Confirmation Tests 

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I think maybe if I'm recognized by anyone these days, which is not very often, probably most of it's

American Gospel stuff. Used to be Todd Friel, but Todd who? Mike Abenroth. Today I'm going to talk a little bit about confirmation.

Confirmation. Maybe some of you were confirmed. I, as a

Lutheran, I think we were either ELC or LCA, those two denominations merged into the

ELCA, and they were never the very conservative denominations like Missouri Senate Lutheran, Wisconsin Senate Lutheran.

I think, I don't know much about Wisconsin. I just think it's not liberal. And so it's not like we were very conservative.

I think we did believe in the deity of Christ and soon return, literal resurrection, the

Bible's real. So the other nuances I'm not too sure about, there was a charismatic flair at our church, but a lot of the stuff was teaching the

Bible. The preaching was moralistic, like I just did on the show yesterday, the transfiguration, you know, the take home is pray, make sure you pray a lot, you know, that kind of stuff, or just a moralistic sermon in general.

It used the Bible as, you know, a jumping off point and then never returned back to it.

It wasn't exposition, let's put it that way. And I didn't really know any theological underpinnings, underpins, because,

I mean, they just jumped all around. And I think they probably followed a liturgical calendar on what to preach and what week and everything else.

And so my first pastor was Pastor Ellison, and then he hired a guy named Gruber, Pastor Gruber.

He was younger and he had, I think, more charismatic tendencies. I remember him trying to speak in tongues when they were trying to heal my father.

And he made this sound with his, he was standing right next to me. I'm like,

I'm just as freaked out as you are right now. I can do the monster voice too. I don't know what that means, but it was spooky.

Well, I don't think I did it, but I think for Youth Sunday, where the youth do everything, including preach,

I have my sister's recorded message. And it was a nice little moralistic ditty. Well, baptizes a baby,

Lutherans, and then you go through a process of confirmation.

And of course, like many other words, the root word in confirmation gives you a hint on what it might mean, and it confirms your faith.

And so then you're a confirmant, and then you're confirmed, and then I think you're going to take communion and other things.

You put on a robe and a bunch of other stuff. I was an acolyte for a while. I just remember, keep your left elbow up.

And the one guy used the snuffer before me at the 830 service and snuffed out not just the candle, but snuffed out the wick, and I couldn't light it.

And there are five candles lit instead of six. Made me look dumb, but what could I do? And you always had to set up by the pastor up front, and you have to sing with him.

My singing wasn't too good back in those days. I don't know how many weeks we had to take confirmation classes before we were confirmed, but I found some of those confirmation homeworks, lessons, and quizzes from back in the day.

I would say this is 1974 -ish.

1974, 1973, maybe 75, 76, somewhere in there.

And the one I had is lesson 12, New Testament, questions relating to the picture symbolism we had in this book.

All right, here you go. Are you ready? Liberal Lutheran Church, 1975 -ish, 15 years old, and who would have known?

There are three parts or constituents of an adult faith, notitia, assensus, and fiducia.

Now, to fill in the blank, I have to put the English words, knowledge, assent, and trust. Come on.

Don't you love it? That is the best. Knowledge, assent, and trust, the only cat

I like, K -A -T. Notitia alone,

I had to fill in the blank, blank alone does not constitute faith. Knowledge alone does not constitute adult faith or saving faith is what they mean.

Assensus, the combination of knowledge and assent, I had to fill in those two words, does not constitute,

I filled in the next word, faith, or to use their words, adult faith or saving faith.

I wonder if they're using adult faith because maybe they're thinking baby faith or something, infant faith, and baptism, kind of a regenerational baptism deal in the

Lutheran Church. I don't know. When blank, blank, and blank are found together, a living faith is born.

Mad question, but you get the point. I filled in the blanks. When knowledge, assent, and trust are found together, a living faith is born.

Sounds like Doug Willson, living faith. So, let's just say saving faith, real faith.

Next, faith is a blank of God. So, we had some teaching, so we have context there.

Faith is a blank of God, gift of God. I didn't write down Ephesians 2 or Philippians 129 or Acts, I don't know, 14, 24, 26, something like that.

