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Baptism: Born Again, Born from Above

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Click here to listen to this sermon. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! At one time or another, every Christian feels the need to have some sort of sign or evidence that God is truly in his or her life. For some Christians, this happens during times of great loneliness or hardship. In the midst of his struggle, a suffering Christian will deeply desire some sort of assurance, some indication from God, that everything is going to turn out okay. “Lord, just give me a sign!” Other Christians desire a sign from God when they are agonizing over a major decision in life, such as whether to change jobs; whether to marry this girl or that one. “If God would give me some small indication that He is guiding me in all of this, my difficult dilemma would not seem quite so daunting.” Still other Christians will look at their ongoing struggle with sin and desp...
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The First Stewardship Crisis

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Click here to listen to this sermon. “The Lord God called to the man and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ And he said, ‘I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.’   He said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?’   The man said, ‘The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.’ Then the Lord God said to the woman, ‘What is this that you have done?’ The woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate’” (Genesis 3:9-13). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! If you read the theme of today’s message, you might have wondered: Stewardship? What does that have to do with Lent? Or the temptations in the garden or wilderness? Did Pastor decide it’s time for stewardship emphasis? No, this is not part of a special emphasis. As I was reminded at a stewardship conference our circuit sponsored a few years ago...
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Living in the Timeout: The Transfiguration of our Lord

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  Click here to listen to this sermon. And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah” ( Matthew 17:4). Grace and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ!   Lord, it is good to be here. It is good to be here at St. John’s/St. Paul’s/Zion Lutheran Church. It’s good to be here to worship with you. It’s good to be here to hear God’s Word with you… to sing God’s praises with you… to come to the Lord’s Table with you… to share a Sabbath rest with you. Rest is good. Rest is important. Rest is necessary for our physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. But rest is hard to come by, isn’t it? There is so much these days to keep us busy. If I projected a community calendar up on the wall here, we’d all see how busy we all are. There are meetings, community events and family activities. Add to all this busyness our children’s schedules: play dates, basketba...
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Is This a Day Acceptable to the Lord? 2.0

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Click here to listen to this sermon. “Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord (Isaiah 58:4-5)? Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Imagine a world that is cold and silent toward pain and human suffering. Try to envision a place where everything is driven by self-indulgence and life is all about financial gain, business transactions, and the bottom line. A society where politics and government are more about attaining and maintaining power than serving and protecting the nation and its citizens. Countless people are being dehumanized. The sanctity of human life is determined by usefulness, cost-benefit analysis, convenience, and the god of choice. In this world, there are no prayers, liturgies, hymns, sermons, or Sacraments. And so, love and compassion are rare commodities. Thi...
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The "Folly" of the Cross

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Click here to listen to this sermon. “The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! The word folly refers to a lack of good sense, judgment, or wisdom. It describes actions, ideas, or beliefs that are considered foolish, unwise, or absurd—often because they go against common sense or accepted wisdom. Folly can also mean a costly or foolish undertaking that is unlikely to succeed. But “accepted wisdom” is not always wise. What is considered folly is not always unwise. History is full of so-called follies that only looked foolish until the day they bore fruit. For instance: When Robert Fulton put a steam engine on a boat in 1807, people laughed and called it Fulton’s Folly . Many observers mocked the project beforehand, convinced that a steam engine could never reliably or safely propel a boat upstream against the current. ...
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