This Sunday, May 19th, is the Feast of Pentecost celebrating the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Lord's Church as recorded in Acts chapter 2. It has been said that the Holy Spirit is the "half-known God" because the Church so often preaches and teaches so infrequently about the Holy Spirit!

We pray to our Heavenly Father constantly when we pray, "Our Father..." and in the Lutheran confession we emphasize (and properly so) our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. But what about the third-person of the Holy Trinity?

He is indeed Almighty God (Acts 5:3-4); and He is put forth as our great Comforter and Counselor (John 14:16 & 25). By Him we confess that Jesus is Lord (1st Cor. 12:3b) and He Himself intercedes for us (Romans 8:26).

Luther's Small Catechism teaches powerfully about the Holy Spirit's ministry in our lives.

First the third article of the Creed:

What does this mean? I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers. On the Last Day He will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ. This is most certainly true.

The personal pronoun "He" = The Holy Spirit! Wow! Praise the Lord for this amazing work of God the Holy Spirit!

Come receive Christ's Word and Sacraments this Sunday. The Revelation series is over! It is now time to move on to a new part in God's Holy Word. This time to further equip us on the indispensable ministry of the Holy Spirit!

You will also -- as always -- receive Jesus directly through His precious Sacrament, His true body and true blood for the forgiveness of all your sins. This Sacrament is what directly strengthens you through the ongoing battle against your flesh, the world, and the evil one.

Invite a friend and let's spread the Word about Saint Paul's!

In Your Service and To Christ's Glory,

Pastor Espinosa

The Word of God describes paradise as having "the tree of life." It was in the Garden of Eden and it is described as being in the new heaven and earth. What is it? We should all want to know, because to have access to the tree of life is to live forever in the greatest version of life ever known. Interestingly, Revelation 22 says that those in the new heaven and earth -- with this tree of life -- have "the right" to it. What does this mean?

This vision of your future in Christ in Revelation 22 actually identifies a connection to God throughout life: from the Old Testament Garden of Eden, to the ministry of our Lord Jesus during His public ministry, through the age of the Church giving Christ's Word and Sacrament, all the way to the new heaven and earth. We will all get a better understanding of the tree of life.

By knowing about the tree of life you will know how the Lord sustains you through the tumult of this life and through the incessant attacks of our own sinful flesh against us, the evil in this world which is in our face every day, and the evil one who never tires trying a new approach against you and me. How are we sustained and protected from this barrage? The answer is through the tree of life. It pays to be clear about this tree of life.

It has been my great joy to offer this series on the book of Revelation in order to demonstrate that this book is simple, beautiful, and comforting when presented in a Christ-centered way (its intended sense). Sunday is the last installment of this six-part series.

Sunday is also our second New Member Sunday in two weeks. This service will welcome six new members, three of whom are being confirmed into the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod as adults. This promises to be an exciting day even as we give thanks to the Lord for the gift of mothers in our children's message and in our prayers.

Please invite a friend to church. Let us gather to receive Christ once again through Word and Sacrament!

Here is an excerpt from Sunday's sermon:

We must face and confess our sin: we treat the Word of Christ as less than vital. We pay more attention to the evening news than we do to the 66 books of the sacred canon. We thirst and yearn for so many other things. We prefer things that bring worry and even worse, death, instead of seeking and longing for the Word and the Sacrament. We embrace the world’s priorities, loves, fears, and worries and when we do we begin to emulate the world…we start to become like the world…like wandering and thirsty dogs that are running around lost from their masters who can only devour the trash in the world…we become desperate and before we know it, we can begin to participate in the rebellion and immorality that is all around us. Such a soul forsakes faith and forsakes God. This should make us very concerned, because our sin proves that we practice idolatry -- loving other things more than God -- and that we do not belong to this picture of the heavenly paradise.

 

What is there to do? By the grace of God through His Word alone, we must change our thinking or better said pray that The Lord changes our thinking through the Word and Sacrament which give us Jesus. Our way of approaching everything must be changed. We must repent. The great Lutheran systematician Francis Pieper wrote in his essay “What is Christianity?”

