Sermons: Recent Episodes
St. John's Lutheran Church: Alexandria, VA
The Canaanite woman came to Jesus seeking help for her daughter. Her simple 3-word prayer is a model for us today: "Lord, help me."
Jesus came to the disciples on the Sea of Galilee, walking on the water. Jesus comes to us today in the midst of our fear and confusion, saying to us as he did to Peter: "Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid."
In feeding the 5000 with five loaves of bread and two fish, Jesus used the little that was available to provide much. As He instructed the disciples, so He instructs us today as well: "You give them something to eat."
It is through the cross and Jesus' redeeming work there for us and for our salvation that we can say with sure hope and confidence "nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:39).
Jesus' parable of the sower and the seed calls us to examine our own lives and ask ourselves what kind of soil am I? Does the life-giving Word of God find good soil in my heart for it to grow and thrive? Thanks be to God that the sacrifice of Christ on the cross covers all our sins and that this is source for that seed to grow.
Jesus calls on his followers to take up their cross and follow him. As people rejected Jesus in his day, so today people can also reject the message which Jesus' followers bring to the world. Whatever we may be called upon to sacrifice or suffer for Jesus' sake pales in comparison with what Jesus sacrified and suffered for our sake.
The harvest outlook for the kingdom of God is what Jesus says it is: plentiful. Jesus calls us to pray to the Lord of the harvest to raise up workers for his harvest fields.
On that first Pentecost, the reaction of many was, "What is going on?" In our own lives, we also ask that same question as we discern what the Spirit is doing. It is the Holy Spirit who calls us and keeps us in the one true faith, leading us to love God and serve our neighbor.
In sports, and in witnessing to the truth of our risen Savior, the best offense is a good defense, as Peter tells us in 1 Peter 3:15.
Jesus is our Good Shepherd, and He has laid down his life for the sake of his sheep. He has come that we may have full and abundant life in him.
Thomas' doubt and disbelief were transformed into faith and trust after he saw the risen Christ. But that same risen Christ calls blessed those who have not seen, and yet believe. And so we walk by faith - not seeing is believing.
On the night when He was betrayed, Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper and He washed the feet of his disciples, giving them and us as new command: that we love one another as He has loved us.
Palm Sunday is also the Sunday of the Passion. Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem led him to the cross where He delivered us from sin, Satan, and death.
Jesus' raising of Lazarus from the dead called Mary and Martha, as well as each one of us, to belief and trust in him as the resurrection and the life.
In his conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus offered to us and to us his gift of living water - eternal life and salvation in him.
Through our Baptism into Christ's death and resurrection, we are called by Christ to be his living witnesses in the world. By our words and actions, we reflect the light and love of Jesus to other people.
Christ crucified - the power of God and the wisdom of God, as Paul the apostle writes. That is where we see God at work. God is also at work in the world and in our lives. How do you see God at work?
Jesus' baptism by John in the Jordan River marked him as the Father's beloved and chosen Son to fulfill all righteousness. Our Baptism into Jesus' death and resurrection joins us to our Triune God and bestows all that Jesus has done for us. Flowing from this great gift, we are called to walk in newness of life.
Joseph is warned by an angel in a dream to take Mary and Jesus and flee to Egypt - not leisurely, holiday travel, but travel for survival's sake. Jesus' life is spared so that He might offer his life upon the cross as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
The good news of Christmas is that whether we are ready for it or not, it still comes. Jesus' coming for our salvation comes to us. That is the good news of Christmas.
The season of Advent calls us to get ready for the day - not just the day of Christmas when we celebrate Jesus' birth, but the day of his coming again when He will return with great power and glory as King and Judge of all creation.
Before the new church year begins, the current one must come to its ending. And what an ending it is!
In the midst of all the distressing signs preceding his coming again, Jesus calls us to straighten up and lift up our heads because our redemption is drawing near.
Remembering and giving thanks to God for all the saints, we rejoice also that through the cleansing blood of Jesus we, too, are numbered among the saints. Because of this, "Blessed are you."
Jacob left home with only the staff in his hand, but returned years later with great possessions. As he wrestled with God in an all-night struggle, the Lord God renamed him: Israel. Jacob's possessions didn't define him, and neither should ours. Our identity is given to us in Christ: we are God's beloved children through the cleansing blood of Jesus.