I can't remember. Believed by grace. It's a gift of God. Tell in your own words what the white flowers of the wreath mean.

So, they had this wreath, and it was a flowery wreath with words. Excuse me, they had a dead wreath with some other words.

So, dead faith, saving faith. I don't have the wreath in front of me.

But in my own words, I wrote, knowledge, assent, and trust combine to make faith. When faith grows, you become pure.

I guess, you know, I'm not thinking about declared righteous, growing.

You walk in a pure fashion. How about that? That would have been better, Mike. But I didn't get docked for it. Then I got some false, true questions from the printed lesson.

All right? This is confirmation. Lutheran Church, I wonder how much you're teaching your children.

How much did I teach my children? What is the Sunday school in your church teaching? Dare to be a Daniel? Come on.

True or false? There are 12 of them. The man of faith is a reckless man who refuses to face the facts of life.

I don't know. Why would they say it like that? He's got his head in the sand, and he's not rational, and it's a faith that's not rational.

So, I put down false, and I was right. Number two, the man of faith accepts the value of reason, but does not worship it.

What would you say? True. How could I not remember all this stuff?

Maybe it was just in my brain long enough, so that the Lord would use that in 1988, drawing me, 89 drawing me, and then granting me new life in Christ.

Number three, true or false? Since God's truth is so big and man's mind so small, some of God's truth is embraced by faith.

Where was I? I was there. I got it right. True. Number four, the man of faith first asked the question, does

God exist? False. The man of faith believes that God is.

He's a rewarder of those who seek him, Hebrews 11. Number five, God is primarily a topic for discussion, man's noblest idea.

False. I mean, he is a topic for discussion. He is man's noblest idea, but not primarily. Number six, for the man of faith, fear and anxiety are driven out quickly.

What would you say? True. I wrote down true. I got the answer right, because it's hard to be trusting when you're fearing.

One drives out the other. Number seven, faith begins by responding to what we know.

I put false and missed it, and so they think it's true. Faith begins by responding to what we know.

Well, that's not responding to what we don't know. Faith has an object. Number eight, trust is active participation in God's will.

I said true. They didn't mark me down, but I don't know what they mean. Active participation in God's will?

I mean, if God's will is that I believe, we're talking about the moral will, the revealed will of God?

Okay, maybe. Number nine, this is interesting. Calvary Lutheran Church, ELC, maybe

LCA, circa 1976, quiz, lesson 12,

New Testament, Mike Ebendroth. I can achieve faith if I want to badly enough.

What would you say? I said false, and I was correct. We're not plagians.

It has to be done to us. Salvation is done to us. We are passive in redemption. Of course, we respond with faith, but you can't come up with it on your own.

Number 10, true or false, the Holy Spirit leads me to faith. I'm just laughing because some of these are really good questions.

The answer is, of course, true. Number 11, faith is something that is intended to grow.

Well, don't you want your faith to grow? Obviously, true. Number 12, and finally on the true -false section,

Hebrews 11 is known as the great faith chapter of the Bible. They didn't say faithfulness chapter, but they might have meant it.

And the answer is, of course, true. Wow. So far in my test here,

I've only missed one question. Now, some of these, I've got like 60s and 67s.

I've got a 50 here, 100, some are about prophets, confirmation quizzes here.

Oh, under the third article of the faith, that's nice to see a

Creed, so we'll have to make sure to do that another time. Hold on, hold on. I know I've got all these here. Hang in there with me.

Identify the following chapter concepts in Hebrews. So, this next section in my lesson 12 is, they're going to write down what was going on, and you have to say,

Hebrews what? So, this whole time I've been knowing what Hebrews was since 1976, and I conveniently just forgot it for 20 years, for the sake of what?

Drugs and girls? Pleasure? Hedonism? Right, right, right, and right, sadly.

Christ was tempted as we are. What chapter is that? If you answered chapter four, you'd be correct.

Law cannot make men perfect. Chapter 10, Christ bears the very stamp of God's nature.