 

“[The devil] endeavors to mislead man either utterly to despise the atonement of Christ or to attempt to establish his own righteousness, as a result of which Christ’s reconciliation is forfeited. The consequence is that God must punish the world with dreadful plagues, wars, floods, earthquakes, and other frightful calamities to remind man for what purpose the earth still stands, namely, that he might repent and by faith accept the reconciliation of God which Christ has effected.” (What Is Christianity? And Other Essays, CPH 1997 Reprint, 49)

 

The great irony which occurs when someone complains about the tumult while insinuating that God is not in control is that they are complaining about the very sign that proves that God is in control (as we witness the fulfillment of His prophetic prediction, Jn 16:33, 2^nd Tim 3:1ff, et. al.).

In Your Service and To Christ's Glory,

Pastor Espinosa

Tomorrow we are going to delve into what are perhaps the most important metaphors in all of Scripture describing life: the two paths -- and every, single human being travels on one or the other -- called "light" and "darkness."

Needless to say the Lord is ingenious and knows precisely how to help us as we journey through life. I have found that when we begin to understand the metaphors, the Holy Spirit is active in drawing us closer to Jesus Christ, the Light of the World (John 8). We will become more aware of how we are threatened by darkness and how light is our salvation and our constant protection to keep us in our salvation so that darkness does not envelope and destroy.

Invite a friend so they can get closer to Jesus, the Light of the World!

Tomorrow is also our short, voter's assembly meeting which will present the slate of officers which will complete the parish council for the 2013-2014 year. If you are a confirmed, adult member, please come to this important meeting that will put us on pace for getting the important work -- the holy ministry -- that the Lord is putting before us to get done in the coming year.

ALSO: tomorrow and the following Sunday, May 12th are our two, back-to-back New Member Sundays. We are sooooo blessed to be receiving the following new members:

Tomorrow, May 5th:

1.        Adam R. Lee transferring from Emmaus Lutheran Church, Alhambra, CA (LCMS).

I'm sure you've heard question, "What will heaven be like?" And while there is much we do not know, what we do know is magnificent and comforting to say the very least! I am therefore quite excited about tomorrow's proclamation based on Revelation chapter 21 on the new heaven and the new earth. The Scriptures reveal some very important insights about our eternal home.

The sermon, however, isn't all about the future. The Lord says that you are -- already -- a new creation in the Lord Jesus Christ (2nd Corinthians 5:17).

We need to know this, because our sinful nature and the evil one would try convince us that we are anything but new. Instead the sin we commit as well as the sin that is all around us makes us feel used...again, definitely not new! As a result, we are tempted to cower and fear in the face of God's glorious newness. We are tempted rather to live in unbelief, convinced that what is eternally new could never be for us!

But the Lord says in His Word, "I am making all things new!" (Revelation 21:5). How is it that you will not be counted among the evil cowards? How is it that you will be counted as among the glorious ones who did not succumb to fear, but who conquered?

There is much for us to consider in this important message from Revelation 21. Invite a friend to hear this important sermon.

Also: we are gearing up for not one, but TWO new member Sundays on May 5th and May 12th. Thank you for your patience, but in the final analysis we must offer two back-to-back Sundays which will welcome new members both via transfer and confirmation. At this point we have about 10 new members joining, but there may be more! We'll see what the Lord decides. In the meantime, please join me in having great joy for how the Lord is blessing Saint Paul's!

What is most important is the Sunday now before us. Let us gather to receive God's gifts to us in and through Jesus. We will be forgiven again, we will be recipients of God's powerful blessings, and we will have opportunity to encourage one another and all the more as the Day draws near!

Here is an excerpt from tomorrow's sermon:

We have to check the sinful idea that God treats that which is used in the way we often do: He doesn’t throw His creation away as if it were trash. Revelation 21:1-2 says, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away… ²And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” And then the Lord says as recorded at verse 5: “Behold, I am making all things new.”

