Sermon - Calov Conference Sermon 2026 - Psalm 91

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Isenheim Altarpiece, Matthias Grunewald, 1512 Trust in the Lord and Look upon the Savior God delivers us through the blood of Jesus Christ He ordains the angels to lift us up He intentionally directs us to walk in danger for the sake of our faith After Absalom killed Amnon he fled. Joab directed a theatrical scene between David and a pretend widow, in order to convince David to welcome Absalom back to Jerusalem. In this dramatic scene, the actress recites a powerful line: “ We must all die; we are like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. But God will not take away life, and He devises means so that the banished one will not remain an outcast. ” What a rich illustration she uses of water spilled on the ground. Two other times in the book of Samuel water is poured on the ground. Once when Samuel is judge, after the ark has returned to Jerusalem, he pours water upon the ground as a sign of repentance. A second time David pours the water on the ground when his m...
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West Bend, IA Newspaper - Christmas Letter 2020

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 The Word of Comfort

Scientists can’t figure out what there was before the universe, but we Christians know, even a little child can plainly say: “In the beginning was the Word.” That Word has endured since before there was time and space and it will continue to persist even when all this universe is laid waste on the last day. God has given that little changeless Word to us for our endurance, comfort, and hope.

This is really what Christmas is all about! That Word which gives us all hope and consolation through so many trials has become flesh and dwells among us. That Word became incarnate in the infant body of Jesus lying in the manger, in the adult body of Jesus hanging on the cross, and the true body and blood of Jesus in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. That Word which is eternal entered into the temporal, so that we who are mortal might put on His immortality! 

But why? Why would He do this? In the words of the great hymn writer, John Gerhard: “Love caused your incarnation; love brought You down to me. Your thirst for my salvation procured my liberty. Oh, love beyond all telling, that led You to embrace in love, all love excelling, our lost and fallen race.” Because of God’s inexplicable love for us, He sent His Word to become flesh, so that we might have hope and comfort in a world which is otherwise often filled with sadness.

May God bless you with a merry Christmas, remembering that in Christ we are made merry through the birth, death, and resurrection of the Word made flesh. Merry Christmas! 

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