Redeemer Theological Academy

Fall 2011

The Apostle Peter teaches us, “...in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, ” (1 Peter 3:15, ESV)

The goal of the Redeemer Theological Academy is to enable the saints to confess the Christian Faith handed down to us from the Apostles. In this age of competing religions and spiritualties, it is the special gift that each Christian has the opportunity to confess the Faith in the midst of an unbelieving world. These courses are designed to help you articulate what you believe and why you believe it. All courses are free to anyone interested. Please see the listing of seminars below. For more information contact us at 662-0782.



Sunday, August 21 @ 7 PM
Christ in the Psalms---Dr. Reed Lessing

Dr. Reed Lessing serves as Associate Professor of Exegetical Theology at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. In the Greek New Testament (USB, 4th edition), the “Index of Quotations” lists more than 400 quotations from the book of Psalms. Of course this list includes phrases as well as complete verses. Yet, by any standard, the Psalter has impacted the New Testament in a profound way. Moreover the likes of Augustine, Ambrose, and Luther strongly encouraged people to spend significant daily time in the Psalms. Ambrose even went as far as to refer to the books “a gymnasium for the soul,” where the believer exercises every day! For those who treasure, love and pray the psalms, “Psalms” will offer an in-depth study of several psalms like 1, 2, 19, 23, 46, 73, and 110. Participants will also learn how to read the Psalter in its Old Testament context as well as in its multiple New Testament fulfillments in Jesus.

Sunday, August 28 @ 7 PM
The Attributes of God (Part I)---Rev. Brian L. Kachelmeier

In this class, we will discuss who God is. Our knowledge of God is given to us as a gift revealed in His written word. Because of our finite minds which are limited, God, who is infinite, uses language that we can relate to in our own lives. Thus, the LORD reveals His attributes in humanly terms. Not only does the LORD use such figurative language to help us in our weakness, He also employs the use of describing His essence with various attributes. The essence of God is His being. It is who He is. The attributes of God are the characteristics which flow from His being. It is what He does. God is love. Thus, He loves. Yet, the divine essence and attributes are absolutely identical. They cannot be divided from each other. But because of our weakness, the LORD descends to our level so that we may hear Him speak to us. By separating out the various attributes, He gives to us that which we can only grasp by faith.

Sunday, September 4 @ 7 PM
The Attributes of God (Part II)---Rev. Brian L. Kachelmeier

In this class, we continue our discussion as we continue to learn to believe who God says that He is.Only through the revealed knowledge from God can one know that the God who created all things was incarnate, dwelt among us as true man, suffered, was crucified, died, was buried, rose again from the dead, and ascended into heaven in which He stands in our behalf. The subject of theology is the true knowledge of God, but this is not obtained by a mere observation of creation; rather, the true knowledge of God comes to us in Jesus Christ. To know Jesus is to know God. The purpose of studying theology is for the sake of obtaining faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ through whom we have life, salvation, and the forgiveness of sins.

Sunday, September 11 @ 7 PM
The Holy Trinity (Introduction)---Rev. Brian L. Kachelmeier

In this class, we will discuss the historical settings and language of the church revolving around the teaching of the doctrine of the Blessed Holy Trinity. This mystery is not a product of human reason or Greek philosophy. It is recieved by the revelation of God given to us in the written scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. The goal of this class will be to gain a clear way in which to communicate the Christian Faith.

Sunday, September 18 @ 7 PM
The Holy Trinity (New Testament Part I)---Rev. Brian L. Kachelmeier

In this class, we will discuss the revelation of the Holy Trinity in the gospels. We will focus on the revelation at the baptism of Jesus, in which all three persons of the Blessed Holy Trinity are present and active. We will also learn from John the distinction in the divine persons of the Holy Trinity revealed by the sending of the Son from the Father and also the sending of the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son.

Sunday, September 25 @ 7 PM
The Holy Trinity (New Testament Part II)---Rev. Brian L. Kachelmeier

In this class, we will discuss the revelation of the Holy Trinity in the epistles. In the epistles we are taught to maintain the unity of the divine essence while confessing the distinction in the three persons of the Holy Trinity. All three are given equal honor, glory, and worship. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are coeternal, coequal, and consubstantial.

