CHRIST IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED! ALLELUIA!
I am still around basking in the glow over the fact that Jesus rose from the dead and life and salvation have been won for all who believe in Him. This celebration did not end on Sunday. We are still very much into the Easter season. This Sunday will take a look at Jesus' first resurrection appearance to His disciples and to Thomas. We will also be celebrating the Confirmation of Kortney Hintz. I am also excited that my special lady Stephanie will be visiting Flora this weekend and will be in church as well. Lots of stuff going on this Easter Season. Sunday promises to be an uplifting day--no DOUBT about it!
Time for an early season Cub rant. I don't what bothers me more: losing Opening Day 16-5 or dropping a heartbreaker 3-2 where you lose the lead in the 8th inning. I do take solace in the fact the Christ rose for me, and that even if the Cubs finish 0-162 and the Cardinals finish 162-0, that doesn't change that awesome fact!
This is the first time I've written since that amazing NCAA Championship Game between Butler and Duke. Yes, the wrong team won in my eyes but it was a great game. I normally don't agree with Seth Davis of CBS but I liked what he said after the game: "Butler did have 2 points fewer than Duke but they played with the heart of a champion." Most people don't remember who finished #2 in a tournament, but they will remember Butler for a LONG time. This still doesn't change my feelings for Duke, and "Duke" Vitale needs to stop whining about how nobody embraces Duke. They are what the Yanks are to baseball, the Cowboys are to the NFL, the Lakers and Celtics are to the NBA, and Notre Dame to college football. They are all the teams people love to hate. Perhaps this wouldn't be the case if ESPN and CBS didn't have such a bias toward them. Just a thought.
Have a great Thursday. Tomorrow is Friday!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Monday, April 5, 2010
Easter Monday
CHRIST IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED! ALLELUIA!
Greetings from Crown Point, IN! Had a wonderful Easter Sunday which included a yummy breakfast, a great worship service, and a trip to Crown Point to see my lovely girlfriend. Dinner was great, had a great time after dinner with friends, and of course spending time with Stephanie is absolutely precious! I head back to Flora this afternoon, but Stephanie comes to Flora this Friday so I don't have to wait too long to see her again!
On another note, many baseball fans believe this day to be a National Holiday as today is Opening Day. My Cubbies begin their quest for their third title in 103 years as they go to Atlanta. The Cardinals begin in Cincinnati; the White Sox open at home vs. Cleveland. And to give my girlfriend's team a shout out: The Minnesota Twins open late tonight in Anaheim. Today is also the National Championship game in College Basketball. Anyone have Butler going to this game? We shall see what occurs tonight.
I shall have some more tidbits upon my return later this evening. Have a wonderful day!
Greetings from Crown Point, IN! Had a wonderful Easter Sunday which included a yummy breakfast, a great worship service, and a trip to Crown Point to see my lovely girlfriend. Dinner was great, had a great time after dinner with friends, and of course spending time with Stephanie is absolutely precious! I head back to Flora this afternoon, but Stephanie comes to Flora this Friday so I don't have to wait too long to see her again!
On another note, many baseball fans believe this day to be a National Holiday as today is Opening Day. My Cubbies begin their quest for their third title in 103 years as they go to Atlanta. The Cardinals begin in Cincinnati; the White Sox open at home vs. Cleveland. And to give my girlfriend's team a shout out: The Minnesota Twins open late tonight in Anaheim. Today is also the National Championship game in College Basketball. Anyone have Butler going to this game? We shall see what occurs tonight.
I shall have some more tidbits upon my return later this evening. Have a wonderful day!
Sunday, April 4, 2010
"The Vindicated Word: He Is Risen!"
Why seek the living among the dead? It’s a good question. What were the women doing there, early in the morning on the first day of the week? What did they expect to find? They were going to finish Jesus’ hasty burial. They had come with burial spices and oils. They expected to find a tomb with stone door, and a corpse. They were sensible and rational. They may not have been as “sophisticated” as you and I, but these women knew that corpses do not rise from the dead.
