repent following the direction of Our Lord in
28:00	The Gospel According to Saint Matthew I and other members of this congregation have pleaded repeatedly with her to
28:06	receive Christ’s forgiveness one for her on the cross but to no avail
28:12	finally Brittany refuses also to hear the church
28:21	in order to show the seriousness of her impenitance and at last and as a last
28:26	effort to win her back to our Lord that’s what church disciplines about
28:32	it’s a last-ditch effort to win somebody back to the Lord I announce that Britney
28:39	is now excommunicated from the holy Christian Church until she
28:44	repents Brittany may not come to this or any other Christian Altar for the Lord’s
28:50	supper supper she also was not permitted to serve as a
28:55	sponsor at Holy baptism or engage in any other rights or privileges of the church
29:01	except for to hear the preaching of God’s word she’s welcome here to hear God’s word
29:06	May almighty God mercifully Grant her grace to confess her sin so that she might
29:13	receive the Lord’s forgiveness and be restored to communion with God in his church
29:22	I’ve seen this done and it leaves you speechless
29:29	but thankfully in her case she repented months later she came back and she was
29:35	reestablished in the fellowship but it was the most terrible thing I’ve ever seen
29:41	it was horrible to hear not that she was being disciplined by the church but that she refused to be
29:48	forgiven that she refused to acknowledge her sin as Sin
29:54	and that she loved her sin more than Jesus terrible absolutely terrible
30:01	so that’s what’s going on in this text this morning the great church discipline text
30:08	but it’s all under the context of Jesus searching for that lost sheep that
30:16	little one whom the father doesn’t will to be perished or destroyed right
30:22	if church discipline is not done in the spirit then it’s not truly church discipline
30:28	because Christ is pres he he has bled and died for us we have been purchased with his blood we
30:35	are precious to him so precious that he calls us his little ones
30:42	what a tender way for our Lord to talk to us and so even in church discipline
30:47	where it feels like and from experientially that you’re getting the backside of God even that has as its
30:55	goal repentant faith in Christ and Reconciliation and forgiveness
31:02	if you don’t understand that you don’t understand church discipline it’s all all with the goal of the Gospel
31:10	in mind so the text ends Our Gospel text ends truly I say to you whatever you
31:16	bind on Earth will have been bound in heaven whatever you loose on Earth will have been loosed in heaven this is the office of the keys to forgive and bind
31:23	all penitent Sinners are to be forgiven impenitent Sinners are not Christians
31:31	because they don’t want to be forgiven again truly I say to you that if two of you agree on Earth about anything they
31:38	ask it will be done for them by my Father in heaven for where two or three are gathered in my name there I am in
31:44	the midst dearly beloved in Christ today we have gathered there’s more than two of us
31:49	here together today we have gathered in the Name of Christ in the name of the Triune God and Jesus is here in our
31:56	midst today speaking to every one of us through his word calling us what we are his baptized
32:02	little ones he’s washed away our sins he’s forgiven us all of our trespasses
32:09	he remembers them no more he’s cast them as far away as the East is from the West you couldn’t find your sins even if you
32:16	were to search for them in the deepest oceans they’re gone because Christ has done
32:21	this for us you are in him your sins are washed away you have been buried with
32:26	Christ and raised with Christ and this morning Christ is going to be here
32:32	to serve you his body and blood to assure you of his love for you and his forgiveness
32:39	these are great promises and they are sure and the reason they’re sure is
32:44	because the one who made them is none other than God in human flesh he
32:50	can be trusted so if you ever find yourself in the
32:55	awkward position where a member of Kong’s Winger comes to say to you brother or sister you’ve sinned repent
33:04	listen to them their goal is reconciliation their goal is your forgiveness not your pain not
33:12	your heart not to Brand you with a Scarlet Letter instead Jesus made that Scarlet Letter
33:18	and put it on himself it’s a big scarlet letter s the one who had no sin became
33:24	sin for us so that we might be the righteousness of God so we repent we trust and we guard
33:33	carefully against the stumbling blocks of the world and our sinful flesh and we come here Sunday after Sunday again and
33:40	again to come back to our baptisms to come back to hear God’s word and hear the comforting words of the Assurance of
33:46	the Forgiveness of sins because this is good news and it’s the only good news
33:52	that will see us safely through to the shores of Cana on the other side in the
33:57	name of Jesus Amen

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.