Gyroscopic Investing

Kriegsspiel wrote: ↑Mon Mar 23, 2020 8:23 am Yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for thou art 6 feet away from me.

lol!

Mountaineer wrote: ↑Mon Mar 23, 2020 8:14 am Xan, my wife and I watched Pr. Wolfmueller's Matins service from March 22. Your church is beautiful. Thanks be to God for him conducting the online service.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrtyEymy7Zg

Thank you, Mountaineer! We're trying to get set up to have livestreaming as a reasonable option as well. It's sort of up in the air which is better: to have a more "produced" service that premieres on Sunday morning, or to do something actually live but is missing some of the niceties.

Premiering on YouTube is sort of a simulation of being live: everybody's seeing the same thing at the same time, and the live chat is active.

Kriegsspiel wrote: ↑Mon Mar 23, 2020 8:23 am Yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for thou art 6 feet away from me.

Xan wrote: ↑Mon Mar 23, 2020 8:26 am

Mountaineer wrote: ↑Mon Mar 23, 2020 8:14 am Xan, my wife and I watched Pr. Wolfmueller's Matins service from March 22. Your church is beautiful. Thanks be to God for him conducting the online service.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrtyEymy7Zg

Thank you, Mountaineer! We're trying to get set up to have livestreaming as a reasonable option as well. It's sort of up in the air which is better: to have a more "produced" service that premieres on Sunday morning, or to do something actually live but is missing some of the niceties.

Premiering on YouTube is sort of a simulation of being live: everybody's seeing the same thing at the same time, and the live chat is active.

Our Pastor is doing daily "Garage Theology" sessions via YouTube; a couple of minute encouragement talk from his garage with his iPhone. He and the music director put together yesterday's service, also on YouTube but the audio was not up to par. Plus, we are going to do our first Bible Study via Zoom tomorrow - we'll see how that goes. We are coping.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pf7tfHpNu0

From the Governor:
"WILMINGTON, Del. - Governor John Carney on Sunday issued the fourth and fifth modifications to his State of Emergency declaration, ordering Delawareans to stay at home whenever possible and closing all non-essential businesses in Delaware to help fight the spread of COVID-19.

The orders go into effect at 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday, March 24, 2020. They will remain in effect until May 15 or until the public health threat is eliminated."

Something to consider.

"So, if the Texas Right to Life estimate of nearly 2,900 babies saved in the coming month because of the closure of abortion businesses, then that will nearly be as many lives saved in Texas alone as were lost in all of China from the virus!"

MangoMan wrote: ↑Wed Mar 25, 2020 2:49 pm

Mountaineer wrote: ↑Wed Mar 25, 2020 2:09 pm Something to consider.

"So, if the Texas Right to Life estimate of nearly 2,900 babies saved in the coming month because of the closure of abortion businesses, then that will nearly be as many lives saved in Texas alone as were lost in all of China from the virus!"

They do 2900 abortions per month in TX ??

This has 2015 data - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_ ... Statistics

dualstow wrote: ↑Wed Mar 25, 2020 3:49 pm

MangoMan wrote: ↑Wed Mar 25, 2020 2:49 pm

Mountaineer wrote: ↑Wed Mar 25, 2020 2:09 pm Something to consider.

"So, if the Texas Right to Life estimate of nearly 2,900 babies saved in the coming month because of the closure of abortion businesses, then that will nearly be as many lives saved in Texas alone as were lost in all of China from the virus!"

They do 2900 abortions per month in TX ??

This has 2015 data - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_ ... Statistics

Ewe, that’s a depressing chart. I think about all the families that are not able to conceive and then all the babies who will never have the chance to experience the things that the women who aborted them did. Sad.

I heard an interesting comment today. "Most atheists have forgone Christianity because God does not meet their expectations of what a God should be like." Ponder that for a while and you will likely see the problem. It's the original sin described in Genesis Chapter 3. Man wants to be like God (or even make God in his own image). The creature wants to be the Creator. The creature wants to be in charge, at all costs, and those costs can be mighty large .... forever. Thanks be to God that those who believe in the promises of the God/man Jesus will not have to face those dire consequences. Perhaps the following sermon will give hope to those who trust in God to be God, and perhaps even those who don't. I think I shall place and keep my trust in the The One whose powerful Word accomplishes what it says.



