Sermons from 2024 (Page 2)
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…
Trinity 17 – 2024
JESUS HEALS A BLIND MAN, BUT NOT ALL AT ONCE When Israel was about to enter the Promised Land, the land of Canaan, God gave them a great promise that He Himself would drive out the nations for them. In many cases it was obvious that God was doing this, that it was His doing, such as when the walls of Jericho crumbled with just a shout. God could have wiped out the godless nations in an instant, but He…
Trinity 16 – 2024
THE LORD TAKES CARE OF YOU, EVEN WHEN YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND Sermon Text, St. Mark 8:1-21. 1 In those days, the multitude being very great and having nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples to Him and said to them, 2 “I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. 3 And if I send them away hungry to their own houses, they will faint on the way; for…
Trinity 15 – 2024
HE SPEAKS HIS “EPHPHATHA” – BE OPENED! – TO YOU The book of the prophet Isaiah is a guide to seeing how it’s true that Jesus is the Christ, the promised Messiah. When people questioned whether Jesus was who He claimed to be, often He pointed them to something Isaiah said as a prophecy, a promise from God, about what the Christ would do. Jesus would say: “Look at my works. See if they are the works that Isaiah said…
Trinity 14 – 2024
WHAT’S INSIDE In Genesis 6, it says that “the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen 6:5). This is right before God declared that He would send a flood to destroy life on the earth (with the exception of Noah and family). In case we think that this universal evil in people only applied to that generation destroyed by the…
Trinity 13 – 2024
FALSE DOCTRINE PRODUCES EMPTY WORSHIP Sermon Text, St. Mark 7:1-13. 1 Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes came together to Him, having come from Jerusalem. 2 Now when they saw some of His disciples eat bread with defiled, that is, with unwashed hands, they found fault. 3 For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands in a special way, holding the tradition of the elders. 4 When they come from the…