Sandhills Lutheran Ministry Podcast Series

Pastor Jon focuses on the words of Paul in the Epistle reading to frame or introduce the massive and massively important account of Jesus’ passion and death. The homily on Philippians 2:5-11 is about 10 minutes in duration. After his homily, Pastor Jon keeps the recording going to let the hearer listen meditatively on a reading of the Gospel for Passion Sunday: Matthew 27:11-66. During this Holy W...

This sermon is based on the Old Testament reading from Ezekiel 37 for the Fifth Sunday in Lent. Readings for the Fifth Sunday in Lent include the following:  Ezekiel 37:1-14; Psalm 130; Romans 8:1-11: John 11:1-53 Pastor Jon starts with a central image based on a painting by Edvard Munch entitled, "By the Death Bed." It would probably help to look at this painting prior to listening to t...

All human hearts produce idols, that is, false-god substitutes for the one, true God. Idolatry preys on us by blinding us to the unrestrained goodness of God the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. We may think that God is absent. In our text from Isaiah 42:14-21, God makes us aware that He is active in our lives with his goodness (42:13-15). God shows his great goodness by leading the blind because...

The sermon entitled, "The Lord is Among Us," is based on Exodus 17:1-7, which is the Old Testament reading for the Third Sunday in Lent.  The Gospel reading for Lent 3 is John 4:5-26. May the hearer confess and marvel at the presence of Christ!

This sermon, based on the Old Testament reading (Genesis 12:1-9) for the Second Sunday in Lent, is called, “Father Abraham.” May the Spirit of God conform the hearer to the pattern of Abraham – the man of faith.!   The Epistle reading is Romans 4:1-8, 13-17 and the Gospel reading is John 3:1-17 and both are referenced in the sermon. The sermon outline is a definition of faith and is provided here...

This sermon on Genesis 3:1-21 for the First Sunday in Lent will focus on that promise made to Eve and Adam that one day her descendent, a seed, would crush Satan’s head. The New Testament of course identifies that head-crusher: Jesus. May you, dear listener, engage in an earnest battle against sin and temptation since Christ has broken Satan’s final power over us all.

  Isaiah 58:3-9a -- Originally preached on the Fifth Sunday of Epiphany, February 5th, 2023 at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church, Hyannis, NE. Pastor Jon is back with the sermon podcast. As we consider this reading from Isaiah, may the Holy Spirit work lives of mercy, justice, and service in the hearer. 

Jeremiah: Overcoming Through God’s Word (March 3): God’s Word is the compass for our hazardous journey called what? Life! What two letters are in the middle of the word “life”? IF! Life is one big IF! Without God’s Word we’re doomed. We turn to Jeremiah 1:1-5 for direction. Jeremiah: Overcoming Life’s Sorrows What do you do with your disappointments? Sorrow? Pain? Jeremiah becomes a God-given exam...

He Brings Glory– (February 27th) -- Luke 9:28-36 Jesus sets his face toward Jerusalem – Jesus leaves the glory of this sort for the glory of the cross. Here we get the steely resolve of Jesus to see this mission through. In this sort of an approach, the transfiguration would be a last moment of heavenly bliss for Jesus before undertakes his bitter suffering and death. Is it almost a temptation for...

He Brings Love (February 20th, 2022) -- Luke 6:27-38   May the hearer, enabled by the Holy Spirit, to love his/her enemies and foes with the same Love which came down at Christmas, walked the shores of Galilee, died on a cross, and rose from the dead. During this season of Epiphany, we are using the idea of unwrapping a gift. Jesus is of course the gift to us, given at Christmas and Epiphany is wh...

He Brings Blessing – (February 13th) But how shall we preach this? Law and Gospel are the only way. The Law serves the Gospel. The woes are not final judgments, but the instrument by which God calls people to trust in Christ and in Christ alone. May the hearer be crushed by the reality of sin and restored by the reality of Christ. Other helpful readings: Jeremiah 17:5-8 and Psalm 1. During this se...

He Brings Purpose (February 6, 2022)   Why am I here? What is your purpose? One of the gifts that Jesus brings is purpose. The miracle of the catch of fish and the call of Peter, first among the 12 disciples, is an occasion for the Holy Spirit to awaken or strengthen a sense of purpose in the hearer – God’s church is His net cast into the sea (Matt. 13:47). During this season of Epiphany, we are u...

