Rogate (Prayer) Sunday 2017

Sixth Sunday of Easter - Rogate

May 21, 2017

Pastor Pautz

Text: John 16:23-33

Grace and mercy to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  (Amen)

It is written, “23 In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He will give it to you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”

Thus far the text.  Let us pray:

Creator Father, who has baptized us into the death of Jesus and place His name on us claiming us as Your own, listen to our prayers that we pray in Jesus’ name.  Give us what we ask for so that our joy may be full.  We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior.  (Amen)

Today is Rogate Sunday meaning Prayer Sunday.  Jesus is again teaching us to pray and prayer means to ask the Father for something in the name of Jesus.

Let me present to you what the Holy Spirit has written regarding how the Father’s baptized and believing children should pray.  What makes Christian prayer such a blessing to you that your joy may be full?  Let’s listen to our Lord.

First, prayer begins with the Lord because He has made many promises to you.

The disciples asked the Lord, teach us how to pray (Matt 6 & Luke 11) and Jesus said, “Say these words: Our Father who art in heaven…”  Jesus did not give a theory about prayer.  Jesus did not give a lecture.  Jesus gave the disciples and you the very words to ask His Father.  For those seven requests in the Lord’s prayer, someone must die.  Jesus died for each petition so that you may have what is offered.

It is the Lord’s Prayer.  The Father never tires of it.  You might know it so well that you now pray it without even thinking about.  Well, slow down and say it again.  You might tire of concluding Bible studies with the Lord’s Prayer.  Well, let us slow down and say it again after the next Bible study, too.  Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, and true Man, born of the Virgin Mary, is Your Lord who ransomed You from sin, death, and the power of the devil so that the Father’s name would be hallowed among you; His kingdom come among you; His will be done among you and more.  Slow down.  If it takes a week to slowly pray one petition of the Lord’s Prayer - that is ok.  The Father never tires of hearing it.  The Father never tires of giving you what He promised in those petitions.  Never.  Why because it is the Lord’s Prayer.

Second, faith is required to receive the benefits of these promises.  Faith receives the promise of the Father.  Just as Christian prayer begins with the Father so also faith begins with Jesus.

A dispute arose among the disciples in John chapter 6.  The disciples asked Jesus, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?”  Jesus’ response is so very important.  “Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”  Did you catch that?  What is the work of God?  God’s work is that you believe in Jesus!  When the disciple ask, ‘what is the work we must do to do the works of God’ I would have expected Jesus to say something like, ‘This is the work that you must do….believe in Jesus.’  Belief is not your work.  Belief or faith is the work of God for you.  Jesus does the work of saving faith in His death and resurrection.  

So, prayer begins with the Father’s promise and is receive by the faith of Jesus which He worked in You.  But how is the prayer delivered to you?

Third, the Holy Spirit has had the promises of the Father written for you to hear and read.  The promises of God are delivered to you by means of the Holy Spirit which are the Lord’s Word and Sacrament.  It is in His Holy Scriptures that you know what the Father desires to give to you.

But this is only the first half of prayer.  The Father makes a promise to you.  Jesus does the work for you.  The Holy Spirit delivers the benefits of that promise and work to you by Word and Sacrament.  But what is the other half.  What is that part that we specifically regard as Christian prayer.

You ask for what the Holy Spirit has written, in the name of Jesus, to the Father.  Do you see that?  Prayer begins with the Father working in Jesus to deliver His promises to you by means of the Holy Spirit.  Then you, by means of the Holy Spirit ask the Father for what is promised in the name of Jesus.  So, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to you.  And then you, Holy Spirit, Jesus, to the Father.

So prayer begins with the Father and ends with the Father and you receive the benefit.

For example.  It is written in Hosea 6:6, “For I, the Lord, have desired mercy not sacrifice.”  The lepers cry in Luke 17:12-14 cry out for this mercy, saying  “And as Jesus entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when Jesus saw them, He said to them, Go show yourselves to the priests. And it came to pass, that, as the lepers went, they were cleansed from all their leprosy.”  The lepers prayed on the basis of the Father’s promised mercy.  But only one, by means of the Holy Spirit returned to Jesus to give thanks to the Father.

