Archives: Sermons

1-8-23 The Baptism of Our Lord

January 8, 2023
As with everything Jesus does, His Baptism is not for Him but for us. Obviously Jesus doesn’t need Baptism. That’s why John says, I need to be baptized by you and do you come to me? Baptism is for the forgiveness of sins – John preached that, Jesus preached that, the apostles preached that: repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins, this is basic to what baptism is: I acknowledge one baptism…

1-1-23 Circumcision and Name of Jesus

January 1, 2023
Names are supposed to mean something and in the Bible they actually do. Today people pick names for their children because they like how they sound or because it’s a family name or because it’s a Norwegian name and they’re Norwegian or a German name and they’re German. But in the Bible names mean something. Look at Abraham – it means father of many nations, so that every time that name Abraham was spoken the…

12-25-22 Christmas Day

December 25, 2022
Glory to God in the highest, who made Himself lowest and for us men and for our salvation took the form of a slave! The Lord has fulfilled His ancient promise. The Seed of the woman has come. The Virgin conceived and bore a Son, and He is Immanuel, God with us. And not just God with us, but God as one of us. This is a great mystery, one into which angels long to…

12-24-22 Christmas Eve

December 24, 2022
And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. The year was 2BC. That’s two years before Christ, which is ironic, that Christ is born two years before Christ, but all that means is that a monk got the dating a couple years off. The fact is that all time is measured by Jesus. We are in the year 2022 because…

12-15-22 Why Do We Sing? (MHLS Advent Service)

December 15, 2022
Why do we sing? We have heard some beautiful song this evening, and we’ve done some singing ourselves. Why do it? Why sing? We could justify singing right away from the beauty of it. Certainly singing can be done poorly, but no one who hears good singing calls it ugly, especially good singing to God, as the psalmist says, “It is good to sing praises to our God; For it is pleasant, and praise is…

12-11-22 Gaudete

December 11, 2022
It’s amazing that John the Baptist has any disciples at all at this point. He’s done his best to get rid of them. James and John, Andrew, many others, left John to follow Jesus. John told them to. What else do you do when your teacher points to Jesus and says, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world?” And then when he does it again the next day, “Behold…

12-7-22 Advent Midweek 2

December 7, 2022
The virgin Mary may at first sight seem like a strange candidate to put before you tonight as the model of Christian courage. Maybe a model of humility, of faith, of purity, but how is she courageous? You think of men like David stepping out to confront Goliath, there’s courage. You think of Elijah standing up alone against 450 prophets of Baal, that’s courageous. You think of Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego telling King Nebuchadnezzar that…

12-4-22 Populus Zion

December 4, 2022
“Straighten up and raise your heads,” Jesus says. This is the posture of the confident, of the triumphant and the joyful. When all these horrible things are happening around you – distress of nations, people fainting with fear and foreboding of what is coming on the earth – Jesus tells you to straighten up and lift your head high. And this is not because you’re simply watching bad things happen to other people while you…

11-30-22 Advent Midweek 1

November 30, 2022
This Advent series we’ll be focusing on three virtues that we especially need as we look forward to the coming of the Lord Jesus. Patience, Courage, and Joy. But before we talk about virtues at all, we need first to talk about what we direct these virtues toward. It is one thing to be patient, another thing to be patient for a good thing. The thief who waits patiently outside your house for you to…

11-27-22 Ad Te Levavi

November 27, 2022
“Behold, your King is coming to you.” Today is the First Sunday in Advent and a new Church Year begins. The old has passed, and Jesus still comes, ushering in another year of grace. Of this we are unworthy, as unworthy as the people of God were on Palm Sunday. Consider for a moment the history of the Church in the Old Testament. The Lord brought the people of Israel out of Egypt, and they…
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