would be able to get near. Now, here in baptism there is brought, free of charge, to every person's door just such a treasure and medicine that swallows up death and keeps all people alive. ~Large Catechism 4:43 /2

Suppose there were a physician who had so much skill that people would not die, or even though they died would afterward live eternally. Just think how the world would snow and rain money upon such a person! Because of the throng of rich people crowding around, no one else /1

Concerning church government it is taught that no one should publicly teach, preach, or administer the sacraments without a proper call. ~Augsburg Confession 14:1 (German Text)

And just as [Jesus] was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove upon him. And a voice came from the heavens, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased." ~Mark 1:10-11

I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD!" ~Psalm 122:1

So [Hagar] named the LORD who spoke to her, "You are El-roi," for she said, "Have I really seen God and remained alive after seeing him?" ~Genesis 16:13

welfare, honor, and comfort. ~Martin Luther, "Sermons on the Gospel of St. John, Chapters 14-16" in Luther's Works, vol. 24, 133-4. /2

He who would govern well must be able to ignore his own honor and welfare, to scorn and forget ingratitude and malice, and to be intent solely on the well-being of country and people. He must place the public good above his own /1

Thus faith clings to the water and believes it to be baptism, in which there is sheer salvation and life, not through the water, as we have sufficently stated, but through its incorporation with God's Word and ordinance and the joining of his name to it. ~Large Catechism 4:29

Rejected, therefore, are those who teach that the sacraments justify ex opere operato without faith and who do not teach that this faith should be added so that the forgiveness of sin...may be offered there. ~Augsburg Confession 13:3 (German Text)

commanded you." ~Matthew 28:18-20 /2

And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that I have /1

The LORD is your keeper. ~Psalm 121:5

three years old, a turtledove and a young pigeon." He brought him all these and cut them in two, laying each half over against the other, but he did not cut the birds in two. And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. ~Genesis 15:7-11 /2

Then he said to him, "I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess." But he said, "O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?" He said to him, "Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram /1

To be saved, as everyone well knows, is nothing else than to be delivered from sin, death, and the devil, to enter into Christ's kingdom, and to live with him forever. ~Large Catechism 4:25

However, also condemned are the Novatians, who denied absolution to those who had sinned after baptism. ~Augsburg Confession 12:9 (German Text)

like lightning and his clothing white as snow. ~Matthew 28:1-3 /2

After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was /1

In my distress I cry to the LORD, that he may answer me. ~Psalm 120:1