God Does Keep Score
Do good works count? God doesn't need our works but He wants them! God wants us to realize the joys of doing heavenly works because we are part of His family. Our good works help give Christ victory over the Devil -- even the smallest most private, most humble works are truly divine works because of Jesus. He cleanses our works and gives them meaning and purpose. We will receive one hundred fold in rewards for our works, now and in the age to come.

The Creators Way
As humans, freedom is very appealing to us, and Satan tempts us with "apparent freedom" that is really bondage to sin and Satan. The family is especially under attack now. Witness the wide-spread use of no-fault divorce, same-sex marriage, gender freedom and evolution that lets us be free of God, or to have a god of our own choosing. These choices say "the Bible must be wrong". Self-rule leads to abandoning God, and humanity becomes enslaved to sin. Christians have a better way. Christ kept ALL of the Law for us, and His perfect righteousness covers us. In Christ, we have perfect forgiveness of our sin. Christ loves you and I a better way than Satan! Abide in Christ and His Word.

The True Servant
God suffers (unlike other gods) because of the people, God suffers with his people, and God suffers for the people. In this third Servant's Song in Isaiah, Jesus himself speaks of the people's sin and their self-righteousness. He speaks of their closed ears to the true God and their choosing fleeting pleasure that leads to their destruction. We must look outside ourselves to the true Suffering Servant and Savior, Jesus. He gives us all His righteousness. He is enough.

Spiritual Warfare
Is hell real, does God exist? Satan wants us to think not. Satan has no fear. His art is perfected to deceive us. We can do nothing to fight him. We must be strong in the Lord and His strength. Only Jesus wins the battle. We put on God's armor that we received in Baptism and stand against the schemes of the Devil. Satan's last gasp is now, to terrorize the earth. False teachers target us and we must stand, otherwise Satan will lead us into hell. The battleground is everywhere, at home and at work. We are to proclaim the mystery of the Gospel boldly and pray for our pastors and the saints, then we will have the victory.

Children of Light
God is our good father. Good fathers often have to speak words of warning, admonishment, and exhortation--not because they hate their children, but because they actually want what is best for them and want them to do what is right.

Radical Lutheranism
Christ's perfect righteousness atones and pays for our sins. This righteousness is imputed to us by grace and credited to us as a result of faith given to us. This justification by faith alone, and not the result of works, was the essence of the "genuine" Lutheran reformation over 500 years ago. At that time, a "radical" reformation was occurring also, that was focused on anti-Rome Catholicism. Recently, versions of pietism and American Evangelical Christianity have risen emphasizing "what you do for Christ", not "what Christ has done for you". The "genuine" Lutheran reformation confesses against these recent movements that have little mention of Christ alone. Within American Evangelicalism, the Christ-centered faith has morphed into a "works righteousness" faith. In Ephesians 4:1-16, Paul urges Christians to walk in a manner to which we have been called, in a unity of the Spirit in a bond of peace where forgiveness flows from God through us to one another, one Lord, one faith, one baptism--- not different faiths. Christ ascends to heaven, leading us as His captives and giving us gifts. We truly have a "friend in high places", Christ, who fills all in all. Unity of faith is what we must strive to attain while we grow from children into full manhood. We are to grow up in every way into Christ who is our head. This process is our sanctification. Let us build one another up in love, seeking Godly cooperation. This life is no longer amassing wealth for us and our projects. It is no longer about the fleeting pursuits of pleasures. It is not about squeezing the last moments out of this life that we can nor is it about a life of a "golden" retirement. The essence of this life is that we would build one another up, first and foremost in the unity of faith, as taught in the Scriptures, then build one another up in the knowledge of God and His Son, all done in truth and in love.

Brought Near
What does it mean to be a Gentile? It means belonging to a nation apart from God's chosen people. Gentiles were outsiders and strangers from the work of Christ among His chosen people Israel. But now Christ reconciles both Jew and Gentile to God, in one body, thereby killing the hostility between the two peoples. Peace with God is now available to both Jew and Gentile who now, both in Christ, are being built into a dwelling place for God by the Holy Spirit. Our lives are not meaningless because God is patiently working, one by one, in the Church for His eternal glory. So remember who you were, and remember who you are now in Christ Jesus.

Who Is Jesus?
Who is Jesus? Is He the judgment guy, the grace guy or the law and gospel guy? Let us increasingly know the Lord Jesus as He truly is. Jesus is the Son of God leading us in an exodus out of this earth through the very heart of death, into the resurrection of our bodies, and out into the new heavens and the new earth. Jesus did this on the cross, removing your sins and all the sins of the whole world, once and for all.

Not our Timing
Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue came to Jesus begging him to come and lay hands on his daughter so that she may be made well and live. Separately, a woman who had a discharge of blood for 12 years comes to Jesus. For both, Jesus says the words for "made well". And the active voice Jesus uses clearly means more than a physical healing. After being made well, Jesus says to the woman, your faith has saved you. Go in peace. The day is coming when Jesus will say those words to each and every one of us, "arise". And up out of our graves we will come and we shall see God in the face of Jesus. Remember God's timing is not our timing. So for that woman with the blood disorder, twelve years was far too long to wait to be healed. For Jairus, the death of his 12-year-old daughter had come too soon. Her life was far too short. But these two twelve's remind us that in the fullness of time, not in our time, God will save through Jesus. What Jesus said to Jairus, we must also keep in our ears: "Do not fear, only believe".

