St. Paul's Lockport Sermons

Sermon for Holy Monday with the Passion According to St. Mark What were the disciples expecting when they went to Gethsemane? An ascension like Elijah? A conquest like David? They certainly were not spiritually prepared. This is why Christ must go to the cross for sinners, to take our sin, and give His strength and life.

We face many dangers in this world, even from other people. If God had not been on our side, we would never be able to overcome temptation or oppression from man. Thanks be to God, our help is in the name of the Lord, the name we are given in our baptism.

"Assuredly I say to you, if anyone keeps My Words, he will never see death." This word enrages Christ's enemies, but is sweet comfort to those who trust in Him. For we will all face death, but in Christ, we do not face it alone, nor forever.

Who is the Christ? When the man born blind is healed, no one is allowed to say. If the leaders of the Jews had read Psalm 132 rightly, they would have seen Jesus. Jesus is the true Son of God, who now makes His place in the Zion of the church, where people gather to receive His Word and Sacrament.

Laetare, the fourth Sunday in Lent, is a day of refreshment before Passion Week and Holy Week. On this day, as we consider Christ's miraculous feeding in the wilderness, we realize that we have physical and spiritual needs which can only be fulfilled by faith in Jesus Christ.

The Scriptures talk about life as consisting in Two Ways - the Way of Life and the Way of Death. We are brought into the Way of Life by Christ in baptism, and He keeps us solid and secure in that Way by His grace. Psalm 125 is a pray that we would say in that way and never fall away or into hypocrisy.

When Gabriel comes to the virgin Mary and announces the good news that she will bear a Son, everything changed. It was the beginning of God's big reversal of the curse. It was the beginning of our salvation, and the end of the devil.

There are two ways of looking at the Christian life. One is to make it like a hobby, a trinket, a small compartment which fits and molds to the greater part of your life. The other is to see the Christian faith as making you a new person, who is now separate from the life you had before. St. Paul tells us about the latter in Ephesians 5.

We continue our study of the Psalms of Ascent with Psalm 128, which speaks of the blessings for the man who fears the Lord and walks in His ways. Joseph, known as a "just" man, was one such man. Even though being Christ's guardian he faced many difficulties, he is an example of faith, fear of the Lord, and walking in his ways.

Reminiscere means "remember" and on this second Sunday in Lent we want God to remember us as we also remember that He is our only sure help. With the example of the Canaanite woman, we see what it looks like to cling to Christ as one's only help with strong faith. The Psalm of Ascent for today, Psalm 121, teaches to call on God as our only, sure and eternal Help.

Our second sermon on the Psalms of Ascent is on Psalm 131. Psalm 131 tells us to be calmed and at rest in soul like a weaned child with his mother. This comes from the soul being in a state of humility before God. God Himself grants that this may come to us by His grace.

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, faced every temptation and conquered the devil in our place. In our baptism, we have become sons of God. When we are tempted, we are being asked to abandon the good inheritance we already possess. The Lord's Supper is here to strengthen us to hold onto that inheritance.

Psalms of Ascent - Psalm 130 - Our first sermon on Psalms of Ascent for lent midweek services. Psalm 130 is a cry for mercy from the depths of sin. Although we are like watchmen trying to keep our eyes open waiting for morning, we know that soon the sun will rise. Our trust in the hope of the promises of God is even greater.

Quinquagesima, fifty days before Easter, Jesus tells his disciples clearly that he is going to Jerusalem to suffer and die. The disciples do not understand, but a blind man sees clearly who Jesus is. Let us be like the blind man, calling out, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.

Sexagesima Sunday is about sixty days from Easter. As we get nearer to Lent, our Lord teaches us in the Parable of the Sower how faith is created, the dangers to faith in this life, and how to persevere in faith to produce much fruit.

Septuagesima begins Pre-Lent, 70 days before Easter. As we enter pre-lent, we refresh our minds and souls toward what is really important, repentance and forgiveness of sins, faith and its fruit. Here we see by Daniel's example how to redeem the time even when we find we have wasted it.

We can apply this in a similar way with our faith, it is hidden, but it is not secret. Christianity is not a religion of secrets. As we see, once Christ rose from the dead, everything is told. When people join our church, they are not being initiated into something secret. We have here a public worship service where everyone is welcome. We teach publicly the Small Catechism and the Scriptures. Thi...

So when Simeon sees this little baby, it’s not just that he’s cute. Simeon takes the child in his arms and blesses God and sings this song “Lord now you are letting your servant depart in peace…my own eyes have seen you salvation.” Simeon is saying “I can depart, I can die, because I have seen Jesus. I have seen the one who is going to save us all. I’m done, there is nothing more I need.” That is...

Second, we see Joseph and Mary’s faith in that they were always diligent in worship. We might think of the Jews as a people who universally observed all of God’s laws, but that was not the case at all. Especially in the north in Galilee, where the holy family lived, there was known to be a general lax attitude when it came to religion. Mary and Joseph don’t let their distance, their poverty, or th...

So if this is what Paul, apostle of Jesus Christ, says our pastors should be, we should hold him to it. Hold me to it. God has called me not to be Lord over you, but to lead you by example in teaching and life. If that doesn’t happen, the pastor has no right to be there. 

But Jesus always saves the best for last. This is the miracle that looks forward to the greatest miracle. In Jesus’ death and resurrection, He takes on our sin and guilt, and pays the punishment for us. As He is crucified and all of God’s wrath is upon Him, He continues to be the innocent Son of God. Then He rises from the dead on the third day, Sunday, the day of new creation. 

. For Jesus, all the world has set up as His enemy. He has come as a king into a world that hates Him. He comes as the light into a world that loves darkness. But Jesus does not fight against flesh and blood. He is not anointed to conquer all sinners, captured them, and sentence them to death. He is anointed to save flesh and blood sinners whom He loves from the true enemies – sin, death, and the...

Herod is not particularly religious. He feigns being Jewish, but isn’t. He has no piety at all, or interest in the scripture. He hires people to do that for him. But Herod must deal with the fact of this king of the Jews being born. It is not something which is left for theologians to debate, but is right there, affecting his very livelihood and life. Epiphany shows us that a light has come into t...

For Christ to come in humility, he relates to every struggle of the humble. He isn’t some powerful king who doesn’t know what it’s like to be poor or despised. He knows what it is like to be hated, pursued, and cursed. All this He does out of love for us. When we face difficulty, mourning, or feel ignored or lonely, our Lord Jesus Christ is with us. He died and rose again to be with us through tho...

The twenty-fifth day of December. In the five thousand one hundred and ninety-ninth year of the creation of the world from the time when God in the beginning created the heavens and the earth; the two thousand nine hundred and fifty-seventh year after the flood; the two thousand and fifteenth year from the birth of Abraham; the one thousand five hundred and tenth year from Moses and the going fort...