Hope Lutheran Church: Recent Episodes
Hope Lutheran Church
Hope Lutheran is a church in the Houston Heights area. Our members and families come together to build a community to worship and serve alongside our neighbors. Each week we will share our Sunday sermon and other devotionals. Learn more at: hopeintheheights.com
This week we continued our Self Talk series with a look at James 4:13-17, where we see that we are not in control. God is. But how do we respond to the fact that we're not in control? We can fight against it, we can worry about it, or we can accept it and embrace it.
This week we continued our Self Talk series by examining the phrase "I Deserve" in light of James 3:13-18. In this reading, James shows us two different kinds of wisdom that tell us two different things about what we deserve, and as a result lead to two very different attitudes and ways of life.
This week we continued our Self Talk series by looking at Mark 9:14-29, where we see all kinds of people who can't do the things they want to do. The disciples can't do anything to drive out the demon. The father can't do anything to help his son. He can't even bring himself to believe that Jesus will help. But what we learn in this lesson is that it's not our strength, or even the strength of our faith that matters. What matters is the strength of the one our faith is in.
This week we kicked off a new series called "Self Talk." In this series we talk about the things we tell ourselves about reality, about ourselves, and about God. The problem is that often the things we believe aren't true. So in this series, our goal is to identify those lies and replace them with the truth of Scripture. This week we look at the statement "I'm unworthy" by studying the story of Jesus calling Levi in Mark 2:13-17.
People are walking away from Jesus and the church at a staggering rate over the last 25 years. So why shouldn't you? That's the question we seek to answer this week as we look at the last part of Jesus' Bread of Life sermon from John 6.
This week we continued our Bread of Life series looking at John 6. Today's sermon focused on how we come to Jesus and the results of coming to Jesus. Spoiler alert: the results are good. Really good.
This week we started a new series looking at Jesus' Bread of Life sermon from John 6. This week we dig into the title Jesus gives himself. What does it mean that he is the bread of life? We learn that Jesus is bread that never spoils, and bread that always satisfies.
This week we wrapped up our Man of God sermon series with a look at 2 Kings 6:8-23, where God opens the eyes of Elisha's servant to see God's unseen protection. This story helps us deal with the times in life where we feel surrounded and overwhelmed by our fears.
This week we looked at 2 Kings 4:38-44 where we see two stories that show us how God provides for his people. We see him provide three things in these stories: the cure for death, everything we need for life, and the freedom to serve without fear.
This week we continued our Man of God series by looking at the story of Elisha healing the water at Jericho. In this story we see how God's grace overcomes all opposition, and how it reverses the curse of sin.
This week we started a new sermon series called Man of God focusing on the prophet Elisha. Today we look at the beginning of Elisha's ministry, with the prophet Elijah passing the torch before being taken into heaven in a whirlwind. From this story we learn that the Spirit that empowered Elijah's ministry is the same that would empower Elisha and the same that empowers us stil today.
This week we had Pastor Don Patterson from Holy Word in Austin, TX lead us in worship. He encouraged us in his sermon from 2 Timothy 2 to Live Strong in grace, in the message, and in all circumstances.
This week we had a guest preacher, Pastor Gunnar Ledermann from Divine Peace Church in Rockwall, TX. He shared a message with us based on Mark 4:35-41 called "Jesus' Words Silence My Fear Driven Life!"
This week we continued our Life With Jesus series by looking at a story from Mark 5:21-43 where we learn valuable lessons about fear, faith, and the timing of God.
Have you ever been in a place where you expected good things from God, and it seemed like all you got was disappointment? That's where the people in Ezekiel's day were at. So God sent Ezekiel with a message of comfort. A message about how God grows his kingdom, and about how he can bring hope out of even the most hopeless situations.
There are a lot of people with a lot of different opinions about who Jesus is. We see that here in this reading from Mark 3. His family thinks he's out of his mind. The religious leaders of the day think he's demon possessed. But Jesus tells us who he is, and along the way he tells us who we are. He is the Son of God who came to defeat the devil, and we are Jesus' family.
There are many times in life where we find ourselves unable to deny how hopeless our situation is. But in those moments, we can find comfort and encouragement in the fact that God's Spirit resurrects us and revives our hope.
We all face moments in life that we feel like we're completely unqualified for. We face challenges we don't think we can handle. But God shows us through Ephesians 4 that we aren't left to face those challenges alone. We have his gifts of grace he's given us, we have Jesus' presence, and we have fellow Christians around us. In other words, Jesus' ascension means we're never alone.
Why do we love the way we do as Christians? John tells us in this reading from 1 John 4. Everything we do for others, God did for us first.
This week we had Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary student Ryan Gurgel share a message with us for Good Shepherd Sunday based on John 10:1-10. In his Word, God shows us that he is our Good Shepherd who cares and provides for us and comes to bring us life to the full!
What do you do when you're confronted with your sin? Do you deny it? Minimize it? Try to hide it? John tells us that we don't have to do any of those things. Instead, we can confess it and know that God will forgive us.
Easter was 7 days ago. And yet doesn't it feel in some ways like that must have happened in a different world? Sometimes the trivial, mundane, stressful nature of our lives in the "real world" can make us feel like Jesus' resurrection couldn't have possibly happened in the same world as the one we live in now. But John writes these words to show us that Jesus' resurrection is a reality, and that Jesus is the place where eternity meets reality.