Not like Us
God is not like us. We don't understand God. We are helpless in the "wind and waves" but God brings us to this point so that we might repent and see Him as He is. Jesus asks the disciples why they are so afraid. Yet after He displays the power of God, they become more afraid, asking, "who is this that even the wind and sea obey"? It is the One who has the power over the Devil, over sin and death and the power to give life. Jesus is that One. He is not like us, but He loves us, even though we have a faithless kind of faith. And that is very, very good!

Jesus Plunders
Jesus went into the wilderness for 40 days without any food or drink, he spoke to demons, and he healed people, and then demanded them to keep quiet. The people in the world viewed Jesus as insane. The truth, of course, is that it's not Jesus who is insane, but we who are insane. We are spiritually out of our minds because of our sin. How on earth can a husband and wife say the things that we say to one another unless we are by nature spiritually insane? How can parents raise their children, measuring world success more important than the children's eternal salvation? How can we neglect the Word of God, our powerful weapon, when we are surrounded by so many evil forces? Yes, we are the insane ones, not Jesus. Jesus has broken into this world, bound Satan, and one-by-one is pillaging and plundering Satan's household, stealing us back. The spiritual warfare to accomplish this began at the baptism of Jesus and continues until His return.

Pentecost 2018
On Pentecost the Spirit was poured out on the apostles and the church. And their word has gone forth to the ends of the earth. And we also have the Holy Spirit given to us in the Word of God. The Spirit is our helper and Spirit of truth. He convicts the world concerning sin and calls us by the gospel. He also creates and sustains living faith in us. The Holy Spirit bears witness about Jesus, so if Jesus is there, then the Holy Spirit is there.

Ascension

Life From the Vine
Life can only come from the true vine. All too often, we have attached ourselves to false vines. Frustration and bitterness result. False vines cannot give life. Jesus said I am the only one that can give you rest from this restless world. The things in life that cause pain and suffering cause us to grow. Our pain and suffering, given by our heavenly vinedresser, is given so we can bear more fruit. The fruit is faith, faith to believe that Jesus is the Christ and that He died for my sin. In our pain and suffering we are to know that God loves us. Abide, remain, endure, stay in Christ. When we abide in Christ, He will abide in us.

Repentance and Forgiveness
Repentance and forgiveness of sin should be pronounced through all the earth and those who believe will have eternal life. God wants you to be saved. God wants the whole world to be saved. That is the gospel. The Crucified One, Jesus Christ, heals us by his wounds.

Easter Sermon
Christ defeated death in His resurrection. Those who believe this will also defeat death and be raised bodily when Christ returns. Christ has won the victory over our greatest fear and has opened wide an eternal future for us. Praise God!

God so Loved the World
God provides a solution to the Israelite's sin in the desert -- look upon the serpent raised on a pole. This is His Word attached to an object. We call this a Sacrament. For us today, the solution for our sin is to hear God's Word and look to Jesus on the Cross. God doesn't take away the sin, He provides a solution.

Peace with God
God's wrath is the real deal. The Day is coming when God sets this miserable world right. As a Christian, the living Christ stands between God's wrath and you. Christ lives as your advocate, so that in the moment of your death, you can trust the Father and His promise, the promise that you have been justified through our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of Christ's death, we have peace with God, now and forever.

Let Light Shine
Just as Moses and Elijah were transfigured on the Mount of Transfiguration, we too are transfigured by Jesus in our holy baptism. In our baptism, Jesus joins us with other believers on the journey to the promised new heavens and new earth. You might not see it with your physical eyes but through your spiritual ears, the Holy Spirit is regenerating you and creating faith. By faith you "see" the face of Jesus Christ who has mercy on you. May we keep our eyes upon Jesus, as we wait for His certain return.

Food Offered to Idols
We first ask: what does food, offered to idols, have to do with us? As Christians, we are free to eat anything. This is correct, but we must take care that this new freedom does not become a stumbling block to another who is weak. Our newly acquired knowledge and freedom must serve others, not ourselves. Our desire should be for others to see Christ in us. In our Christian freedom we must remain the servant of our fellow man and not hurt our brothers. The Corinthian's knowledge is correct but they used it in a wrong way.

Friend of Sinners
In Genesis 28:10-17, we read about Jacob and a dream he experienced. Jacob had spent some time running from his past. He had sinned and he had deceived. He deserved to be tormented by his conscience by his wrongdoing, as he closed his eyes, Jacob dreamed of a ladder. And what he saw was the Son of Man in an image of undeserved mercy. What he heard was a voice speaking undeserved love. The God whom he had sinned against, absolved him and said: "I am with you and I will keep you wherever you go." For you and I this morning, we have come into the presence of Jacob's Ladder, the ladder from heaven to earth. It comes down to this baptismal font and here to this pulpit and here to this altar. We have come to what Jacob dreamed of and to what is at the foot of Jacob's ladder. You have come into the gracious presence of Jesus Christ Himself, whether you believe it or not. Here, heaven pours out its mercies for and to you. Here heavenly beings ascend and descend. Angels and archangels serve God by serving you here. God speaks his absolution to you again, once more calling you His friend. Here Jesus says, "I am with you and I will keep you wherever you go", just as He promised Jacob.

The Gospel of Luke Part 2
In chapter 1 our teaching continues to describe two miraculous pregnancies: Elizabeth with John the Baptist and Mary with the Jesus, the Son of God. Mary goes into the hill country of Judea to stay three months with Elizabeth during this time of pregnancy for both.