Titanic-sized Unanswered Prayer | Ben Unseth's Red-Letter Ideas

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Titanic-sized Unanswered Prayer | Ben Unseth's Red-Letter Ideas

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Holy Spirit Jesus

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This is the sermon I preached on Sunday, January 26, 2025 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church . The gospel was Luke 4:14-21 .  Jesus is in his hometown. They’ve heard about his teaching and were anxious to hear him on that day as they gathered in the synagogue. The people were thrilled with the message, until Jesus uttered these words, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”  What was Jesus claiming to be? These are the things looked for when the Messiah came. Was he saying he was the Messiah? The reading from Isaiah was fine, but to claim that it was fulfilled in their hearing! Preposterous! It’s not in today’s, but in next week’s gospel, where we see the people’s reaction to those words. For now, we’ll leave it at that. If you don’t know and want to find out what happens, it’s ok to read ahead.  Everything Jesus did was through the power of the Holy Spirit. This power referenced in our first verse is from the Greek word dunamis, from which we get “dynamic...
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All you need is...

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Many of us remember the Beatles' song "All You Need is Love." The Bonhoeffer devotional today offers a slightly different view: all you need is God in Christ. Enjoy. BONHOEFFER for TUESDAY April 3, 2007 God in Christ All that we may rightly expect from God, and ask God for, is to be found in Jesus Christ. The God of Jesus Christ has nothing to do with what God, as we imagine God, could do and ought to do. If we are to learn what God promises, and what God fulfills, we must persevere in quiet meditation on the life, sayings, deeds, sufferings, and death of Jesus. It is certain that we may always live close to God and in the light of God's presence, and that such living is an entirely new life for us; that nothing is then impossible for us, because all things are possible with God; that no earthly power can touch us without God's will, and that danger and distress can only drive us closer to God. It is certain that we can claim nothing for ourselves, and may y...
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Abby Skipped

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Since our arrival on campus, Abby, my husband's Seeing Eye Dog, has been making friends. I have been walking with Ray around campus so he and Abby can learn the way. The plan was for Ray to meet me after class, to attend chapel and lunch. We did not know ahead of time that the class time would run much later than anticipated and that it would be followed by chapel. I called Ray and told him and he and Abby set out, unassisted, to make their way to chapel to join me. Ray said that Abby got so excited when she realized that they were going for a walk that she started to bounce, almost skipping along the way to chapel. She was in her glory as a Seeing Eye Dog, helping Ray get around campus. At the evening picnic, she was "off duty" and could be petted by any and all. She loved it. She even made friends with another student's pug, Bella. The difference in size didn't bother either one of them as they sniffed, licked, tails wagging the whole time. Perhaps we ha ve some...
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