“Words of Spirit and Life” (Ezekiel 37:1-14; Romans 8:1-11; John 11:1-53)

Have you been starting to feel like you’re Lazarus? I mean, you’ve been cooped up in your quarantine “tomb,” not just for four days, but now going on fourteen days. You’ve been stuck inside so long, maybe skipping showers, maybe skipping laundry--“Lord, by this time there will be an odor!” You’re stuck inside, and you’re waiting for someone to speak the word, “Lazarus, come out!” But for now, it looks like you’re going to have to wait a little longer. The President’s hope that we will be able to go back to church on Easter--well, we’ll have to wait and see if that can come to pass.

And so we wait. Inside. Virtual reality. But what is very real, and what is very powerful--indeed, what is creative and life-living--is the word of God. The word of God gives us hope and joy, in the midst of economic uncertainty and social isolation, even in the midst of disease and death. The words that God speaks to us--even today, now as you hear them--these are “Words of Spirit and Life.”

“Words of Spirit and Life”: This is the theme that I see running through all three of our lessons today, from Ezekiel 37, Romans 8, and John 11. But the title that I’m using today, “Words of Spirit and Life”--that I got from the end of John chapter 6. There Jesus says, “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”

“Words of Spirit and Life”: We see it in the reading from Ezekiel 37. “The Valley of Dry Bones,” this passage is called. Ezekiel is given a vision of a valley full of dry bones. Deadness all around. Can these bones live? No way, not on their own. That’s how we are. You and I are sinners, dead spiritually--which will lead to us being dead physically, too. Death is the curse that fell upon mankind because of our sin. And you and I are guilty, dead men walking, left on our own. We have a worse problem than the coronavirus. We have a sinful nature, which infects us all. We have cut ourselves off from God, isolating ourselves, hiding from our Creator. Can these bones live?

Well, on second thought, yes, they can live! When God speaks his life-giving word to these bones, when God breathes his life-giving breath into us, yes, we are raised from the dead. “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.”

This is why I have been called to preach the gospel. Through this life-giving gospel of Christ, God breathes the Spirit into you and gives you life. Through the word, the Spirit sustains you in this new life and keeps you strong in the faith. This is why you need the word constantly, even during a coronavirus epidemic. If someone with that virus were to breathe on you, they could be breathing death into you. But when the Holy Spirit breathes life into you--yes, these bones will live!

“Words of Spirit and Life”: Second, we see it in the reading from Romans 8. “If Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”

Brothers and sisters, you were joined to Christ in Holy Baptism, buried with him into death and raised with him unto newness of life. You will share in his resurrection. You have been gifted with the Holy Spirit, who dwells in you. This means you have life within you! The Holy Spirit is “the Lord and giver of life,” as we just confessed in the Nicene Creed. Your mortal bodies, though they die, yet shall they live. Because Christ lives, you will live also. Forever. This sure and certain hope gives us great courage in the here and now. We have nothing to fear. Where, O death, is your sting? Where, O grave, is your victory? Not around here! I have been baptized into Christ. God has given me the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of life. And so you and I can say with confidence, “I shall not die but live.”

“Words of Spirit and Life”: We see it in the Holy Gospel for today, John 11, the raising of Lazarus. Lazarus was a good friend of Jesus. Jesus heard that he was sick. Jesus had the power to cure him. But instead of going to Lazarus right away and healing him, Jesus kept his distance. He loved Lazarus and his sisters Martha and Mary, but he stayed away. For a couple of days. Then he decides to go there. After Lazarus has died. Some kind of friend Jesus is!

Do you ever feel like that? Why is God letting me suffer? Why doesn’t God intervene? And on my timetable! I suppose we all feel like that. Martha and Mary were no different. Lazarus has been in the tomb four days now when Jesus arrives. Martha says to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Well, true, Jesus could have healed him. But he has something even greater in mind. So he says to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

How about you? Do you believe this? If you are trusting in Christ as your Savior, then, even though you may die of this or that disease, or of old age, or whatever--even so, you will live. You will live forever with your Lord. If you are trusting in Christ your Savior, you will never die--not the big eternal death. Falling asleep in Jesus will not interrupt your life with him. On the day you die, our soul will be alive with the Lord in paradise. And on the day Christ returns, he will raise up your body from the grave.

