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Fellowship following Worship.
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639 Elm Street
Cheney, WA 99004
509-235-6300
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The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America,®
PASTOR'S CORNER
February 2012:
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God’s Beloved People;
I’ve been thinking lately about faith! We talk about having faith (“You
are the Christ”-Peter), about weak faith (“O you of little faith”-Jesus
to the disciples). We use words like “believe” and “trust” to describe
faith.
Brothers and sisters who are followers of “decision theology” urge their
followers to “accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. ” They
describe the beginning of their Christian faith as the time of their
decision. Of course their decision is made after their infancy since an
infant cannot make a conscious decision to follow Jesus.
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Lutherans (and Roman Catholics, Episcopalians, Orthodox, etc.) talk of
faith also, but we see faith as enabled and brought to being by God
Himself. We baptize infants because we understand that God is always
coming to us first, otherwise we would not know in whom to believe.
Luther described the process of coming to faith in his explanation to
the 3rd article of the Apostles Creed when he says, “I believe that I
cannot by my own reason or effort believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, or
come to Him. But the Holy Spirit calls me through the gospel, enlightens
me with His gifts, sanctifies and preserves me in true faith, just as He
calls, gathers and enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church
on earth and keeps in union with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.”
The Holy Spirit is the giver of faith and life. Whether I’m 2 days old
or 90 and senile, the Holy Spirit continues to hold me in faith, because
faith depends on God. Jesus is holding onto me! Without Jesus choosing
and holding onto me, I could not believe! Faith is a relationship in
which God holds me tight to Himself. When I’m strong enough to say, “I
believe,” it’s God’s Spirit speaking on my behalf!
Faith is trusting in a God who is holding onto me and will never let me
go. A faith that is in fact brought by the work of God’s Spirit within
me! Thanks be to God!
God’s Blessings, David
Pastor David
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