A home-school father did this years ago to develop the daily habit of Bible reading in his children.

He offered to pay his daughter an agreed upon amount if she read the Bible every day for a year, with deductions from pay for any days missed.
She missed very few days, and by the year’s end, he paid her nearly the full amount.

When he offered to pay her for another year, she declined further payment saying, “It’s OK dad, you don’t need to pay me anymore. I want to do this.”

I know this works, because I did it with Anna and Ivana, and after a while, they also declined further payment, although they kept on reading their Bibles!

If you want, you could do it on a month-by-month basis.

“Everything has already been done; you are already redeemed; you have already been made righteous before God; you have already been saved.”

“One dare never say to people: ‘You are saved provided you have faith’; rather the reverse: ‘Because Christ has redeemed you, therefore you now believe that you are saved.’ A person does not believe he will come into an inheritance because of a future promise, but only when the promise has been assuredly given.”

“How could one comfort a disturbed person? He is already assailed with doubts about his faith. He would have to despair with such a doctrine. Rather one must seek to convince him that the Savior is there for him, has already forgiven him, and has already accepted him. As soon as one makes faith even in the least a requirement for justification, one takes from such a person all the comfort of the Gospel.”

…and come to the Searching Scripture Class!

Have you heard of “common sense theology?”

That’s what most people believe about God, and it sounds like this: “God helps those who help themselves;” or “He grades on a ‘curve,’” or “My God would never punish anyone.”

Common sense in daily life can be useful, but in theology, it is deadly!

You may have gone to Lutheran schools, you may have been through Junior Confirmation with Pastor Armstrong, but if you stay away from Luther’s SMALL CATECHISM long enough, you will “default” back to common sense theology—seeing Jesus as someone whom you must please, rather than seeing Him as your Substitute who pleases God for you.

The Gospel is counter-intuitive, it is the opposite of common sense.  In fact, it is so alien to us that and unless it is repeatedly preached into us and re-taught to us, we will re-lapse into our humanistic, legalistic, and commonsensical way of viewing God.

The Searching Scripture Class is a booster shot to protect you against that! Immunizations  begin on Tuesday night (6:00-7:30pm).

If Protestant congregations are not anchored in the Word and Sacraments, we will fill the void with whatever fad the giant Christian publishing houses are marketing to us (think: “The Purpose-Driven Life” and “Forty Days of Purpose,” “Promise Keepers,” “The Prayer of Jabez,” and the latest, “The Story”).

Christ calls the church to keep His death and resurrection at the heart of our worship and our service to others.

Christ-centered preaching alone is not enough. He has given us Word and Water in Baptism, and His own Body and Blood to eat and to drink.

A “Sacrament-centeredness” prevents distraction by the latest fads and keeps us focused on Christ’s death and resurrection, enabling us to be salt and light in a dark, unsavory world.