Archives: Sermons

10-31-21 Reformation

October 31, 2021
504 years ago today, Martin Luther posted 95 theses against the sale of indulgences on the door of the church in Wittenberg, Germany. Powerful people, bishops, pope, emperor, commanded Luther to retract what he wrote or die. But Luther wouldn’t, because Luther had a higher authority. His Lord Jesus. His Word, the Bible. The emperor could take his bodily freedom, but Jesus had already set his conscience free from all sin. The pope could put…

10-24-21 Trinity 21

October 24, 2021
The request of the royal official was for Jesus to come down to Capernaum and heal his son. And Jesus refuses his request. He doesn’t go down to Capernaum to heal the man’s son. Jesus makes it very clear, in fact, that He is annoyed at the man’s request – “Unless you see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.” The key word there is not “signs and wonders” but the word “see.”…

10-17-21 Trinity 20

October 17, 2021
Jesus tells a short history of the world in our Gospel for this morning. And this history beautifully culminates with people coming to church. What we are doing right now is what God has ordered all the history of all the world toward. There is nothing greater on earth, no goal more prestigious, no ladder to climb higher, no compulsion to accomplish something more. No, here it is all complete, here is rest from all…

10-10-21 Trinity 19

October 10, 2021
Jesus had just been asked to leave the land of the Gadarenes. That’s why he got into a boat and sailed across the sea to his town of Capernaum. In the land of the Gadarenes, Jesus had healed a demoniac, a man with a legion of demons tormenting him. The man lived in the caves. They had tried to chain him down, because he would attack anyone who came near him, but he broke the…

10-3-21 Trinity 18

October 3, 2021
The Pharisees approach Jesus insincerely. They want to catch him in his words and kill him, and they don’t care a bit about learning something from him. But he who has an ear, let him hear, because though they ask their question insincerely, it remains a good question and Jesus gives it a glorious answer. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with…

9-26-21 St. Michael and All Angels

September 26, 2021
Our Lord Jesus loves children. He calls them to himself. He takes them in his arms. He blesses them. He speaks of the angels who watch over them. And here in our Gospel he even tells us to become like children. He warns us that if we do not, we will never enter into the kingdom of heaven. Jesus points in particular to the humility of children. “Whoever humbles himself like this child,” Jesus says,…

9-19-21 Trinity 16

September 19, 2021
No one asked the Lord Jesus to raise this young man from the dead. No one sent for him. The mother doesn’t cry out to him. His disciples don’t urge him on. Instead, Jesus comes and does it all, unasked, because he wants to, because his mercy drives him to it. This is what we sing in that beautiful Advent hymn – Love caused your incarnation, Love brought you down to me, Your thirst for…

9-12-21 Trinity 15

September 12, 2021
Which of you can add an hour to his life? But your heavenly Father gives you endless days, eternity. If you call on God as your Father realize that it makes no sense to worry about tomorrow. How did God become your Father? You were bought at a price, St. Paul says, not with gold or silver, St. Peter tell us, but with the precious blood of Jesus. Your Father gave up His Son for…

9-5-21 Trinity 14

September 5, 2021
Dear Lord Jesus Christ, make us always thankful for the right things, both for the life and health you give to the body and for the salvation you give to body and soul. Keep us from chasing after earthly things or obsessing over the affairs of this world. Make us find our value and our worth in you and drive us by Your Spirit to find in Your mercy the goal of all our desires.…

8-29-21 Trinity 13

August 29, 2021
For thousands of years the people of God had prophecies about Christ and foreshadows of his coming, but did not see the fulfillment. Adam and Eve knew that God would send a Savior to defeat the devil, that the Savior would be God in the flesh, that he would be born of woman. Eve rejoiced when Cain was born, “I have gotten a man, the Lord!” But the time of fulfillment had not yet come,…
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