Sermon — Pr. Martin Noland — The Train of Witnesses
Sermon Text: Mark 16:1-8 Easter Sunday, Series B Most any day I can hear from my office a long train whistle, coming from…
Category: Pastor Martin Noland
Four Overtures for the 2016 Convention
It’s time . . . to start submitting overtures regarding the issues confronting the LCMS. The following are four overtures that address, in…
Sermon — Pr. Martin Noland — The Beginning of the Gospel
Sermon Text — Mark 1:1-8 December 7, 2015 — 2nd Sunday in Advent, Series B There is always something exciting and auspicious about…
Sermon — Pr. Martin Noland — Behold Your King
Text: Matthew 21:1-9 [First Sunday in Advent] Today the Christian church changes its colors from green to purple. Although some churches use the…
Problems with 2013 Dispute/Expulsion System
Editorial Comment: Pastor Noland has been working on analyzing the Dispute Resolution Policy of the LCMS and this is a document that he…
Five-Two and PLI Too
The recent BJS posts about the “Five-Two” network may all sound vaguely familiar to any of you who have been reading BJS for…
Deconstructing Lutheran Identity
A recent blog comment by Rev. John Hannah, President of the American Lutheran Publicity Bureau, stated a good bit of truth and got…
Why I’m Optimistic About the LC–MS
Some folks have recently challenged my often-stated assertion since 2010 that “These are good days for the LCMS.” I think it is fair…
What is a “Confessional Lutheran”?
Simple Answer: Someone whose religion is in congruence with the canonical Scriptures and the Lutheran confessions found in the “Book of Concord.” The…
Further review of “A Lutheran Book on Purgatory”
This is originally written on a post A Lutheran book on purgatory, pastoral purgatory (written by Pastor Scheer) that was originally written as…
Sermon — Pr. Martin Noland — Two Kinds of Righteousness
Text: Luke 15:1-10 [3rd Sunday after Trinity; one year lectionary] Are you righteous? The dictionary states that the term “righteous” is an adjective…
Do Non-Christians Believe In and Worship the True God?
Consider the argument settled. The Latin version settles it—as it often does . . . After the Yankee Stadium “Prayer for America” in…
The Challenges of Church Growth and Decline
When my wife Karla and I were first married, over twenty years ago, I invited her to join me for the banquet at…
Sermon — Pr. Martin Noland — Praying in the Name of Jesus
Text: John 16:23-30 (1-Year Series) May 25, 2014 — Sixth Sunday of Easter Prayer is one of the simplest things in our religion….
Sermon — Pr. Martin Noland — Do You Hear the Word of God?
Text: John 8:46-59 [Fifth Sunday in Lent] In our Gospel lesson this morning, we see Jesus in an intense debate with the Jewish…
Why Biblical Inerrancy is Important — and Always Will Be
Forty years ago, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (hereafter LCMS) was in an uproar. Its Saint Louis seminary president, John Tietjen, was suspended in…
A New Era in American Evangelicalism?
The lead article in the December 2013 issue of Christianity Today (hereafter CT) was about the Colorado Springs megachurch called New Life and…
Sasse, Harrison, and Inerrancy
It has been a long time since I have been so thoroughly edified, educated, and stimulated by one book. I am talking about…
The Moment Everything Changed
In Tuesday’s USA Today, Rick Hampson published an interesting article on the change in America after the assassination of John F. Kennedy titled…
Huck Finn and Impostor Preachers
Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn shows up often in lists of the most important, and most influential, American novels. No doubt…
Commentary and Review of 2013 LCMS Resolutions by Martin R. Noland
Editorial comment: Pastor Charles Henrickson has done a great job working through all the resolutions and presenting comments on them. Pastor Martin Noland…
Sermon — Pr. Martin Noland — Facing Death Without Fear or Sorrow
Text: Luke 7:11-17 [3rd Sunday afte Pentecost] What will you do when you are personally faced with death? Death could stare you in…
Is the Missouri Synod an Isolationist, Sectarian, or Legalistic Church-Body?
Former Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS) President Gerald Kieschnick recently commented on the responses to the Newtown, Connecticut interfaith prayer service held on December…
Regarding the Biblical Causes for the Removal of Ministers from a Call
Whereas our forebears in the faith consistently followed the orthodox Lutheran practice of only removing a pastor, teacher, or other church-worker from his…
Thank God for our Concordias!
I recently was trying to find a good exegetical treatment of the Bible’s doctrine of creation, when I found Joel D. Heck’s little…