"My Lord Jesus Christ is Lord over death, Satan, sin, righteousness, body, life, foes and friends. What shall I fear? For while my enemies stand before my very door and plan to slay me, my faith reasons thus: Christ is ascended into heaven and become Lord over all creatures, hence my enemies, too, must be subject to him and thus it is not in their power to do me harm. I challenge them to raise a finger against me or to injure a hair of my head against the will of my Lord Jesus Christ. When faith grasps and stands upon this article, it stands firm and waxes bold and defiant, so as even to say: If my Lord so wills that they, mine enemies, slay me, blessed am I; I gladly depart. Thus you will see that he is ascended into heaven, not to remain in indifference, but to exercise dominion; and all for our good, to afford us comfort and joy."
~Martin Luther
"In the twelfth place, faith does not merely mean that the soul realizes that the divine word is full of grace...it also unites the soul with Christ, as a bride is united with her bridegroom...so that they hold all things in common, whether for better or for worse. This means that what Christ possesses belongs to the believing soul; and what the soul possesses belongs to Christ. Thus Christ possesses all good things and holiness: these now belong to the soul. The soul possesses lots of vices and sin, and these now belong to Christ. Here we have a happy exchange...Christ mkes the sin of the belieivng soul his own through a wedding ring, which is faith, and acts as if he had done it himself, so that sin could be swallowed up in him...Christ, the rich, noble, and holy bridegroom, takes in marriage this poor, contemptible, and sinful little prostitute, takes away all her evil, and bestows all his goodness upon her...she is now found in Christ and is swallowed up by him, so that she possesses a rich righteousness in her bridegroom."
~Martin Luther
Thanks Pastor Lusk for passing these on to your parishioners.
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