30 Days of Music

Another Facebook game - take thirty days, posting one item each day for 30 in a row.  I know that I would never remember to do that, so I'm going to do that on this blog, working a bit, saving the post, and so on, until it's done.  Then I'll post it here and put it up on Facebook.  Just make sure to come back every day for 30 days. :-)

day 01 - your favorite song
Choosing one song is very difficult.  Like so many others, it changes regularly.  I suppose that my favorite song right now, the one that I keep going back to, is 'Reminiscing' by the Little River Band.  Now, to be fair, I'm talking about the band when John Farnum was singing lead, because he's one of the best male vocalists in modern memory.

day 02 - your least favorite song
You would think that after the last one, this would be easier, and it was.  I hate that song by Shaggy where he's like 'I didn't do it.'  I've never even bothered to listen to the whole song long enough to figure out what he didn't do.

day 03 - a song that makes you happy
'For Once in My Life' by Stevie Wonder.  He's simply a fantastic entertainer!

day 04 - a song that makes you sad
Garth Brooks, 'To Make You Feel My Love'.  What's sadder is that I'm no Garth Brooks fan.


day 05 - a song that reminds you of someone
Finlandia

day 06 - a song that reminds of you of somewhere
'Somewhere Beyond the Sea' by Bobby Darin

day 07 - a song that reminds you of a certain event
'Nun Danket Aller Gott' - Siegfried Karg-Elert

day 08 - a song that you know all the words to
'Lady' - Kenny Rogers.  As long as nobody asks me why I know all these words, we can still be friends, okay?

day 09 - a song that you can dance to
'That Sunday, That Summer' - Nat King Cole
 
day 10 - a song that makes you fall asleep
Songs don't make me fall asleep - I can't sleep if I'm thinking of a song, actually.  I used to try, but always failed.  I love listening to music before bed, but have to turn it off before I hit the lights.
 
day 11 - a song from your favorite band
'Sinking Ships' - Sloan

day 12 - a song from a band you hate
Anything by REM, but especially the song about it being the end of the world as we know it.  Ugh.

day 13 - a song that is a guilty pleasure
AC/DC - Highway to Hell.  It's my ringtone.  Yes, I like the raised eyebrows when people hear it and wonder aloud, 'is that...on your...?'  :-)

day 14 - a song that no one would expect you to love
I can't think of anything.  I'm pretty predictable.

day 15 - a song that describes you
'I'm a work in progress.'  I don't know who sings it, and it's a country song, but it sure describes me.  That, or 'Creep' by Radiohead, because I'm a creep.
 
day 16 - a song that you used to love but now hate
'Hangin' Tough' by New Kids On The Block
 
day 17 - a song that you hear often on the radio
'Old Days' - Chicago
 
day 18 - a song that you wish you heard on the radio
'Old Man River' from Showboat.  Great song.
 
day 19 - a song from your favorite album
'Paranoid Android' - OK Computer (Radiohead)
 
day 20 - a song that you listen to when you’re angry
Holst: The Planets (Usually Mars, sometimes Uranus and Saturn, too)

day 21 - a song that you listen to when you’re happy
Most any song will do, but to balance the above, Jupiter from the Planets.

day 22 - a song that you listen to when you’re sad
Haven't been truly sad in a while, but I have enjoyed the fourth movement of Mahler's 5th Symphony at such moments.  Also Mahler's Kindertotenlieder.
 
day 23 - a song that you want to play at your wedding
I didn't play anything at our wedding, but I was very glad to have, 'Lord when you came as welcome guest' for the sermon hymn; sung to 'Resignation' tune.  It was great!

