He Comes, Bearing Gifts: The Gift of Peace

How do you feel when meeting someone important? Maybe it was a job interview with your potential future boss. Did you feel peaceful walking into that meeting? Or perhaps you were summoned, for a reason unknown to you, to come to the principal’s office at school? As you walked the hallway towards his door, were you at peace? When we come face-to-face with someone who can influence the direction of our lives, that tends to be nerve-wracking, not peaceful. How nervous will you be, then, when you stand face-to-face with your God, who will determine where you spend eternity?

God is much more than a boss or a principal. He is your Creator, the one who gave you life. And when he did, he intended you to use that life in a very specific way, one which would bring glory to him and beauty to this broken world. So, are you ready to meet him?

Today, we see that God wants you to be at perfect peace when you stand before him. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace…” the angels sang that first Christmas Eve. Through the work of Christ, sinners are at peace with a holy God. Even more, throughout history God’s messengers like John the Baptist proclaimed the gospel, so that God’s people could live in peace. God raises up a messenger to preach that gospel to you today.

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He Comes Bearing Gifts: The Gift of Hope

When you look at the downward spiral of humanity, it is easy to grow cynical. The world seems to grow more dangerous each year. People are more divided than they have been in a long time. Immorality is no longer something that people try to hide. As a nation, we have become largely disinterested in God. Disgusted by the world, we then look in the mirror, and things do not improve much. For we confess that we are not pillars of nobility and virtue either.

Looking at our world or at ourselves, it is easy to become jaded. But today, Christ Jesus wants us to set that aside and, instead, to live in hope. Our hope is not a naïve wish that things will get better. Our hope is rooted in the fact that Christ came at that first Christmas to forgive every sin. Our hope is that just as he kept his promise to come the first time, Jesus will keep his promise to come again and destroy everything that is wrong with Creation. Judgment Day will be full of incomprehensible terror for those who have aligned themselves with the world. But Christians hope that day comes soon. Confident that we are wrapped in Christ’s righteousness, it will be a day of great deliverance.

Christ the King (Last Sunday of the Church Year)

Never could there be a king like Christ, our king. Beyond all comparison is the rule he exercises in time and in eternity. Incomparably great therefore is also our joy in worshiping him even now as we await his triumphant return to transform our worship in faith and under the cross to worship in sight and in glory.

Remember All the Good Things God Has Done for You!

Thanksgiving has become a secular holiday---a day of food and football.  But do you remember the scores from last year's Thanksgiving Day football games?  Chances are, unless there was something spectacular about those games, you do not remember the score.  Sometimes we forget more than just the score to a football game.  We can forget the many blessings our God has showered upon us as individuals, as families, and as a nation.  You probably won't remember the scores of the football games this Thanksgiving.  Our prayer today is that you will remember all the good things God has done for you, unlike the nine lepers who were healed by Jesus and had thankless attitudes.  Come to worship remembering all the good gifts God has given you, especially the greatest gift of all---the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ, for your forgiveness.  Come as thankful people.  Leave today remembering the source of all of your blessings!

Complete Dependence Leads to Complete Freedom

Note the absolute dependence the widow shows in her God. Wealth and possessions can pose a spiritual threat to all people, as they have a way of owning their possessor. Jesus’ love and sacrifice motivate us to offer our whole lives to him as our daily offering of gratitude. He gave up everything, including his life, for us.

All Saints Day - Trust in the Lord

We are living in the end times. Jesus promised that the end times would be perilous for Christians due to the increase of wickedness and the decrease of faith and love. The times are also perilous for those outside the Church, because judgment is near for all. However, God’s Word gives us reason to be confident. Today, we hear that can be confident in these end times because we have seen and heard how God took care of the saints who went before us. Forgiven in our Savior, we can look forward to God’s gracious care here on earth and eternal triumph in heaven.