What they found was an open, empty tomb and two men with clothes that shined like Jesus at His transfiguration. Heavenly brightness. You can assume angels here. That was unexpected, but their news was not: “He is not here, but has risen!” That wasn’t unexpected at all. Unusual, yes. Out of the ordinary, certainly. Not your everyday experience. But it wasn’t unexpected.
Jesus told them at least three times in advance, and hinted at it a few times more. “The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” He told you. He prepared you. He predicted it. Why didn’t you believe Him? Why don’t we?
Face it. If someone you knew told you that he was preparing to die and on the third day rise again, would you have believed him? Put yourself in the disciples’ sandals. They had left their lives and livelihood to follow Jesus. Peter, Andrew, James, and John left a family business high and dry to go off with this itinerant preacher from Nazareth who said to them little more than “Follow Me.” Matthew left a lucrative tax collection business to follow Jesus. Things are going along just fine—miracles, teaching, crowds, popularity—until Jesus starts talking what can only be called “crazy talk.” “The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” Wouldn’t you have some questions? A few doubts? Misgivings maybe?
When the women returned and told the Eleven, no one believed them. It seemed like nonsense. When Peter saw the empty tomb and the burial cloths, he wondered to himself what had happened. He had forgotten Jesus’ words; he did not believe Jesus had risen.
This gives Luke’s account an even greater ring of authenticity and truth. The disciples did not expect this despite what Jesus told them. The women did not expect this despite what Jesus told them. Remember the test of a prophet: if what he predicts comes to pass, he is reliable and true, but if not, he is false and deserves to die for lying in the name of God. Jesus predicted His death and resurrection three times before it happened.
St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Dizzy Dean predicted at the start of the season that his 1934 Cardinals would win the pennant and that he and his brother would win at least 40 games. “It ain’t braggin’ if you can do it,” he said. As history records it, they did it. Dizzy won 30 games, his brother Paul won 19, and the Cardinals won the World Series in seven games. “It ain’t braggin’ if you can do it.”
Three times Jesus predicted His death and resurrection. It ain’t braggin’ if you can do it. He did it. He rose from the dead. The word from the tomb is this: “He is not here, but has risen. Remember how He told you.” The Word of Jesus is vindicated. He is proven true. His Word is proven reliable. This is the linchpin of our faith, that He “was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.”
To the skeptical Greeks of Corinth, who were perfectly comfortable with an immortal soul but skeptical of a resurrection body, Paul wrote that magnificent fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians which begins this way: “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then He appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared also to me.”
Paul goes on to flesh out what the implications are if Christ is not raised from dead. If Christ is not raised, then Paul’s preaching and the preaching you are hearing here today is empty. Hot air and wasted words. If Christ is not raised, then your faith is empty too. Your believing is for nothing; there is no point. If Christ is not raised, then Paul’s witness and all the eyewitnesses—all 500 plus—are liars in the name of God who have perpetrated the biggest hoax ever pulled in the religious world. If Christ is not raised, then your trust in Him is futile and misplaced, and worse, you are still in your sins. If Christ is not raised, then all the dead who have gone before us are lost and there is no hope of ever seeing them again.
Paul says this: “If the only reason we have hope in Christ is in this life, that somehow Jesus will help us cope, make us feel good about ourselves, help us be healthy and wealthy, if that’s all there is to Jesus, then we are the most pitiful fools that have ever bought into a religious lie.”
If Christ is not raised from the dead, if there is some box of bones out there with Jesus’ name on it, then you would do well to find another religion or perhaps abandon religion altogether. That is how important the resurrection of Jesus is. If Christ is not raised, then He can not be trusted, His Word can not be trusted, His endorsement of the Old Testament and His guarantee of the apostolic word of the New Testament is nothing more than empty talk and wishful thinking.
The message of the angel rings out from the tomb, across the centuries, to your ears here today. “He is risen!” Mary Magdalene and the other women saw and heard and bear witness. Peter and John saw and bear witness. The Eleven and the two on the road to Emmaus. The five hundred. James and all the apostles. Paul. All of them testify, many bearing witness with their lives as martyrs to the fact of Jesus’ resurrection.