Sunday, October 2 @ 7 PM
The Holy Trinity (Old Testament Part I)---Rev. Brian L. Kachelmeier

In this class, we will discuss the revelation of the Holy Trinity in the five books of Moses. We will see the distinction in the persons of the Father and the Son, as the Father sends the Son to reveal Him to the people of Israel. We will learn that all three persons of the Blessed Holy Trinity were active in the creation, exodus from Egypt, and the promises of the Messiah.

Sunday, October 9 @ 7 PM
The Holy Trinity (Old Testament Part II)---Rev. Brian L. Kachelmeier

In this class, we will discuss the revelation of the Holy Trinity in the writings of the Prophets. We will look at the person and work of the Holy Spirit in the communication of the word of God to the people of God. We will see the emphasis on the glorification of the Son. We will focus our attention of the distinction in persons found in the book of Isaiah.

Images in the Lutheran Church

Sermon: On the Holy Trinity

Trinity Sunday, 2011

Genesis 1

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

On this day, we celebrate the revealed knowledge of the Blessed Holy Trinity.  We believe in one God who created all things, redeemed us from our sin, and sanctifies us in our bodies.  He is one undivided divine essence that subsists in three divine persons.  The Eternal Father is unbegotten, the Eternal Son is begotten, and the Eternal Holy Spirit proceeds.  The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are co-eternal, meaning that there never was a time in which they did not exist.  They are consubstantial, meaning that they are of the same divine essence.  Each person of the Holy Trinity is fully and completely God.  Thus, each person of the Holy Trinity is given equal honor, praise, and glory.  We worship the Trinity in Unity and the Unity in Trinity neither confusing the persons nor dividing the substance. 

The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is a mystery meaning that it cannot be understood by human logic.  It must be revealed and thus held to by faith.  Therefore, all analogies found in creation are only illustrations and they cannot teach the truth of the Trinity in themselves.  Such images include St. Patrick’s three leaf clover or the notion that water can exist as a liquid, gas, or solid.  The problem with such illustrations is that they can never prove the existence of the Trinity.  In fact, if these images are taking too far they incorrectly teach about the Trinity.  For example, each one of the leaves on a clover is not the complete clover in itself.  Likewise, a single molecule of water cannot exist in all three forms at the same time.

Our understanding of the Holy Trinity must come to us from the word of God which reveals to us all that we need to know for salvation.  This is not a teaching that comes from Greek Philosophy.  It is given to us throughout the Holy Bible.  For example, in the New Testament scriptures, the revelation of the Holy Trinity is given to us at the baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ.  In the waters of the Jordan River stands Jesus the perfect man.  In distinction to the person of Jesus, the Father speaks that this is His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased.  The third person of the Holy Trinity is revealed separately from the Father and the Son in the form of a dove.  He marks Jesus as the Christ that is the Anointed One.

This revelation of the Blessed Trinity is given to each one of us in our own baptism in which we are baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  In the Greek, the word for name is a singular noun teaching us the unity of the divine essence.  It does not say “names.”  It says “name.”  Yet, there are three that are named teaching us the distinction in the three persons of the Holy Trinity.  Each person is given the same honor, praise, and glory.

In the Old Testament scriptures, we are taught in the very first book of the Bible to believe in one God who created all things while at the same time making a distinction of the plurality of divine persons.  Verse one states, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1, ESV)  In the Hebrew, the word for created is a singular verb.  Here we begin to learn to maintain the unity of the divine essence. The Hebrew word for God is a plural noun.  Here we begin to learn that there is a plurality of divine persons.  This understanding is further taught when God says, “Let us”… … “make man in our own image…  …And God created man in His own image.” (Genesis 1:26-27, ESV)

In addition, verses two and three from today’s first reading state, “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.  And God said…” (Genesis 1:2-3, ESV)  Again we are taught to distinguish between the plurality of persons.  We make a distinction between God who spoke, the Word of God that was spoken, and the Spirit of God who hovered.  All three persons of the Holy Trinity are eternal.  They all existed before creation.

Now from the first chapter of the Bible, we begin to learn about the Creator and His creation.  God is eternal.  God is good.  God is all knowing.  God is all powerful.  It is God alone who does all the action.  God created.  God said.  God made.  God called.  God saw.  God set.  God blessed.  At the end of the six days of creation, God saw that everything that He had created was very good. 

