Sure Foundation Lutheran Church

"Idol" - that's a word that you'll here from the Bible and in church from time to time, but what does it mean? When we think of "idols," we tend to think about images made out of wood or stone that people treated as if they were gods. But an idol, is more than just a constructed image. An idol can be anything that takes the #1 spot in your heart. God wants that spot, but if you supplant God with s...

There is a war happening and you don’t even see it. This war is over your soul… you are wanted – by God and by the devil. You are important to both of them, but for different reasons. God fights for your soul because he loves you immensely and unconditionally. He fights for you because he is full of grace and mercy, because he desires your eternal good. The devil wants your soul for different purp...

Is it wrong to have ambition? Is it wrong to want to be great? The disciples were arguing on the road to Capernaum about who was the greatest and Jesus asked them about it. But, it is interesting that Jesus doesn't rebuke the disciples for their ambition, for their desire to be great. Jesus does direct the disciples to where their ambition ought to be directed - in humble service. That's a difficu...

There is a battle going on around you that you can't see, but the Bible clues us in. The Bible tells us that the devil and his demons are on the attack. Yet, many don't believe this to be the truth proving the famous quote from Charles Boudelaire true, "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was to convince us that he doesn't exist." The Bible warns us about this very real enemy. He is a liar; h...

Grit, mental toughness, self-sufficiency - these are all seen as incredibly useful, positive things for our life. Different things are thrown at us all the time and the people with grit seem to handle it. We aspire to that because, if we are honest, a lot of things affect us. Well, Jesus has a message that goes against our self-sufficient culture. You cannot be spiritually self-sufficient. You can...

What makes someone clean or unclean? That's the question at the center of the discussion in Mark 7. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law believed that their cleanliness was on the basis of the law. If they kept the law, this would make them clean in God's eyes. That's what they thought. Jesus said differently. He said that nothing outside of a person can defile a person by going into a person...

Jesus spoke plainly to the people and an argument ensued. The Jewish people were arguing and we get this question as context: "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" But, Jesus isn't done yet. In verses 53-59, Jesus points more explicitly to himself as the Bread of Life, as the one who has been sent from God. The things that Jesus said were impossible to accept without eyes of faith. Eyes of...

Jesus has just made a beautiful promise - those in him will never be hungry or thirsty again. But the lingering question from Jesus' statement in verse 35 is this: How do you come to Jesus? How do you believe in Jesus? Some believe that it takes a definitive act of your own will. Scripture rejects this again and again (1 Corinthians 2, John 6:44). So, how do we come to believe in Jesus? Jesus says...

The buzzword of the year in 2020 was "authentic" or "authenticity." People gravitated toward this word because they were disillusioned by people that were superficial or insincere. People wanted what was real, true, and authentic - and they still do. In this section of Scripture a group of people come to Jesus following the Feeding of the Five Thousand. They are looking for bread from Jesus, but J...

In this sermon, we dive into a lesser-known but powerful section of Scripture, exploring the conflict between Israel and the Arameans. Despite the Aramean King’s efforts to capture Israel, they always seem one step ahead—leading him to believe there’s a traitor in his ranks. However, the real source of Israel's success is the prophet Elisha, who can see beyond the physical realm. We discuss how th...

Our world is full of complex problems, so is our lives. Sometimes there is no clear solution to a complex problem. Other times the solution to the problem is just as complicated as the problem. But there has to be problems that have simple solutions. Elisha and his fellow prophets had a complex problem - famine. How were they going to find food? Well, a servant of Elisha's found food, but it wasn'...

Anyone, no matter who they are or what they've done, can find themselves in need. That's jarring truth. We like to think that the way we live or the character that we develop somehow protects us from hard times. The problem is: we aren't accurate assessors of what we actually deserve. However, God doesn't give us what we deserve, instead he gave his own Son the punishment that we deserved so that...