day 24 - a song that you want to play at your funeral
So many to choose from.  Literally, so many.  Gerhardt's Why Should Cross and Trial Grieve Me; For All The Saints'; Jerusalem the Golden; I Know My Faith is Founded; The Day of Resurrection; Of the Father's Love Begotten; O Come, All Ye Faithful; Come Ye Faithful Raise the Strain; Awake my Heart with Gladness; O Sacred Head Now Wounded; The Bridegroom Soon Will Call Us; Dear Christians One and All Rejoice; Salvation Unto Us Has Come; etc. etc. etc. etc.
How about this - I want substantive hymns that will comfort anyone who comes.  Amazing Grace, How Great Thou Art, What a Friend We Have In Jesus, The Old Rugged Cross (is that hymn even about Jesus?), and Great is They Faithfulness do not have the sturdiness, the teeth, if you will, to cut through the shroud of death surrounding anyone.  Sing of life when I die; sing of Jesus' life when I die.  Don't sing about your feelings, please.
 
day 25 - a song that makes you laugh
Prokofiev's Lieutenant Kije Suite.
 
day 26 - a song that you can play on an instrument
I think my favorite on the trombone was the Hindemith Sonata - that was a killer!  Loved it!

day 27 - a song that you wish you could play
I wish I could still play that aforementioned Hindemith!
 
day 28 - a song that makes you feel guilty
Anything by Rod Stewart - I hear it and feel guilty of a crime against taste, sensibility, and my ears!

day 29 - a song from your childhood
'Dreamer' by Supertramp.  Also sung by my father when we wanted something unrealistic, and when it involved us being bratty, it was sung sarcastically :-)

day 30 - your favorite song at this time last year
Michael Buble, 'Everything'

Sermon for Pentecost 7 (Proper 13)

He Feeds You Forever

Matthew 14:13-21

Seventh Sunday after Pentecost (A), 2011

Zion Lutheran Church

Mount Pleasant, Michigan

Pastor Jonathon Bakker

Grace to you and Peace from God our Father and from the Lord, Jesus Christ, Amen. The text for our consideration comes from the Gospel of St. Matthew which was just read.

When Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself. But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities. And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick. When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, "This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food." But Jesus said to them, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat." And they said to Him, "We have here only five loaves and two fish." He said, "Bring them here to Me." Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes. So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained. Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Jesus’ important work in this Gospel text could be summed up in one word – miraculous! Feeding five thousand men, besides women and children, cannot be seen as anything other than a miracle when you consider that Jesus did so with five ordinary loaves of bread and two ordinary fish. However, when you think of the other miracles Jesus performed during his life and compare them to this miraculous feeding, the other ones seem to be at least a bit more spectacular.

For instance, would it not be more impressive to be healed by Jesus than to be fed by him? Imagine being able to see or hear, for the first time in your life, because Jesus healed you. Wouldn’t that be spectacular? That is not to say that being fed by Jesus isn’t amazing as well, but compared with being able to speak or to walk when you have never been able to do either of those things before, it does seem to fall a bit short. Given the choice, would anyone want a meal instead of a healing from Jesus? If one of you were lying on your deathbed, would you ask that Jesus give you some food or would you want him to make you better? Would you not trade a miraculous meal for a miraculous healing?

Then again, receiving a miracle from Jesus, whether it is in the form of a healing or a meal is not really up to anyone. The feeding of the five thousand may not seem so impressive as a miracle when compared to the other things Jesus did during his life, but remember that it is the only event, besides the events of Jesus’ Passion, that is recorded in every one of the four Gospels. For some reason, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were compelled to include this particular miracle in all of their Gospels.

What makes this even more noteworthy is that this was not a life and death situation. It is not unlike the first miracle Jesus performed during the wedding at Cana, when he turned the water into wine. The wedding guests could have gone without more wine, and these thousands of people with Jesus at this feeding could have gone home hungry. None would have been that much worse for being sent away hungry that night. The reading even says that Jesus had already been, “moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.” Nobody was in danger of starving to death. There must have been a deeper significance to this feeding then, besides simply filling hungry stomachs with food.

When you listen closely to the language Matthew used to describe what Jesus did, that significance becomes clearer. He ‘took’ the bread. He ‘blessed’ it, he ‘broke’ it, and he ‘gave it to the disciples.’ Those words should sound familiar to anyone who has grown up in the Christian Church.