To be good is to have life.  In chapter two of the first book of Moses, we begin to learn about how the good creation went bad.  To be bad is to lose life.  Sin brings death.  After the death of the first man, all those who came from him were born to die.  We all have this sinful flesh which brings death.  From our sin infected hearts come all desires that reject that which is good.  Our sinful nature gravitates toward that which is bad.  We wrongfully try to take away the good gifts given to our neighbor whether it be the gift of life, fathers, mothers, marriage, possession, reputation, etc… 

To fallen creation, it is bad news to know that God is the Creator and He alone is good.  The all-knowing God knows all of our sins.  The all-powerful God punishes us for our sins.  The sinful flesh must be put to death.  Those religions of the world that do not believe and teach the doctrine of the Holy Trinity have no hope in the life to come.  They remain part of the fallen creation that is in a state of rebellion with its Creator.  No matter how they try, they cannot amend for their sin nor gain the Creator’s favor.      

However, to fallen creation it is good news to know that God Himself took upon creation being born of a woman.  Here we learn the distinction between the person of the Father and the person of the Son.  The Father sent the Son.  In the holy Incarnation, the second person of the Holy Trinity was born that we might live.  For in Him is life.  But we crucified Him.  Our sin brought upon His death.  But in a strange turn of events His death brings life.  St. Peter declares in our second reading, “God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it” (Acts 2:24, ESV) He died a cursed death becoming a curse for us.  He took what was bad and made it good.  Thus, we call the Friday on which He was crucified good.  Christ offered Himself to God the Father through the eternal Spirit. (Hebrews 9:14) As St. Paul says in Ephesians chapter two, “through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.” (Ephesians 2:18, ESV)

The doctrine of the Holy Trinity teaches us the complete story.  It is God alone who creates us, redeems us, and sanctifies us.  To know Christ is to know God.  To have Jesus is to have the Father.  It is Christ who has reconciled us to the Father.  In Christ, we have God’s favor.  We are well pleasing to the Father for the sake of the Son.

The Father and the Son send the Spirit.  St. Peter declares, “Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.” (Acts 2:33, ESV)   Just as the Spirit hovered over the waters at creation and washes us in the waters of the new creation, He continues to be poured out upon us by Jesus. “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” (Romans 8:11, ESV)  The Spirit continues to sanctify us. 

As those who have been baptized, we have the Name of the Living God.  As disciples, we are continuing to live out our baptism which means dying to our old nature that wants to rebel against God and at the same time living as adopted sons of God who desire to do the Lord’s will.  As disciples, we are continuing to learn all that Jesus has taught.  As disciples, we continue to rejoice in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Lutheran Liturgical Theology

Coram Deo 2011

This was the first year that Redeemer Lutheran Church in Los Alamos attended a Higher Things youth conference.  We were able to tag along with the youth group from Grace Lutheran Church in Albuquerque.  We traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada in order to gather on the campus of UNLV.  This was a five day long event.

What an amazing conference.  The theme was Coram Deo which is Latin for "before God."  Because of the life, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ, we can stand before God as forgiven and holy.  The youth were taught about the wonder gift that we receive from the Lord in the gospel and the sacraments.  They listened to Lutheran pastors who emphasized the importance of our identity in Christ.  It is through Christ alone that we have access to the Father in the Spirit.  Salvation is not a process by which we draw closer to God; instead, in Christ we stand before God now.  We live Coram Deo. 

  Not only were there large group presentations, there were also smaller sectionals that went into depth on a variety of topics.  To tie all the teaching together, the conference opened with the Divine Service and closed with the Divine Service in which participants particiapted in Holy Communion.  We received the very body and blood of our Savior who makes us holy before God.  In addition, each day we began with the liturgy of Matins.  In the afternoon we gathered for the liturgy of Vespers.  After dinner, we gathered for the liturgy of Evening Prayer.  Then before we went to bed, we gathered together in the dorms for Prayer at the Close of the day.

Each year Higher Things youth conferences are scheduled throughout the United States.  In the summer of 2011, conferences were held in Las Vegas, NV, in Atlanta, GA and in Bloomington, IL.  Next summer, there will be four conferences including one in Canada.

Higher Things is a Recognized Service Organization of the Lutheran Churh--Missouri Synod.  Its goal is to encourage Lutheran youth in their identity as Lutherans.

Role of Theological Education in Missions