At the end of his lectures in 1531, Luther uttered a brief prayer and then dictated two Scriptural texts.,
“The Lord who has given us power to teach and to hear, let Him also give us the power to serve and to do.”
LUKE 2 – Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, Good will to men.
ISAIAH 40 – The Word of our God shall stand forever.
Luther’s belief that the word of God would stand forever does not mean that he believed that people would always believe it. He listed all the places in the world where the Gospel had sped on and conquered and people believed and how after about a generation it all faded away and the people became pagan. I said in the previous blog that, “more and more we hear talk of a churchless Christianity and a Christian less Church.” How is that possible if the Word of the Lord stands forever, if most Christians have forsaken the public worship of the church at least in America. These are important questions for Pastors and teachers, for parents and their children and their children’s children. We are going to spend sometime on this because it is important for witness and mercy and life together, and for missions.