One commentator brings out the overall theme of Revelation’s “new”: “The saints of God will bear their new name, Christ’s own name (2:17; 3:12), and sing unendingly their new song (14:3) in a world where God makes all things new (21:5), on a new earth and under a new heaven, in a new holy city, a new Jerusalem. All things are “new,” not merely as more recent in date but as created and designed to supersede and replace the old…new with an astonishing end-of-time newness, unheard-of and wondrous…(Franzmann, The Revelation to John, 137).”

But by definition, this is a newness that does not annihilate the old or first creation. Andrew of Caesarea: “This passage does not speak of the obliteration of creation but of its renewal into something better. For as the apostle says, ‘this creation will be freed from the bondage of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God [Romans 8:21].’…The renewal of that which has grown old does not involve the annihilation of its substance but rather indicates the smoothing out of its agedness and its wrinkles (Weinrich, ed., Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, New Testament XII Revelation, 354).”

In other words when Revelation 21:1 says that the first heaven and earth “pass away” or when 2^nd Peter 3:10-13 uses the extreme descriptor of what happens to the old as in being dissolved, these are not about elimination, but transformation. Again, God doesn’t throw away His creation and the proof is in the resurrection of our Lord. His body that was buried, that was used to bear the sins of the world, was resurrected. In other words, the heavenly version of “new” amounts to that which is perfectly restored, where life triumphs over death, and where time will no longer have its aging effect on those who were formerly under the curse of sin (Lutheran Study Bible, 2233 and 1197).

So we are in a good position to begin to answer the question, “What will heaven be like?” The Scriptures give the answer of perfect restoration: the creation without sin; a restored creation that never gets marred by the effects of being used, while at the same time fully enjoyed and fully employed (it won’t be static or stuck in a box). You will get to “use it,” but the new creation will never suffer the effects of sin and will never get old. You will use a new creation that will never show signs of having been used.

Again, our Lord Jesus Christ gives us the best view. He was renewed in glory when He rose. The new heaven and new earth will be filled with God’s people with their new bodies, which will be their old used bodies raised, transformed and glorified…real bodies in a real city in a real heaven and earth in the presence of the real Lord.

In Your Service and To Christ's Glory,

Dr. Espinosa

FIRST, let us rejoice for the wonderful doors for the proclamation of the Gospel that the Lord is opening for us at Saint Paul's. Last Thursday, I preached to 1,500 souls at the largest Lutheran high school in America (Orange Lutheran). The Lord blessed the proclamation. Afterwards, principle Smith said that, "you could have heard a pin drop." I have already been scheduled to come back to do a four-part series on Revelation in the fall.

You can currently hear the sermon (all 2013 sermons are in audio) in our website at www.saintpaulsirvine.com.

SECOND, I'm excited to announce our next NEW MEMBER SUNDAY which will be Sunday, May 12th. This is Mother's Day...is there any better way to start this day than to celebrate the gift of our moms in God's house receiving Word and Sacrament? Please let me know if you would like to be received on May 12th.

LASTLY, one of my goals during this sermon series in Revelation is to obliterate the idea that Revelation is a scary, esoteric book. It isn't! It is rather an amazing presentation of our Savior's victory over sin, death, and the power of the evil one. His victory is yours as you were joined to Him in Holy Baptism and continue to abide in Him through the Word and His precious body and blood.

Tomorrow we will look at this concept of tribulation in Revelation 7 and then proclaim our Lord's response to our tribulation through His blood as the Lamb and through His protection as the Shepherd. I'm very excited about this proclamation and I pray that you will be there to be lifted up, further equipped, and blessed by Christ's powerful Word!