Happy Easter! Your Redeemer lives! This Easter we focused on Job 19:23-27, where we see an incredible display of faith in the midst of suffering. Job knew that he had a living redeemer, and that's why despite all he had been through, he still had faith that one day everything would be set right.
Where do we find the strength to endure when life in this world gets exhausting? That's what we learn in Hebrews 12:1-3 as we continue our Rethinking Religion series. Today we learn what real strength is and find out how we can find the same strength in our own struggles.
This week we had the privilege of having Pastor Matt Proeber from Eagle River, Alaska share God's Word with us in the sermon. As we continue our Rethinking Religion series, we heard from Numbers 21:4-9 that we can Rethink the Solution to Sin.
What do you think of when you hear the word glory? Whatever it is you think of, it's probably safe to say that you don't naturally think of a moment of rejection, isolation, and death. And yet that moment, the moment of Jesus being lifted up on the cross, is the moment Jesus said was his moment of greatest glory. Because God is Glorified in the Cross. And what we see in John 12 is the glory of Jesus' cross, the glory of our cross, and the glorious effect of the cross.
If you ask people what they're looking for in a religion, you'll get all kinds of different answers. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians that it was the same way in his day. As human beings, we're all looking for different things, but God doesn't always give us what we're looking for. Instead he gives us the one thing we need: Christ crucified.
When we see someone being tested in some way, we often wonder how we would do under the same circumstances. Today, we see Abraham being tested by God, and it's an uncomfortable story for us because it was such an incredibly difficult test. We wonder how we would do in a situation like Abraham's. We wonder how Abraham could possibly do what he did. But the reason Abraham was able to do what he did was that he trusted that he had a God who would stop at nothing to keep his promises.
Why does Jesus' transfiguration matter to you? Because it shows you who Jesus really is. It shows you that he is the one who fulfills the past and the one who foretells the future.
What do you do when you hit the limit of what you can handle? That's what Isaiah shows us in our reading for today. He shows us that it's normal for us to hit our limits and to feel weak, then he shows us where our strength comes from and how to find that renewed strength in times of weakness.
Sometimes it seems like controlling our thoughts is impossible. And yet in Hebrews 3, the writer tells us to fix our thoughts on Jesus. So what does that mean? And how do we do it? That's what we find out in this week's sermon.
Why would four men with stable, respectable jobs drop everything and walk away in the middle of a work day? That's what you're forced to wonder when you look at this story from Mark 1:14-20. But what becomes clear pretty quickly is that the man who called them was no ordinary preacher, and his call was no ordinary call. He was calling them to a higher purpose, and as he did, he gave them his powerful word to accomplish that purpose.
This week as we continued our Refocus series, we refocused on God's Word. In this lesson from 1 Samuel, we see a great example of how to respond to God's Word: with the humble attitude that says, "Speak, Lord, your servant is listening."
What is it that defines you as a person? What is your identity? That's an extremely important question, and a question that all of us struggle to answer. Today, in Romans 6, Paul shows us what our true and best identity is. Through Baptism, we are dead to sin and alive to Christ.
Happy New Year! This time of year, it can be easy to get caught up in discontentment and fear of the future. But the writer to the Hebrews reminds us that we can enter the new year content and confident because God will never leave us.
This message, from our Lessons and Carols Service, focuses on the Good News of Great Joy from Luke 2: that a Savior has been born to us, because we have a God who loves us!
There are certain moments in life that change everything. It's tempting to look back on those moments and look for all the reasons why they happened when they did. But what's more important is to look at the results of those moments. That's what Paul shows us in Galatians 4. He shows us that as a result of God sending Jesus into the world on the first Christmas, we receive freedom, family, and a future.
This week we continued our Waiting series by talking about how we can wait with joy. That's what we find out in Isaiah 61, as the prophet foretells what Jesus would come to do. He wouldn't come to give us more of the fleeting joys of this world. He would come to bring us real joy. Sturdy joy that isn't based on the ever-changing circumstances of life, but on the unchanging reality of what Christ has made us.
Sometimes it can feel like Jesus is never going to come back. That's how people felt already just 30 years after Jesus' ascension, so Peter wrote to them to encourage them that God's slowness (as they saw it) was actually good news. It was good news because it meant that God was patient with them, and because it meant that God had a purpose for them.
This week as we continued our Waiting series, we looked at a reading from Isaiah 64 where Isaiah is crying out to God, begging him to act. And what we see in this reading is that Isaiah recognizes his own inability to take matters into his own hands. Instead, he has to wait for God to act. And that's exactly what God does. His people wait, and he acts in unexpected ways to save them.
This week we had Pastor Dan Laitinen with us from Divine Savior Church in Sienna, Texas. He led us in a special Thanksgiving worship service which helped us see how God gives us everything we need, including his recipe for contentment, which he shows us in Philippians 4.
This week we continued our Waiting series, as we learned today who it is we're waiting for. From Daniel 7, we learn that the one we're waiting for is Christ, our King.
We're starting a new series for the weeks leading up to Christmas called Waiting. In this series, we'll talk about waiting for two great world events: Christmas and Judgment Day. In this lesson from 1 Thessalonians 5, we learn that Judgment Day is a day we wait for in hope, not fear. Because of that, we can be ready, we can be different, and we can be confident.
This is a story that's about more than guests who cancel at the last minute. It's a story about rebellion and stubbornness. It's a story that's meant to warn us against our own stubbornness and sin. But ultimately, it's a story that points us to the generosity and patience of our God, who has invited us to his heavenly banquet where everyone is invited, and everything is prepared.