This word may seem like nonsense to all of us who are skeptical and scientific people. Suspend your skepticism and hang it to the cross. These people who testified did so with their lives. They could have saved themselves quite easily by simply denying that Jesus had risen. They could have saved their lives by taking the authorities to the body. The Romans and the religious authorities of Israel could have put down this Jesus movement in a heartbeat by parading a rotting corpse through the street. But they did not, because there was no corpse. Jesus was risen, just as He had said.
In 2007, a group of fifteen British sailors were held captive in Iran for twelve days for allegedly invading Iranian waters. They signed statements indicating that they indeed were in Iranian waters. They also signed statements apologizing for past British transgressions against Iran. After their release, they renounced everything they had signed. Under pressure, they were willing to lie in order to save their lives. It happens all the time. But it did not happen with those eyewitnesses who saw Jesus alive after His death. They could have spared their lives by changing their story, but they did not. They stuck to their story, as unbelievable as it was.
You live in a privileged time. You live in the “last days” of the old creation, the time of the fulfillment. The work of saving this fallen cosmos is accomplished. The new creation has dawned. The dead are raised. “As in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” He is risen. His Word is vindicated. The apostolic Word is vindicated. The ministry of the Word and the Church gathered around His Word is vindicated. Your faith in Christ is vindicated. You can be as confident of your resurrection as Jesus is risen from the dead and lives and reigns to all eternity. Our preaching is not in vain. Your faith is not in vain. Your sins are forgiven. There is hope in this life, hope in your death, hope for eternal life with God, hope for a new creation. And it all hangs on this little sentence: He is risen.
We have come a long way in our Lenten pilgrimage through Holy Week to this bright and glorious day. We have heard the words of Christ to us: the pardoning Word of His forgiveness, the promising word of paradise, the faithful word spoken in abandonment, the compassionate word to His mother, the suffering word of His thirst, the dying word committing His spirit to the Father, the remembering word of His Supper, the fulfilled word of His mission—“it is finished.”
Rejoice, dear baptized, believing child of God. Rejoice. He is risen! Just as He told you.
HE IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED! ALLELUIA! AMEN!
What they found was an open, empty tomb and two men with clothes that shined like Jesus at His transfiguration. Heavenly brightness. You can assume angels here. That was unexpected, but their news was not: “He is not here, but has risen!” That wasn’t unexpected at all. Unusual, yes. Out of the ordinary, certainly. Not your everyday experience. But it wasn’t unexpected.
Jesus told them at least three times in advance, and hinted at it a few times more. “The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” He told you. He prepared you. He predicted it. Why didn’t you believe Him? Why don’t we?
Face it. If someone you knew told you that he was preparing to die and on the third day rise again, would you have believed him? Put yourself in the disciples’ sandals. They had left their lives and livelihood to follow Jesus. Peter, Andrew, James, and John left a family business high and dry to go off with this itinerant preacher from Nazareth who said to them little more than “Follow Me.” Matthew left a lucrative tax collection business to follow Jesus. Things are going along just fine—miracles, teaching, crowds, popularity—until Jesus starts talking what can only be called “crazy talk.” “The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” Wouldn’t you have some questions? A few doubts? Misgivings maybe?
When the women returned and told the Eleven, no one believed them. It seemed like nonsense. When Peter saw the empty tomb and the burial cloths, he wondered to himself what had happened. He had forgotten Jesus’ words; he did not believe Jesus had risen.
This gives Luke’s account an even greater ring of authenticity and truth. The disciples did not expect this despite what Jesus told them. The women did not expect this despite what Jesus told them. Remember the test of a prophet: if what he predicts comes to pass, he is reliable and true, but if not, he is false and deserves to die for lying in the name of God. Jesus predicted His death and resurrection three times before it happened.
St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Dizzy Dean predicted at the start of the season that his 1934 Cardinals would win the pennant and that he and his brother would win at least 40 games. “It ain’t braggin’ if you can do it,” he said. As history records it, they did it. Dizzy won 30 games, his brother Paul won 19, and the Cardinals won the World Series in seven games. “It ain’t braggin’ if you can do it.”
