Grace Alone Online

We continue to preach through Paul's letter of Romans.  Last Sunday, Paul presented "Christ, our Deliverer".  This Sunday, he presents his readers to "God, Our Father."  God claims sinners His children and heirs through the sacrificial death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ.  God is Father to all creation, but creation has abandoned God.  He delivers them through...

Continuing on in our sermon series on the book of Romans, Paul talks about our struggle to be faithful to Christ and not sin; about doing what we do not want to do instead of what we know to be that very thing which pleases the Lord and shows our love for others. Paul’s answer is illustrated through a common image known to all during the life of Paul …. Through an image on a silver chalice. As Chr...

4th of July reflections on the opening phrase of the Constitution "We  the People in order to form a more perfect union..." has meaning deeper  than the individual person, or the individual person's history.  An  interesting parallel exists between what the history of our constitution  means for us today, and what Moses tells the people of Israel in Deut.  5:1. (And,...

Power is one of Paul’s main themes in the letter to the Romans. Last week we saw the power of God, through Christ, in Baptism. Paul, however, presents both the power of the Law and the power of the Gospel throughout his letter. But the power of both are totally different. Today we explore Romans, chapter 7:1-13. Here we learn that the power of the Law never justifies and never makes us righteous....

Today we begin a study of Paul's letter to the Romans beginning with chapter 6 and continuing through to the end of the Epistle.  Every week we will take a different chapter, and a different message.  Today we begin with Baptism.  Why in the middle of the letter to the Romans?  Why not the beginning?  There is a good reason....listen and find out.  You may also join u...

Rev. Michael Lange, President of the California, Nevada and Hawaii District of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod is our guest preacher today.

On Trinity Sunday the Matthew 18:19 passage in which Jesus sends his  disciples into the world to preach and baptize in the name of the  father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit (The Trinity).  Little attention  is given to Jesus' words before His command that say, "All authority in  heaven and earth has been given to me."  In our society today, with  protests, ri...

Pentecost - the pouring out of God's Holy Spirit at the Festival of first Fruits (Shavuot), in Jerusalem - is the day which God confirms Christ as Lord in and through the Apostle's preaching.  He (God) takes a legal obligation of Moses, to give thanks for the first fruits of harvest, and make is a celebration of the first fruits unto eternal through the resurrection of Christ Jesus.  We...

Glory and suffering don't go together naturally.  In our culture we have the phrase NO PAIN, NO GAIN.  All the responsibility for gain and glory in our culture is through our own suffering.  And, when we don't get the glory we think we should - many would say it is because we didn't have enough pain in the training, or whatever.  We are bent on thinking that our glory comes at...

"In Christ...."  This phrase is used all the time by Christians to describe their salvation.  In fact, it is used so frequently it almost becomes cliché and void of what it really means.  What DOES it mean to be in Christ?  St. Paul uses it some 164 times in his 13 epistles alone.  I believe the secret is Jesus' teaching in John 14:1-14.  Jesus reveals two things abou...

We are in the Fifth Sunday after Easter, and yet John 14 takes us back to the beginning of Holy Week when Jesus teaches his disciples shortly after Palm Sunday.  His goal is to prepare them for this week of suffering, trials, his crucifixion and resurrection.  He starts by saying, "You believe in God; believe also in me."  And then moves to tell them he is going to the Father to pre...

Jesus enters and greets His disciples after His resurrection.  They are afraid as if they had seen a ghost - which Jesus is NOT.  Jesus teaches them - AND US - about our fears, our hurts and our hesitancy in light of His resurrection.  Listen in to valuable comfort and encouragement.

I loved show and tell as a kid.  In second grade of elementary school every Friday we had to bring something that interested us and share and talk about it in front of the class; it was our very first public speaking opportunity.  Luke has a "show and tell" story at the end of his Gospel that we will investigate today.  Find out what this "show and tell" event is about!