Here is an excerpt from tomorrow's sermon:

Many things seem to be better, not worse, but there are other things which should catch your attention:

1. In our world today, would you say that it is easier or more difficult to protect marriage in the sense of staying together?
2. In our world today, would you say that it is easier or more difficult to protect the unborn?
3. In our world today, would you say that it is easier or more difficult to defend biblical and traditional marriage in the sense of maintaining biblical sexuality?
4. In our world today, would you say that it is easier or more difficult to hear the true saving Gospel proclaimed?

There are many things in our world today that are not better and while it is true that the Church since the first century has considered herself to be living in the end times, I would not be surprised if we aren’t already living in Satan’s little season...maybe we are, maybe we aren’t, but there is one thing we do know:

The tribulation that you go through as a child of God is important to you – and oftentimes very much perceived as “great” to you – and if it is important to you, it is important God.

            We also know this, Acts 14:22:

“…through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.”

This word is not the word for persecution in the more direct sense: dioko, but is the particular and unique word: Thlipsis = also translated as “trial,” “affliction,” and “distress.” All of these other words help us to understand what is encompassed in the word “tribulation.” A trial is a hardship which causes you strain, an affliction is something upon you which causes you to suffer, and distress represents the emotional turmoil within you as you go through these things. On account of sin coming into the world and our own sinful rebellion against our Heavenly Father, we go through tribulation. As you can see, I’m presenting tribulation both in the sense of external causes upon us and internal causes within us (this is the biblical gamut).

In Your Service and To Christ's Glory,

Rev. Dr. Alfonso O. Espinosa

It is a great joy to be preaching on the book of Revelation at this time in accord with our Church Year readings. Last week I preached on Revelation chapter 1 in which we got to see the significance of "seven" especially as it pertains to all of us, the Church, the bride of Christ. Tomorrow, we are on Revelation 5, and we are still discussing seven, but this time especially in regard to our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ.

The wondrous description of Christ in Revelation 5 includes the words "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain." And because of our Savior's "worthiness" there is a 7-fold ascription of praise. We are looking into its meaning and its significance in our lives.

In the process we continue to show that God did not give Revelation so as to scare you, but to comfort you and to increase your confidence that you are secure and in the victory of Christ, the Lamb who was slain!

Please invite a friend, neighbor, or co-worker to divine service tomorrow morning. Come and receive Christ's Word and Sacrament for the forgiveness of sins!

Worship is at 9:30 am.

Refreshments and Fellowship at 10:45 am.

Bible Study and Sunday School at 11:00 am.

Parish Council Meeting (in Conference Room) at 12:00 pm.

Confirmation at Pastor's house at 2:00 pm.

Rejoice in the Lord always!

Here is an excerpt from tomorrow's sermon:

“Worthy is the Lamb” (Revelation 5:8-14)

Rev. Dr. Espinosa

            Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! As I warned you last Sunday: don’t let anyone try to convince you that the book of Revelation should be treated as a scary book. This book is about the victory of our Risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ over everything that stands against His Kingdom and His Kingdom people, all of you! This book is about the victory of our Savior Jesus over sin, death, and the power of the devil. This is why Revelation -- when properly interpreted -- is extraordinarily comforting!

 

         What lends to the mishandling of this unique literature (genre) called “apocalyptic” is that too many popular teachers assume that the book is primarily about future events. And while there are indeed some future events, the emphasis is not future, but what has already been accomplished by our Savior Jesus!

 

             Revelation repeats in celebratory fashion – in a circular; over-and-over again approach – the great victory that Jesus has already accomplished! The Bible is written this way and reflects more of an eastern way of thinking over and above a western way of thinking. The 7 seals (Revelation 6f.) and 7 trumpets (Revelation 8f.) and 7 bowls (Revelation 15f.) are cyclical presentations of sin and death which have been overcome by the triumph of Jesus Christ (even while the great last Day is included in these cycles).

In Christ,

Pastor

p.s. the 6th annual Catechism Convocation for the People in So. Cal. with our special guest Rev. Dr. Matthew Harrison, president of The Lutheran Church -- Missouri Synod was a complete success! There were over 250 in attendance and we had a congregational contingent of about 20. I was given the privilege of moderating and being a presenter for our youth. Throughout the day, I was reminded of how grateful I am for my own little paradise, the congregation at Saint Paul's Lutheran Church of Irvine!

