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The words of 1 Corinthians are famous words. They are beautiful words. But can they also be frightening? When we recognize that we ourselves have not loved like this, we feel the fright of guilt and then look at Christ who has loved us like this. It's this love that we want to be confirmed in.
(In this worship service, we also confirmed a youth of our congregation, and allusions to that are made in the sermon.)
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Who doesn't like it when someone gives you personalized attention and care? That's what you get from your Good Shepherd all the time, even in the worst situations.
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One single message and question to a man named Saul changed the entire Christian church's course of history. A persecutor was converted, and an apostle was sent out. The risen Lord works through that same message to convert us and send us out.
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When Jesus rose from the dead, he made sure to give his words and message to his apostles to convey to others. Peter stayed true to that command and writes down a message for all those who doubt Jesus and his resurrection. It's a message pay attention to because we know the source and we know the light it brings to this dark world.
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On Easter Sunday, we keep the main thing the main thing. We remember Jesus Christ who has been raised to life and in whom we live a new life.
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It's just one word in Greek: tetelestai. It's translated into three words in English, "It is finished." Whether one word or three, they remind us of the truth that makes the darkest Friday in world history good -- Jesus has accomplished our forgiveness, and we don't have to do a thing.
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This podcasted sermon does not end with a sermon because our Tenebrae service ("service of darkness") did not end with one either. Instead, we heard the account of Jesus' burial and silently exited the sanctuary, pondering the severity of our sins, appreciating the still peace we have because of this Good Friday, and expecting the unrivaled joy of Resurrection Sunday.
Three Words of Truth: Take and Eat; Take and Drink
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Our midweek Lenten series, "Three Words of Truth," draws to a close on the holiest weekends of the year. On Maundy Thursday, the night Jesus was betrayed, he established a meal for you to draw close to him and to receive his forgiveness.
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Maundy Thursday takes its name from Thursday, the day of the week on which Jesus celebrated the Passover, established the Lord's Supper, and then was betrayed. Maundy comes from the Latin word mandatum, meaning "command." It refers to the command Jesus gave in the Upper Room to his disciples of all time, "Love one another." The love our Savior shows us in the Lord's Supper empowers us to do that very thing.
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When Jesus entered Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday, just five days before he was crucified, he did so with status. By listening to what the people along the way call Jesus, we better prepare ourselves to enter Holy Week ourselves and watch Jesus do what he came to do.
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When God's people, the Israelites, were in exile in a foreign empire called Babylon, these words from Isaiah's prophecy encouraged them to look for the new thing God would do in order to rescue them.
We, too, are God's people through faith, and he encourages us to look for the new things he does for us now and will do for us in the future.
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Jesus' well-known parable is a madeup story about a father and his two sons. Are you more like the younger son or older son? Either way, what's the Father's is still offered to you.
Study questions on the sermon text can be found by clicking here.
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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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What would scare you most? A) The government is plotting to assassinate you, or B) The city you love the most hates you and wants to kill you the next time you visit it.
Jesus faced both A and B. And he wasn't scared of either. Instead, in resolute love, he reached his goal of dying on the cross so that we don't have to fear our sins, guilt, or hell.
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March 10 marked the First Sunday in Lent, the time of the church year where we give Jesus our sins and watch him take away our guilt through his perfect life and death, fulfilling Scripture's most important promise. But this is what God has always been doing going back to the days of Moses. He always gives his attention to his believers and, with a mighty hand and outstretched arm, takes them to what he has promised.
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Our sermon from Ash Wednesday takes a look at Jesus' parable on the Pharisee and tax collector. Do you walk around with your head up so you can compare yourself to others or because you know your God has had mercy on you, a sinner?
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Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent and is marked by emphasizing the need for a Savior. We are mortal sinners, made from dust and ashes, and the punishment for our sins is death, whereby we return to dust and ashes. So, on Ash Wednesday, we ask the Holy Spirit to create true repentance in us so that we not only turn from our sins but also to our Savior, whose suffering and death for us lets us walk into Lent with our heads up.
