The Lutheran Sermon Podcast From Bethany

May 7, 2023 -- "Easter Eggs: Belonging" -- Pastor Kevin Kritzer, Bible Text: 1 Peter 2:2-10: 2 Desire God’s pure word as newborn babies desire milk. Then you will grow in your salvation. 3 Certainly you have tasted that the Lord is good! 4 You are coming to Christ, the living stone who was rejected by humans but was chosen as precious by God. 5 You come to him as living stones, a spiritu...

April 30, 2023 -- "Easter Eggs: Healing" -- Pastor Kyle Blake, Bible Text: 1 Peter 2:19-25: 19 God is pleased if a person is aware of him while enduring the pains of unjust suffering. 20 What credit do you deserve if you endure a beating for doing something wrong? But if you endure suffering for doing something good, God is pleased with you. 21 God called you to endure suffering because...

April 23, 2023 -- "Hope!" -- Pastor Mark Siegert, Bible Text: 1 Peter 1: 17-25: 17 So if you call God your Father, live your time as temporary residents on earth in fear. He is the God who judges all people by what they have done, and he doesn’t play favorites. 18 Realize that you weren’t set free from the worthless life handed down to you from your ancestors by a payment of silver or go...

April 16, 2023 -- "The Importance of Community" -- Pastor Kevin Kritzer, Bible Text: John 20:19-31: 19 That Sunday evening, the disciples were together behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jews. Jesus stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you!” 20 When he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were glad to see the Lord. 21 Jesus said to...

April 9, 2023 -- "A New Day!" -- Pastor Kyle Blake, Bible Text: John 20: 1-18: 20 Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary from Magdala went to the tomb. She saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb’s entrance. 2 So she ran to Simon Peter and the other disciple, whom Jesus loved. She told them, “They have removed the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they...

April 7, 2023 -- "The Staggering Cost" -- Pastor Kevin Kritzer, Bible Text: Hebrews 7:26-27: 26 We need a chief priest who is holy, innocent, pure, set apart from sinners, and who holds the honored position—the one next to God the Father on the heavenly throne. 27 We need a priest who doesn’t have to bring daily sacrifices as those chief priests did. First they brought sacrifices for the...

April 2, 2023 -- "How Does God View Our Possessions?" -- Pastor Kevin Kritzer, Bible Text: John 12:9-19: 9 A large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was in Bethany. So they went there not only to see Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom Jesus had brought back to life. 10 The chief priests planned to kill Lazarus too. 11 Lazarus was the reason why many people were leaving the Jews and bel...

March 26, 2023 -- "Where is God in the Midst of Suffering?" -- Pastor Kevin Kritzer, Bible Text: John 11:17-27, 38-53: 17 When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days. 18 (Bethany was near Jerusalem, not quite two miles away.) 19 Many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went...

March 19, 2023 -- "How Does God Speak To Us?" -- Pastor Kevin Kritzer, Bible Text: John 9: 1-7, 13-17, 34-39: As Jesus walked along, he saw a man who had been born blind. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, why was this man born blind? Did he or his parents sin?” 3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned. Instead, he was born blind so that God could show what he can do fo...

March 15, 2023 -- Mid-Week Lent -- "Lament: Stubbornness"  --  Pastor Eddie Cuen, Bible Text: Psalm 95: Come, let’s sing joyfully to the Lord. Let’s shout happily to the rock of our salvation. 2 Let’s come into his presence with a song of thanksgiving. Let’s shout happily to him with psalms.  3 The Lord is a great God and a great king above all gods. 4 In his hand are the deep place...

March 12, 2023  --  "Why and How Should I Tell Others?"  --  Pastor Kyle Blake,  Bible Text:  John 4:5-30, 39-42: 5 He arrived at a city in Samaria called Sychar. Sychar was near the piece of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s Well was there. Jesus sat down by the well because he was tired from traveling. The time was about noon. 7 A Samaritan woma...

March 5, 2023  --  "The God Who Is"  --  Pastor Mark Siegert, Bible Text: John 3:1-17 Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a member of the Jewish council. 2 He came to Jesus one night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that God has sent you as a teacher. No one can perform the miracles you perform unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus replied to Nicodemus, “I can guarantee this truth: No one...

February 26. 2023 -- "The Enemy Is Real" -- Pastor Kevin Kritzer, Bible Text:  Matthew 4:1-11 4 Then the Spirit led Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2 Jesus did not eat anything for 40 days and 40 nights. At the end of that time, he was hungry.  3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.”  4 Jesus ans...