Jesus says to his disciples, "Peace be with you."  He says it no less than three times in the space of a few sentences.  And though statement "No peace, no Jesus - Know peace, know Jesus" is trite, it is also true.... but perhaps not in the way you think it is.  There are differences between the Roman (and our) concept of peace and what Jesus shares with his disciples in John 20. &n...

Most every Easter, John 20 is read as the ultimate narrative for the resurrection.  It is the g-to text for Easter; Mark 16:1-8 is not.  In most lectionaries it is avoided or simply not read.  It is not dramatic at all.  It leaves you hanging.  The women who go to the tomb leave running from it in fear and bewilderment.  They don't even see Jesus.  What was Mark...

Today is Palm Sunday!  Jesus rides into Jerusalem, the city of peace over which he cries because they kill the prophets and God's messengers.  and, they will kill him.  Why will people not listen to God's beckoning call to trust in Him alone.  Why do they seek only themselves and their own destruction?  Jesus weeps for His people, and us, who are obstinate to come to Him i...

Row, Row, Row Your Boat is a well-known children's song.  But, this song comes to mind when talking about the river of life that we are on.  Christians are on a river of life, eternal life.  It is marked by being swept away by God's grace in the waters of Baptism.  God controls the river, the current, and we can either actively engage ourselves with where it is taking us throug...

This is the fourth Sunday in Lent, and also the second week of lockdown in PIttsburg, California.  Today's we explore the Dark Side of God.  The metaphors we find in Scripture are Light and Darkness.  Light is almost associated with Christ in the New Testament.  In Old Testament, God's glory and holiness is enshrouded in darkness.  In Genesis, in fact, we are told that God...

For this and next Sunday, our worship services at Grace Lutheran Pittsburg, California, will be online - in an audible format.  This is due as a prevention of contamination from the Corona virus in our area.   Today's Lenten meditation is GOD'S WILL and MY IDENTITY.  The focus for today is on Mary, the mother of Jesus.  So many myths, stories, legend surround this amazing woman...

King David had big plans for the Lord.  He was going to build him a temple.  He didn't think that the Lord should live in a tent while He, King David, was living in a palace.  His dreams were inspired by the Holy Spirit, and approved by Nathan, the prophet, that told him to go ahead and build it to serve the Lord.  David was happy.  But that was not the Lord's plan.  ...

ALL NEW SERMONS AS OF FEBRUARY 23.  Today is the First Sunday in Lent.  Lent is the period of self-examination and repentance in spiritual preparation for the death and resurrection of Christ marked by Palm Sunday, Holy Week and Easter Sunday.  Tbis Lenten series focuses on specific characters of the Bible.  Today is MOSES. We explore the texts of Exodus 4, Numbers 20 and Numbe...

For the last six weeks "old sermons" have been posted as we have been doing other things in the congregation that simply could not be posted.  TODAY IS A NEW SERMON.  We end the season of the Epiphany with the Transfiguration of Jesus.  Why did this happen!  Why was Jesus transfigured before three of his disciples, and in the presence of Moses and Elijah?  For whose benefi...

My  faith is running on empty.  So should yours!  In his letter to the  Corinthians, Paul takes issue with a problem Christians were having  about the tension between what was preached and the proof of that word.   This tension exists for us too.  For example, to say, "I love you" is  empty and meaningless unless it is backed up by "proof".  So wha...

Luke's  story of a miraculous catch that Jesus did brought a new calling to  Peter and the disciples.  But the question is...what exactly was the  miracle?  If not the two boatloads of fish, then what?  Listen to why  Jesus did this and why Luke includes it in his Gospel.

Paul says that these three remain "faith, hope and love" but that the greatest of these is "love."  Why is that, do faith and hope fail at times?  Is he referring to God's love, or to human love?  This 1 Corinthians passages is a well known passage to Christians and non-Christians alike turning 'love' into something of a cure all.  But our love is not powerful nor authoritative...