LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1977, Page 86

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86 CONVENTION SERMON

our minds with the things of the Spirit; we can grow in
relation to Christ, can give intensive study of God’s
Book of Truth the priority in our lives which the Lord
requires; we can along with the development of our
spiritual understanding translate our knowledge into
action and obtain the full measure of grace from Christ.
May our Lord and Savior everlastingly be praised for
this!

If all of us and all our people at this critical period in
the church’s history will humbly come to Christ not only
for pardon but also for power to do His total will; if with
renewed, Spirit-fired resolution we, truly walking
together, embark upon a program of growing in Christ
in every respect, then the horizons of accomplishment
are literally unlimited for us in The Lutheran Church—
Missouri Synod. We will be able to pray for heretofore
undreamed-of divine blessing upon our Christ-dedicated
efforts and undertakings in the confident expectation of
the answer to our petitions. St. John writes: “What-
soever we ask, we receive of Him because we keep His
commandments and do those things that are pleasing in
His sight” (1 John 3:22). Like the church at
Philadelphia, to whom the exalted Lord said: “I know
your works: behold, I have set before you an open door,
which no man can shut, because you... have kept My
Word” (Rev. 3:8)—like that faithful church we will be
able to enter open doors of missionary opportunity ona
scale not before experienced.

Joyfully trusting the promises of the Lord that we
cannot outgive God, that he who sows bountifully shall
reap also bountifully, in a short time our people—
challenged by opportunities of work on every hand—will
present offerings to the Lord annually in support of a
budget half again as high as that of this year 1977. Ina
world in which there are three billion men, women, and
children still without Christ and passing into a
Christless eternity of doom and damnation at the rate of
more than 120,000 persons every 24 hours we live, our
people will pray fervently for the unbelieving, will
enthusiastically and tirelessly witness to the Lord Jesus
and the life and salvation that are through faith in Him;
they will strive to achieve or exceed the soul-winning
goals synodical leaders have set for the next biennium.
Our young people in increasing numbers will volunteer
for full-time Kingdom service in pastoral, teaching, and
other church-related ministries. We will seek to recruit
150 or more Black pastors for service in the Synod in the
next ten years. We will eagerly participate in the
synodical “That We May Grow” program and in “Year
of the Sunday School” activities, supporting the
recommended goal of enrolling all members of our
congregations, young and old alike, in formal Chris-
tian educational experiences—and this especially as we

Lutheran Christians this year gratefully celebrate the
400th anniversary of the signing of the Formula of
Concord and are reminded anew of the many blessings
of our Reformation heritage, all of which stem from the
open Bible and the 16th-century revival of its central
doctrines.

We will promote and expand productive youth work
in the church, doubtless approving at this very conven-
tion the founding of a new national youth organization.
We will urge increasing numbers in the Synod to serve as
Project Compassion volunteers and meet other
challenges in social ministry. We will contend more
earnestly for the faith, practice doctrinal supervision,
exercise evangelical discipline when necessary, be
forgiving and ever more loving in our dealings with one
another. We will demonstrate our loyalty to the Synod,
pledging it our complete support in word and deed, as we
recognize this organization to be a most effective means
for the corporate accomplishment of Bible-based objec-
tives such as have brought us together as a church
body—and get on with the work!

O God, help us manifestly to grow in Christ in this
next biennium! This is Your holy will! Let it be done
among us! We ask this in Your Son’s name.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, will you now also raise
heavenward with me, in summarizing prayer, the words
of Martin Luther’s magnifcient hymn, first missionary
hymn of Protestantism, the hymn sung by Gustavus
Adolphus’ army before the battle of Luetzen in 1632:

May God bestow on us His grace,
With blessings rich provide us,

And may the brightness of His face
To life eternal guide us

That we His saving health may know,
His gracious will and pleasure,

And also to the heathen show

Christ’s riches without measure
And unto God convert them.

Thine over all shall be the praise

And thanks of every nation.

And all the world with joy shall raise
The voice of exultation;

For Thou shalt judge the earth, O Lord,
Nor suffer sin to flourish;

Thy people’s pasture is Thy Word
Their souls to feed and nourish,

In righteous paths to keep them.

Oh, let the people praise Thy worth,

In all good works increasing;

The land shall plenteous fruit bring forth,
Thy Word is rich in blessing.

May God the Father, God the Son,

And God the Spirit bless us!

Let all the world praise Him alone,

Let solemn awe possess us.

Now let our hearts say, Amen. Amen.

Vice-President Walter A. Maier, Th. D