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! The Easter season continues until the day of Pentecost on May 19th. Let us continue the celebration!

Tomorrow is the 2nd Sunday of Easter and the sermon is based on our epistle from Revelation 1:4-18. The number is seven is mentioned four times. There are seven churches, seven spirits, seven golden lampstands, and seven stars. And when it comes to the book of Revelation that's just the tip of the iceberg as the number seven is mentioned a total of 54 times! What's with all the sevens? Tomorrow's sermon will cover the reason and the meaning...and I believe that you'll find it not only very interesting, but very comforting since the number seven is representative of YOU, the people of God! Invite a friend!

Most importantly, you will receive the body and blood of our Risen King and in this Holy Sacrament, you will be fed and nourished with the forgiveness of sins!

Also, the parish council looked at a potential new property yesterday. There are some strong points about it, but we are trying hard to weigh all of our options, one of them being the creative possibility of our own prefab modular building that might enable us to remain in Irvine, etc. We are praying, asking for wisdom (James 1) and seeking the Lord's guidance.

Here is an excerpt from last Sunday's sermon:

“Seven” (Revelation 1:4-18)

Rev. Dr. Alfonso O. Espinosa

            Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen. Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! And it might surprise you dear Christians that the risen Christ, our Savior Jesus, is described magnificently in a book that is so controversial in Scripture: the book of Revelation. In spite of its challenges, do not let anyone use Revelation to scare you because even the seemingly scary stuff (that represents evil) is described as conquered by Jesus for you! If certain authors and teachers treat it as a book of doom and gloom; as a book of terror and threats, then see through these false teachers because this great book is about the victory of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ over sin, death, and the power of the devil. Furthermore, Christ’s victory in Revelation is not – contrary to popular presentations of Revelation – primarily about something in the future that is yet to come, but rather it is a victory that has already been accomplished! From our epistle today based on Revelation 1, Jesus who conquered death for you said in this vision given to St. John the apostle at verses 17-18: “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”

            But Revelation does more than demonstrate the power and victory of our Resurrected Savior. It also teaches about your new life in Him; about living as His people filled with His life! And part and parcel of what teaches about your new life in Revelation is God’s use of the number seven.

In Revelation, the number seven is all over the place! “The number seven occurs fifty-four times. The book is addressed to seven churches, represented by seven lampstands. There are seven stars symbolizing seven angels of the churches. There are seven spirits of God represented by seven lamps. Further, there are seven seals and a Lamb with seven eyes and seven horns. Seven angels blow seven trumpet-blasts. Seven other angels pour out the contents of seven bowls full of the final seven plagues. Seven thunders utter voices. The beast out of the sea has seven heads. There are seven mountains, seven kings, and so on. This number seven indicates completeness.” (William Hendriksen, More than Conquerors, Grand Rapids: Baker, 1991. 42)

The note that the number seven indicates completeness is a good way of looking at the use of seven as a symbol in the special kind of literature that Revelation is (namely apocalyptic which is characterized by a lot of figurative language and a lot of symbols; Revelation is – after all – a vision). But again seven as completeness is cool. Think of the creation: God created the heavens and the earth in six days and he rested on the seventh day. The seventh day reflects upon the completion of creation. Furthermore, when Exodus 20 compares the regular week to the creation week, we relate to what Moses is saying: all of this is about a complete week. We can say this morning, “Congratulations that by the grace of God, you completed another week this past week!” Last week is now complete. Seven is about completeness!

But before I get into the text, why does the Bible even contain this kind of code-language? What’s the point in doing that to begin with? These are important questions and please be encouraged to know that there are important answers to these questions. John the apostle was writing Revelation from an island – a very small island in fact called Patmos – where he was exiled for preaching the Gospel.