We all have things we take for granted. We think that we'll always appreciate that new car or new house we just bought, but within a few weeks, we've already started to grow accustomed to the new standard of living. It becomes normal to us. And soon we feel entitled to it. It's that feeling of entitlement that Jesus warns against in our spiritual lives in this parable. He tells us that we are prone to entitlement, but thankfully, God's grace conquers human entitlement.
All of us have a natural tendency to shift blame away from ourselves and onto someone else. That's what the people in Ezekiel's day were doing too. The problem is that shifting the blame causes us to be blind to our sin, and if we can't see our sin, we'll never repent and find God's mercy. In this lesson, we see that repentance brings life. Because of God's mercy, we can be honest about our sin and confident in our forgiveness.
It's easy to be perplexed, or even offended by God's grace. There's a certain sense in which it offends our sense of fairness. But this week we look at Romans 9, where Paul shows us that instead of questioning God's mercy, we should give thanks for it.
How do we forgive people who have hurt us? That's what we learn today from the story of Joseph in Genesis 50:15-21.
We're all different when it comes to confrontation. Some of us run away from it, others step toward it. Today we see from Galatians 2 that there are ways we can go wrong whether we step toward or away from confrontation, but we ultimately see what it looks like to have constructive confrontation for the sake of the gospel.
Jeremiah makes a bold statement here: God failed. That's what he says. But is he right? That's what we examine as we look at Jeremiah 15:15-21. We'll see what brought Jeremiah to this point, why he thinks God failed him, and then we'll learn some lessons for the times in our own lives where we think God has failed us.
This week as we look at characteristics that God's looking for in a church, we see that God wants a church for all people. We see that in this story from Matthew 15, where a Canaanite woman shows us Great Faith in an Unexpected Place.
Today marked 3 years of worship at Hope! As we celebrated that milestone, we also kicked off a new series called "The Church God Wants." Today we looked at Exodus 34 and saw that as a church, who we are is a direct result of who God is.
This week we wrapped up our summer series on the Sermon on the Mount. As we come to the conclusion of Jesus' great sermon, we hear him speak to us about what it means to live a wise life. He tells us that true wisdom comes from hearing his words and putting them into practice. That's easier said than done, and it's easy for us to fall into two opposite errors as we seek to carry that out. But that's just one more reason to cling firmly to Jesus and his Word and to build our lives on him.
You can't always trust the opinion of the crowds. Jesus warns us about following the broad road today, and he tells us that there will be false teachers who will lead us down that road. What he wants for us is to walk with him on the narrow road that leads to life. It won't be easy, but it will be worth it.
Do not judge. It's one of the most quoted Bible passages there is. But what does it really mean? That's what we find out in today's sermon.
Worry is something we all struggle with. And at first, hearing Jesus say "Do not worry" doesn't seem all that helpful. It seems too simplistic, even naïve. But Jesus doesn't just tell us not to worry. He shows us why we shouldn't worry, why we don't need to worry, and what to focus on instead of worrying.
Nobody likes it when the church talks about money, but here we are. We've reached the point in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount where he talks about where our treasure is. He shows us two things in this reading: the problem with earthly treasure, and the promise of eternal treasure.
Do you ever feel confused about prayer? Do you feel frustrated by a lack of results when you pray? Do you sometimes wonder if prayer really does anything? If so, you're in good company. All of us have room for improvement in our prayer life, and in our understanding of prayer. So today, Jesus gives us a masterclass in prayer. He shows us who we're praying to, what we should pray for, and how we should pray.
Who is your audience in life? Are you living for the approval of others? Or to feel good about yourself? Jesus talks about our audience today as he addresses different ways we can worship him in our lives.
This week Jesus talks to us about the way we speak. He shows us that what we say reveals who we are, and he shows us that in a world where we don't know who we can trust, we can always trust his promises.
This week Jesus talks about God's gifts of sex and marriage. It's a tough topic, but Jesus addresses it because he wants to bring healing to people who are hurting because of the misuse of God's good gifts.
As we continue working through the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches us this week about anger, reconciling relationships and breaking the chain of violence.
Who are you? What defines you as a person? There are a lot of different ways to answer that question, but today Jesus gives us an identity that can fill our lives with purpose and serve as the foundation of everything we do. He tells us that we are salt and light in this world. In this message, we learn what that means about the world, and what that means about us.
In this new series, we're going to see Jesus weigh in on some of the most relevant issues in our lives. He's going to talk to us about things like money, marriage, and identity. But today, he starts his famous Sermon on the Mount by talking about happiness. In this teaching, he takes what we naturally think about happiness and flips it on its head. But in the end we see that as his followers, we have every reason to be happy, no matter what the circumstances of our lives.
Happy Memorial Day weekend, and Happy Pentecost! This week we closed out our series on 1 Peter as we look at 1 Peter 5:5-11, where Peter tells us how God equips us to face anxiety and temptation with humble courage.
This week Peter tells us to be prepared to suffer for our faith. When that happens, the advice Peter gives us is to revere Christ as Lord and to remember our baptism.
As Christians, we're different from the world around us, and that means that we're going to stick out at times. We're not always going to fit in. But Peter encourages us in this lesson to live beautifully different lives that draw others in so that we can share the hope that we have with them.
Does the church still matter? It seems like just about every statistic is pointing to the fact that the church is declining, and maybe that means it's just not relevant anymore. But in 1 Peter 2, we see that there's always reason for hope in the church. Peter reminds us of who we are as the Church: we're a community built on a cornerstone that's called to carry out God's purpose.
