Welcome to Hickory Grove Lutheran – “God’s family at work in God’s world!”
Pastor Mark Kufahl
All are invited with open arms! Hickory Grove Lutheran is a small group of Christ-centered, Bible-believing Christians and – by virtue of its size – is a very warm and welcoming place. We see ourselves as a Christian family. We want all who attend worship services at our worship facility to feel “at home.”
As St. Paul wrote to the Christian congregation at Corinth, “We preach Christ crucified.” Our focus is on the message of the cross of Jesus and the Gospel of Christ crucified. Our ministry of Word and Sacrament is a ministry of law and gospel. The law shows us our sins and reminds us of our need for a savior. The gospel shows us our savior, Jesus Christ. We are born sinful and condemned to eternal separation from God because of our sinful, human nature. But God, who is rich in love and mercy, sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins and rise again so that all who believe in Him and call on His name will have forgiveness of sins and eternal life. (Romans 3:22-24) The Gospel message is summed up very nicely by St. Paul and St. Silas who said in Acts 16: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved — you and your household.” Jesus Himself is the one who said (Mark 16:16): “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. ”
At Hickory Grove, we do not water down God’s law and God’s Word to bend it, mold it and make it compatible with the latest cultural fads. We believe the Biblical statement, “But the word of the Lord stands forever.” (1 Peter 1:25). Cultural and societal norms and standards come and go. We live in a very fluid and, at times, very vacuous, shallow and self-serving society. Many Christian fellowships compromise the teachings of God’s Word in order to make it more palatable to our ever wandering and wayward culture. In other words, some Christian church bodies enter into theological “gymnastics” in order to force God’s will and God’s Word to conform to corrupt, cultural mores. As St. Paul says, “For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” (2 Timothy 4:3-4). It is utterly foolish and futile for us to alter or reject the Word of God in order to force our teachings to coincide with secular and cultural pressure. When the Word of God comes into conflict with morality and ethics, it is not the Word of God that should be rejected or changed; it is our morals and ethics that must change and conform to God’s holy Word. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Whenever our morality and ethics come into conflict with God’s, we must remember what God says in Isaiah 55, “Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him, and to our God, for He will freely pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” St. Paul also addresses this issue in 1 Corinthians, “For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.”
If you desire a simple, straight-forward, truthful, unadulterated presentation of God’s Word, then you should visit Hickory Grove Lutheran and check us out. If you seek God’s guidance, strength and comfort for you and your life, then you should visit Hickory Grove Lutheran. If you want to hear God’s Word of love, grace, forgiveness and salvation, then you should visit Hickory Grove Lutheran. If you desire the support and comfort of a Christian family, then you should visit Hickory Grove Lutheran.
Pastor Mark Kufahl