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Pastor's Message
TLO Church and School Families:
This month's TLO Disciple focus is
Discipleship.
For Martin Luther a disciple was simply a '
believer' or '
listener' or '
child in the congregation'. If you fear, love and trust in God above all of God's created things, you will do what the logic of faith makes inevitable; Those who have been buried and raised with Christ in the waters of holy baptism walk in his footsteps. I pray the Scripture and resources in this TLO Disciple will help you grow in faith in Jesus, strengthening your marriage, helping battle against temptation, overcome addiction, bless your parenting, bless your children, and much more. All this is possible through the Holy Spirit working by the Word of Christ your heart to daily forgive, renew and transform your life to live in Christ and His righteousness.
Pastor James L Kroonblawd
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Cheap Grace
Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church. We are fighting today for costly grace.
- Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.
- Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession.
Costly Grace
Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has.
- Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.
- Costly grace is the sanctuary of God; it has to be protected from the world, and not thrown to the dogs.
- Costly grace confronts us as a gracious call to follow Jesus, it comes as a word of forgiveness to the broken spirit and the contrite heart. Grace is costly because it compels a man to submit to the yoke of Christ and follow him; it is grace because Jesus says: 'My yoke is easy and my burden is light."
The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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10 Questions with Professor Ben Freudenburg
By Megan Kurtz
1. Why is teaching the faith at home so important?
The church has an hour or two
on Sunday, maybe another hour during the week. But that's not nearly enough to shape [children's] values and hearts and grow the faith given them at Baptism.
2. What is the family's role in faith formation?
The family is one of the institutions God created to produce faithful generations. God gave parents a biblical mandate to teach the faith to their children. If the family is not thriving, it is less likely to produce another generation of godly men and women.
3. And the church's role?
The task God has given to the church is to help parents have all they need in order to fulfill the biblical mandate as the primary teachers of faith to their children.
4. What do you see happening in society today?
Research indicates that in every generation there are fewer Christians. It is predicted that only about 4 percent of millennials will be Christ-followers as they enter the adult world.
5. What pressures are families facing as they try to pass on the faith?
The real pressure is to conform to the culture's view of marriage and family instead of to Christ. How do we help individuals walk with Christ as they watch TV and use digital tools? How do we help families resist the pressure to conform to a nonbiblical standard like living together before marriage?
6. How can the church support families?
A lot of people believe that when they get married, they have what they need to be good husbands, wives and parents. But it's really a learned skill. ... We need to put into place programs that are meeting needs in teaching the faith, home discipleship, marriage enrichment, good parenting skills and an understanding of human sexuality from a biblical view.
7. What are some ways parents can reinforce faith?
Make faith a natural part of conversation. Do simple things like family faith talk at the dinner table and saying prayers together. We seldom sit down as a family anymore, so it's really hard to implement. We must make time for spiritual formation and conversation.
Since Professor Ben Freudenburg came to Concordia University, Ann Arbor, Mich., (CUAA) 10 years ago to start the Family Life Education program, more than 130 future workers have been trained to go into churches and communities to provide preventive education to help families weather the storms of life.
Freudenburg - a husband, father of two and a certified director of Christian education - also is the director of the Concordia Center for the Family and the founder of Family Friendly Partners Network, a ministry that helps raise the capacity of churches to have strong family ministries.
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To help you in your faith walk, TLO is planning a re-launch of RightNow Media resources. RightNow Media 15,000 churches to stream Christian resources to your computer, phone, tablet or TV.
On Friday, June 3, you will receive an invitation by email to join RightNow Media at no cost to you. If you would like to opt out of this invitation, please
contact Jean.
RightNow is like the Netflicks of Christian Video resources. You can access these resources through online streaming to your TV, computer, phone, Roku. If you have questions about RightNow Media you can check their website:
www.rightnow.org or please call me at
651-454-7235.
Before you opt out, below are 5 of the over 10,000 similar types of media resources that you will have access to through RightNow Media.
I hope you'll enjoy this fantastic resource!
Pastor Kroonblawd
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For Parents
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Who is shaping what your kids believe?
In these busy, hectic days we take our kids to sports practices, games, music lessons, school tutoring and other activities to give our children the best opportunities for success. But what if we're missing the chance to teach them what matters most?
Our children can grow up smart, athletic, popular and polite but lack a vibrant relationship with Christ. The few hours they spend in church each week can be helpful, but it cannot nurture a faith in our kids that will withstand the trials that are on the horizon. Church alone cannot teach them, we must start at home. But many parents feel ill equipped to develop the faith of their children.
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For Women
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The True Beauty films invite women into an authentic conversation about God's Word. Together with Lisa, viewers will explore the spiritual practices and truths of living life in Christ. In Be Still, Lisa explores the pressures, perceptions, and expectations that women face and inspires viewers to let go of these lies that keep them busy doing things and encourages them to enjoy being at the feet of Jesus.
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For Men
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Dig deeper into what it means to step up and live a courageous life with Stepping Up: A Call to Courageous Living Video Series. Based on his book by the same title, Dennis Rainey, along with Matt Chandler, Bill Bennett, Tony Dungy, Robert Lewis, Voddie Baucham, Stu Weber, and others, unpack what Biblical manhood looks like and what it means to be a godly, corageous man in today's world.
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For College Students and Singles
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Have you ever looked back over a situation or relationship in your life and wondered how it became so messy or difficult? In the series, Five Lies That Ruin Relationships, we'll define five of the most common lies that have the potential to ruin relationships with those we love. We'll also uncover the source of quarreling, how our works wound, and how not to make decisions. And together, we'll ask and answer the question: do wrong beliefs produce wrong behavior? We will discover that when we confront the lies we believe, there is power in knowing and applying God's truth to our relationships.
Learn more
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"General rules for a godly life"
- Live dutifully toward God, upright with regard to yourself, and justly toward your neighbor.
- Act graciously toward your friends, patiently with your enemies, benevolently toward everyone, and also generously, as far as you are able.
- While you live, die daily to yourself and to your vices, so that when you die, you may live unto God.
- Show mercy always in the disposition of your mind, kindness in your countenance, humility in your manner.
- Modesty in your dealings with others, and patience in tribulation."
from Meditations, by Johann Gerhard (1582-1637); Seventeenth-Century Lutheran Meditations and Hymns, ed. Eric Lund (New York: Paulist Press, 2011), 112.
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The Calling of the Apostles
fresco
Domenico Ghirlandaio - public domain
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Quote of interest
"The community of the saints is not an "ideal" community consisting of perfect and sinless men and women, where there is no need of further repentance. No, it is a community which proves that it is worthy of the gospel of forgiveness by constantly and sincerely proclaiming God's forgiveness...Sanctification means driving out the world from the Church as well as separating the Church from the world. But the purpose of such discipline is not to establish a community of the perfect, but a community consisting of men who really live under the forgiving mercy of God."
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship
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Helpful Links:
To die with Jesus is to Live with Jesus
Embrace Technology
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Editor's note
TLO Disciple, with a topical study in each issue, is distributed primarily via email on the first of every month. Print copies are available by contacting the TLO Church office at 651-454-7235 or the
Church Office via email.
Calendars, volunteer information, serving groups and the like will accompany the TLO Together, on the last Wednesday of the month.
Click here for the May 25 issue. This publication is also mailed upon request.
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2950 Highway 55
Eagan MN 55121
651-454-7235
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