The Festival of the Lutheran Reformation: The God We Serve is Able to Save

Today, we give thanks we have been rescued from the false ways of salvation that could only lead us to ruin and doom. We owe God thanks for that rescue accomplished by his grace alone, on account of Christ’s merit alone, and through the means of grace alone. At the same time we remember that apart from unqualified commitment to his Word, grace can be lost and with it the saving faith created through the Word in the one and only Christ, our one and only Savior. Therefore let us hear the Word of the Lord! Prompted by his grace let us recommit ourselves to purity of doctrine that comes alone from the Word, and to a life that reflects our devotion to the Savior who gives himself for us and then to us in his pure Word and sacraments.

Asking for a Friend: Why Doesn't God Give Me What I Want?

What do you do when you have to ask an embarrassing or awkward question, or a question you feel you should know the answer to? Why, you ask the question and simply say that you are “asking for a friend!” The next several weeks, we will follow Jesus as he journeys toward his work of saving us in Jerusalem. As he does, we will watch and listen and learn from our Savior the answer to questions we have or questions we’ve been asked. Questions like, “Is God good?” “Does God care?” and “Do I have to be humble?” 

Due to technical difficulties, there is no recording of this morning’s sermon.

Asking for a Friend: What is more important...?

What do you do when you have to ask an embarrassing or awkward question, or a question you feel you should know the answer to? Why, you ask the question and simply say that you are “asking for a friend!” The next several weeks, we will follow Jesus as he journeys toward his work of saving us in Jerusalem. As he does, we will watch and listen and learn from our Savior the answer to questions we have or questions we’ve been asked. Questions like, “Is God good?” “Does God care?” and “Do I have to be humble?”  Next to the attachment to hearth and home, a person’s chief attachment is to his purse, to their material possessions. So it is not out of order to consider what God has to say about his gifts of wealth and to let him put those gifts in a proper context for us.

Asking for a Friend: What is Marriage Exactly?

What do you do when you have to ask an embarrassing or awkward question, or a question you feel you should know the answer to? Why, you ask the question and simply say that you are “asking for a friend!” The next several weeks, we will follow Jesus as he journeys toward his work of saving us in Jerusalem. As he does, we will watch and listen and learn from our Savior the answer to questions we have or questions we’ve been asked. Questions like, “Is God good?” “Does God care?” and “Do I have to be humble?”  Today, we look at families and answer the question: What is marriage exactly? In his Word, our God lovingly gives us not only the template for marriage and family, but how they work. The closest we can get to a mirror of the love of God for us is the mirror of the love that he wants us to have for one another in the family. The goal of family members, husbands and wives, parents and children, is to reflect the love of God for us in self giving love for one another in the family.

Asking for a Friend: Do I Need to be Humble?

What do you do when you have to ask an embarrassing or awkward question, or a question you feel you should know the answer to? Why, you ask the question and simply say that you are “asking for a friend!” The next several weeks, we will follow Jesus as he journeys toward his work of saving us in Jerusalem. As he does, we will watch and listen and learn from our Savior the answer to questions we have or questions we’ve been asked. Questions like, “Is God good?” “Does God care?” and “Do I have to be humble?”  Today, we hear about how the gifts of God are so rich and varied that the devil uses that very generosity in God to stir up jealousy and envy. Expect it in others;’ find it yourself as well! That weakness makes it crystal clear that our need for a Savior is a constant one.

Asking for a Friend: What do I get out of it?

What do you do when you have to ask an embarrassing or awkward question, or a question you feel you should know the answer to? Why, you ask the question and simply say that you are “asking for a friend!” The next several weeks, we will follow Jesus as he journeys toward his work of saving us in Jerusalem. As he does, we will watch and listen and learn from our Savior the answer to questions we have or questions we’ve been asked. Questions like, “Is God good?” “Does God care?” and “Do I have to be humble?”  This week, we deal with the craving we all have for recognition and appreciation. Perhaps we don’t say it like the disciples (Who is the greatest?), but the thought crosses our mind when confronted with opportunities for service: What will I get out of it? The answer lies again in our Savior, and how he chose to selflessly service us by saving us from sin. Imitating his love for us, we strive to serve and love others as our Savior has served and loved us.