“Our Lord, Jesus Christ, on the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them saying, ‘Take, eat, this is my body, which is given for you; ...this is my blood, shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.”

Dear Christians, the great significance of this miraculous feeding is that it looks ahead and prepares the way for the greater miracle that Jesus provides when he gives you heavenly food in the Lord’s Supper. He fed five thousand people then from what seemed to be an inadequate supply of bread and fish, just as he continues to feed the whole Christian church throughout the world today with what seems to be ordinary bread and wine. The food that Jesus gave the crowd then was for the sustenance of their earthly lives, but the food that he gives you now is his precious body and blood – heavenly food – that gives you eternal life.

All of a sudden, this miracle of feeding the five thousand is not at all unspectacular, because it proclaims to you that the Lord will feed you forever. The Old Testament reading from Isaiah says the same thing. “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance.” The five thousand in the text left the cities and places where they lived to go see Jesus when they heard that he had gone to a deserted place. He healed their sick as he had compassion on them, and he filled their stomachs when they were hungry. The disciples had suggested that the crowd be sent away to buy food for themselves, but Jesus gave them food that they could never have bought. They did not need to buy it, for he provided it from himself.

The very same thing, and even more, could be said of you as you gather here, week in and week out. You come because you know that it is here that Jesus comes to you. This place is all but deserted during the week, but when our Lord speaks his word through the pastor and gives from himself in the Lord’s Supper, you come. You come and you are fed from Jesus himself, just like the multitude in the Gospel reading, only it not just earthly food that he gives you. He also gives you the forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and everlasting salvation.

Friends, the food is the miracle, and the feeding is the miracle. The miracle is not that our Lord fed those people one meal; it is that he feeds you every meal. Undeserving though you are, his compassion for you is the same as it was on the crowd from the text. He knows the chronic, terminal ailment of sin from which you all suffer, he heals your sickness of sin, and he still feeds you.

The Psalm appointed for today is the 136th Psalm. Every verse ends with, the mercy of our Lord endures forever. Today you are reminded that his mercy also feeds you forever. The five thousand he fed with the five loaves and the two fish were merely a foretaste of how he would eventually feed all of you in the Lord’s Supper, and how he will one day feed you eternally in heaven. He still feeds you the things you need for this daily life, and he continues to feed you with the food that will carry you to that eternal life. With such a truly magnificent miracle taking place right here every Sunday, you never need to think about trading food from Jesus for anything else, because as you receive the food that is Jesus, you receive it all; everything Jesus has and everything he is is given for you. Nothing could be more spectacular.

To Christ alone be all the glory, forever and forever. Amen.

The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

Socially mediable!

We are really kicking our use of certain forms of social media into high gear in order to more conveniently communicate with our membership.

On Facebook, look for Pastor Jonathon Bakker, Lutheran Student Fellowship at Central Michigan University, Christ The King Lutheran Student Fellowship Alumni Association, and Zion Lutheran Church, Mount Pleasant, Michigan.

On Twitter, follow:
@zionmp - Zion's feed
@CMUCTKLutheran - the Chapel feed
@CMULSF - all the latest and greatest news for our Lutheran Student Fellowship chapter
@pastorbakker - my feed

We still have our websites:
www.zionchristtheking.org
www.lutheransatcmu.org
www.internationalsatcmu.org

We look forward to staying connected with you!

Back in the saddle again...again!

Well, it's been just over a month since the last post, and what can I say, this is an exercise in starting and restarting again.  There are some things knocking around in my head, and when they're ready to fall onto the keyboard, you'll see them here.

