May 3 Late Service Sermon You are the Branches
1 John 4:1–11
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- May 3, 2015May 3 Late Service Sermon You are the Branches
May 3 Late Service Sermon You are the Branches1 John 4:1–11How do we know what is from God and what isn’t from God? John encourages his readers to test and challenge everything they hear and see to verify if it is from the LORD. There are certain markers that can help us know what is from God: the acknowledgement of Jesus as Lord, loving others, and loving God. We are reminded to not simply accept everything but be discerning in what is good and right verses what is wrong and destructive. 1Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. 4Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. 7Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
- Apr 26, 2015April 26 Late Service Sermon Speak Lord – We are Listening
April 26 Late Service Sermon Speak Lord – We are ListeningJohn 10:11–18
Jesus is the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep and we, as his sheep are called to listen to His voice. 11I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.” - Apr 19, 2015April 19 Late Service Sermon I am a Child of God
April 19 Late Service Sermon I am a Child of God1 John 3:1–7God, the Father, loves us so much that he calls us His children, and gives us hope – knowing that he has taken away all our sins. 1See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. 4Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 5You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. 6No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. 7Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous.
- Apr 12, 2015April 12, 2015 Early Service Sermon
April 12, 2015 Early Service SermonJohn 20:19–31Following the resurrection, the disciples gathered behind locked doors out of fear of the Jews and suddenly, Jesus appears with them. 19On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 21Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” 22And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld.” 24Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 25So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” 26Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” 28Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” 30Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
- Apr 5, 2015April 5, 2015 Easter Sermon
April 5, 2015 Easter Sermon1 Corinthians 15:1-111Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 11Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
- Apr 3, 2015April 3 Good Friday Sermon
- Mar 29, 2015March 29, 2015 Palm Sunday Confirmed in Christ.
March 29, 2015 Palm Sunday Confirmed in Christ.Mark 11: 1-101Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples 2 and said to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. 3 If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.’” 4 And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. 5 And some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” 6 And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go. 7 And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. 8 And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. 9 And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! 10 Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!”
- Mar 25, 2015March 25 Lent Wednesday Service Sermon One Little Word Can Fell Him
March 25 Lent Wednesday Service Sermon One Little Word Can Fell Him
“Almighty God, Your Word is cast Like seed into the ground; Now let the dew of heav’n descend And righteous fruits abound” (LSB 577:1). The Bible employs numerous images to depict the power and beauty of God’s Word. It is likened to seed sown upon the ground (Matthew 13:1–9), a lamp shining in the darkness (Psalm 119:105), precious gold and sweet honey (Psalm 19:10), and a sharp sword (Isaiah 49:2; Hebrews 4:12). This last figure of speech indicates that when God speaks, things happen. In fact, sometimes Jesus only needed to say one word and it changed everything. Once, a Roman centurion cried out to Him, “Lord, just say the word, and we will be healed” (Matthew 8:8). This is why we sing, “So when the precious seed is sown, Life-giving grace bestow That all whose souls the truth receive Its saving pow’r may know” (LSB 577:1). - Mar 22, 2015March 21 Late Service Sermon “Be obedient to God and Serve Others”
March 21 Late Service Sermon “Be obedient to God and Serve Others”Mark 10:35–45James and John seek authority and power. Jesus calls them to service. 35And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to [Jesus] and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” 36And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” 37And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” 38Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” 39And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, 40but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” 41And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. 42And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 44and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. 45For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
- Mar 18, 2015March 18 Lent Wednesday Service Sermon Get Out
March 18 Lent Wednesday Service Sermon Get Out
“Not all the blood of beasts On Jewish altars slain Could give the guilty conscience peace Or wash away the stain” (LSB 431:1). We can only be saved through Christ’s blood. Consider these words, penned by Isaiah and promised by God, “I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins” (Isaiah 43:25). “I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like mist” (44:22). Jesus cleanses us from sin through His blood. Blood was all He had. His disciples had deserted Him. His garments had been gambled away. Even His Father had turned His back. Blood was all He had, but the blood of Jesus is all we need. “Believing, we rejoice To see the curse remove; we bless the Lamb with cheerful voice And sing His bleeding love” (LSB 431:5).Isaiah 48:17–22 17Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go. 18Oh that you had paid attention to My commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea; 19your offspring would have been like the sand, and your descendants like its grains; their name would never be cut off or destroyed from before Me.” 20Go out from Babylon, flee from Chaldea, declare this with a shout of joy, proclaim it, send it out to the end of the earth; say, “The Lord has redeemed His servant Jacob!” 21They did not thirst when He led them through the deserts; He made water flow for them from the rock; He split the rock and the water gushed out. 22“There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.”