That should be an easy one. Chapter one, the word of God is sharper than a two -edged sword.

Hebrews chapter four, leave elementary doctrines of Christ and go into maturity. Hebrews chapter, you are right, six,

Christ makes purification for sins and sets down. I had the sits down part. Hebrews chapter one,

Christ tasted death for everyone. Hebrews chapter two, you are correct. The faith chapter,

Hebrews 11, you are correct. Dear friends, I got a 98 % in lesson 12, and my point in what

I'm saying is this, since I'm thinking about Hebrews, that's Hebrews 8 .1. Knowledge is sent in trust at a liberal

Lutheran confirmation class in the mid -70s in Podunk, Omaha, Nebraska.

I'm glad for that. I'm glad that I learned that. I'm sad that I forgot that, but I'm glad that I learned that faith is a gift.

I'm glad to know that knowledge is sent does not mean saving faith. That is crazy.

Along those days, we had to also take sermon notes for confirmation, so I found my sermon scorecard.

We're keeping score. We're judging the sermon. That's what it is anyway. You do that any week, anyway, every week.

Mike Abendroth, September 22, 1974. I just turned 14 years old. There's yes and uncertain under all these questions.

Is it to the point? Yes. I think that's an important question when it comes to sermon preaching. Does it illuminate scripture?

That's a bad question because the Spirit of God illuminates, but does it shine light on the scripture? Does it use scripture?

Does it shine light? I said yes. Does it relate to me? I said uncertain.

It's a bad question. I knew it back then. I think all revelation from God relates to us.

We as pastors probably need to show people how it relates, but it always does. Does it spur me to action?

That's kind of like the so what? Yes, it does. So that's the impact of the sermon. Then there's another section with three questions.

You can answer them yes or uncertain, and it's under my attitude. Am I alert? Yes, I put.

Am I in a worshipful attitude? I put uncertain. That meant no.

Am I willing to be changed? Yes. Now, I will give them more commendation because it talks about the sermons preached by the pastor, and he should work hard at preaching.

And 1 Timothy chapter 5 talks about pastors who labor hard in the

Word. And then I'm supposed to listen, pay attention. So what's my responsibility? That part's really good.

Now it has sermon notes underneath. It's got notes, and the sermon title is So Much to Learn.

So Much to Learn. Luke 14, 25 through 27.

Now, maybe I could learn from this. I probably won't be in Luke 25 on Sunday mornings here at Bethlehem Bible Church for several years.

Someday I'd like to go back to California to be with my kids and grandkids. I probably should finish

Luke first. I wonder if that'll happen. That's an excellent question. Will the Lord allow me to finish

Luke first? I have no idea. I could die any second. The Lord could come back. Luke 14, 25 to 27.

I finally found it. Now, great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. So, that's 25, 26, and 27.

I have here that this is the final command to the disciple.

A disciple is a learner, and it takes your entire lives to learn. Okay, I don't know what that has to do with the passage.

Am I in a worshipful attitude? There's much for us to learn. Honor mother, father.

What's the situation? Jesus was often in a populist movement. No need to work.

Demands follow Christ. Does it appear to me as it meant to me?

Rebel life wrapped up in family, parents close, don't follow me if? I have no idea what

I was saying. I was a 14 -year -old kid. Probably had a crude cut picking my nose. I didn't know. So much to learn about the cross.

Everyone wears crosses. Burden's difficult. Cross could be a relationship. Sin, salvation.

Burden's cross of sin for salvation. Suffer abuse.

Jesus doesn't promise. There's no cross in your life, but he'll be with you.

Have hope. Oh, salt's a preservative to give you hope.

It penetrates and it understands. That's the sermon for Luke 14.

So the lessons in Sunday school slash confirmation are actually better than the sermons.

All right. I have confirmation quizzes, Nicene Creed, first article, second article, and third article.

And then we're going to do those at another time. So right now

I have multiple choice quiz on the

Old Testament. We're going to just finish this off. My name's Mike Abenroth. This is No Compromise Radio Ministry. You can always email me, mike at nocompromiseradio .com.