This week we had a student from our seminary, Justin Steinke, share God's Word with us from Revelation 21. Justin reminded us of our heavenly goal while we live here on earth: we long for the city that never distances, never doubts, and never dies.
As we continue our How to Live with Hope series, we move from the living hope we have into how that hope affects our life. Today we see that we have been redeemed from emptiness by the precious blood of Jesus.
This week we kicked off a new series called How to Live with Hope focusing on the book of 1 Peter. In this series we'll see how the message of Easter changes our lives on a daily basis and helps us to live with hope and joy in a world that's not our home.
Happy Easter! Jesus lives! In our sermon from Matthew 28, we learn how Jesus' resurrection has the power to calm our fears.
Do you ever struggle with apathy? If you have a pulse, then there's a very good chance you do. But this lesson from Zechariah is filled with anything but apathy. It's full of rejoicing. In these verses he gives us the key to a joy that no circumstances of life can give, and that no circumstances in life can take away.
What we wonder as we read the story of Lazarus' death is the same thing Mary and Martha wondered: Why did Jesus wait? He knew Lazarus was sick, and yet he didn't come right away. That can be confusing for us, but just like everything Jesus does, there was a reason for it. That's what we find in today's sermon based on John 11:17-45.
As we continue our series called The Jesus We Need, we've been looking at things Jesus tells us that are what we need, even when they aren't exactly what we want to hear. But this week is an interesting one. We learn this week that Jesus is the Light of the World. Why would that ever be something we wouldn't want to hear? What we'll see as we look at Ephesians 5 is that Jesus, like light, can seem harsh initially, but in the end, he's helpful.
Is God among us or not? That's the question the Israelites were asking. It's a question we've all asked at one point or another in our lives. This story from Exodus 17:1-7 gives us an answer to that question as we see what happens When God Goes on Trial.
This week we continued our series, The Jesus We Need by looking at Romans 4, where Paul shows us that God Justifies the Ungodly.
This week we kicked off a new series called The Jesus We Need, where we're looking at the ways that Jesus gives us what we need most, even when it might not always be what we expect. This week we look at how Jesus is a champion for the defeated. In our sermon from Romans 5, we see the Power of One. The power of one sin, and the power of one righteous act.
This week we come to the end of our Jesus Appears series, and we see a summary statement of who Jesus is and what he came to do. He came to teach, preach, and to heal. Or in other words, he came to make broken people whole.
Jesus has his mission, he's got his message, and now he's ready to assemble his team. This week we look at Matthew 4:18-22, where we see the calling of Jesus' first four disciples. From this story we learn what it means to follow Jesus by looking at the called, the call, and the caller.
This week we continued our Jesus Appears series, looking at Matthew's gospel, where we see Jesus begin his public ministry. As he does, we see a light dawning in the darkness, and we learn three things about that light: we learn that the darkness cannot overcome the light, that the light drives out the darkness, and how to live in the light while surrounded by darkness.
This week in our Jesus Appears series, we looked at the story of Jesus' temptation. In it, we see how Jesus equips us to fight temptation. He gives us his example, his victory, and our identity.
This week we continue our Jesus Appears series by looking at how Jesus brings us peace. We're led in worship this morning by Pastor Jeremy Mattek from The Mission Church in Conroe, TX.
As we continue our Jesus Appears sermon series, we look at Colossians 2:6-15, where we see that Jesus is Enough.
For our New Years Day celebration, we looked at Luke 2:21, where we see Jesus beginning his work as our substitute and Savior. Our sermon focuses on the theme: Jesus Fulfills the Promise His Name Makes.
In this short message from our Lessons and Carols Christmas Day service, we focus on Luke 2:19 and learn how pondering brings us peace.
As we look at the Christmas gospel from Luke 2, we focus on the shepherds. As we do, we'll see why God chose the shepherds to be the first to know about the Savior's birth and what that means for us.
This week we wrap up our Come, Lord Jesus series with a look at Isaiah 7, where we see the Sign of Immanuel. From this lesson, we learn about a pattern that plays out not only in this story, but in each of our lives: God offers, Ahaz resists, but God insists.
This week in our Come, Lord Jesus series, we look at a time in John the Baptist's life where expectations weren't matching reality. From this story, we learn what we can do when we run into similar disappointments in our lives.
This week we look at John the Baptist and see how his message of repentance makes us ready for Jesus' coming.
As we move into the season of Advent, we're starting a new series called Come, Lord Jesus! The goal of this series is to get us ready to celebrate the first coming of Jesus at Christmas, and to have that same excitement for Jesus' second coming. Today, we look at Isaiah 2:1-5, where we see the kingdom of perfect peace that our King promises us.
On this Sunday before Thanksgiving and last Sunday of the church year, we wrapped up our Set Free series by giving thanks for all the grace that God has shown us. The sermon is based on Philippians 4:4-9 where we learn the gospel promises that allow us to rejoice in the Lord always.
This week in our Set Free series, we're talking about Judgment Day. And while the judgment part of Judgment Day usually gets all the attention, today we're going to see that there's powerful gospel comfort in Judgment Day as well. In 2 Thessalonians 1, we'll see three pieces of gospel comfort and one piece of gospel encouragement.
We're continuing our Set Free series, and this week we turn to Revelation, where John writes about a hope for the future that has the power to bring joy to our lives in the present that will help us deal with difficult circumstances here on earth.
