Sermons

Blessed is the King

“I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.” Jeremiah 33:15

Out of the darkness, from a dead tree stump, a lovely and fragrant rose appeared, a righteous branch destined to become a mighty tree of life over all the world, providing shelter, comfort and peace to those who seek its shade. Today we wait in a different kind of darkness, that of the “now and not yet”. Now, though still sinners, we take comfort in “the Lord our righteousness.” But someday when we welcome Christ at his return, then will we proclaim “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!” as did the crowds at the triumphal entry long ago. Unlike them however, we will shout our praise *knowing* that the justice he executed was our punishment taken upon himself, and that his righteousness was given to us because of that sacrifice. He made our peace with God the Father forever. What marvelous love!
Hosanna in the Highest!

Stay awake.

We are to keep watch, that is, to stay awake, for we do not know the day or the hour of our Lord’s return.
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Not to stay awake means a deadening of spiritual awareness. We tend to lose diligence in following Him. We grow lazy in our faith.
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The Christian saint, Nicholas, (the real Santa Claus), expressed his love for God in loving his fellow man through goodness and generosity to the poor and needy. St. Nicholas’ gifts bring to mind Christ’s teaching “in as much as you have done so to the least of these, you have done it unto me.” Like St. Nicholas, we too are to care for others, as we share the gospel and wait for the Lord’s return. Even as we stay awake, we can rest in the promise that Christ our Lord is always with us.

You can go to God because God has come to you.

As Christ walked the beautiful temple with his disciples, he shocked them with the news of its coming destruction.

But many years before the stones were toppled, the curtain of the Holy of Holies was destroyed at the crucifixion of our Lord. He opened a new and living way for us through the curtain, that is, through His sacrificed flesh.

As a result, you need never be separated from God. Through Christ you may go to God directly, anywhere, anytime, and in great confidence. He listens to you, he loves you, and he will continue to care for you until he brings you home.

You can go to God because God has come to you!

God has provided. God will provide.

Elijah asks a starving widow to feed him with the last morsel she and her son have to live on. Elijah nevertheless believes the Lord will feed him by her hand, and she obeys God’s command, even to feeding Elijah first. God did miraculously provide food for Elijah, the widow and her son throughout the drought.

Much later, in the presence of Christ and his disciples, a widow is moved to give her last penny, all she has to live on, in offering to God.

What demonstrations of devotion to God and trust in his future provision these women showed!

Just so God has provided for us, and always will. Our Savior, whom He promised from the moment sin came into the world, is the most wonderful provision of all. Let it be our joy and privilege to share this Good News with others. Great is His faithfulness!

Citizens of Heaven

The Beatitudes speak both of Christ and of all those the Father has given him.
Though Jesus says “Blessed are you”, he speaks also (and most importantly) of himself. He it is who came in humility, mourned for us, was meek, truly hungered and thirsted for righteousness, was entirely merciful, pure in heart, the maker of our peace with God and with each other; he was persecuted, reviled, and cursed in order to become our righteousness. He did it all for love, and for His joy at our salvation. And so he is truly blessed!
And we, to the extent that we follow him in running our earthly race, experience blessings beyond words in this life, and in the life to come, where, being completely delivered from the sin that besets us on earth, we will experience the full glory of our citizenship in heaven. Hallelujah!

Christ Alone

The entire purpose of The Reformation was to bring the Church back to Truth that Salvation is through Christ ALONE, by Grace alone, through Faith alone, as found in the Scripture alone!

Where is your heart?

“Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God… With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God. …many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income… As he came from his mother’s womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand…what gain is there to him who toils for the wind?
“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts… For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

A Matter of Trust

Jesus shows the rich young man that he is in fact a law breaker, as are we all. His trust in possessions has made them his god. Out of love the Lord bids him sell all, so as to trust the One who will fulfill the law through perfect obedience to the Father.

We exhort one another to obey the law, not to save ourselves but because we follow Christ, and because we are so very grateful for salvation, and because we wish to honor Him, and so “that none may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”

…let not man put asunder.

Though God allowed divorce as a legal concession to our sinful hardness of hearts, it is not His will.
Rather, as Paul says in Ephesians, marriage describes a profound and joyful mystery: Christ joining himself to the Church. Having died to save us, he takes us to himself forever, giving us his life daily. He lifts us up, praising us as holy and blameless before His Father in Heaven. This is the true and glorious Gospel image of marriage.
Let us therefore bring one other to Jesus Christ, since the Gospel is far greater than the law.

Be patient in suffering, until the coming of the Lord.

God gives us all we need to sustain us through trials and suffering. Let us pray for one another, serve one another, and point one another to Christ.