Just got back from the Pactum Conference in 2024. I bet the 2025 conference with Michael Beck Harrison Perkins, Chris Larson, Mike and Pat Abenroth, I bet you that sells out.

And I bet you in two years, Pat has to go to a larger venue. What do you bet? G3 size?

I don't think Pat would let that happen. So you're probably glad for that. I know.

I know. There's only one Mike and Pat. That's not the Pactum. Multiple choice.

Oh, I told Pat about all these. He's like, I didn't learn any of that in confirmation. Obvi. Satan was very subtle or brash in Eden?

Well, you know what? I think both. I circled subtle, but I think both are true.

I mean, when you're going to twerk God's word like that, isn't that kind of brash? I mean, he was subtle, no doubt. If I had to pick one,

I'd pick subtle first, but man in Eden rebelled against God, having either partial or complete knowledge of God's restriction and of the consequence of disobedience.

So did God have Adam know everything and Eve know everything? Did they know full well, partial or complete?

And you said, of course, complete. Good. The greatest consequence of sin is that either things don't work out as we would like it, or it separates us from God, which is the greatest consequence.

Both happen, but the greatest is it separates us from God. So see, I'm learning about sin. All this to say,

God even used this for my good, being in this kind of denomination. And if you grew up Catholic, while I don't want you to think that the

Roman Catholic system is good and right, and you have to get out of there and get your friends out of there, it did teach you about the

Trinity, did teach you about incarnation properly, did teach you about literal resurrection and other things, right?

I'm not crossing the tide, but I'm just saying some things they taught were right. And that's why

Jonathan Calvin, John Calvin, Jan, would quote

Thomas Aquinas sometimes, not on Aquinas' dumb things, but on his true things. This is not

Aquinas' talk. Man is powerless to do anything about either guilt or the sense of guilt.

Oh, the sense of guilt, you could do all kinds of things. To assuage that, alcohol, entertainment, take a nap.

But you can't do anything about your own guilt. Man is powerless. I'm glad I learned that lesson at the Lutheran Church. After sin enters the world, the image of God in man was blurred or lost.

Okay. Again, I got it right. It must be right. Image of man, image of God in man was blurred.

Next, God is disgusted with or does not abandon man in his sinfulness.

And I think what's happening there is the church was trying to teach us that even though there's sin, high -handed treason,

God is not going to say damned.

He's going to say, I'm going to come to rescue. Oh, damnation is still true for some, but he's going to rescue others.

Alienation from God brings about either challenge and hope or futility and frustration.

If you're alienated from God, what do you get? Futility and frustration in life. That's exactly true. That's ecclesiastes, is it not?

Boy, this is pretty good. Man tends to either accept or remove the burden of guilt caused by his estrangement from God.

So, do you suppress the truth and righteousness? Romans chapter 1, oh,

Gentile sinful person. And the answer is they don't accept the burden of guilt.

They try to remove it. They tend to. That doesn't mean they can, but they tend to.

And then I had 39 books of the Old Testament that I had to list. And I spelled

Jeremiah, J -E -R -I -M -I -A. Looks like Jemima.

And I missed a bunch of other ones. I missed all the prophets pretty much, minor prophets.

I got an 82 on that one. How about that? True or false, the covenant is the cornerstone on which

Israel's history is built. I said false. Maybe I was a dispensationalist.

Although I'm just joking. They'd say that was true as well. In the covenant,

God establishes a relationship like that between a child and a judge. Oh, here's one bad.

I'm writing bad here. Abraham, though very imperfect, won God's special favor. Bad. I said true.

They said true. It's not true. You don't win favor. Isn't favor grace?

Humility, trust, and obedience are prerequisites for being a blessing. I guess

God can't use people unless they're really being humble, trusting, and obedient. I think clean vessels are good.

Holy vessels are an awful thing in the hands of God, McSheen said. That part's true. But we're always less than perfect, and God still accepts us.

He accepts us in our works because he accepts us in Christ. The story of Joseph shows the value of taking things into one's own hands.

Funny. Well, I'm glad you tuned in today. Knowledge, assent, and trust.

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