To demonstrate that, then, to demonstrate his power over death and the grave, Jesus now will raise up Lazarus from the dead. That’s why Jesus delayed his visit: to make it abundantly clear that when he raises Lazarus, there will be no question about it. It wasn’t like Lazarus was just unconscious for a little while. No, he was really dead. Lifeless. Wrapped up like a mummy. Buried in a tomb. No question about it. Lazarus was dead.

Jesus comes to the tomb. “Take away the stone.” You know, there will be another stone, sealing another tomb, in just a couple of weeks. That one will not hold the occupant dead, either. Jesus, as the Son of God, has the power of life within him. He bestows life as he wills. And how does he do it? By his word.

Jesus speaks his word of Spirit and life now: “Lazarus, come out!” It’s a good thing he specified Lazarus by name, or else he might have emptied out all the tombs in the vicinity. Jesus speaks, and things happen. His words do what they say. And so out comes Lazarus, wrapped up in the burial cloths. “Unbind him,” Jesus says. “We can’t have a live man wrapped up like he’s dead.”

Now can you imagine what this must have been like for Lazarus? “Whoa, that was a nice nap I had! Glad to be back with you all! Thank you, Lord!”

Imagine what it will be like for you and me when Jesus returns and raises up our dead bodies! Not only will our bodies be raised whole and glorious, no longer subject to disease or decay--not only that, but all of creation will be restored, new and glorious, better than ever. Like the garden of Eden and then some!

Thursday I had been cooped up at home for a few days, self-quarantined, and finally I decided to go outside and run a few errands. I walked outside, and I take a look around, and I’m thinking, “Whoa! It’s like spring has sprung! The temperature is nice. Everything is green. The trees have started to blossom. Don’t they know there’s a virus going around?”

Dear friends, this old world of death and decay will not go on like this forever. We have better days to look forward to. Christ will call us out of our quarantine and our isolation. He will call us from the grave. “Lazarus, come out!” “Betty, come out!” “Bill, come out!” It will be one great big coming-out party! Coming out of death into life. Our eyes will be opened, and we will see things as we have never seen them before. I’m looking forward to it! Are you?

Jesus will speak the word, and we will arise. And what gives that word its power and its effectiveness for us is all the forgiveness and life Jesus has packed into it. Christ Jesus won that forgiveness for you when he died on the cross for your sins. Caiaphas, the high priest, was an enemy of Jesus, but he was absolutely correct when he unwittingly prophesied: “Don’t you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, than that the whole nation should perish?” Yes, Caiaphas, Jesus is the one man who did die for us all, so that we will not die eternally. And this same Jesus will come again and “gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.” No more isolation! God’s family, united forever!

Lord Jesus Christ, you are the resurrection and the life. Your words are Spirit, and they are life. Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life! Amen!

http://stmatthewbt.org

Here is an encouraging message for this day. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYSVq-D ... e=youtu.be

Here are two videos, the first is today's Garage Theology, the second is our Maundy Thursday Service. Both are quite good and full of hope.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-_d4uOdNP8 (about 3 1/2 minutes)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDHxkGty1nM. (about 38 minutes - beautiful organ, piano and cello music and a talented vocalist and a great sermon).

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This is an excellent Good Friday service. Great rendition of Amazing Grace played on hand bells. Sermon title: "When is it going to be over? It already is!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BU3Z182gBrE


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Great Paul Harvey Easter story. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3s8Tdi ... e=youtu.be

Now you know the rest of the story (a shout out to Paul Harvey).