Another example: In John chapter 2 at the Wedding Feast, “When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Jesus, “They have no wine.”  Mary knows that “every good gift and every perfect gift comes from the Father” (James) so she makes a request in Jesus name.  She doesn’t specify how or when the Lord should act but her prayer is answered, the wedding party does not run out of wine.

Another example: In Luke chapter 23:42, two criminals are crucified next to Jesus, one on His left and one on His right.  One of the criminals prayed saying, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

A final example: After Jesus returned to His disciples after an early morning prayer, His disciples asked Jesus, Teach us how to prayer.  And Jesus said, When you pray say these words.  This morning, to conclude this sermon, let me pray those words for you.  Slowly.  

Our Father, who art in heaven,

Hallowed be Thy name,

Thy kingdom come,

Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,

Give us this day our daily bread, and

Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and Lead us, not into temptation, but

Deliver us from evil.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory both now and forever more.  (Amen)

The peace of God, which passes understanding, guard and keep your body and soul in Jesus Christ.  (Amen)

Come and See!

Sunday Bible Study

May 21, 2017

Text: John 1:37-51

Title:  Come and See!  Jesus Does the Work of Evangelism - Not His Disciples

37 And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. 38 Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou? 39 He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour. 40 One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messiah, which is, being interpreted, the Christ. 42 And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.

43 The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me. 44 Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip findeth Nathaniel, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. 46 And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see. 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! 48 Nathaniel saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. 49 Nathaniel answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel. 50 Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these. 51 And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.

The Holy Bible: King James Version., electronic ed. of the 1769 edition of the 1611 Authorized Version. (Bellingham WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1995), Jn 1:37–51.

1  In verse 37, what are the two disciples hearing?

2  In verse 38, what is interpreted?  Verse 41? Verse 42?

3 What is Jesus’ answer in verse 39?  What is Philip’s answer in verse 46?

4  How did Philip find Jesus?  How did Nathaniel find Jesus?  (These are trick questions).

5  How do you interpret the title “Son of God” in verse 49?  Daniel 7:13-14.  Son of Man?

6  Whenever Jesus begins speaking with “Verily, verily” or “Amen, amen” or “Truly, truly”, it is more than just saying something.  Jesus is making a ‘solemn proclamation’.  It is a very important teaching that we must listen to carefully.  What is Jesus teaching us in verse 51?  See Genesis 28:12; Matthew 26:53; Matthew 8:9.

7  If time remains, see John 6:29.  It answers the heart of the question of evangelism.

Isaiah 35: The Blossoming Rose

Wednesday Bible Study May 17, 2017

Isaiah 35 Title:  The Blossoming Rose;The church rising out of the ashes of the synagogues

35 The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; And the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.  2 It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God.  3 Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.  4 Say to them that are of a fearful heart, be strong, fear not: Behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you. 5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. 6 Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. 7 And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.  8 And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.  9 No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there: 10 And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Pretext:  Isaiah 34:8 prophesied the destruction of the synagogues after prophesying the end of all the nations.  The Gospel is brought to us in chapter 35.  God will raise the church from this synagogues.  By the Holy Spirit many promises are made concerning the Lord’s church.  These many promised things under the form of the cross are hidden from the world.  Therefore the promises must be understood by the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Note:  What is “the wilderness”?  Genesis 3; Revelation 12

Genesis 3:1&17 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? ... To Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

Revelation 12:5-6 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. 6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God.

Note: A meadow can be said to be glad when it is in full bloom.  This is the opposite of a wilderness which is understood to be a barren wasteland; like a desert.  Today, the church is flourishing in the wilderness; unseen by the world.  How does the world see the church in full bloom?  It sees some outward obedience, humility, love for others etc.  But thinks these are common things that everyone has.  They also see these as common and not something to be desired too much.  The church does have an internal gladness that cannot be seen such as confidence, peace, life, and a cheerful conscience.  Question: How is a conscience made cheerful while still in the wilderness?

Note: “The rose (church) shall blossom abundantly” meaning spiritual wealth.  1Cor 12:4ff.