The last month has been a blur of family vacation, and Vacation Bible School at our church.  Now it is time to hunker down and focus on the coming academic year at Central Michigan University.  It is year six for me, and I am really looking forward to meeting the new group of students, and especially excited to see all of the returning students and catch up with them on their lives and what they've been up to this summer.  I'm also very excited about the planning for this coming year.  We have a lot of concrete ideas already, and I feel more organized at the start of this year than any previous year.  I pray that our efforts are well received by those to whom we are reaching out with the Good News of Jesus Christ's death and resurrection for the forgiveness of their sins, and I also pray for the leadership of our Lutheran Student Fellowship, who will be the engines that keep the activities going!

C'mon, Vancouver!

Wow, what a night!

The game.  The fans.  The excitement!  The ENERGY!!

All for what?  The Bruins won, the Canucks lost, but the real losers are the people who trashed Vancouver in the riots.

The heroes stood out - people who stood between would-be looters and vulnerable people, homes, and businesses.  The thugs stood out too; yelling, calling names, throwing things at the heroes, attempting to incite fights with the heroes, etc.  It was a picture of good and bad in BC's largest city.

Should you be ashamed of losing to the Bruins, Vancouver?  Of course not.  The course of the series proved that it could have gone either way.

Should you be ashamed of the Canucks, Vancouver?  Of course not!  They made it to the Stanley Cup final - the hardest trophy to win in all of sports!  One more game would have done it, but that's no reason to frown at the team - they played great this year and are set to do so again next year!

Should you be ashamed of yourselves, Vancouver?  Not the heroes, but the rioters should be ashamed of themselves.  What does it say about you and your city when you're just looking for an excuse to break things, burn things, hurt others, and destroy property? It's criminal and shameful, and I hope that those responsible are brought to justice and make restitution for what they have senselessly done.  Grow up, thugs.

Sermon for Easter V

Via, Veritas, et Vita!

John 14:1-14

Fifth Sunday of Easter, A 2011

Baptism of Henry James Polley

Zion Lutheran Church

Mount Pleasant, Michigan

Pastor Jonathon Bakker

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord, Jesus Christ, amen. The Holy Scripture for our consideration this day is the Gospel reading from St. John.

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going, and how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also; and from now on you know him and have seen him.” Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own authority; but the Father who dwells in me does the works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me, or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to my Father. And whatever you ask in my name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it.”

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I wasn’t really expecting any of us to be left here today, what with the supposed ‘rapture’ set to happen last night at 6pm. Either none of us are true believers, or Harold Camping and his Family Radio network can now add themselves to the long list of false teachers who have repeatedly tried to predict Christ’s return. If I’d been paying attention to how big a news item this would become, he would have been an excellent example for last Sunday’s Gospel reading. Camping makes a strong contrast to the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd is the door for his sheep to abundant, everlasting life; but those who do not use the door are thieves and robbers. Camping teaches a different Gospel, which is no Gospel at all.

Still, the Lord always has the most incredible ways of teaching us his lessons. My own family has very recently learned a lesson from the Lord. We have been under considerable stress at home this week with the total failure of our septic drain field. As a pastor, I know that the house needs to be built on the solid rock; but as a pastor with a failing septic system, I have learned that the house also needs to be built near some sand! Of course, faith in Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life is the real rock upon which the house of our everlasting salvation is built.

Those who followed and supported Harold Camping and Family Radio have also learned a lesson. Jesus was serious when he said that, ‘of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.’ Now, there are reports of families that stopped working, stopped saving, and even some that stopped preparing for childbirth, believing that they would be in heaven long before the baby arrived all because of Camping’s idea. I admit that I’ve had more than my share of ‘rapture’ jokes this past week, but the truth is that false teaching is no laughing matter. It has tragic consequences.

We do not prepare for the return of Jesus by trying to predict it; we prepare by believing in his Son who came to die for our sins and who rose from the dead. We are to be ready at all times, and by the grace of God, he makes us ready through faith. No matter when Jesus returns, the only thing that will matter is whether or not we are his Father’s children through the adoption of baptism and faith.

