We want to skip directly to the end, don’t we? We hear Jesus’ words to the lawyer, “Go and do the same,” and we assume that Jesus is speaking them to us. But is Jesus doing that? Are you seeking what the lawyer was seeking, the one who approached Jesus? For Jesus’ words, “Go and […]
Mark 7:31-37: Deaf and Mute No More
August 20, 2013 by
The ears and tongue always go together. After all, they’re both the organs of language. If the ears don’t work, especially when you’re young and learning a language, then the tongue doesn’t work so well either. When you’re older, if the small bones inside your ear start to become stiff, no longer moving the sound […]
1 Corinthians 15:1-10: The Original Gospel
August 11, 2013 by
In the 1500s, Martin Luther strove to change the direction the Roman Catholic Church had taken for several centuries back to original Christianity. For the Church in the West had strayed from the one, true way. However, Luther failed. Instead of correcting the Roman Catholic Church, it excommunicated him. That was the beginning of the […]
Luke 16:1-13: Living Like a Dead Man
July 28, 2013 by
Jesus tells us a parable about an unfit, dishonest money manager. And when the manager’s boss gets wind of what’s happening, the thievery and incompetence, he tells the manager to give a no-kidding account of his financial dealings. Now the manager’s in a bind. Earlier, he didn’t care that he was stealing from his boss and his boss’s customers. […]
Matthew 7:15-23: Not “I” or “We” but only Jesus
July 21, 2013 by
How scary! Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” But what does that mean? What does it mean to do the will of God the Father? Is that salvation by works by another […]
Romans 6:23: Death and Life
July 14, 2013 by
“The payment for sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Such marvelous words, which leap from the page, abounding with God’s grace! Such full-strength Gospel that pierces our ears and hearts with God’s life-giving grace! Eternal life is a gift of God. He gives it away […]
Exodus 20:1-17: God’s First Word
July 7, 2013 by
Even after God had given His Law to us, when He gave tablets of stone to Moses, we still shouldn’t have needed God to do that. For, at the dawn of time, God engraved His Law on our hearts. The Apostle Paul wrote about this, even about those who aren’t Christians: When [they], who do […]
Sermon for St. Peter and St. Paul: Matthew 16:13-19
July 2, 2013 by
Everywhere we look, it seems as if the world we grew up in and know is crumbling around us. State after state is redefining marriage to include a union with people of the same gender. Abortion in our country continues unabated, where the rights of the mother override the rights of the infant to have […]
Bob Stimson’s Funeral Sermon, 2 Corinthians 6:2
June 26, 2013 by
I’ve only spoken to Bob a few times on the phone. And you can probably imagine what some of those conversations entailed. Bob would explain to me that he and Sally were planning to come back to church after they sold their store in Lampe. And that in some way defined the last few years […]
Genesis 50:15-21: God Invades Evil with His Grace and Works It to Our Good
June 23, 2013 by
As Christians, we believe that God brings some good even out of the worst of evils. We know we live in a fallen world. We even know that we are the cause of the problems in this world. We were the first cause when we rebelled against God, bringing sin and ruin into God’s perfect […]
