VIDEO: 'Confessing In Confidence'

I recently mentioned the impact that the "When Heterodoxy Hits Home" Conference had on me personally (and I wasn't even there!) once I realized the presence of sin in my heart whenever I attempted to combat such heterodoxy in the church today.

Now that the video versions of each presentation are available, I want to look at each lecture one-at-a-time and simply note some of the key highlights for you as they convicted me when I first listened to them.

Pastor Chris Hull: Vespers Sermon - "Confessing In Confidence"

KEY HIGHLIGHTS: 

*- "Vespers" = "Evening" = "An Evening Church/Prayer Service"

*- Pastor Hull talks about the martyrdom of Polycarp

*- "No one should betray the truth with silence."

*- "Most would accuse us of talking too much."

*- "It's easy to call out heretics. It's easy to demand Becker's head or make fun of 'Sacramental Entrepreneurs.' But it's impossible to confess and let death come, to watch as heretics win the day, to see sheep led astray by wannabe Joels and Joyces."

*- "He calls you and I to confess, to die the martyr's death, to bring forth fruit in patience."

*- "Are we willing to lose, to let Missouri burn, while retaining the Gospel? Or do we care more about purifying an institution?"

*- "He doesn't call us to make a difference, but to confess Him before all men!"

*- "The baptized delight in assertions ... because we declare the certainties of the Holy Spirit."

*- "So easy is it ... to be depressed or angry at the church. Outside of Christ, all we would have is our opinions and our emotions."

I'm sorry to say that I never heard (or read) a sermon by Pastor Hull before this one.

Talk about to-the-point preaching that packs a punch! So many good nuggets of truth from that Vespers Sermon that was less than 10 minutes long.

In a Lutheran layman's terms, I'm so thankful that I have Jesus Christ particularly in those moments when I am the only one willing to confess the truth about Him and His Word, because without Him I would be fearful, hopeless, and guided by my own subjective emotions and opinions rather than the Holy Spirit and the immutable Word of God.



NOTE: I'm not a called and ordained minister of God's Word and Sacraments. I'm a layman or a Christian, Candy-Making, Husband, Father, Friend who lives in the "City of Good Neighbors" here on the East Coast. To be more specific, and relevant to the point I want to make with this note, I'm also a newly converted Confessional Lutheran who recently escaped American Evangelicalism a little over a year ago. That being said, please contact me ASAP if you believe that any of my "old beliefs" seem to have crept their way into any of the material you see published here, and especially if any of the content is inconsistent with our Confessions and Lutheran doctrine (in other words, if it's not consistent with God's Word, which our Confessions merely summarize and point us back to) so that I can correct those errors immediately and not lead any of His little ones astray (James 3:1). Finally, please be aware that you might also discover that some of the earlier pieces I wrote on this blog back in 2013 definitely fall into that category since I was a "Lutheran-In-Name-Only" at the time and was completely oblivious to the fact that a Christian "Book of Concord" even existed (Small/Large Catechism? What's that!?!). In addition, there are some entries that are a little "out there" so-to-speak since the subject matter was also heavy influenced by those old beliefs of mine. I know that now and I'm still learning. Anyway, I decided to leave those published posts up on this website and in cyberspace only because we now have this disclaimer, and only to demonstrate the continuing work of Christ and the Holy Spirit in my life (Hebrews 12:2; Philippians 1:6). Most importantly, please know that any time I engage in commenting on and/or interpreting a specific portion of the holy Scriptures, it will always closely follow the verse-by-verse notes from my Lutheran Study Bible and/or include references to the Book of Concord unless otherwise noted. Typically, I defer to what other Lutheran Pastors have already preached and taught about such passages since they are the called and ordained shepherds of our souls here on earth. Finally, I'm going to apologize ahead of time for the length of most entries. I'm well aware that blogs should be short, sweet, and to the point, but I've never been one to follow the rules when it comes to writing. Besides, this website is more like a dude's diary in the sense that everything I write about and share publicly isn't always what's "popular" or "#trending" at the time, but is instead all the things that I'm studying myself at the moment. For better or for worse, these posts tend to be much longer than most blog entries you'll find elsewhere only because I try to pack as much info as possible into a single piece so that I can refer to it again and again over time if I need to (and so that it can be a valuable resource for others -- if possible, a "One-Stop-Shop" of sorts). Thank you for stopping by and thank you in advance for your time, help, and understanding. Grace and peace to you and yours!

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