Preaching and Teaching from St. John Ev. Lutheran Church (Sherman Center), Random Lake, Wisconsin

1 On the same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea. 2 And great multitudes were gathered together to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore. 3 Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Some fell on stony...

33 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. 34 Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. 36 But...

22 Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw. 23 And all the multitudes were amazed and said, “Could this be the Son of David?” 24 Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, “This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.” 25 But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to...

9 Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue. 10 And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And they asked Him, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—that they might accuse Him. 11 Then He said to them, “What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? 12 Of how much more val...

1 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!” 3 But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: 4 how he entered the ho...

Lord God, You will not be housed in walls or bought with ceremonies, and You see through every lie we tell ourselves at Your gate. Tear down our false trust, and give us the faith that hears Your voice and follows it. Let us dwell not in a house made with hands but in Christ, the true Temple, torn down and raised for us. Amen.

This is the freedom no country can hand you, and no fireworks can celebrate. It is not the open sea where you answer to no one and drown alone, but the net of the love of Christ, where you are held so fast you cannot be lost. The free conscience, finally forgiven, is not the one that answers to nothing. It is the one that no longer has to run, because the blood of Jesus has already answered for it...

20 Then He began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent: 21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for...

2 And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples 3 and said to Him, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?” 4 Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: 5 The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them....

32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. 34 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. 35 For I have come to ‘ set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-l...

16 “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. 17 But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues. 18 You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. 19 But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak...

So hear this, you who are afraid your faith is too small, you who lie awake wondering whether you’ve become a cloud without water. That very fear is the Holy Spirit still at work in you. The wilderness generation did not lie awake worrying that they had fallen away; they were sure of themselves. The man who cries “help my unbelief” is not the apostate. He is the one Jesus heals. Your salvation doe...

Matthew 9:35–10:15 (NKJV) 35 Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. 36 But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. 37 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest...

Join the congregation of St. John in prayer each day at 9 a.m. CST. We meet as a congregation for Divine Service each Sunday at 9:30 a.m., Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., and on festival days, where God serves us with His gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation. WEBSITE: https://sjrl.org   SUPPORT: https://sjrl.org/donate   SERVICE BULLETINS: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1omip_adCkH9LlnL8LXWUWdYG-tM...

You have been somebody's disciple since the day you were born, and Jesus warns that you never rise above your teacher — given enough time, you simply become him. The world is a blind guide that trains us to judge first and forgive slowly, and we have become blind guides ourselves, reaching for the speck in a brother's eye with a plank in our own. But there is another Teacher: Jesus is the...

Acts 15:1–21 (NKJV) 1 And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2 Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and elders, about this question. 3 So, b...

READING Matthew 9:14–26 (NKJV) 14 Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?” 15 And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. 16 No one puts a piece of unshrunk clo...

Matthew 9:9–13 (NKJV) 9 As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him. 10 Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your...

The First Commandment is not chiefly about the gods we refuse to build, but about the trust of the heart: whatever it clings to in the day of trouble is its god. Jerusalem clung to its walls and its waters and never looked to the Maker, and when God called it to mourning it answered with a feast and the creed of the hopeless — eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. To such hardened impenitence the La...

A fig tree in full leaf promises fruit and has none. Jesus curses it, then walks into a temple just as green — crowded, busy, alive to the eye — and finds the same thing: a house of prayer turned into a market, all show and no figs. James names it a third time: a church that seats the rich man in the good place and the poor man at the footstool. Leaves without fruit. Dead faith — the kind the demo...

June 22, 2026

June 23, 2026

The religious men accused Jesus—“This Man receives sinners and eats with them”—and He took it up as His glory, answering with the lost sheep and the lost coin. The affliction that sweeps through your life is not a club driving you out but a broom sweeping you home: His pursuit, not your punishment. He lights the lamp of His Word, finds the worn coin that still bears His image, lays the sheep on Hi...

June 22, 2026

June 21, 2026