Have we displaced Jesus from his lordly place of being our rescuer and deliverer from all afflictions, the world, our own sin, and the Devil’s schemes? In our meditation on the Gospel reading, Luke 4:31-44, may the Spirit of God expose the vulnerability of the sinner and comfort that sinner with the protection of Christ! Jesus brings rescue from our foe. During this season of Epiphany, we are usin...

He Brings Life (January 23rd, 2022):  In Exodus 1-2, the unnamed Pharaoh creates his own version of Heartbreak Hotel in three stages:  State Slavery, Private Infanticide, and Open Genocide. It’s against this backdrop that Moses is born.  Five courageous women align themselves with life instead of death. All for Moses. Someone who will bring Israel out of Pharaoh’s Heartbreak Hotel! We’re all stuck...

He Brings Joy -- Jesus cares about your joy. John wrote in another place that “your joy will be complete” (Jn 15:11). Jesus brings joy. How does God then make our lives places of joy as a result? How can we view the brokenness of God’s creation? How do we become more Christ-like with this gift of joy? During this season of Epiphany, we are using the idea of unwrapping a gift. Jesus is of course th...

Introduction to a new Sermon Series for the Season of Epiphany -- Unwrapping the Gift: Having just completed the Christmas season with its gift giving and receiving traditions, we are using the idea of unwrapping a gift. Jesus is of course the gift to us, given at Christmas and Epiphany is when we get to unwrap it slowly, marveling at each facet of this gem. But this series is also looking ahead –...

Yes, God has redeemed and forgiven us, lavished grace and wisdom upon us, but all this is because God has a purpose, a goal which in fact is not about making me happy or meeting my perceived needs. He is uniting his whole creation, heaven and earth, once more. My forgiveness, my resurrection, all of it, belongs to that purpose.

Merry Christmas! With a better understanding of the redemptive nature of the Incarnation, it is our prayer that the Spirit of God would push the hearer out of the pew/their chair and into life as a new person, bought back from sin, death, and devil to be a witness to Christ’s love. A sermon for the First Sunday after Christmas based on Exodus 13:1-3a, 11-15, Colossians 3:12-17 and Luke 2:22-40.

Luke lets us see this through the eyes of a Jewish peasant girl from a nowhere village called Nazareth. How does God’s kingdom see this world? We see through the eyes of power, money, etc., but is that accurate or the best lens? Mary, visited by an angel, pregnant with a child by the Holy Spirit, greeted by a yet-unborn John the Baptist might just give us a better lens by which to view this world...

The previous two Sundays have given us an opportunity to reflect on watchfulness for the (final) coming of the Son of Man and on the appearance and mission of John the Baptist. This Gospel of the Third Sunday of Advent brings these two figures together and addresses the matter of expectations from a variety of perspectives: John’s expectations of the Messiah, the crowds’ expectations of John, and...

Sermon Outline: To Faith, the Voice That Urges Us to New Life in Christ Is a Glad Sound . . .     I. . . . Even when it calls us “You brood of vipers!”    II. . . . Surely as it commands us to “Bear fruits in keeping with repentance.”   III. . . . So that we gladly reply, “What shall we do?”

The sermon theme for the First Sunday of Advent is God is making me blameless. The Epistle reading invites the hearer to abound in love for one another and for all people. This sermon would connect this life we lead right now with the second coming of Christ.

The text for Christ the King Sunday is Revelation 1:4b-8. Reading and hearing this text gives us the hopeful expectation that the Lord of time and life, Jesus the Christ, comes to save, restore, and reveal the eternal life which belongs to the hearer by baptism. The other readings for this day include Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14 and John 18:33-37.

This text from Hebrews 10:11-25 invites and inspires us to draw near to Him with a holy confidence as we love one another and this world, all of which Christ has rendered holy with his life’s blood. 

All Saints Day has this great prayer: “Almighty and everlasting God, You knit together Your faithful people of all times and places into one holy communion, the mystical body of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Grant us so to follow Your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living that, together with them, we may come to the unspeakable joys You have prepared for those who love You; through Jesus Chris...