Today's Garage Theology. Note, the captioned date of 4/16/2020 is not correct. It is really for 4/17.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3zuQNaWTro

Matins w/12 Passion Gospels for Great and Holy Friday

https://youtu.be/IucMlWzdrIg

The 15th antiphon chanted on Great and Holy Friday (appx 6 mins)...
https://youtu.be/4QD71bV9omM

Today's devotion. Very appropriate for pandemic times. Take heart and rejoice that God is merciful - always!

https://www.lhm.org/dailydevotions/defa ... e=20200418

Good message for us on Garage Theology this morning about neighbors.
https://www.concordiade.com/garage-theology

"Facing Life Head On"
Apriil 25, 2020

Mark 10:33-34 - (Jesus said) "See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock Him and spit on Him, and flog Him and kill Him. And after three days He will rise."

Do you want to grow in your faith? Do you want to grow closer to Jesus? The way forward is to follow Jesus' example of service and even suffering.

Facing the problems of life head on, disagreeable as they may be, increases your yearning for the Savior and His Word of grace and mercy. In serving others, even to suffer with them, we begin to understand firsthand how sinful this world is, how fundamentally flawed we are, and how we hurt others despite our best intentions. In short, when you give up being preoccupied with yourself and instead become focused on real people and their problems, then you start to get it. More and more, it gets into your head and heart how desperately all humanity needs a Savior. In lives of service, we see firsthand the necessity of repentance and feel the Savior's compassion for all people.

That's it! That's the way to present the Good News of Jesus. What you are experiencing in your life is real life. Don't wish for an alternate reality. Are you a parent struggling with a child? Are you a caregiver running on fumes? Are you a teacher in a tough school, and underpaid at that? Are you a minister worn down by your congregation, discouraged because they're not showing the love and joy of the Gospel? Are you a social worker or a volunteer at a food bank? Are you in jail? You're experiencing life, real and nasty, in this world of sinful people. Jesus comes to bring redemption and hope to you and through you to the people in your world. In the midst of the day's problems, throw yourself into the arms of God. "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (John 6:68b).

Like Jesus' first disciples, we too are walking with Him, walking to His suffering and death, and each of us should be making our way in repentance and sorrow for sins. "Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning" (Psalm 30:5b). That's promised to you by Jesus, who also says, "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also" (John 14:3). Jesus has paved the way of our salvation for us; it is now for us to live our lives accordingly.

Therefore, as the hymn tells us, "Let us ever walk with Jesus, Follow His example pure; Through a world that would deceive us And to sin our spirits lure. Onward in His footsteps treading, Pilgrims here, our home above; Full of faith and hope and love, Let us do the Father's bidding. Faithful Lord, with me abide; I shall follow where You guide."

THE PRAYER: Heavenly Father, give us strength to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. In His Name. Amen.

From "Thrown into the Arms of God," a sermon excerpt from Rev. Dr. Dale Meyer, former Speaker of The Lutheran Hour

Reflection Questions:

1. What kinds of things are you struggling with right now?

2. How do you think you would have reacted to Jesus' words in the text above if you were one of His disciples?

3. How has God worked through the rough patches in your life? Any examples you can share?

Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries

"Tested"
May 11, 2020
Psalm 66:10-12 - For You, O God, have tested us; You have tried us as silver is tried. You brought us into the net; You laid a crushing burden on our backs; You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; yet You have brought us out to a place of abundance.

Why does God permit suffering? The question is often a stumbling block for unbelievers and baffling to believers. Upon hearing of the murder of Galilean pilgrims and of eighteen people killed by a falling tower, Jesus did not answer the question that may have been on His listeners' minds (and on our minds, too): "Why them?" The purpose for the deaths remained unknown. Jesus instead warned of a greater, eternal disaster. Those who had died were not worse sinners than others, He said, "but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish" (Luke 13:5b).

God's purposes are often hidden and not for us to know. "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us" (Deuteronomy 29:29a). Our psalm reveals to us a story of suffering as it describes the sorrow and pain endured by the people of Israel. They had endured the "crushing burden" of slavery and the oppressive might of conquering enemies who rode over them. But God did not abandon His suffering people. He freed them from slavery and led them through the wilderness for forty years to humble them and to test them to know what was in their hearts (Deuteronomy 8:2). The Israelites passed through water as God "turned the sea into dry land" (Psalm 66:6a). God brought them out of the wilderness into the land He had promised to them, "to a place of abundance."