The other apostles were martyred for the faith. John was also persecuted, but he was exiled. The point, however, is that the early church -- even at the point in which John was writing Revelation -- was already being persecuted. So in order to spread the Word of God and to network the people of God in the Church, John wrote in code language that has peculiar characteristics that amount to a special literary genre called “apocalyptic.”

But the really awesome thing is that sometimes symbolism helps us to understand things better anyway! And the number seven which was code for God’s completed work is also a number for you. You are complete dear Christian.

Let us rejoice in the Lord's boundless love for us!

In Your Service and To Christ's Glory,

Pastor Espinosa

p.s. we apologize that our site went down for a few days over last weekend...we're back!

Tomorrow morning at 9:30 am we gather to celebrate the High Feast of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ! This is the single most important day in the Church Year on account of it's critical importance in the life of every believer in Christ.

Saint Paul wrote, "And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain." (1st Corinthians 15:14) These words testify to the fact that Jesus bodily resurrection after His death on the cross is the pivotal event of the Christian faith. If it is not true, then Christianity is just another myth. But if it is true, then it is the truth and the answer to our greatest desire which is to live!

Tomorrow, I am going to explain why we must retain this desire (yes, God wants us to desire) and recognize it's fulfillment in the Risen Christ. I will also present the reality-based truth of the resurrection event itself. That is, not only will you receive the saving Gospel of Christ's resurrection for your life, but you will also be further equipped to witness to the historic, reality-based foundation of the saving faith.

There will be inspirational music, exceptional decor, focused liturgy of the Word of the new and eternal life that is yours in Christ, a message for the children, and a sermon that will be faithful to the Law and Gospel of God's Holy Word. After worship, there will be a light Easter brunch and egg-hunt for the children.

I look forward to seeing you and serving you with the powerful Word and Sacrament of the Lord Jesus Christ. Please invite your friends and family!

Here is an excerpt from tomorrow's sermon:

Sermon

“He Is Not Here, But Has Risen”

(Luke 24:6a)

Rev. Dr. Alfonso O. Espinosa

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Buddhism teaches that all desire leads to suffering. Thus a basic goal of this worldview is to learn to eliminate all desire. If desire is gone, then you won’t feel loss, sadness, or suffering when something bad happens. If something is taken away like your health or someone you love, then you won’t suffer if you’ve managed to eliminate your desire for health or the loved one. With all desire wiped out, you will arrive to the Buddhist version of peace. So goes the hypothesis and I pray that this view never seeps into your soul. The evil one, however, uses this popular idea to distract people from a very important biblical teaching: God wants you to desire. God has designed you to be desirous, but all which stands against God seeks to ruin the way you’ve been created!

 

But if the misleading path of deadening one’s desire doesn’t work, the evil one has another approach. He says, “Well, if you’re going to desire, let’s make your desiring all wrong.” Thanks to the ramifications of full-blown Darwinian Evolution, not only is it perfectly natural to desire, it is also perfectly natural to desire without any moral restraint. The reason for this is simple: if philosophical naturalism is true then the material realm is all there is, and if there is nothing beyond the material realm, then there is no God and morals become non-binding constructs invented by the religious fanatics of the world. If materialism is true then people should pursue whatever they desire (regardless of anyone’s standard of morality). May the Lord protect you from this deception as well as the other: May we never seek to kill our desire; may we never poison it either.

 

In the meantime, it may not sound like a very religious thing to say, but it is 100% biblical and gives glory to Jesus Christ: God has designed you for desire. Psalm 145:16 says, “You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing.” Verse 19 of the same Psalm records, “He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them.” The only qualification to this rule is that we cut off the desires that are evil and contrary to the will of God. Saint Paul puts it simply, “Put to death therefore…evil desire…” (Colossians 3:5).