Freedom. That's what Reformation is all about, and that's what Galatians 5 is all about. Paul tells us in this section that we have been set free for freedom. In this sermon we learn what we've been set free from, and how we can use the freedom we've been given.
This week we start a new sermon series called Set Free, where we're looking at the freedom we have been given by God's grace. This week we look at 1 John 2:15-17 to learn what it means to be set free from the slavery of desire.
As we wrap up our LIVE NOW series, we look at 1 Peter 4:7-11, where Peter tells us how to live lives of love in the last days.
It seems like no one knows how to rest anymore. We live at a frenzied, hurried pace for so much of our lives, constantly running from one activity to the next. This week in our LIVE NOW series, we look at the idea of rest in the Bible, focusing specifically on Psalm 116:7.
As we continue our LIVE NOW series looking at how we use God's gift of time, we turn our attention to the topic of work. In Ecclesiastes 5, Solomon is going to show us how to find joy and contentment in our lives and in our work.
As we continue our LIVE NOW sermon series, we turn our attention to the story of Mary and Martha. From the story, we learn two dangers to watch out for when it comes to using God's gift of time, and the one thing that's most important for us.
It seems like lately everyone is busier than ever. We're all living life at a frenzied pace trying to do it all, but feeling like we haven't accomplished anything of value. That's what we're going to talk about in our new series LIVE NOW. In this series, we'll look at what the Bible has to say about God's gift of time and how we use it. Today we look at Psalm 90, where Moses tells us where our time comes from, where our problems with time come from, and what the solution is.
Hosea's life was messy. His marriage was filled with one heartbreak after another, and yet in this messy marriage, we see an incredibly beautiful picture of the grace of God that redeems and restores his people.
This week in our Hard Truth series, we look at Jesus' statement that to follow him was must "hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters." But that's just one way Jesus is getting at his main point that we need to count the cost of following him. When we do, we learn that it will be hard, but it is undoubtedly worth it.
As we continue our series called Hard Truth, we look at the words of James 2, where we hear about the damage we can cause others by showing favoritism. And yet James also shows us a mercy that breaks down our barriers and shatters our judgments. He shows us that Mercy Triumphs Over Justice.
This week in our Hard Truth series, we look at Jesus' statement, "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door." As we look at this statement, we'll see that the narrow door to heaven is wide open.
There are a lot of passages in the Bible that seem harsh or even offensive to us at first glance. But in this series we’ll see that as we dig into those difficult sayings, we find real truth that applies to our lives and leads us to a deeper understanding of God’s love for us. Today we look at Jesus' words: "I have not come to bring peace, but division."
There are plenty of times in life where we're faced with situations we can't see the way out of. That was the case for Jehoshaphat and his army in 2 Chronicles 20. As we wrap up our People of Prayer series, we look at Jehoshaphat's prayer for guidance, which is a prayer that teaches us what to do when we don't know what to do.
As we continue our People of Prayer series, today we look at David's prayer of thanks from 1 Chronicles 29. In this prayer, we learn that the secret to living a generous life is recognizing the giver behind our giving, the attitude behind our giving, and the gift that enables our giving.
Times of darkness are inevitable in life. There are going to be times we feel like everywhere we look, there's only darkness with no hope for a brighter future. That's where Heman found himself when he wrote Psalm 88. From this prayer of darkness, we learn three things about times of darkness in our lives: times of darkness will come, they serve a spiritual purpose, and they are not the end.
This week in our People of Prayer series, we looked at Elijah's prayer for fire in 1 Kings 18. This story teaches us that there is a right way to pray, that how we pray shows who our God is, and that knowing who our God is enables us to pray the right way.
As we continue our People of Prayer series, we look this week at the story of Hannah praying for God to give her a son. This story shows us how God changes our hearts and brings us through our silent struggles stronger than we were before by reorienting our hearts toward him.
This week we're starting a new series called People of Prayer. We'll be studying different stories of prayer in the Bible with the goal that as we learn from people of prayer, we become people of prayer. This week we look at Abraham's prayer for the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. From this story we learn that in prayer, we want to emulate Abraham's humble audacity that comes from knowing who we are and who God is.
As we wrap up our Reconstructing Church series, we look at Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the temple, and we see the amazing grace contained in these three words: God dwells here.
As we talk about Reconstructing Church, it makes sense that we take a look at our foundation. Today in our sermon from Jeremiah, we see the results of building on the wrong foundation. God encourages us to build on the foundation of his Word, and his Word will work from the inside out to change in our hearts and our actions.
There's so much in this blessing that God gives us. He gives us insight into his nature as our Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He tells us what he promises us as his children. And he shows us that he has a blessing for each and every one of us.
This week we started a new series called Reconstructing Church. In this series, we'll talk about the negative perceptions people have of the church and how we can reconstruct church as a place of community, a place of truth, and a place of love. Today we talk about reconstructing community based on our Old Testament lesson from Genesis 11:1-9.
Links: Pentecost Map: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1 Kintsugi Bowl: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jDMwX3m6SWbVoi6udvEOAgWWuu82lJ8R/view?usp=sharing
This is a story worth telling over and over again. The story of Saul's conversion is repeated three times in the book of Acts alone. So what makes it such an important story? Three timeless lessons: lessons about the history of the Church, human beings, and how the Church works.
This week as we continue our Witnesses series, we look at the story of Jesus' ascension from Acts 1:1-11. From this story, we learn what the meaning of Jesus' ascension is for us.
This week as we continue our Witnesses series, Pastor Ben Schone leads us through Revelation 5:11-14, where we see John's eyewitness account of his vision of Jesus.
