St. Paul's Lockport Sermons

Let us then be bold like Christ and Matthew and say, follow Christ. Understand that true mercy is to tell the truth of the gospel – repentance and forgiveness of sins in Christ. People must be brought to recognize their disease – they are sinners and cannot save themselves. Then they can receive the doctor – a divine Physician who only comes for sinners. A doctor who heals every patient and is par...

How did Jesus know when His earthly ministry was finished and it was time to go to the cross? Some Greeks came and said, "Sir we wish to see Jesus." Jesus must die on the cross, be lifted up to draw all peoples to himself. He must die and rise so that all who die in Him can live eternally. "Where my servant is, there will I be also." If the world hated Christ, it will hate His servants. If Christ...

“Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.” If we must become like children to receive the kingdom of God, and we receive the kingdom by faith, then children must be able to have faith! It is essential that we bring children to Jesus that they receive faith by the Holy Spirit in baptism and grow in faith for their entire lives.

Today we have an excellent example in the lectionary of a pairing between the gospel reading and the Old Testament. At first, it may seem like a parable of Jesus isn’t very like Cain and Abel, one of the oldest accounts from the book of Genesis. We can look closer and see that Jesus is pulling a very similar theme to what he had Moses record thousands of years before. We have in both two men comin...

If you did a search by name “Bartholomew” in your Bible, you would not find much on him. He is listed as one of the twelve apostles in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Acts. The Augsburg confession says that we remember the saints in our church in order that we may emulate their faith and example, according to our callings. What is Bartholomew’s example, being on some lists?

Guest sermon by Rev. Rich Bellas

Guest sermon by Rev. Richard Bellas

Today in the gospel reading, we have Jesus saying to us, and to Joan, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” While Joan worked hard in her life, now she has come to her final rest. Her funeral today is a confession of that rest. 

God gave Adam a home, but Adam sought "freedom" outside of God's Word in the wilderness. Christ comes into our wilderness and feeds us, gives us a home. Holding to Christ, we have an eternal home today in the church which will last into eternity when Christ returns.

There is a common misconception that because of Jesus, there is no law. But Jesus says, "I have not come to abolish the law, but fulfill it." and "Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." How do we obtain that higher righteousness?

What does the Christian life look like when we are brought into the ship by the gospel? We live in concord, of one mind, having compassion, loving as brothers, tenderhearted, humble-minded. This is how Christ feels about us. From His compassion He has saved us, so we live in this way toward our brothers.

Last week, we heard about the God who finds the lost, that the angels, all heaven, and true Christians rejoice when the lost is found. No one should begrudge those who have turned from their wicked way and come to God in repentance. Such a brother should receive forgiveness and reconciliation. Since we only agree with that in the general case, this week’s lessons push on us a little bit. When it’s...

In three parables, Jesus shows himself to be the one who seeks and saves the lost. All who love Jesus and love the Father rejoice in what God rejoices in. Only the older brother does not rejoice. Every Christian must realize that he is a prodigal, received by the Father, and rejoice in what the Father rejoices in as his brothers are saved the same way in the forgiveness won by Jesus Christ.

Mary's Magnificat is an example of faith in thanksgiving that the Lord would turn his face to her, a humble virgin deserving of nothing, and lift her to be the mother of her Lord.

The church is founded on the confession of Peter and the apostles, "You are the Christ, the son of the living God." To be apostolic is to be built on that Word of God.

The story of the rich man and Lazarus shows us that only the Word of God, Moses and prophets can bring people to faith. Miracles, even resurrection, without the Word do not create belief. A good life does not mean the person will be grateful to God and believe, nor does a bad life mean God has forgotten us. If we want to be carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom when we die, we must only trust i...

Holy Trinity comes at the end of the festival part of the church year, as we look back on everything that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have done for our salvation. With St. Paul, we take a moment to bask in the glory of how much the working of the Holy Trinity is beyond us. How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways! Today, and every day, we submit our reason to and increase o...

The solution was found as the bishops searched the scriptures and openly debated the question. They did not allow things to be glossed over with such an important issue. Thanks to their determination to work through the conflict and stick to the scriptures, the vast majority came up with the first version of the Nicene Creed. Biblical doctrine held out, that, as we confessed just a minute ago, Jes...

Man creates a false tower based on false ideology to reach heaven and make a name for himself. God comes down and confuses speech and tongue. God comes down again to become man in Jesus Christ. Now by the power of Holy Spirit, Christ comes to us and makes His home with us. This is our foundation and strong tower, the strength of our homes.

As the disciples came down from the mountain of Ascension, they had two prayers. They prayed that Christ would send the promised Helper who proceeds from the Father. They prayed, "Maranatha. Come Lord Jesus." The church still prays for these things today.

Jesus, God and man, in His ascension makes a wonderful completion and prepares and even better future.

Christians do not have a promise of an easy life, that is not our joy. Asking and receiving is the key to joy in this life.

This is what the Lord says. Let’s go back to the plant. There are many wrong ways to grow a plant. There are many ways that a plant can die. God has created a plant to grow in a certain way. We do best when we follow that way. In fact, your marriage, in Christ, forms you to be a different person, a better person than you were before. You understand more about your vows now than you did a few month...

Jesus gives the living water of the Holy Spirit. Come to Him and drink. Come to Him for comfort and salvation. Though God has angry with you, that anger is turned away. The God of salvation will open many and manifold sources of salvation for you – in the coming of the Holy Spirit – the giving of the Word and Sacraments

We cannot separate the curse of the woman in childbearing from the promise that comes from her seed. When God cursed the serpent, He also said “I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” Although the woman would have pain in childbearing there was a promise even more than just the joy of a new human being...