Preacher: Pastor Andrew Richard

8-27-23 Trinity 12

August 27, 2023
Jesus healed many people during the few years between His baptism in the Jordan and His ascension into heaven. There are multiple times in the records of the Gospel when large crowds came to Jesus, by day and by night, bringing with them those who were sick or demon possessed. And Jesus healed them all, sometimes with a touch, sometimes with a word, sometimes with both. Jesus saw fit to perform many healings on the…

8-20-23 Trinity 11

August 20, 2023
Let’s be clear about what the problem is in today’s reading. When we hear the word “Pharisee” we think “bad,” and there’s reason enough for thinking it, especially in today’s reading. But let’s take his words at face value and consider them in light of our own lives. He says, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.” Are we not grateful to…

7-30-23 Trinity 8

July 30, 2023
People desire to be at peace. This is universal to man. No one loves strife, no one loves a guilty conscience, no one loves unrest. Occasionally you’ll meet someone who delights in destruction and seems to thrive on chaos. We can agree that while such people exist, their malfunction doesn’t overthrow the truth of the matter, just as a blind man doesn’t disprove that God made man to see. Man wants peace. He wants to…

6-18-23 Trinity 2

June 18, 2023
The feast that God prepares is very different from the feast that Jesus was attending in the reading. Jesus was at a great supper put on by a ruler of the Pharisees. The host had invited people who were rich and powerful and respected. The host and the guests were full of pride, such that what they were having for supper didn’t even matter compared with who got to sit where at the table. The…

5-21-23 Exaudi

May 21, 2023
On Thursday we celebrated Jesus’ Ascension into heaven, and next Sunday we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. During the ten days between Ascension and Pentecost, the apostles, the faithful women, and Jesus’ mother and brothers were in Jerusalem, and they “all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication” (Ac. 1:14). What did they ask for in prayer? Likely many things, but one thing specifically. Jesus had promised to send the…

4-23-23 Misericordias Domini

April 23, 2023
This Sunday our Easter joy continues. Jesus has “abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Tim. 1:10). The reading fits well with this resurrection theme, because Jesus reveals to us the nature of His life and His relation to death. Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. This is…

4-7-23 Good Friday

April 7, 2023
“For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.” Thus the Lord spoke through the prophet Isaiah. “For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.” For your transgressions Jesus was stricken. Think of that. Atoning for sin was no light matter. Satisfying the wrath of God was no light matter. The Father in heaven is not overreacting when He drives the crown of thorns into His Son’s head, when He flogs His Son repeatedly…

3-26-23 Judica

March 26, 2023
The last two weeks of Lent are called Passiontide, which means suffering-time. This little two-week season begins today. From now until Good Friday our meditation on the Word of God is largely a meditation on the sufferings of Christ. In the Gospel reading for today we heard Jesus suffering slander. We picked up partway through John 8. You might wonder, “What did Jesus say that got the people so upset?” He had told them, “If…

2-26-23 Invocabit

February 26, 2023
Today we behold our Hero. Satan is too much for us. On earth is not his equal, and with might of ours can naught be done. We would have been forever swept along by temptation and sin, unable to resist, swept right into hell, had not the Son of God appeared in the flesh to destroy the works of the devil. Now victory is ours! Christ has entered the lists and fought and won. The…

1-29-23 Transfiguration

January 29, 2023
Jesus had begun to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again on the third day. He had said this in response to Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. The disciples had come to know who Jesus was – not just a man, but God in human flesh…
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