The Gospel for today could not be more appropriate for our times. Even though I was certain that Jesus would not return last night, I still found myself wondering, ‘what if?’ What if he comes back really soon? What will it be like? What will happen? Harold Camping claimed that it would be the rapture, a false teaching that the true believers would be taken away while the non-believers would be left behind to suffer punishment for a period of time before finally being sent to the real torment of eternal damnation. What the Bible actually teaches is quite different.

The Gospel from John paints the true picture of what Jesus has in mind for us in the end. ‘Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in me.’ Faith comes first, and calms our hearts in the face of all trouble. After all, there are many mansions in Jesus’ Father’s house. We can take his word for it. Jesus told his disciples about this as he was preparing for his passion. His death would make full payment for the sin of the world, while his resurrection would be the ultimate victory over death and the devil. Through that passion, Jesus secured a place for us with him in eternity. It is another reason for us to take heart when the grief and sorrows of this world attack.

He will come back; our Lord will return. None of us knows the day or the hour, but he will return, and that is also comforting. After all, why would Jesus have done what he did and suffered what he suffered if not for the sake of making us his own? He took on flesh, lived a sinless life, died for the sin of the world, and rose from the dead out of his great love for all of humanity and because he knew that it would accomplish our salvation. If any of us were to be with him and his Father and Holy Spirit forever in heaven, Jesus alone could do it.

As our Lord taught this to the disciples, he told them that they knew where he was going, and that they also knew the way to get there. They did not understand, however, and Thomas said so. ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going, and how can we know the way?’

Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. It sounds simplistic, but what our Lord says is utterly true. He alone is the true God-man, the establisher of the world, and its Savior. His is the life which alone gives life to all who believe in him, and just as he is the door that lays itself down for the sheep, faith in him is the way to everlasting life. No one comes to the Father except through him.

These are among the most criticized of Jesus’ words. Many would rather that John had not included them in his Gospel. They exude arrogance and exclusivity. In no day or age, including the present, are they received by the masses with great joy or comfort.
To God’s people, however, to the sheep of the Good Shepherd, these words give wonderful peace and calm the troubled heart. When the changes and chances of life afflict us, this sentence from Jesus reminds us of the constancy of his great love. When selfish pride overcomes us, it also reminds us of our place in the world. Jesus alone establishes us in the Gospel and he alone brings it to completion at the last day.

And that last day will come, with Jesus returning in glory, to judge the living and the dead. We do not know when it will be, but with the comforting words from Jesus that he is the way, the truth, and the life, we do not need to be tormented by what we do not know. ‘Nobody knows the day or the hour,’ but God does not abandon us.
In this world there will be temptation upon temptation, and there will always be someone seeking to gain influence or power for themselves by claiming to have this or that secret knowledge from God or the Scriptures. Always go back to Jesus’ words here – I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me.

We cannot predict when Jesus will return to judge the world, but I can tell you when he will be here next; Jesus will be present among us just as he has promised. He is here in the preaching and reading of his Word; in the speaking of the absolution; in the water and word of Holy Baptism, and he comes among us with his body and blood in the Lord’s Supper. Hear his voice and follow him; follow him all the way to eternal life!

To Christ alone be all the glory, forever and ever, amen.

The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus, our Lord, amen.

June 2011 Newsletter Article

“For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

2 Corinthians 4:6

Brothers and sisters in Christ, warnings about false teachers are prevalent these days. Two months ago there was a lot to be said about Grand Rapids pastor Rob Bell, whose book, Love Wins, teaches a Christian universalism that basically includes all people in God’s salvation, whether they believe that Jesus Christ died for their sins or not. In the last month, Bell’s form of universalism gave way to Harold Camping’s prediction that Jesus would return May 21st, taking all the true believers to heaven with him, and instituting a 153 day time of tribulation, which would basically be God’s judgment upon all that are left behind on the earth. Sure enough, the sun still rose Sunday May 22nd and we rejoiced in the Lord at worship, hearing God’s Word of Law and Gospel and receiving his forgiveness in Word and Sacrament.