Three times Jesus predicted His death and resurrection. It ain’t braggin’ if you can do it. He did it. He rose from the dead. The word from the tomb is this: “He is not here, but has risen. Remember how He told you.” The Word of Jesus is vindicated. He is proven true. His Word is proven reliable. This is the linchpin of our faith, that He “was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.”
To the skeptical Greeks of Corinth, who were perfectly comfortable with an immortal soul but skeptical of a resurrection body, Paul wrote that magnificent fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians which begins this way: “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then He appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared also to me.”
Paul goes on to flesh out what the implications are if Christ is not raised from dead. If Christ is not raised, then Paul’s preaching and the preaching you are hearing here today is empty. Hot air and wasted words. If Christ is not raised, then your faith is empty too. Your believing is for nothing; there is no point. If Christ is not raised, then Paul’s witness and all the eyewitnesses—all 500 plus—are liars in the name of God who have perpetrated the biggest hoax ever pulled in the religious world. If Christ is not raised, then your trust in Him is futile and misplaced, and worse, you are still in your sins. If Christ is not raised, then all the dead who have gone before us are lost and there is no hope of ever seeing them again.
Paul says this: “If the only reason we have hope in Christ is in this life, that somehow Jesus will help us cope, make us feel good about ourselves, help us be healthy and wealthy, if that’s all there is to Jesus, then we are the most pitiful fools that have ever bought into a religious lie.”
If Christ is not raised from the dead, if there is some box of bones out there with Jesus’ name on it, then you would do well to find another religion or perhaps abandon religion altogether. That is how important the resurrection of Jesus is. If Christ is not raised, then He can not be trusted, His Word can not be trusted, His endorsement of the Old Testament and His guarantee of the apostolic word of the New Testament is nothing more than empty talk and wishful thinking.
The message of the angel rings out from the tomb, across the centuries, to your ears here today. “He is risen!” Mary Magdalene and the other women saw and heard and bear witness. Peter and John saw and bear witness. The Eleven and the two on the road to Emmaus. The five hundred. James and all the apostles. Paul. All of them testify, many bearing witness with their lives as martyrs to the fact of Jesus’ resurrection.
This word may seem like nonsense to all of us who are skeptical and scientific people. Suspend your skepticism and hang it to the cross. These people who testified did so with their lives. They could have saved themselves quite easily by simply denying that Jesus had risen. They could have saved their lives by taking the authorities to the body. The Romans and the religious authorities of Israel could have put down this Jesus movement in a heartbeat by parading a rotting corpse through the street. But they did not, because there was no corpse. Jesus was risen, just as He had said.
In 2007, a group of fifteen British sailors were held captive in Iran for twelve days for allegedly invading Iranian waters. They signed statements indicating that they indeed were in Iranian waters. They also signed statements apologizing for past British transgressions against Iran. After their release, they renounced everything they had signed. Under pressure, they were willing to lie in order to save their lives. It happens all the time. But it did not happen with those eyewitnesses who saw Jesus alive after His death. They could have spared their lives by changing their story, but they did not. They stuck to their story, as unbelievable as it was.
You live in a privileged time. You live in the “last days” of the old creation, the time of the fulfillment. The work of saving this fallen cosmos is accomplished. The new creation has dawned. The dead are raised. “As in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” He is risen. His Word is vindicated. The apostolic Word is vindicated. The ministry of the Word and the Church gathered around His Word is vindicated. Your faith in Christ is vindicated. You can be as confident of your resurrection as Jesus is risen from the dead and lives and reigns to all eternity. Our preaching is not in vain. Your faith is not in vain. Your sins are forgiven. There is hope in this life, hope in your death, hope for eternal life with God, hope for a new creation. And it all hangs on this little sentence: He is risen.
We have come a long way in our Lenten pilgrimage through Holy Week to this bright and glorious day. We have heard the words of Christ to us: the pardoning Word of His forgiveness, the promising word of paradise, the faithful word spoken in abandonment, the compassionate word to His mother, the suffering word of His thirst, the dying word committing His spirit to the Father, the remembering word of His Supper, the fulfilled word of His mission—“it is finished.”