 

So what is the greatest God-given and God-sanctioned desire? It is simple, powerful, and holy: it is life. God has designed you to desire life more than anything else. And you know what? Everyone – no matter how hardened they are against God and life knows that this is true at the core of their being: we desire to live. This is why we respond to tragedy the way we do. What destroys life causes us to flinch and feel a certain dissonance and discomfort because what is an affront to life is an affront to our greatest desire and the gift of God so that it is good to hate that which is evil and that which belongs to death.

 

At the same time, the Christian knows that their greatest desire to live has been already been met by the resurrection of Jesus. Death is now something we may stare down! St. Athanasius wrote, “A very strong proof of this destruction of death…is [that Christians] despise death; they take the offensive against it and, instead of fearing it…[they]trample on it as on something dead.” (On The Incarnation, SVS Press, 57) But St. Paul said it better in Philippians: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21)

In Your Service and To Christ's Glory,

Pastor Espinosa

Today is Good Friday, God's Friday. This is also the second installment of our 3-day service during this Holy Week.

The Seven Last sayings from the cross: they are not random; they are not unrelated.  Strung together and fitting together, they present a beautiful and powerful mosaic. The Lord Jesus in His dying words gave us words to live by; words which give life; and words which protect us and keep us in the life of God.

This service tonight will lift you up and strengthen your faith as we gather to celebrate why this day is truly good.

Please come at 7 pm to the CU center in the middle of the campus at Concordia University. This is the building between the library and the gym with the blue roof. The statue of the Good Shepherd is in front of the CU center. Service begins at 7 pm. Please come and invite a friend or two or three.

Here is an excerpt from tonight's sermon:

Sermon

“Why These Words?”

(The Seven Last Sayings of Jesus from the Cross)

Rev. Dr. Alfonso O. Espinosa

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Of all the things our Lord might have said while He was dying…why these words? Let us consider them in order:

 

First, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” In a very real sense, the first saying is the most important from the standpoint that it summarizes the saving faith. What is its message? What is its benefit? What encapsulates the reason for Christ’s coming to begin with? One word: forgiveness. The word “forgiveness” means a cancellation of debt. Your account is now clear. Romans 6:23a states, “For the wages of sin is death…” The wages of sin put you in the red, but the death of Jesus Christ to cover your debt puts you in the black. Christ began His words from the cross in order to summarize the Gospel, the Good News that explains why He came: all is forgiven you! You are forgiven dear Christian; your debt is no more.

 

This truth of the Gospel gives us tremendous insight for our new lives in the Gospel. How does the Gospel lead you to live? As you struggle in any relationship, the solution is not to strive to feel good, but to forgive and God will take care of the rest. This is not about emotions, but an objective thing: cancel debt. Do not wait for repayment, but forgive; cancel the debt that your neighbor owes you. Hold nothing in your neighbor’s account. Let it go, wipe it clean. If you don’t, then you choose to be trapped in your own sin…but Christ died on that first Good Friday to release you from sin’s bondage.

In Your Service and To Christ's Glory,

Rev. Dr. Espinosa

Please remember and help me spread the word that we meet tonight at 7 pm at the Good Shepherd Chapel on top of the gorgeous campus of Concordia University at one of the most inspiring locations in south county. The chapel is marked by a cross and is very chapel-like on the edge of the hill overlooking Irvine (along the main perimeter road of the campus).

Holy Thursday service begins at 7 pm.

How exciting it is to be in the crux of Holy Week and to offer this extraordinary service on the night that Jesus was betrayed when He gave His Supper for His people.

I will remind you that you are in a battle. It is a battle against your own sinful nature, the evil temptations and influences in the world, and against the devil himself (along with his demons who do his bidding). No this is not an outdated and unrealistic world view...it is rather reality. The Christian can feel the battle every, single day.

So how does God protect us? The answer is straightforward (here I list the "big 3" if you will):

1) Through His Word

2) Through prayer

3) Through the fellowship and encouragement of fellow believers

In this service tonight you will receive all three, but you will also receive what is probably the single most important gift of the Word to keep you vigilant in your faith: The Holy Supper originally instituted on this holy night.