Often we are tempted to give God the leftovers of our lives, rather than the first fruits of our selves, our time, and our possessions. If God did not withhold the life of his only Son to save us, how can we withhold anything from our lives as a first fruits offering of thanks to the Lord?
Jesus calls us to faithfulness in all things, managing wisely and faithfully what belongs to Him.
Jesus calls us to take up our cross and follow him in a life of discipleship. We do so in response to Jesus' laying down his life for us and for our salvation.
Jesus calls us to consider the birds and flowers around us, how our heavenly Father cares for them. Jesus calls us to entrust ourselves to the care of our Father.
Jesus taught his disciples to pray, giving them and us that model prayer, what we call the Lord's Prayer.
The question put to Jesus, "Who is my neighbor?", prompted Jesus to tell the parable of the Good Samaritan. We, too, are called to "go and do likewise," giving help to our neighbor and seeing Christ in our neighbor.
People who are would-be disciples of Jesus are cautioned by him to weigh carefully what following him will mean. Jesus calls us not just to believe in him, but to follow him as well.
As we confess the Triune God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - we say with the psalmist, "O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your Name in all the earth" (Psalm 8:1).
Jesus, in his High Priestly Prayer, prays for believers in all ages, that they may be one, even as He is one with the Father.
For the believer in Christ, what is yet to be, although not spelled out specifically in Scripture, is filled with God's promise of eternal life and joy.
Jesus directs his disciples to a great catch of fish, and after breakfast on the beach, recommissions Peter with a 3-fold commissioning following Peter's 3-fold denial of Jesus.
Jesus' resurrection means that death is not the final word, and that in Him we have new life. We have been set free to be reconciled for life.
God calls us to forgive one another as He has forgiven us - freely and without limit. This forgiveness is rooted in Jesus, who is that Son sent into the vineyard and who is killed by the tenants (Luke 20:9-20, the Gospel lesson for the Fifth Sunday in Lent).
Jesus tells his disciples that He was sent for this purpose: to go and preach the good news of the coming of God's kingdom to every town and village. We also are sent with a purpose in Jesus' Name: to be his instruments of grace and blessing in our particular mission field in life.
The birth of Jesus, the Son of heaven, is heralded by a star of heaven which guided the first Gentiles, the wise men, to come and worship him.
Jesus is the "yes" to all of God's promises, and is the Son of Fulfillment whose way John the Baptist prepared.
God led his chosen people into a land promised to them. God has also blessed us with this very land in which we live today.
In the Beatitudes at the beginning of his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus calls "blessed" those whom the world sees as weak and of little value. In Jesus' upside-down kingdom, we are blessed because our hope and trust is not in ourselves but in Jesus who loves us and laid down his life for us. Together with all God's saints, we are blessed in Christ to be a blessing to others.
What does life look like as stewards who've been freed from captivity to sin by God's grace in Christ?
A man runs up and kneels before Jesus and asks him: "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Good question? But is it the right question; the beautiful question?
Reconciled and restored, forgiven of our self-interested-ness, God frees us for consecrated stewardship of the gifts that He’s given
Jesus makes clear that an "us vs. them" mentality must give way to larger vision of the kingdom of God in which power and control must give way to sacrifice and servanthood.
A desperate father seeks help for his son and confesses to Jesus: "I believe; help my unbelief." That is our confession as well as we come to Jesus with all of our needs. He is the One who can rescue and redeem us.
The beheading of John the Baptist is a reality check for us all. In the midst of the darkness of our sin, the light and hope of Jesus and the Gospel shine brightly.
Before sending out his twelve disciples, Jesus encountered rejection by the people of his hometown. As Jesus' disciples today, it should not surprise if this happens, but Christ's power is made perfect in our weakness.
Sometimes life's storms are not always thunder and lightning, but storms within. Jesus, who stilled the storm on the Sea of Galilee, can still the storms within our lives today and bestow his saving peace.
Jesus teaches that Sabbath rest was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath, and that He himself is Lord of the Sabbath.
In his Pentecost sermon, Peter the apostle quotes Joel the prophet that when God pours out his Spirit on all flesh, there will be visions and dreams that are God-given and mission-driven. We give thanks and praise for the gift of the Holy Spirit who calls us and keeps us in the one true faith.