Note: “The glory of Lebanon (Israel or by synecdoche Jerusalem, which was build with materials from Lebanon) shall be given unto it (the church)” meaning all the gifts the Lord gave to Israel shall be given to the Gentiles.  In other words, all the glory, the priesthood, the ritual, and the Word of the Jews have been transferred to our church.

Matthew 8:11-2 And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Romans 9:5 Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.

Note:  “Carmel and Sharon” were two fruitful mountains in Judea near the sea.  They are now called the synagog (walking together) which was fruitful in teachers, teaching, and prophets as the Apostle Paul points out in Romans 9:5.

Note:  “they (the church by faith) shall see the glory of the LORD” 1Cor 2:16; 2Peter 3:18; Matt 7:4

Verses 3-7 These are internal strengthenings of the church in the midst of many attacks and disgraces.

Note: “Say to them that are of a fearful heart” is in Hebrew “Say to those who are hasty and speedy in heart” meaning those who are not steady and firm but want to run away and give Satan the victory.  This is essentially last Sunday’s sermon concerning filthiness (leaving the Gospel for wealth and comfort because I know the Gospel already) and wickedness (leaving the Gospel to join the crowd because I am wearied from all that I have to give up for Christ’s sake) from the epistle James.

Note: “Be strong” see the LSB Hymn #656 A Mighty Fortress.  Why?  See the next note.

Note: “Behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you”  This is hard for our flesh, to wait on the Lord.  Vengeance is His.  Not ours.  We are not to avenge ourselves.  As much as I do enjoy the Avengers movies, it is not for me/us to avenge all the wrongs of this world.  The Lord will do and save me/us in the doing of it.

Note: “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened” this happened with an explosion of miracles among the apostles to confirm the Gospel.  

Mark 16:17-18 17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

Note:  “the habitation of dragons” Luther and the KJV translators use some apocalyptic language.  In this style, animals that can be found on the earth refer to something on the earth.  Animals that cannot be found on the earth are referring to spiritual beings.  Evil creatures are depicted as terrifying animals/creatures.  The habitation referred to here are places devoid of God’s Word.  The dragons referred to here are teachers who by ungodly teaching capture the souls and consciences of men whom Christ calls a brood of vipers (Matthew 23:33).  Luther named Erasmus and Zwingli as examples of dragons in his day.  Erasmus defended the papacy with much of his argumentation also taken up by Calvin and the Reformed church bodies of today.  Zwingli gave rise to the Anabaptists who today would be Baptist, Mennonite, and Anabaptist denominations.  A little more specific I would name the following as dragons: Matthew Becker (recently removed from the LCMS roster but teaching at Valpo; Joel Osteen and nearly all the television and radio and blogging evangelists; and, getting even more uncomfortable, I would add Billy Graham to the list, most Christian industries in music and movies (because they are dominated with the Law or the Gospel is intermingled with the Law, thus destroying the Gospel).

Note: “The Highway of Holiness” nothing unclean (whether inside or outside the church) shall enter.  

Note: “the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs”  Therefore Paul says (Gal. 5:22): “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace” and (Phil. 4:4): “Rejoice in the Lord always.”

Behold, the Lamb of God

Sunday Bible Study

John 1:29ff

Title: Finding Jesus!  How do you know you have the correct Jesus?

Text:  29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”  The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016), Jn 1:29–34.

1  What two things does John the Baptist do in verse 29?

2 Why does no one question calling God a lamb/little sheep?

3 How do you know that John the Baptist is speaking of the Holy Trinity?

4 Does John the Baptist know who the Son of God is?  How?

5 Did John the Baptist see the Holy Spirit with his eyes?

6 How does John the Baptist know he saw the Holy Spirit?  What did the Father say?

7 What is Jesus - who is the Lamb of God and the Son of God - doing?

8What is sin? (missing the mark)  Who is missing the mark?   What is the world?

9Which Old Testament sacrifice is the Lamb of God fulfilling?

10 How does this text support the doctrine of Verbal Inspiration?  What is Verbal Inspiration?

11 How do you know you believe in this Lamb of God?

12 From verses 1:29 and 20:31, what does this Lamb of God give to you?