I hope to see you tonight at the Good Shepherd chapel at Concordia University at 7 pm. Bring a friend and help spread the Word that Jesus has come and still comes for His people!

Here is an excerpt from tonight's sermon:

Sermon

“For You” (Luke 22:20)

Rev. Dr. Alfonso O. Espinosa

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen. Our salvation, our being rescued from our sin, the evil influences of the world, and from the devil himself is bound-up in this Holy Sacrament also known as “Holy Communion,” “The Eucharist,” “The Lord’s Supper,” and “The Sacrament of the Altar.” As a matter of fact, there is an even more primitive and pristine reference to the Holy Supper in Acts 2:42 when it is described in the context of first-century Christian worship as quite simply “The Breaking of Bread.”

 

And if there has ever been a time that we need this gift of the Lord’s Supper in our lives and in the Church today in this world today, then it is now. Furthermore, so that we can truly appreciate our very great need for the Lord’s Supper, we mustn’t be naïve about what has occurred in terms of Christianity in America which probably has had a more profound influence on us than we realize. I can tell you this (and I don’t think anyone here tonight will be surprised) that the substance of American Christianity is not what we believe in and practice in this congregation, but is hands-down American Evangelicalism. In this popular way of thinking, Holy Communion is nothing other than and merely a holy and reverential remembrance or memorial of the blessed sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. We of course do not deny the symbolic significance of the Holy Supper, but it is much, much more than that. For in this Supper, poor sinners like you and me, receive Jesus Himself.

 

The popular Christian culture, however, doesn’t like this idea. It insists that if Jesus is Lord in your life which is to say that you have already received Jesus, then it is therefore non-sense that you would need to continue receiving Him over and over again. “Make up your mind already poor Lutherans. Have you or have you not received the Lord Jesus Christ [so goes the tricky argument which is a classic either-or fallacy of logic]? If you have, then boldly proclaim that you are born-again and do not make Communion something more than what it actually is: it is simply affirming what you already know and what you already have.” So goes a representative complaint against what is perceived as formalism, traditionalism, and institutionalism.

 

These are terrible temptations which would work to rob you of the great intended benefit of the Lord’s Supper which far surpasses mere symbolism and memorialism. Again, we are bold to proclaim the truth: Jesus comes to you in this Sacrament over and over again…and it isn’t good enough to reduce this to a metaphorical meaning; it isn’t even good enough to reduce this to a so-called “spiritual” meaning…none of these will suffice. The body and blood of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary which became living again from the dead is the SAME body and blood that is actually, truly, and miraculously given to you when you receive the bread and wine of the Sacrament today. Jesus said, “This is my body…this is my blood.” You receive Jesus’ body into your mouth when you receive the Communion bread; and you receive Jesus’ blood into your mouth when you receive the Communion wine. Again, mere symbolism and memorialism doesn’t cut the mustard, doesn’t fit the bill, and doesn’t hold water. The compromising teaching of the popular crowd won’t work and frankly it assumes that our God of miracles is suddenly unable to perform them.

 

This greater reality is not just a “Lutheran thing.” Long before the Christian denominations, the early Church took seriously the plain and simple teaching of God’s Word. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, professed his faith in Christ before Emperor Trajan and was subsequently condemned to the wild beasts in A.D. 107. I wonder how Ignatius valued and considered the Holy Supper? Well, he wrote of it in his Epistle to the Ephesians: “Stand fast, brethren, in the faith of Jesus Christ, and in His love, in His passion, and in His resurrection. Do ye all come together in common, and by name, through grace, in one faith of God the Father and of Jesus Christ His only-begotten Son…breaking one and the same bread, which is the medicine of immortality, and the antidote which prevents us from dying, but a cleansing remedy driving away evil, [which causes] that we should live in God through Jesus Christ.” (Ante-Nicene Fathers Volume 1, p. 57)

In Your Service and To Christ's Glory,

Pastor Espinosa