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A sermon for the First Sunday in Advent.
The other readings were Isaiah 2:1-5 and Matthew 21:1-11.
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Pastor Wayne Shevey was our guest preacher; he serves at Wisconsin Lutheran College in Milwaukee.
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When was the last time something of yours was lost? What did you do about the situation? Jesus tells us about a lost-and-found episode then ends with joy for him, for angels, and for you.
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Can our God be both relentless and relenting? Two prophets, one from the Old Testament and another from the New Testament, help us answer that question.
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When God says, "Remember to get your rest," he has in mind a particular kind of rest. And it's not so much about you going out of your way to get it. It's about you slowing down to receive it from him in Jesus.
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Reformation Sunday is NOT about us boasting that we're Lutherans. It's not about elevating Martin Luther to the status of Jesus Christ (or even the prophets and apostles, for that matter). Reformation Sunday is about taking comfort in what God has declared each one of us not guilty of our sins because of Jesus Christ.
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Pastor Wayne Shevey served as our guest preacher. Pastor Shevey is a campus pastor at Wisconsin Lutheran College in Milwaukee.
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Sermon for the Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany
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"Evangelize" and "evangelism" are big words. They are church-y words. But we don't need to shy away from them. In fact, Saint Paul tells us in a simple way that God has called us to live out those words.
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The New Year comes with lots of things to do -- both things we want to do and things we have to do. In Jesus, we find true satisfaction because he does all the things we need him to do, including the impossible ones.
Seminarian Joel Krieger is in his final year at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary (Mequon, WI). This spring he will graduate and will await his first assignment to serve as an ordained pastor. We pray for God's blessings upon Joel and his family!
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Over the next month, we're celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation. Don't know what that movement was? It can be summed up in four mottos: "sola gratia," "sola fide," "sola Scriptura," and "solus Christus." Four Latin phrases that teach the biblical truth of how sinners like you and me are saved. Over the next four weeks you'll hopefully learn something about the history of the Reformation, but more importantly, you'll grow in your trust of how God has completely saved you. Up first: "sola gratia," the fact that we are saved by grace alone.
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The fourth and final sermon as part of our Reformation 500 series, Peter and John tell us what the Lutheran Reformation was all about. Their message and the reformers' mission is captured in a simple yet powerful painting by Lucas Cranach, which can be viewed at this link:
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Acts chapter 16 shows us how a man went from being shaken to the core to being filled with joy. Paul and Silas tell you that you don't have to survive a near-death experience to be filled with that same joy.
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When Jesus read those seven hundred year old words from Isaiah, something special happened that Sabbath in that synagogue in Nazareth: scripture was fulfilled. Can it happen again among us?
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Readings for the Third Sunday after the Epiphany:
First Lesson: Isaiah 61:1-6
Second Lesson: Acts 4:23-31
Gospel: Luke 4:14-21
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We like to think we can do anything they put their hands to -- as long as we want to do it. In reality, we're not as capable as we think, nor are we as willing as we may seem. God knows us better than ourselves, and that's why he puts his merciful hand at work in our lives, just as he did with Moses.
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Even the casual observer of Holy Week knows to look at Jesus these seven days. But when one looks at Jesus, what are they supposed to see? God the Father wants us to see the way that Jesus serves because, after all, the Son of God came to be not just a servant, but THEE servant.
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The world is a big and scary place. That's why VIP's have bodyguards. Each Christian is a very important person to God, and so he assures you that you have something on your side to guard you in all your ways.
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Would the world choose you according to the standards it celebrates? Even if it did, that neither gives you anything to boast about before God nor does it guarantee joy. Paul explains that when you see yourself according to God's choosing you in Jesus, you have true joy.
This is the second in a series of sermons from 1 Corinthians.
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The words of a dying man always carry some importance. The words of this dying man are definitely important because of who he is and because of who hears them.
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Holy Communion contains the true body and blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ under the bread and wine. So, it's an opportunity to spend time with Jesus himself.
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In this sermon from Good Shepherd Sunday, Pastor Wayne Shevey encourages you to stand guard with your Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ. Just as Jesus attentively watches over his sheep - his believers, so we watch out for one another as Satan tries his best to snatch us from Jesus' hand. Pastor Shevey serves as a campus pastor at Wisconsin Lutheran College in Milwaukee.
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You know them as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. But when they were born, they had different names -- names which helped them stay steadfast in the face of persecution. In the same way, your name -- Christian -- enables you to stay steadfast.
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The writer to the Hebrews pictures our life of faith as an athletic race towards heaven. Just as earthly athletes surround themselves with the right kinds of individuals they need for athletic success, so the writer encourages us Christians to surround ourselves with the right kind of individuals who will set us up to successfully cross the finish line into heaven.
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Traditions can be good, even very good, but sometimes we take them to heart more than God's Word. When that happens, we fail to see the heart of our problem -- sinful hearts -- and the solution to that problem -- the cleansing God gives us.
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During Advent, we celebrate especially Jesus' coming to us. But you can also come to Jesus with your questions of faith and about greatness in his kingdom.
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God uses a showdown between his chosen representatives and contemptuous Israelites to teach us how we can stand before a holy God as forgiven, holy people.
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"The days are coming," God promises his people. But often the sinful skeptic inside us sarcastically says to God's promises, "Yeah, right... That'll be the day." Jeremiah's text encourages to forget the sarcasm and embrace the hope that Advent emphasizes.
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St. John knew that Easter continues to have a tremendous impact on us. In these verses John -- by this time an aged Christian and veteran pastor -- shows you how Easter quiets your heart and then directs you to those outside of you that you can love.
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From a distance, it looks like a clunky table with a colorful tablecloth hanging over the edge. As you move closer to the chancel, the area at the front of our sanctuary, you realize it's not a table. So what's the altar -- that wooden boxy piece -- doing front and center of our church? To help answer that question, we enter a vision by which God called a man named Isaiah to be his prophet seven hundred years before Jesus was born.
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In first century Corinth how can a deeply divided congregation with cliques and quarrels become united? In 21st century Wind Lake how can a congregation with members across backgrounds and ages and occupations be united? The answer is the same for both: Jesus Christ, who makes all Christians part of his family and who gives us his mindset.
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This is the first sermon in a series on the opening chapters of 1 Corinthians.