In a strange twist, Camping has since come out with yet another date with a new prediction. He still believes that Jesus came back on May 21st, but he twisted his own teaching now, saying that this recent return and accompanying judgment were actually invisible to all. So invisible, in fact, that no one noticed Jesus coming back, nor did anyone feel any retribution for sin or unbelief! According to Camping we now have until October 21st of this year before the end of all existence. That is a Friday this fall, and let me say that I look forward to seeing all of you in church with me on Sunday, October 23rd!

False teaching and the prominence it is receiving in the media of late gives us reason to pause – how is the average Lutheran supposed to understand and interpret every religious thing that we see or hear on the internet, TV, radio, or newspaper? We certainly do not blindly accept as true every single thing that claims to be Christian, but we likewise must be careful before dismissing everything out of hand. The sure and certain measure of truth for us is always the testimony of Holy Scripture. Still, there are as many different ways to read and understand Scripture as there are churches and sects in the world. How many church bodies distinguish themselves from one another over important differences in how they interpret Scripture? Are all readings equally true, or is there a right way and a wrong way to understand Scripture?

Irenaeus of Lyons, a 2nd Century pastor and theologian faced this dilemma in an ongoing debate within the church. To put it simply, there were two main factions – those who held that the God who created the heavens and the earth is different from the Father of Jesus, and that Jesus Christ is not truly incarnate, but rather solely a spiritual being (the Gnostics); and those who held that Jesus’ Father is the very same God who created all things, and that Jesus Christ is true God and true Man. Both camps argued for their positions using the verses of Holy Scripture, but Irenaeus recognized that opposing positions about the very nature of God cannot both be correct.

In response to the Gnostics, Irenaeus could not discredit or undermine the very Scriptures to which he himself appealed for support. Instead, he focused his attention and argument on the way the Gnostics interpreted the Scriptures. It is difficult to encapsulate the nuances of Irenaeus’ arguments, but here is one example that I find extremely helpful. To begin, Irenaeus understood Scripture as having one fundamental plot line – the creation and salvation of humanity through Jesus Christ. All of Scripture supports this plot, and any deviation from this plot is not only a misrepresentation of the Scripture, but a distortion in the understanding of Jesus Christ. He likens it to a mosaic:

[The Gnostic’s] manner of acting is just as if one, when a beautiful image of a king has been constructed by some skilful artist out of precious jewels, should then take this likeness of the man all to pieces, should rearrange the gems, and so fit them together as to make them into the form of a dog or a fox, and a poorly executed one at that; and should then maintain and declare that this was the beautiful image of the king which the skilful artist constructed, pointing to the jewels which had been admirably fitted together by the first artist to form the image of the king, but have been with bad effect transferred by the latter one to the shape of a dog, and by thus exhibiting the jewels, should deceive the ignorant who had no conception what a king’s form was like, and persuade them that the miserable likeness of the fox was, in fact, the beautiful image of the king.

When the passages of Scripture are taken from their rightful spot in the plot line, and reassembled in another fashion, they tell a different story. Each verse may be intact, but taken out of proper context, they tell and different story, and, ultimately, proclaim a different Jesus.

This, finally, is the serious danger of false teachers – they promote a different Christ, and those unprepared or unaware of the difference can be led astray without knowing it until much later. St. Paul says the same thing at the top of this article; the knowledge of the glory of God is in the face of Jesus Christ. I exhort you to continue to increase in faith and knowledge of that glory of God that is in the face of Jesus Christ. Study that face by studying Scripture; get to know it as well as you know your own face; in doing so you will protect yourself from those who teach falsely and from their false teachings. Those who do so will not be sorry; when a false teaching is presented to them, it will be as Irenaeus says, ‘although he will acknowledge the gems, he will certainly not receive the fox instead of the likeness of the king.’ God grant that you always know and love the true King of Kings and Lord of Lords, your Savior, Jesus Christ!

To Christ alone be all the glory, forever and ever, amen.

Pastor Bakker