Confident.Faith

Readings Psalm 102 Psalm 85 Isaiah 2:1–22 1 Peter 1:13–25 Large Catechism, Longer Preface, 7–13 Podcast Overcast Apple Podcasts Spotify

Readings Psalm 66 Isaiah 1:1–28 1 Peter 1:1–12 Large Catechism, Longer Preface, 1–6 Podcast Overcast Apple Podcasts Spotify

Readings Isaiah 2:1–5 Psalm 122 Romans 13:8–14 Matthew 21:1–11 Matthew 24:36–44 Podcast Overcast Apple Podcasts Spotify

Isaiah 50:4–10 Psalm 116:1–9 James 3:1–12 Mark 9:14–29 You may be operating under the belief that our reading from James does not apply to you. ‘I am not a teacher.’ you may say — ‘at least not a teacher in the Church’ you may think. And that may be true, in a strictly limited sense, but the proper understanding of Scriptural warnings and duties is seldom the strictly limit...

Isaiah 35:4–7a Psalm 146 James 2:1–10, 14–18 Mark 7:24–37 For God shows no προσωποληψία — a word that appears only four times in Scripture: in the verse in Romans just quoted, in our reading from James, in Ephesians 6:9, and in Colossians 3:25. A curious word in Greek — if we take the ‘literal’ meaning, then it would be something like ‘face taking’, which sounds quite odd u...

Isaiah 64:1–9 Psalm 80:1–7 1 Corinthians 1:3–9 Mark 11:1–10 Mark 13:24–37 It is always darkest before the dawn, and things in our society certainly seem quite dark right now. We live in an apostate nation in an apostate time, and matters are certainly not — presently — trending upward. We undoubtedly commiserate with the psalmist in today’s reading: »O LORD God of hosts, how long will you be angry...

Isaiah 42:14–21 Psalm 142 Ephesians 5:8–14 John 9:1–41 We are all born deaf and blind. Hearing, we do not hear; and seeing, we do not see. We know God’s Law, for it is written on our hearts — our consciences accuse us when we stray. We are all without excuse. We have become futile in our thinking, for we sin in thought; we have become futile in our speaking, for we sin in word; and we have become...

Isaiah 58:3–9a Psalm 112:1–9 1 Corinthians 2:1–16 Matthew 5:13–20 Some contend that it is possible to be ‘good without God’. We may find this appealing. Surely if we loose the bonds of oppression, feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, shelter the homeless, clothe the naked — if we fill full the mouth of famine and bid the sickness cease — then God will notice our goodness and be...