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Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr is credited with popularizing the phrase, "The more things change, the more they stay the same." He did so in 1849 because he was less-than-optimistic about another revolution happening in his homeland of France. Since then, skeptics, cynics, and sarcastic people have been muttering that phrase over and over.
On Transfiguration Sundaty, the last Sunday before Lent, we Christians speak it not from cynicism, skepticism, or sarcasm but from sincere celebration!
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Is it easier or harder to forgive family? And what does that forgiveness sound like and look like? Joseph, the one-time daddy's boy brat, models what Christ-like forgiveness sounds like and does.
Pastor Tom Bauer, who serves as a teacher at Shoreland Lutheran High School (Somers, WI) is our guest preacher. He brought us God's Word as part of our Shoreland Lutheran Sunday when we had the privilege of hosting the Shoreland Festival Choir as they enriched our service with music and song, helping us focus on Christ who forgives our sins, begins our faith, and finally brings it to its goal. We thank Pastor Bauer and the Shoreland Festival Choir and wish God's richest blessings to that school!
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We don't like to be weak. But what's worse than being weak? Being weak and not knowing it. What's even worse than that? Being weak and not admitting it. Through the Apostle Paul, the Holy Spirit tells us we have no reason to be scared to admit our weaknesses to God. He knows them and takes care of them through Christ's cross.
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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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This week's sermon text picks up where last week's ended. After making the marvelous statement, "Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing," how does the Nazareth synagogue react? How do we react to Jesus' claims to be a prophet?
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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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When you love your church, it's easy to come up with reasons why it's so delightful. But might we be focusing on the wrong things? All that matters is whether or not God delights in us.
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Jesus shared our humanity not just to comiserate with us, but to destroy death, to help us when we are tempted, and to call himself our brother.
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Pastor David Kuehl is one of the pastors who serves St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Muskego. He is also the circuit pastor for the Southern Circuit of the Western Lakes Conference (Southeastern Wisconsin District of WELS). We thank Pastor Kuehl for bringing God's good news to us!
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Twelve days after December 25 takes us to January 6, which in the Christian Church has the tradition of being called "Gentiles' Christmas" since it celebrates the Magi visiting Jesus in Bethlehem. As Matthew records those wise men following the star, we are able to see Jesus as the spiritual King of all people -- Jew and Gentile. Indeed, he is our spiritual King, too!
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Luke sums up years of Jesus' early life with one sentence, "[Jesus] was obedient [to his obedients]." This not only was a blessing to his parents (think of how "easy" of a child he was to raise!) but also to us.
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A present's packaging often keeps you from recognizing what you're receiving until you open it. The human flesh of Jesus prevents many from recognizing him as true God, but after opening up the first chapter of John's Gospel, we're able to truly recgonize what our heavenly Father has given us at Christmas.
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Our midweek services have examined a comforting name (Immanuel) and a wonderful name (Prince of peace). Our third and final midweek Advent service looks at a glorious name -- the LORD Almighty.
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Admittedly, the sermon theme sounds like an oxymoron or contradiction, especially when you hear how the sermon text opens. But when we come to Christmas with the right attitude -- worked by God through his law -- we find a joy unlike any other. And that means when the holidays are all over, we can still go on our way with a joyful encouragement to do our everyday tasks.
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Part two of three of our midweek Advent series, "The Names by Which He'll Be Called", focuses on the wonderful name mentioned by Isaiah in chapter 9 of his book. The wonder is how a baby can do anything princely, let alone give us true spiritual peace.
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We continue our Advent Sunday worship series entitled, "He Comes, Bearing Gifts." Malachi, whose name means "my messenger," serves as God's prophet with this promise: the Lord will come with peace. But first, preparations need to be made.
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Our midweek Advent worship series explores the names by which Jesus would be, and still is, called. Our sermon texts take us through Isaiah the Prophet's book and through these names we better know who our Savior is and what exactly he came to do.
