SPLC Sermon Podcast

In Luke 5, Jesus borrows a fisherman's boat, preaches to a crowd, and then tells Peter to do something that makes zero sense: go back out to the deep and drop the nets again after a failed all-night fishing trip. What follows becomes the foundation for Peter's calling and for understanding what the church actually is. Pastor Grant traces the Old Testament echoes of the deep sea as a plac...

Jesus' famous teaching about the log and the speck is usually taken as a warning to stop judging other people. But that's not really what He's saying.  In this sermon on Luke 6, Pastor Karl Grant argues that Jesus isn't telling us to keep our eyes on our own bobber. He's instead telling us to deal with our own sin first, under God's mercy, so that we can then clearly...

Luke 15 gives us three of Jesus' most beloved parables — the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son — but we rarely hear them the way they were originally delivered: all at once, aimed at religious insiders who were furious that Jesus would welcome outsiders to his table. In this sermon, Pastor Karl Grant shows how these parables build to a single point directed at the Pharisees — and at...

When a Pharisee at dinner blurts out, "Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God," Jesus doesn't disagree. Instead, He tells a parable that makes us wonder who actually makes it to the table.  In this sermon on Luke 14:15-24, we walk through the Parable of the Great Banquet and ask: if the feast is so great, why would anyone turn it down? And what does it mean tha...

In Jesus' parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, a wealthy man who feasted every day ends up in torment while a destitute beggar is carried by angels to Abraham's side. It's a dramatic reversal, and it all apparently hinges on hearing God's Word. Abraham's answer to the tormented Rich Man's request is simple: "Your brothers who are still alive have Moses and the pr...

On Holy Trinity Sunday, it's tempting to spend the whole sermon trying to explain how God can be three-in-one. Instead, Pastor Karl takes us into Jesus' nighttime conversation with Nicodemus in John 3:1-17 to show that the Trinity is the name of the God who acted to save you. From the Father's love, to the Son lifted up on the cross, to the Spirit's work in the waters of baptis...

Most of American Christianity treats the Holy Spirit like He's in charge of vibes: get the right music, the right lighting, the right atmosphere, and maybe people will "feel the Spirit." But what if that's actually insulting to the Third Person of the Trinity? On the Day of Pentecost, we don't know that the fire hovered over the disciples' heads like invisible candles...

This sermon falls in the liturgical "in-between" after Christ's Ascension but before Pentecost, and it asks a question the first disciples must have been wrestling with: "How does the Church carry on without Jesus physically present?" The answer from John 15:26–27 is that Jesus himself sends the Holy Spirit from the Father, and it's the Spirit's testimony about C...

What happens when a congregation keeps faithfully loving its community even when the method of ministry has to change? Guest preacher Rev. Erik Gauss, an LCEF ministry partner and pastor from Yorkville, Illinois, brings a message tailor-made for Rogate Sunday (the Sunday the church focuses on asking God in prayer). He weaves together the Latin meaning of Rogate (ask) with St. Peter's campaign...

On this Confirmation Sunday at St. Peter's Lutheran Church, five young people stand before their congregation to claim the faith as their own — and the sermon explains why the Holy Spirit is the one who makes that moment possible.  Drawing from Jesus' farewell words in John 16, we hear why Christ's departure from the visible church was not only a loss: the Spirit came to take everyt...

In the book of Ezra, the older generation wept at the sight of the newly laid temple foundation because they remembered what they'd lost. Meanwhile, the younger generation shouted for joy because they had nothing to compare it to. Both groups had one thing in common: their joy was built on what they could see and measure. And joy like that is fragile.  In this sermon from the second week of a...

Every pastor, every teacher, every Director of Christian Education—they're all transitory. So what holds a congregation together when staff changes, ministries shift, and uncertainty creeps in? As St. Peter's kicks off its Heritage of Proclaiming His Power campaign, this sermon looks at Jesus' Good Shepherd discourse in John 10 to answer that question with three characteristics of t...

Thomas got to see and touch the risen Jesus. His response was the boldest confession of faith in the Gospels: "My Lord and my God." But then Jesus says something unexpected: those who believe without seeing are even more blessed. So how does that work? How do people who never walked into that upper room get the same thing Thomas got? There are three answers, and none of them are vague or...

