St. Peter Lutheran Church, Arlington Heights, Illinois

When the Pharisees and religious leaders grumble/murmur over the outcasts who are coming to hear Jesus, He continues with a second consecutive parable. Jesus tells of a woman who has 10 silver coins. When she loses one coin, she lights a lamp, sweeps her house, and searches diligently until she finds it. What is lost must be pursued until it is found! When the woman finds it, she also celebrates w...

When the Pharisees and religious leaders grumble and murmur over the outcasts who are coming to hear Jesus, He tells three consecutive parables that reveal the true heart of God and dire condition of mankind if left to himself. In this first parable, a shepherd loses 1 of his 100 sheep. Without hesitation, the shepherd leaves the 99 and goes after the 1. When he finds the lost sheep, he doesn’t sc...

When Jesus crosses to the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, he is met by a man who had a legion of demons in him. The demons would often seize him, empower him to break chains and bonds, and drive him into the desert. Jesus drives the legion out of the man and into a herd of pigs who rush down a steep bank and drown. When townsfolk come to see what had just taken place, they see the man sitting...

When a lawyer seeks to justify himself by loving God with his entire being and his neighbor as himself, he asks Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus tells of a Jewish man who travels from Jerusalem down to Jericho. The man was robbed, stripped, beaten, and left for dead by thugs. A Jewish priest and a Levite both see him yet pass by on the other side of the road. However, a Samaritan responds to...

This posture is one of our favorite characteristics about St. Peter. When Peter compares followers of Jesus to newborn infants, he is not suggesting that they/we are spiritually immature; rather, as newborn babies crave food every 2-3 hours (8-12x per day), Peter desires that very longing in us but for pure spiritual milk (i.e., God’s holy Word). The Greek word for long here is epipotheo, which me...

Jesus doesn’t mince words. In the story of the rich fool, He warns us against placing our hope and trust in earthly things that will all eventually pass away. While it may seem challenging at first, His invitation to a truly good life turns out to not only be the key to eternal salvation, but also the best way to live today!

This is the second largest portion in 2 Thessalonians. There are a few able-bodied believers within that congregation engaged in a habitual pattern of laziness and refusing to work with their own hands. This is now the second time Paul has addressed the issue there (cf. 1 Thess 4:9-12; 5:14); his patience has run out. Paul points to his own manual labor among them and calls them to imitate his res...

Paul follows his prayer for the Thessalonians’ comfort and steadfastness in chapter 2 with a prayer request of them; in fact, his imperative “pray” is both emphatic in position (stressing its importance) and in the present tense (desiring it to be continual among them). His prayer request is twofold: that (1) the word of the Lord would speed ahead/run (Gk: treko) and be glorified as it had among t...

Though Paul had to address 2nd coming speculations circulating in the Thessalonian church and the enormities of the Man of Lawlessness, his real exhortation comes in these ensuing verses. He calls us back to the work of the Trinity in our salvation: God chooses us, the Lord (Jesus) loves us, and the Spirit makes us holy and leads us to believe in the truth that we may obtain the glory of Christ. B...

Paul teaches Christians that the coming of Jesus and our being gathered to Him will not come until THE apostasy comes first, followed by the revealing of THE man of lawlessness – who will oppose and exalt himself above everything that is called God, take his seat in the temple of God, and even claim to be God. His coming is clearly the work of Satan with all power, false signs, and wonders. Though...

When we look at the greed, injustice, murder, abuse, trafficking, and other evils in this world, we question: “Why do bad people doing evil deeds seem to get away with it and even live happy, prosperous lives?” The same goes for those who persecute and mistreat the church physically and socially, as Christians in Thessalonica were suffering at the hands of others. Paul commends their faith-enduran...

Graphic depictions of The End can be found in tabloids, books, prophecy websites, Hollywood, and social media – images evoking fear, global catastrophe, bewilderment, chaos, violence, survivorship, calculations, and a host of doomsday scenarios. The End has become an obsession in some church circles too. For the truth, WE always turn to Scripture alone, and yes, the Bible gives its fair share of g...

Every human life has one of two foundations: either the sand of this world or the bedrock of Jesus and His words. Only that latter foundation will last now and for eternity.

Today the Christian church celebrates Pentecost – the anniversary of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon believers 50 days after Jesus’ resurrection. To this point in Acts, the Holy Spirit has already been spoken of as the coming promise of the Father, being baptized into Him, receiving power for witness when He comes upon you, and all believers being filled with Him. Peter mentions in his fir...

In today’s text, Jesus reaches the end of His earthly ministry. In a mountain scene, Jesus ascends in resurrected glory from earth to the Father’s right hand. As the disciples were gazing into heaven, two angels in white robes stood by them and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him go...

When 10 disciples tell Thomas that they saw Jesus alive on Easter evening, he proves the most unyielding skeptic. In the strongest possible way in Greek (ou mn + subjunctive), He refuses to believe their testimony that Jesus lives; he even puts a demand to God before he will believe for himself. The cross had obviously shattered Thomas’ messianic world to pieces. One week later, however, Jesus app...

In the darkness of Easter morning, Mary Magdalene goes to Jesus’ tomb and sees the stone has been removed. She runs to tell Peter and John who also run and verify the empty tomb, but they return to their homes. Mary, however, stands outside Jesus’ tomb and weeps. In her evaluation, everything with Jesus just went from bad to worse, for someone must have removed Jesus’ body and laid it in an unknow...

The appearance of the resurrected Jesus on the Emmaus road to Cleopas and an unnamed disciple is one of Luke’s most vivid and dramatic tellings. Three themes dominate today’s text: (1) the irony that the empty tomb had not yet created excitement among Jesus’ closest followers; in fact, the two travelers express deep disappointment in Jesus’ death, which they view as a big setback. (2) Jesus – stil...

Some time between Day 9-40 after Easter, Jesus gives seven of His disciples a miraculous catch of fish and breakfast-on-the-beach. Following breakfast, Jesus has one-on-one time with Peter. Jesus begins by addressing Peter exactly as He did when He first called and renamed him in John 1:42, “You are Simon, the son of John.” Jesus is deliberately working to help Peter pick up the pieces from his tr...

John beholds quite a sight: he turns and sees the exalted Son of Man in full glory in the midst of the seven lampstands (i.e., the seven churches which also represent the universal church)...meaning this Jesus is right here among us. His picture in Revelation 1 is nothing short of stunning. Jesus has a robe reaching to His feet (Priestly), a golden sash girded across His chest (King), head and hai...

This letter from Jesus has the harshest tone of them all and is the only church in which Jesus finds nothing to commend. An aqueduct from hot springs in the south brought water rich in minerals to the city; however, because the hot springs themselves were 5 miles away, the waters were lukewarm by the time they reached Laodicea. In His concerned love, Jesus condemns the church in Laodicea for its i...

Inscriptions in Philadelphia mention the worship of Zeus and Hestia; the Roman imperial cult was present too. A nearby inscription mentions a synagogue as well. Jesus, who holds the key of David, sets before His church an open door – a phrase in the NT for spreading the gospel and giving witness to Christ. Though they have little power in themselves, probably for lack of numbers, He commends them...