Rejoice, dear baptized, believing child of God. Rejoice. He is risen! Just as He told you.
HE IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED! ALLELUIA! AMEN!
CHRIST IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED! ALLELUIA!
A very Happy and Blessed Easter Sunday to you! What a day of joy to celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Jesus promises, "Because I live, you shall live also!" We rejoice that forgiveness, life, and salvation are a free gift won for us by Jesus through His death and resurrection! Be sure to worship in church this morning. If you do not have a church, you are welcome to Faith Lutheran Church in Flora. Breakfast is at 8:30; Church is at 10:00!
I know that my Redeemer lives; / What comfort this sweet sentence gives! / He lives, He lives, who once was dead; / He lives, my ever-living Head.
He lives, all glory to His name! / He lives, my Jesus, still the same. / Oh, the sweet joy this sentence gives, / "I know that my Redeemer lives!" (LSB 461:1,8)
I know that my Redeemer lives; / What comfort this sweet sentence gives! / He lives, He lives, who once was dead; / He lives, my ever-living Head.
He lives, all glory to His name! / He lives, my Jesus, still the same. / Oh, the sweet joy this sentence gives, / "I know that my Redeemer lives!" (LSB 461:1,8)
Saturday, April 3, 2010
'Twas the day before Easter
As a minister, this day is always a day of great anticipation. I always look forward to Easter Sunday and celebrating with my congregation the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Anyone reading this that is a member of Faith Lutheran Church and/or lives in the Flora area is welcome to join us tomorrow morning for a breakfast at 8:30, followed by a church service at 10:00. Following church tomorrow, I head to Crown Point, IN to spend time with my favorite person, my girlfriend Stephanie Velzke along with her "Indiana family," the Hoernigs.
Less important, as a sports fan today is a great day because today is Final Four day. Butler vs. Michigan St. in the first game, followed by West Virginia vs. Duke. I must say that no matter who wins the Butler/Mich. St. game, I will not be disappointed. I am a Big Ten fan, so I like Michigan St. However, Butler has been the "feel good" story of the Tournament so I don't mind seeing them win either. I am hoping West Virginia knocks off Duke just so people such as "Duke" Vitale, Jay Bias, and Seth Davis can whine and cry this evening!
There is also anticipation as a sports fan because baseball season is about to start. Tomorrow the Yanks play the Red Sox (aka: the only two teams in baseball that matter according to ESPN). The Cubbies open play Monday in Atlanta while the Cardinals open in Cincinnati. The White Sox open at Comiskey Park (It's always Comiskey Park to me) against the Cleveland Indians (no, not the team with Jake Taylor, Wild Thing Vaughn, Rube Baker or Willie Mays Hayes!)
Less important, as a sports fan today is a great day because today is Final Four day. Butler vs. Michigan St. in the first game, followed by West Virginia vs. Duke. I must say that no matter who wins the Butler/Mich. St. game, I will not be disappointed. I am a Big Ten fan, so I like Michigan St. However, Butler has been the "feel good" story of the Tournament so I don't mind seeing them win either. I am hoping West Virginia knocks off Duke just so people such as "Duke" Vitale, Jay Bias, and Seth Davis can whine and cry this evening!
There is also anticipation as a sports fan because baseball season is about to start. Tomorrow the Yanks play the Red Sox (aka: the only two teams in baseball that matter according to ESPN). The Cubbies open play Monday in Atlanta while the Cardinals open in Cincinnati. The White Sox open at Comiskey Park (It's always Comiskey Park to me) against the Cleveland Indians (no, not the team with Jake Taylor, Wild Thing Vaughn, Rube Baker or Willie Mays Hayes!)
Welcome to my new blog
Greetings! This is Pastor Tim Hahn and welcome to my personal blog! This will contain information about the Church, the Bible, and other things of interest--maybe something about Sports, Politics, TV, you name it. Feel free to read my information and/or comment on it as you see fit! God's Blessings to you!
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