Lutheran Essentials meets in the undercroft of the church on Wednesday evenings at 7pm. You can reach the undercroft by going around to the back parking lot of the church and descending the staircase to the kitchen. Knock on the door if it is closed and some one will let you in. Our current study is on the Epitome of the Formula of Concord. If you do not have a copy of the Book of Concord or the Lutheran Service Book we are providing them for free.
This weeks psalm is Psalm 63. The Small Catechism lesson is the Introduction of the Lord’s Prayer.
We will continue our study of Article II: Free Will picking up on paragraph 4. We will discuss the four states of the will with respect to God, and the difference in our will between things spiritual and things temporal. Building on our previous discussion of Original Sin we will point out that our will is dead and must be regenerated by God the Holy Spirit. It is in fact our will that is the object of conversion. We will close with the hymn “Come, Holy Ghost, Creator Blest” (LSB 498)
We will then start our study of Article III: The Righteousness of Faith Before God. We will talk about Justification and how Christ is our righteousness. We will also talk about the important distinction between Christ for you and Christ in you. That it is Christ for you that saves, not Christ in you. This objectivity is critical for the comfort of burdened consciences. We will close by singing the hymn “By Grace I’m Saved” (LSB 566)
As always new people are always welcome to this study at any point during the class. Please talk to the Pastor, Elders or Paul Edmon if you have any questions.