In the third of our eyewitness accounts of the risen Christ, we see Jesus bringing everything full circle for his disciples, and especially for Peter. We also get a taste of what life will be like for us as Jesus' disciples as he sends us out with his Gospel message. We learn that we can trust the power of his Word, and that he'll provide for our needs.
This week we continued our Witnesses series as guest preacher and Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary student Collin Wenzel shared a message with us based on the story of Thomas. In this lesson we learn how Easter Changes Everything, both for Thomas and for us.
Why are these disciples walking away downcast from the news of Jesus' resurrection? Why do we often feel like we aren't getting what we expected from Jesus? Why do we feel like Easter hasn't really changed anything for us? Those are the questions we consider as we look at Luke 24:13-35.
Happy Easter! Jesus lives! In this sermon, we see how Jesus' resurrection has the power to change your life. It has the power to resurrect your hope and your sense of optimism for the future. It has the power to fill your life with confidence and clarity. Because Jesus' resurrection means the death of death.
As we begin our journey with Jesus to the cross this Holy Week, we look at Isaiah 42:!-4, where we learn that Jesus came as a humble servant to bring justice to the world.
Why do we celebrate a crucifixion that happened two thousand years ago? And what does it mean for us today? Those are the questions we focused on in our Good Friday sermon based on Isaiah 52-53.
This week we look at Philippians 3 where Paul shows us the flaws of self-righteousness, and where we see the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus.
This week we continued our Crushed sermon series by looking at the parable of the prodigal son. It's a story that teaches us what it looks like to be lost. But more importantly, it's a story that shows us what the grace of God looks like.
Why do tragedies happen? It's a question that's been debated for about as long as human beings have been alive. It's that question that Jesus answers for us today in our reading from Luke 13:1-9. From this reading, we learn why two of our most common answers to this question are wrong, and we learn what the right answer is.
As we continue our Crushed series, we look at Luke 13:31-35, where Jesus shows unwavering determination to save us. Based on this lesson, we look at the shortcuts we often take that derail our spiritual goals and how to find our own shortcut-defying determination.
This week we kicked off a new series for the season of Lent called Crushed. In this series, we'll see how there are all kinds of things in our lives that feel like unbearable, crushing weights pressing down on us. But in his amazing grace, God not only relieves us of that burden, he crushes the things that threatened to crush us. Today we'll see how that's true of temptation as we look at Hebrews 4:14-16.
This week we spent time contemplating the glory of God shown to us in the face of Jesus, which we see so clearly on Transfiguration Sunday. The sermon focuses on the Epistle reading for Transfiguration, which shows us how we too can be transformed, as well as where the power for that transformation comes from.
As we wrap up our Come and See sermon series, we look at the second half of the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman. In this story, we learn how our eyes can be opened to see the people and the opportunities that God places in our lives on a daily basis.
This week we look at Jesus' statement that he will give us living water that will satisfy our restless, searching souls. As we look at this statement from Jesus, we'll learn three things about the living water Jesus offers: who it's for, why we need it, and where to find it.
This week we look at John 3, where Jesus tells Nicodemus that he must be born again to enter the kingdom of God. "Born again" is a phrase that can have a lot of different meanings to a lot of different people, so today we looked at what the phrase really means Scripturally, and how it applies to our lives.
Today we had a guest speaker, Pastor Andy Westra, from Christ Our Refuge Lutheran Church in Waco, TX. He spoke to us this morning about being God's tools to reach out to the world with the saving message of the gospel.
Today we look at the story of Jesus cleansing the temple. From this story we learn lessons about who Jesus is, how we worship him, and our relationship with him.
What do you do when things don't go according to plan? Today we look at the account of Jesus attending a wedding where things weren't going according to plan. When he stepped in and revealed his glory as the Son of God, it gave us a sign of things to come. It showed us that when Jesus acts, it is often unexpected, it is always driven by his purpose, and it is always on his timetable.
This week we look at the beginning of Jesus revealing his glory as the Son of God. After being baptized by John in the Jordan River, Jesus now calls his first disciples to follow him. In this story, we're invited to come and see Jesus as he answers our doubts, and as he exceeds our expectations.
This week we kick off a new sermon series called "Come and See" that will look at the life of Jesus from the Gospel of John. We start with the opening verses of John's Gospel which are poetic and packed with meaning. From these verses we learn about how Christmas was a new beginning for us.
So often in our lives we're faced with problems that we can't see the way out of. We are, like Isaiah says, walking in darkness. But into that darkness, a light shines. That is what we celebrate this Christmas Eve.
This week we wrapped up our Coming Soon series with a look at Matthew's account of the birth of Jesus. When you see these events from Joseph's perspective, you realize there was a lot of stress, fear, and heartbreak in the days before Christmas. So today we look at how God's promises bring us rest, even when our lives are a mess.
As we journey closer and closer to Christmas, we're starting to get closer to the birth of Jesus in the Christmas story. This week we hear the announcement the angel Gabriel made to Mary, that she would be the mother of the Messiah. But why did God choose Mary, of all people? The answer is that Mary, like us, was chosen by grace. We look at what that means in today's sermon.
How do we handle it when God is silent? Today we look at the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth and see how God broke his silence both to Zechariah and Elizabeth, and to the people of Israel who were awaiting a Savior.
The promised Savior was a long time coming. Today we look at the fulfillment of that promise, starting with the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1. While it might not look all that exciting at first, this opening to Matthew's Gospel tells us a lot about who Jesus is and what he came to do.