There is another instance of suffering in which the purpose has been revealed to us. God, for the sake of our salvation, gave His Son over to the suffering of the cross. Jesus was caught in a net of betrayal and lies. He bore the crushing burden of our sins. His enemies and "the power of darkness" (Luke 22:53b) for a time overcame Him. He endured the fiery pain of the cross, suffering on our behalf the penalty of death. Though Israel had often been unfaithful in times of testing, Jesus remained faithful and obedient to His Father in life and death. God raised His Son from death and exalted Him "to a place of abundance" at His right hand as King of kings and Lord of lords.

Jesus has revealed to us that trouble and trials will come our way: "In the world you will have tribulation." The purpose of that tribulation, the reasons for our suffering, may not be made known to us. But we can trust the conquering power and promise of our crucified and risen Lord, who tells us, "But take heart; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33). He endured all that the world threw at Him—rejection, hatred, betrayal, grief, loss, pain, and death itself—and by His resurrection overcame it all. He will walk with us through suffering and trial and, according to His will and perfect timing, bring us to a place of abundance in His presence forever.

THE PRAYER: Jesus, be our help and our hope in every trial. Strengthen us with the promises of Your Word. Amen.

This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Carol Geisler.

Reflection Questions:

1. Have you been tested in your life? How so?

2. Can you name areas in your life where you feel tested or challenged on a regular basis?

3. When unexpected difficulties arise, what is your typical first reaction? Is this reaction helpful or constructive? Do you wish you would respond differently?

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Today's Garage Theology. Whose are you?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ss49P1k7fAc

Footage of Russia's new Cathedral for the Armed Forces. Wow.

https://youtu.be/A3TZUl8p6Q4

Ad Orientem wrote: ↑Sun May 17, 2020 10:20 pm Footage of Russia's new Cathedral for the Armed Forces. Wow.

https://youtu.be/A3TZUl8p6Q4

Beautiful! Thanks for sharing.

https://youtu.be/rcCSA7du5co

Today’s Garage Theology. The ultimate fisherman.

"Intolerant Fears"

July 11, 2020

1 John 4:18-21 - There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because He first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

We don't need any sociologist to tell us that intolerance is causing a lot of trouble in the world today. If the personal tolerance of some people for other people is low, acrimony, hate, and strife—together with open conflict—are bound to result, with the consequences we see all around us in the world today.

At the bottom of this whole business is fear: a deep-seated, corrosive fear clamming up the heart of humanity. The results of this are man's many hurts and inhumanities to man. When it comes to man's inner fears, drastic action is required.

Fear without faith in God is a killer. It does things to a man that shouldn't happen to a beast. It turns him into a demon, unsure of himself and suspicious of everyone else. This is life for an awful lot of people these days. It's a continuing torment—on the inside and the outside. The root of the weed of intolerance is fear.

Sadly, much of modern life is dominated by fear. This then fuels intolerance and, in the end, is incapable of the self-giving, self-forgetting, self-sacrificing love which marks the best man or woman in any age. But, though we may have forgotten how to love, God never does.

That's right. God loves. He puts up with our weakness and cowardice. His love is tolerant and ever patient with us, as He forgives all who penitently seek and accept His good grace in Jesus Christ.

In Jesus we can learn to live and love in life's most trying situations. We can learn to appreciate and deal with people whom we would likely never make the effort to understand otherwise—all because "He first loved us." As God works in us, we can learn to love with patience, tolerance, and sensitivity. We can thrust out all that old, cold intolerance and let in the life-saving, healing qualities of love to take its place.

Do this, then, for Jesus' sake. Do it through the love that God's Spirit is working in your heart. It's a love that's being perfected in you, a love that casts out fear, intolerance, and deep-seated ill-will for others. It's a love that should mark all our lives as God's people.

"Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another" (1 John 4:11)

THE PRAYER: Heavenly Father, helps us love our neighbor, every one of them. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

From "Intolerant Man, Tolerant God," a sermon excerpt from Rev. Dr. Oswald Hoffmann, former Speaker of The Lutheran Hour

Reflection Questions:

1. Would you consider yourself biased to any considerable degree?

2. Did Jesus deal with bias issues in His ministry? How can perfect love cast out fear?

3. If one has deep-seated prejudices, is there a healthy way to work through them?