Anthony Schindler

In July Matt and I will preach five sermons through the Sermon on the Mount.  Jesus's Sermon on the Mount is found in chapters 5-7 of Matthew's Gospel.   There is so much to say about the Sermon on the Mount, but I don't want to get into all the details here.  Rather I want to explain why we will spend the month of July looking at it and raise the question of interpretation. The Sermon on the Mount is Jesus's most famous sermon.  It has always been a primary teaching pastors have passed on to their congregations.  In the early church, before the New Testament was organized, pastors at least had some version or copy of the Sermon on the Mount.  These pastors would work with their church's to memorize the sermon.  Just think about that.  Early Christians, without leather bound Bibles, gathering at church to memorize Jesus' teaching.  There is no doubt that the practice of memorization - specifically the Sermon on the Mount - formed character and behavior of

But as the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent... Acts 6:1 This morning Matt preached a message titled "Gospel Living."  He shared from Acts 6 where, as Matt said, "A Gospel issue develops."  The background in Acts 6 is that there are two groups of widows and one group feels like they are being overlooked.  Well, this is an affront to the Gospel and the Apostles immediately put together a plan to make sure no one is overlooked.  (It is worth noting what they don't do:  they don't take sides.) Now, I don't sense any type of rumblings of discontent, but, as Matt rightly pointed out, a Gospel issue has developed.  (Really, when is there not a "Gospel issue" in our life?  That's kind of the point.  The Kingdom of God creates constant tension in our life.  It constantly forces us to rethink things.)  We are faced with selling our building which presents a nice variety of Gospel issues.  When will it sell?  Wh

For this reason I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you, namely, if any man is above reproach, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, not accused of dissipation or rebellion. For the overseer must be above reproach as God's steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain, but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, just, devout, self-controlled, holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict. Titus 1:5-8 So you shall present the Levites before the tent of meeting. You shall also assemble the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, and present the Levites before the Lord; and the sons of Israel shall lay their hands on the Levites. Aaron then shall present the Levites before the Lord as a wave offering fr

1 Peter 2:9-12 With so many leaving it’s easy to get distracted.  It’s easy to feel like we are doing something wrong.  Certainly, self-inspection is never a bad thing; we can always grow.  However, the truth is a church can be faithful to her mission and still decrease numerically.  We must remember that numerical increase is not God’s standard for success; rather making disciples is. Also, we must remember that God has called us.  Sometimes, this is the only thing we have to hold on to; but it is no small thing.  Almost everyone who is a part of TRF, God has called since we’ve arrived.  I didn’t work for you; God called you out and brought you here.  And just last weekend God reminded me how He moved heaven and earth to get us to La Crosse.  Others believe God has called me, that God has called you, and that God is calling us to be his church. This leads me to conclude one thing:  God has others He wants to call out.  On Thursday, May 4th I stopped at Walmart on my way int

Agnus Dei  by Francisco de Zurbarán On Sunday you should have received a bulletin with our Daily Prayer Guide printed on the back.  The guide is simply a  guide; not the guide.  If you have an established path of prayer, great.  If not, feel free to use this guide.  It is the guide I use in for my morning prayer time.  Here, I don't want to explain the whole thing, but one part - the Gospel Reading for the Week. The Gospel Reading for the Week is just that - one reading from one of the Gospels that is read every day of the week.  On Sundays we get a new Gospel Reading that corresponds to day on the church calendar.  The church calendar revolves around the life of Christ, so the Gospel Readings walks us through the life of Christ on an annual basis (this is good for those learning the Jesus Way). The first time you hear the Gospel Reading is together during our worship service.  Then, each day during your individual prayer time, you encounter the Gospel Reading again.  

Isaiah 35:1-10 - Isaiah's Vision of the Blossoming Desert It will blossom profusely... The first two weeks of Advent we walk through the wilderness.  We mourn and confess our sins and the systemic sin of the world in which we live in.  It is a step into darkness; the dark ways of this world and the darkness of our very souls.  As we walk through the wilderness of our sin the proper response is lament and contemplation.  We lament the evil depths humanity (including me) is capable of wallowing in.  We contemplate - we recognize that something is not right here and hope to God there’s a better way. It’s not hard to feel like God has left us while we walk through the wilderness.  It is easy to feel like He’s distant, like He doesn’t care, or like He doesn’t hear our prayers.  But even in the wilderness, flowers bloom.  The crocus is a small flower that thrives in the dry, gray wilderness.  It blooms late in the season.  After all the other flowers have had their turn, it blo