February 22, 2023 -- "Who Knows?" -- Pastor Kevin Kritzer, Bible Text: Joel 2: 12-19 12 “But even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart—with fasting, crying, and mourning.” 13 Tear your hearts, not your clothes. Return to the Lord your God. He is merciful and compassionate, patient, and always ready to forgive and to change his plans about disaster. 14 Who knows? He may recons...

February 19, 2023 -- "Proclaim Liberty Throughout the Land" -- Rev. Dr. James Lamb , Bible Text: Leviticus 25: 8-12 8 “Count seven of these years seven times for a total of 49 years. 9 On the tenth day of the seventh month, the special day for the payment for sin, sound rams’ horns throughout the country. 10 Set apart the fiftieth year as holy, and proclaim liberty to everyone living in the land....

February 12, 2023 -- "Gospel DNA, Marker 5: Self-Sacrifice" -- Pastor Kevin Kritzer, Bible Text:  Luke 9:23-27 23 He [Jesus] said to all of them, “Those who want to come with me must say no to the things they want, pick up their crosses every day, and follow me.  24 Those who want to save their lives will lose them. But those who lose their lives for me will save them.  25 What good...

February 5, 2022 -- "Gospel DNA Marker 4: "Adaptability" -- Pastor Kyle Blake, Bible Text:  Isaiah 43-16-21 16 The Lord makes a path through the sea and a road through the strong currents. 17 He leads chariots and horses, an army and reinforcements. (They lie down together and do not get up again. They are extinguished and snuffed out like a wick.  This is what the Lord says: 18 Forget w...

January 29, 2023 -- Gospel DNA Marker 3: "Truth" -- Pastor Kevin Kritzer, Bible Text: John 14:1-6 “Don’t be troubled. Believe in God, and believe in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms. If that were not true, would I have told you that I’m going to prepare a place for you? 3 If I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again. Then I will bring you into my presence so that you will be where I...

January 22, 2023 -- "Marker 2: Multiplication" -- Pastor Mark Siegert, Bible Text: Matthew 25: 14-30 14 “The kingdom of heaven is like a man going on a trip. He called his servants and entrusted some money to them. 15 He gave one man ten thousand dollars, another four thousand dollars, and another two thousand dollars. Each was given money based on his ability. Then the man went on his trip. 16 “T...

January 15, 2022  --  "Gospel DNA:  People"  --  Pastor Kevin Kritzer, Bible Text: Isaiah 49:1-7: (49) Listen to me, you islands. Pay attention, you people far away. Before I was born, the Lord chose me. While I was in my mother’s womb, he recorded my name. 2 He made my tongue like a sharp sword and hid me in the palm of his hand. He made me like a sharpened arrow and hid...

January 8, 2023 -- "P.I.A." -- Pastor Kevin Kritzer, Bible Text: Romans 6:1-11; Matthew 3: 13-17 (6) What should we say then? Should we continue to sin so that God’s kindness [a] will increase? 2 That’s unthinkable! As far as sin is concerned, we have died. So how can we still live under sin’s influence?  3 Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into h...

January 1, 2023 -- "20 Marveling Questions"  --  Pastor Kevin Kritzer, Bible Text: Luke 2:1-20 (2) At that time the Emperor Augustus ordered a census of the Roman Empire. 2 This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 All the people went to register in the cities where their ancestors had lived. 4 So Joseph went from Nazareth, a city in Galilee, to a Judean ci...

December 25, 2022 -- "One Little Word" -- Pastor Kevin Kritzer, Bible Text: John 1:1-18 (1) In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was already with God in the beginning.  3 Everything came into existence through him. Not one thing that exists was made without him.  4 He was the source of life, and that life was the light for humanity....

December 24, 2022 -- "Why Shepherds?"  -- Pastor Kyle Blake, Bible Text: Luke 2:1-20: (2)  At that time the Emperor Augustus ordered a census of the Roman Empire. 2 This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 All the people went to register in the cities where their ancestors had lived.  4 So Joseph went from Nazareth, a city in Galilee, to a Judean city...

December 18, 2022 Sermon Podcast -- "For Giving" -- Pastor Kyle Blake,  Bible Text: 1 John 4:7-12 7 Dear friends, we must love each other because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born from God and knows God. 8 The person who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, because God is love. 9 God has shown us his love by sending his only Son into the world so that we could have life through...