This Sunday we wrapped up our sermon series and the church year with a celebration of Christ the King Sunday. As we look at Daniel 7:13-14, we see how Jesus is a king unlike any other who rules over a kingdom unlike any other, and his kingdom will have no end.
This week we continued our sermons series called The End Times. The service theme this week was Saints Triumphant. We turned our attention to Daniel 12:1-3 to see what awaits us when we get to heaven.
As we continue our sermon series called The End Times, we turned our attention to what will happen on the Last Day. In Malachi 4, we learn about the reality of Judgment Day, the judgment of Judgment Day, and the comfort of Judgment Day.
We're kicking off a new sermon series called The End Times for these last four weeks of the church year. This week we celebrated the festival of the Reformation, and to do that we looked at Jeremiah 18:1-11, where God shows us that he never stops reforming his people and his church.
As we wrap up our Be Someone series, we look at Jesus' words from Mark 10:35-45. Today we learn that Jesus was and is the original servant leader, we see how we can be servant leaders, and how the idea of servant leadership causes us to redefine greatness.
"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." This is one of the hard sayings of Jesus that can be troubling for us. What are we to make of it? Today we'll unpack that statement, seeing why it's so dangerous to be rich, and how we can be the right kind of rich.
This week we had a special guest speaker, Pastor Lucas Bitter from our sister church, Intown Lutheran in Atlanta, Georgia. He continued our Be Someone series with the encouragement from Matthew 28:16-20 to Be a Missionary.
We all have our goals in life. We don't just want to be average. We want to be great. We want to be someone. But how do we do that? This series, based on the teachings of Jesus in the Gospels, will answer that question. We'll consider the downfalls and dangers of our own ambitions, and we'll learn what godly ambition looks like as we strive to be someone in God's kingdom. Today we learn from Mark 9:30-37 what it looks like to be great in God's sight.
As we wrap up our Known sermon series, we take a look at Psalm 139:13-18, where we join David in praising God for his wonderful works.
This week we continue our Known sermon series with Psalm 139:7-12, where we learn about the inescapability, the necessity, and the desirability of God's presence.
As we celebrate the 1st anniversary of our church, we look back at the past year, remembering both the challenges and the blessings. Then we look toward the future with hope thanks to the unfailing love of God.
This week we kick off a new sermon series based on Psalm 139. In this Psalm, we learn about three of God's attributes: his omniscience, his omnipresence, and his omnipotence. Today, we look at the first six verses of the Psalm and see how God's omniscience gives us comfort in our prayer life, in our conscience, and in times of loneliness.
In the last week of our Exodus series, we looked at the incredible ending to the book of Exodus. As we wrap up this series, we're reminded where our peace comes from in life, and we're encouraged to follow God's glory all the way home to heaven.
Who is God? If you ask 10 people, you'll probably get 10 different answers. But this week, God tells us who he is in his own words. From this lesson, we learn who God is, what God does, and what that means for us.
This week in our walk through Exodus, the Israelites sin against God by bowing down and worshiping a golden calf. As we look at this story, we'll examine the progression and the symptoms of idolatry, and then we'll find God's answer for our idolatry.
This week the Israelites meet God at Mt. Sinai. As we prepare to meet God, we look at the law God gives us. From the law we learn that as we prepare to meet our God, we must meet him on his terms and through his mediator.
This week in worship we continue to follow the Israelites on their journey through the wilderness, and today they reach Mt. Sinai. At Sinai, God teaches us a lesson about the order of salvation: that he first shows us his grace, then he gives us his law.
This week in our Exodus series, the Israelites fight their first battle. But even when they fight, they don't have to fight alone. They fight with the power of God on their side. From this lesson, we learn that in our battles, we fight with the power of God at our back, and with our fellow Christians at our side.
This week we take a look at the story of God providing food for the Israelites in the wilderness. Through this story, we learn some lessons about complaining. We learn the problems with complaining, how God answers complaining, and how to conquer complaining.
This week we continued our Exodus series with a look at the story of the crossing of the Red Sea. From this story we learn how God saves us from impossible situations.
Map: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QHFUvkwrZeyQyx9BX1lX9MQ5XKtykjgx/view?usp=sharing
Happy Fourth of July! This week as we continue our Exodus series, we look at the tenth plague God brought on the Egyptians: the plague of the firstborn sons. This can be a disturbing section of the Bible, but from this lesson, we learn about the speed of God's judgment, the purposes of God's judgment, and the diversion of God's judgment.
This week, after seeing God work behind the scenes for the first two chapters of Exodus, we get to see the LORD come down and intervene to rescue his people. As we see him call Moses, we learn how to overcome self-doubt and answer the call God gives us.
This week we had a very special guest preacher, Pastor Dave Bivens. Pastor Bivens led the Inner Loop Bible study that eventually turned into Hope Lutheran Church. This week, Pastor Bivens shared a message with us that reminded us of the mysterious power of God's Word to make his kingdom grow.
This week we look at a defining moment in the life of Moses. A moment that would change the trajectory of his life forever. From this moment in Moses' life, we can learn some valuable lessons about how to handle our own defining moments.
This week we kick off a new sermon series walking through the book of Exodus. In this sermon, which serves as in introduction to the series, we'll see what lies ahead throughout the book: God overcoming any obstacle in his path to give his people a way out from suffering, slavery, and sin.
As we wrap up our Asking For A Friend series, our final question is "What does Jesus expect from me?" To do that, we look at a story from Mark 14:3-9.