This Easter sermon digs into Mark 16:1-8 and the surprising emphasis Mark places on the body of Jesus. The empty tomb is historical proof that the payment for sin was accepted in full. And the angel's message wasn't reserved for the faithful. The "young man" specifically names Peter, the disciple who cursed and swore he didn't know Jesus just days earlier. The gospel, it t...

Throughout Lent, we've been asking the Suffering Servant of Isaiah why he suffers and what God's promised salvation actually costs. On Good Friday, we finally answer the question: how does this Servant accomplish the salvation of the world?  Isaiah 53 gives us three answers: the Servant bears our sorrows without complaint, He absorbs the full weight of God's righteous wrath against...

If you were sold into slavery for nothing (no price tag, no value assigned) how exactly would you buy your way back out?  In Isaiah 52, Isaiah paints three vivid pictures:  captives redeemed at absolutely no cost to themselves,  a messenger whose announcement of peace turns ruined-city watchmen into a choir,  and a God who rolls up his sleeves in plain sight of every nation on earth.  The result i...

When Greek visitors came looking for Jesus during Passover week, they expected to meet a celebrity miracle worker. Instead, Jesus told them his true glory was about to be revealed on a Roman cross . In this Palm Sunday sermon from John 12:20–43, we learn why Jesus called his crucifixion his "hour of glory" and what that means for anyone who claims to follow him. The sermon points out thr...

When Moses ratified God's covenant with Israel, he threw sacrificial blood on the altar and on the people. In addition to being dramatic and messy, it meant something: these people now belonged to God.   On Maundy Thursday, we see that same pattern fulfilled in a far greater way: Jesus takes bread and wine and says, "This is my body. This is my blood of the New Covenant." What happe...

God told a 100-year-old man to kill the son he'd waited 25 years to receive. At first it seems like one of the most disturbing stories in the Bible. But when you see what it's really about, it turns out to be one of the most beautiful.  On the fifth Sunday of Lent (known as "Judica"), this sermon walks through Genesis 22 in vivid detail. But the sermon doesn't stop in the...

Isaiah 51 tells God's people to "look to the rock from which you were hewn." In this Lenten midweek sermon, we hear God redirect a people who are seeking Him but looking in the wrong place. He points them back to Abraham and Sarah (one man as good as dead and a barren woman) to show that His saving work has never depended on what He finds inside of us. The sermon traces a line from...

Five barley loaves and two fish is all Jesus had to work with when thousands of hungry people came streaming toward Him. St. John tells us "He already knew what He was going to do." So why did He ask Philip where they'd buy bread?  This sermon from John 6 explains that Jesus deliberately tests His people with impossible insufficiency to draw their trust away from numbers and toward...

In this midweek Lenten sermon from Isaiah 50, we see that the Servant's willingness to endure beatings, humiliation, and disgrace is the posture of an obedient disciple who trusts completely in the God who sent Him. But how do we actually handle suffering when it comes? The sermon explores two dead-end responses — panicking and wondering if God has abandoned us, or pretending we're too t...

When Jesus heals a mute man by casting out a demon, some people accuse him of using Satan's power rather than God's. Jesus responds by explaining that He operates "by the finger of God" (the same divine power that brought plagues on Egypt!). The spiritual war between Christ and Satan continues today, and every baptized believer is caught up in it. What we generally don't e...

Isaiah 49 introduces us to the Servant: God's chosen one, commissioned before birth and armed with God's word. It sounds like we're off to a good start, but then the Servant openly admits that his mission seems fruitless. "I have labored in vain," he confesses, "I have spent my strength for nothing." This sermon explores how the Servant (whom we know to be Jesus)...

In Luke 18, we encounter a striking irony: Jesus tells His disciples exactly what will happen in Jerusalem (betrayal, suffering, death, and resurrection) yet they understand nothing. Meanwhile, a blind beggar beside the road immediately recognizes Jesus as the "Son of David," the promised Messiah.  This sermon explores the difference between physical sight and spiritual sight, challengin...