Thanksgiving Service_ 2024
“BLESS THE LORD, O MY SOUL” The Text, Psalm 103:1-22 (v. 1-2). Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits … Lord, this is Your Word and these are Your words. Sanctify us by the truth. Your Word is truth. Heavenly Father, God of all grace, govern our hearts that we may never forget Your benefits but steadfastly thank and…
Trinity 27 – 2024
THE END OF THE GOSPEL The End of the Gospel. That’s where we are today. After a year of being in Mark’s gospel for the sermons, we come to the last 2 verses. It’s like the end of a story. If the gospels are the story of what Jesus did on earth, isn’t the end of the story Him going back up to heaven? After going through Mark’s gospel, walking along with the disciples seeing all that Jesus did, we…
Trinity 26- 2024
Mark 13:24-37 KNOWING THE TIME As Jesus concludes his sermon to His disciples about “what will be the sign of His coming and of the end of the age” (Mt 24:3.Mk 13:4), He gets into His actual coming, the moment when He appears in “great power and glory.” He speaks about things happening to the sun, moon, and stars that we’ve never seen or heard of. But it wasn’t the first time this was spoken. Through the prophet Isaiah – 700 years previously – God…
Trinity 25 – 2024
GOOD NEWS, WE’RE LIVING IN THE LAST DAYS Mark 13 is one long answer to a question. This is also true of Matthew 24. Same event. This was on Tuesday of the week that Jesus died on the cross. He had just left the temple for the last time. While He thought about these things, Jesus spoke of how the temple would be utterly destroyed one day. This made the disciples think of the end of the world. They asked…
All Saints – 2024
CHRIST HAS CALLED YOU TO BE HIS MARTYR Perpetua was a young wife and mother, with a nursing child, in 203 A.D. Although the Roman emperor forbade conversion to Christianity, she believed in Jesus – with her servant Felicitas. They were arrested leaving church. She and Felicitas were thrown into prison. Her father (an unbeliever) begged her to renounce her faith. He said, “Have pity on us (your parents and brother).” She said, “Do you see that pitcher of water?…
Festival of the
Reformation – 2024
On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed a list of 95 statements to the Castle Church door in Wittenberg, Germany. They were “theses” for debate. It started a chain of events that resulted in what we call “the Reformation.” We think of Martin Luther as bold and heroic. But he certainly experienced self-doubt. Just four years after posting the 95 Theses he looked back and said: “How often my heart struggled, rebuked me, and threw up to me their one…
Trinity 21 – 2024
WHAT WE DO AFFECTS OTHERS, AND IT’S ABOUT ETERNITY Sermon Text, St. Mark 9:42-50 (ESV). “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the…
Trinity 20 – 2024
Mark 9:33-41 THE WAY OF TRUTH IS ALSO THE WAY OF LOVE The way to eternal life is the way of truth. Jesus said not only “I Am the Way” but also “I Am the Truth,” and: “No one comes to the Father except through Me” (Jn 14:6). The way to come to the Father, to eternal life, is only through Jesus. The truth is the narrow path to eternal life. Believing the truth gets you to heaven. We’re laser-focused…
Trinity 19 – 2024
WHAT ABOUT WHEN MY FAITH FEELS WEAK? Sermon Text, St. Mark 9:14-29 (ESV). 14 And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. 15 And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to Him and greeted Him. 16 And He asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” 17 And someone from the crowd answered Him, “Teacher, I brought my son to You, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. 18 And whenever…
St. Michael &
All Angels – 2024
“THE LORD HAS SENT HIS ANGEL” Acts 12:5-17. Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. And when Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers; and the guards before the door were keeping the prison. Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the…