This week in worship, we celebrated the festival of Pentecost. We also continued our Asking for a Friend sermon series, looking at the question "Doesn't Religion Just Divide People?"
Are we really supposed to believe that the devil and demons are real? If so, how does that affect our lives as Christians? Find out in this week's sermon based on Mark 5:1-20.
This week's sermon continued our series called "Asking for a Friend." This week we looked at Job 28 to learn about the relationship between faith and science.
This week's sermon comes to us from our mission counselor, Pastor Matt Vogt. He encourages us, based on the lesson from Acts 5:29-32, to take the leap of sharing our faith with others. While it can be frightening, it is also exhilarating. And we know that as we carry out this privilege of evangelism, God will always be with us, working through the words he gives us to speak.
This week we look at the question, "Can I trust the Bible?" First we look at the history of the question, then we move on to Peter's answer for the question, and the basis for his answer.
This week we continued our Asking For a Friend series with the question "Why is there so much pain in the world?" To address this question, we looked at Mark 1:40-45 to see where pain comes from and what God does about it.
This week kicks off a new series called Asking for a Friend. In this series, we'll take a look at commonly asked questions about Christianity, and see what the Bible says about them. This week we introduce the series with a question we've all asked: "What if I have doubts?"
This Good Friday, we find comfort from the uncomfortable truth that we were there on the first Good Friday as Jesus gave his life to save us.
This Palm Sunday sermon continues our Uncomfortable series, focused on the parts of our Christian life that push us out of our comfort zone. Today we examine the concept of Uncomfortable Humility, which we see both in Jesus' entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, and in the sermon reading from Philippians 2:1-11.
This week we look at the familiar story of the Good Samaritan. Jesus explains for us what exactly it means to love your neighbor. As we study this parable, we see the magnitude of love Jesus expects, and the motivation for that love.
This week we looked at John 3:14-21, and learned about our uncomfortable mission to share the love of Jesus with the world.
This week we look at Jesus' prayer from the night before he died. In that prayer he tells us that our unity as Christians will be a powerful witness to the truth of the gospel. In this sermon we'll learn the need for unity, the source of unity, and the results of our unity.
Temptation is naturally uncomfortable. When you're tempted, you're either uncomfortable because you're not doing something part of you wants to do, or your uncomfortable because you're dealing with the guilt of doing something you know you shouldn't have. We confront this struggle with temptation in this week's sermon from Mark 1:12-15.
This week's sermon kicks off a new series for the season of Lent called Uncomfortable. In the series, we'll talk about the different times Jesus calls us to get out of our comfort zone for the sake of him and for the Gospel. This week we look at Mark 8 and learn about the Necessity of Discomfort.
In this week's sermon on the Transfiguration account from Mark 9:2-9, we saw who Jesus really is. We have a tendency to try to control Jesus and to tell him what to do. But after seeing his glory in the Transfiguration story, we have no choice but to listen to him.
Who are you working for? In our sermon from this week, we learned that the answer to that question is the key to getting a fresh start in your work mindset.
This week we continued our Fresh Start sermon series with a look at Colossians 3:18-21, where we see how we can get a fresh start in our family life.
With everything going on in our world today, how does God want us to act as Christians? That's the question this week's sermon will answer, based on Colossians 3:12-17.
In the last week of our Christ Begins sermon series, we looked at the story of Jesus baptism to see what it means for us!
Did you have a hard time getting back to the routine this week after the holiday break? Check out this week's sermon, where we find Meaning in the Mundane as we look at a story of the boy Jesus in the temple.
This week we celebrated the festival of the Epiphany, as we looked at the story of the wise men. This story teaches us that God is willing to go to incredible lengths to save you, whether you're close to God, or far from him.
This week we started a new sermon series called Christ Begins. Today, Pastor Hans Thomford took us through Luke 2:25-40, where we learned that our Salvation is Made Evident.
This Christmas Eve, we took a fresh look at the story of Jesus' birth from Luke 2. In this story, we see how Jesus brings us peace, which is exactly what we need, and exactly what the world needs.
On our final Sunday before Christmas, we look at the prophecy of the Savior from Micah 5, where we learn that Jesus will be born in the small town of Bethlehem, and he will be our peace.
As we continue our sermon series on the Old Testament prophecies of the Savior, the picture gets clearer every week. This week we look at 2 Samuel 7 and learn that a King is coming, and along the way, we learn what our legacy is as believers.
This week's sermon focused on Job 19, where we learn that Jesus our Redeemer is coming to give us back everything sin has taken away from us.
As we count down to Christmas, our sermons will focus on Old Testament prophecies of the coming Savior. This week we look at the very first promise from Genesis 3 that tells us 'Our Savior is Coming!'
This week we wrap up our series called The Moral of the Story. We look at the parable of the talents, and see how God's generosity leads us to give thanks by working for him in freedom, not fear.
This week in worship we continued our series on the parables of Jesus called "The Moral of the Story." The focus of the service today was "Keep Watch," based on the Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids from Matthew 25.
This week we started a new series called The Moral of the Story, where we're looking at the parables of Jesus. This week we learned from the parable of the unmerciful servant that forgiveness sets you free.
This week we wrap up our Hope Changes Everything series with a sermon based on Romans 5:1-11. Paul is going to show us that the peace we have in Christ is the cure for any kind of pain we face in life.
As Christians, we don't have to worry how our story is going to end. We know that because Jesus rose, we have the certain hope that we will too. And that hope changes our perspective on life.