We are helpless without a clean water supply. We need that water. It is essential. In fact, most people will say that you can only last about 3 day without water. Water sustains life and without it we are helpless. That's how the people of Jericho felt. They were under a curse - a curse that God placed on Jericho at the time of Joshua. That curse seemed to extend to their water - it was bad. And t...

After all of the amazing things that God had done through Elijah, imagine being Elisha and thinking that you were going to follow Elijah as a prophet. How terrifying it must have been thinking that you would have to fill Elijah's shoes. Elijah would soon be leaving Elisha and Elisha was not fond of that thought. He loved and respected Elijah. And more than that, how could he possibly replace Elija...

Peter made a bold claim when speaking to Jesus, "I will even go to death for you." Not long after that statement, Peter denies Jesus three times. When faced with real threats, he succumbed to the fear of men. Would we be bolder and more courageous than Peter? Would we confess Christ if there was real danger facing us? We'd like to think so, but we also have sinful flesh. Sinful flesh that regularl...

Helicopter parenting and snowplow parenting both have something in common - control. Parents that parent this way want to have control, specifically of how their kids turn out. Ultimately, what is at the root of that is a distrust that what their kids have been taught will bear fruit. When it comes to the Word of God, we can always trust that it will grow faith and produce fruit. Even if we cannot...

The Book of Revelation is written in picture language. When you understand the context in which this was written, you begin to grasp just how comforting these pictures would have been for people at that time. The original recipients of this letter were heavily persecuted. Living in that environment, it may have been really easy to think that evil was winning and that the devil was getting his way....

How should we view the Law? That is the question at the heart of this section from Mark 2. The Pharisees had a fundamentally different view of the law than what God intended. The Pharisees saw the law as a way to get to God, as ladder of sorts. So, when it came to the laws surrounding the Sabbath Day, they viewed this as a way to prove their holiness. They even took it further - they added laws on...

On confirmation day, you make a promise before God and in front of a group of people. You make a confession of faith. You promise to remain faithful to God and his Word. After learning all that God has done for you, the promise is an easy one to make - the gospel motivates it. However, keeping that promise proves to be more difficult primarily because of three key factors: ❌ The influence of the...

One of the promises that we receive from Scripture is that if you seek to follow Jesus, you will face persecutions. Those persecutions may come in various shapes and forms. Just as God has warned us of these persecutions, he also promises that he is with us through them. Not only that, but he has left us his Word to cling onto during life's toughest times. God is so good that he doesn't even stop...

When you want to share comfort with someone who is going through a tough time, how do you formulate your thoughts? You might think about the content of your message - what are you going to say? You might think about the emotion that you want to convey - how will you say it? But those situations are rarely easy. And really, the comfort that you can give is limited. Tragedies cannot be undone. Losse...

Doubts are common (even among believers). They are common because we have a sinful human flesh that is weak, we are assaulted with doubts by the devil, and the sinful world that we live in rejects the message of Scripture. If you have had doubts, you are not alone. And God cares deeply about those doubts because he cares about you. He wants you to have certainty, so he comes to you through his Wor...

There are plenty of things in life where the meaning matters... big time! If you don't know the meaning, you may think something to be impractical or irrelevant. But, once the meaning becomes clear, so does the relevance and so does the importance. Such is the case with the resurrection. So, in this sermon, let's look at the impact of the Risen Jesus on Mary Magdalene, Peter, and John, because tha...

With so much bad news in world, why take time to hear about a brutal execution? Add to that thought this: why would you come and listen about a execution that was your fault? Despite the answers to both of those questions, it is called Good Friday for a reason. The Son of God sacrificed himself for the sins of the whole world. He wasn't a victim of circumstances, but he orchestrated circumstances...

The Passover was a big part of the life of the all the Israelites. It was a yearly celebration, where they remembered the great deliverance that God had worked for them from slavery in Egypt. This celebration was also a great opportunity to remember the Deliverer - the One True God. It is not coincidence that THE Passover Lamb, Jesus was sacrificed during the Passover festival. He was given as the...