St. Paul's Lockport Sermons

Sermon for Sexagesima Sunday. Our own idolatry is believing that the Word of God Does not produce fruit. The solution is to hold to the Word of God with patience and steadfastness.

Sermon for Septuagesima Sunday. Paul compares the Christian life to that of an athlete – all compete but not all win the prize. Just training and participating does not mean the crown is yours All in the wilderness could claim being a part of Moses’ group, being their from the beginning, but they did not seek the prize – they fell in the wilderness and only Caleb and Joshua of that generation coul...

Preached at Matins service for Northern Illinois Confessional Lutherans.

Sermon on the Feast of the Transfiguration. Only through Jesus Christ can we approach God. This is how he comes down and touches us. The thin place between heaven and earth is not on the mountain of transfiguration. It is here, where Christ promises to be. Where Jesus commands to baptize in his name, he is there. There in the water is God Himself, giving his life to these little children.

Sermon for the Baptism of Our Lord (observed) In John’s gospel, we run into John the Baptist where everything is done and over for him. He’s completed his mission. The baptism is done. He has identified the Christ, and now is pointing his own disciples, Andrew and Peter, James and John, to follow Jesus instead. As he says “He must increase, and I must decrease.” To reveal, to point, and bear witne...

Sermon for Epiphany (Observed) Nothing in the human senses can perceive over such great distances as the eye – and nothing transmits to the eye over such great distances as light. It’s said in good conditions can one can see a lighted match in the dark many miles away. From ancient times lighthouses have been used to keep sailors away from shoals – even in heavy storms the light comes through. And...

Sermon for the Eve of the Circumcision and Name of JESUS And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. What’s in a name? Now that my wife is pregnant with our third child, we are, of course, going through the exciting discussion of what to name the child. We know names are important – often we choose the...

The gospel of John begins the same way as the book of Genesis at the start of the Old Testament: in the beginning. John wants us to know that this is a testimony of the work of God that is just as important as that creation account written by Moses at the very beginning. The Word who was there in the beginning with God creating the world is the same Word who John writes about in His gospel. When w...

Sermon for the fourth Sunday in Advent, Rorate Coeli. Guest preacher - Rev. Richard Bellas

Sermon for Commemoration of Katharina Von Bora Luther, Advent 3 Midweek Today’s saint to end our advent midweek services is a little different. In comparison to Nicholas and Lucia who lived in the 300s AD, Katharina Von Bora Luther is almost modern, dying on this day in 1552. She is not classically regarded as a saint, but is a saint both in the sense that all who have faith in Christ are saints,...

Sermon for Gaudete Sunday, the Third Sunday in Advent Today is a day of joy, even though we hear about John in prison. Because joy is not one that comes from circumstance, but from our Lord Jesus Christ. John directed his disciples to Christ in order to get final assurance that it was to him he would be accountable. When we realize all things are accountable to Jesus Christ, we live in a different...

Guest sermon by Rev. Richard Bellas on the Feast of St. Lucia of Syracuse.

Sermon for Populus Zion, the second Sunday in Advent Christ describes the end as not a winter, but the end of winter, the beginning of spring leading into summer. What we experience now is the winter, even with all the marvelous gifts God has given us in this life, he has an eternal summer of even more gifts to bestow on us in the life to come.

Sermon for Advent Midweek Service on St. Nicholas' Day What if our work here was not for us just to get the prize, like gifts from Santa, but to be the work of Jesus Christ in the world. That was what St. Nicholas thought that He was supposed to do. That is what we as Christians are really being a part of. We are the vanguard of the new world, established by Jesus cross and resurrection and contin...

Sermon for the First Sunday in Advent - Ad Te Levavi You think it’s kind of weird how everyone acts at the triumphal entry? Here we have Jesus coming in on a donkey, and everyone is partying, shouting, people throwing cloaks and branches on the ground. What is the true Christian expectation and preparation for Christmas? Prepare for Christmas by recognizing our need for a righteous King. Jeremiah’...

Sermon for the Last Sunday of the Church Year Thinking about the End of the World is not just a Christian thing. All sorts of people postulate an end all the time. They set forth their own prophecies, and because it is scientific or not put in religious language we don’t think to compare it to what God says in scripture. In the Cold War, the popular description of the end was a huge nuclear war be...

Sermon for Thanksgiving Day “IT’S MY MONEY AND I WANT IT NOW!” This is essentially what the man who calls out to Jesus is asking when he asks Jesus to help them divide his inheritance. It was the kind of thing Moses had to do all the time, so much that his father in law finally convinced him to delegate some of the authority. But Jesus says, who set me up to be your judge, and money-divider? Jesus...

Sermon for the Second Last Sunday of the Church Year (Trinity 26) St. Peter describes the Last Day and gives a diagnostic in a way about how we look at it and what our response should be. I.               Scoffers mock the last day. II.               Weak Christians fear the last day because they value earthly things over God and do not trust God’s love. III.               True Christians look for...

The end times are a popular source of discussion among Christians. In America in the last 150 years or so, there has been a lot of speculation and interpretation about the end times. You can get these huge confusing charts that purport to interpret every prophecy in the Bible. But the stress of this can cause a lot of fear, not knowing, what do we need to know? Are we keeping up on current events...

Sermon for All Saints Day. THE STATE OF BELIEVERS BETWEEN DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION I.               They are safe in God’s hand, dwelling with Christ in Paradise II.               They are not in any way interacting with this world III.               They are anticipating the great day of Christ’s Return with us

Sermon for Reformation. Luther wrote, “O Lord Look Down From Heaven Behold” inspired by this psalm. It was sung in the town of Lubeck by a poor blind man, and when the town council heart it, favoring the papal cause, they banned him from the town. Then in St. James church the next Sunday, the preacher began to pray for the dead, as was custom, and two young boys began to sing this, followed by the...

God never wants us to doubt what he says. He is always sincere in His gospel call. Gospel reading and Sermon for the Twentieth Sunday after Trinity.

We never want to use alien faith in a way that assures people in their sin, falsely. But alien faith is a wonderful use and assurance for those of us who believe. Christ recognizes alien faith. He recognizes your prayers and intercessions for your loved ones. He is hearing you and he wants you to keep holding on. He shows it right here in the gospel with these men who bring the paralytic.

Zedekiah feared the opinion of powerful men rather than God. He did not love God with all his mind, but put fear as a priority over that love, and so did not defend his family either, loving his neighbor less than himself. This common way of life exemplified by Zedekiah, a son of David, was why Jeremiah preached that Jerusalem would be destroyed and Judah would go into exile.

Christ’s humility demonstrates three important things – the hatred of the world for the lowly, the example of his love we are to follow, and the way He won salvation for those who never asked.