St. Paul's Lockport Sermons

Sermon for the Twenty-First Sunday after Trinity We often think of faith as a binary thing – ones and zeros, on or off. We either have faith or we don’t. That is a Biblical way of looking at faith. There are believers and unbelievers. Without faith it is impossible to please God. No one enters the kingdom by kind of believing in Jesus Christ, you either do or you do not. There is no part way in th...

Sermon for the Twentieth Sunday after Trinity You can see that this parable does not let you rely on yourself in any way, or assume that you can be saved simply by hearing the call. But the solution is not despair. For the wedding is prepared by God out of love for lost sinners. He invites to the feast freely. His gifts are wonderful.

Sermon for the Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity But as baptized Christians, we have been given the new man in Christ. We are no longer stuck in the old way. As it says in the small catechism concerning what baptism indicates It indicates that the Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and ari...

Sermon for the Christian Funeral of Ramona Gudgel Confirmation Verse - Acts 4:12

Sermon for Michaelmas I thank you my heavenly father, through Jesus Christ your dear son, that you have kept me this night from all harm and danger, and I pray that you would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please you. For into your hands I commend myself, my body and soul and all things. Let your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no p...

Sermon for the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity. Guest sermon by Rev. Richard Bellas

Sermon for the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity There are a couple times in the Bible where we have an image of people being rescued by being raised or lowered in a basket. The spies in Jericho sent out by Joshua were lowered in a basket to safety to avoid the city guards. St. Paul also was rescued in a basket from Damascus when there was a plot against his life. So we will use that image of a rescu...

Sermon for the Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity God gives three remedies for worry – consider your importance compared to the birds and flowers who do not worry, consider that your heavenly Father already provides and you cannot add an hour to your life, and consider that true provision is found for body and soul in the kingdom of God and His righteousness.

Sermon for the Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity Yet Jesus is ignored by the world. We know of the many who do not believe in Jesus at all, that’s one thing. Another are those who would be happy to use Him, and then ignore Him. These may even be those in the church. The nine lepers who did not return were happy to use Jesus for a need. Once they were cleansed, they did not turn from the way they wer...

Sermon for the Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity You are a Samaritan and have a demon. This is what the Jews say to Jesus in John chapter 8. To the Jews, being a Samaritan and having a demon are equivalent. 700 years before Jesus, when the northern kingdom of Israel was destroyed by God for their wickedness, the Assyrian Empire took the Israelites of the northern ten tribes and scattered many throug...

Sermon for the Tenth Sunday after Trinity Let not only the example of the destruction of the old Jerusalem, but the promise of the glory of the New Jerusalem to come, ever drive us to cherish our Lord’s visitation here and now above all things. Lord, help us not to neglect you and Your Word, but ever attend to it, hear it, take it into our hearts. Amen.

Sermon for the St. Paul's Family Retreat Matins Service “In our world,” said Eustace, “a star is a huge ball of flaming gas.” “Even in your world, my son, that is not what a star is but only what it is made of.”

Sermon by Rev. Daniel Greg, pastor of Lutheran Church of the Holy Spirit, Elk Grove Village, Illinois. For Family retreat vespers service.

Sermon for the Ninth Sunday after Trinity Last week I spoke about our need to read the scriptures daily in order to distinguish between true and false teachers. You might have started reading, or have read before, and think, it’s mostly a bunch of stories, how does this help? Today I will tell you how to make the scriptures yours. They are your family stories. You are brought into the family of Ch...

Sermon for the Eighth Sunday after Trinity False prophets never appear to be false by outward signs (wool). What is wool? Wool is not evil. Wool is good, but it is not a good indicator is someone is a true or false prophet. Their fruits will be false teaching. You know their fruits by knowing the true teaching of the scriptures.

Sermon for the Seventh Sunday after Trinity Paul compares slaves to impurity and lawlessness to slaves of righteousness. As he says, when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Just like the slaves were free of all other duties, those who are enslaved to sin are certainly free from righteousness, from following God’s way. You hear people flaunt this all the time. They sa...

Are are two ways - the way of the righteousness of the Pharisees and scribes, which leads to death, and the way of the higher righteousness of Christ, which leads to life. The way of life is a way of reconciliation.

Sermon for the Visitation of Mary Mary’s song shows that God never forgets his promises. He remembers. His ancient promise to Abraham, the tenant of Hebron 2000 years before Mary, is fulfilled in her, his descendant, and her Son, Jesus Christ, as they come to his town to meet Elizabeth. It’s nothing to the eye, but all history is centering around this point, this person, Jesus, a little baby in he...

Guest sermon by Rev. Dan Gensch

Sermon for the Fourth Sunday after Trinity Judge not, and you shall not be judged. There we have – there is a judgment! It’s not that there is no judgment at all. And you should have noticed from the creeds and other parts of scripture that we believe Christ is coming to judge all the living and the dead on the last day. Our command not to judge is not, don’t judge, it’s mean – it’s don’t judge, a...

Sermon for the Third Sunday after Trinity The Pharisees and scribes are indignant that Jesus would associate with open sinners, even though these sinners and repentant and want to learn from Jesus. Jesus masterfully demonstrates to them the value that God sees in sinners. First he deals with money, which the Pharisees love, and finally gives the example of two sons who reject their father's love i...

Sermon for the Second Sunday after Trinity Those who have the pride of man-made religion will never enter the Lord's banquet. True Christians show true humility.

Sermon for the First Sunday after Trinity Jesus speaks of two men - a rich man who feasted sumptuously every day, and Lazarus, a poor beggat lying at the rich man’s door. Both of these men die. Both, we can assume, are Jews, and therefore in the flesh they are sons of Abraham. But Lazarus is carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom and the rich man is not. Even though they are both related to Abra...

Sermon preached on the Saturday after Holy Trinity, 2024

Sermon for the Feast of Holy Trinity Some may say the Athanasian Creed is all just words. But that is how we know things, by words, the words that God has given us. What difference does it make that God is Trinity? Why all these words are needed for us to know?