Viva Equality!

Besides being at war with the desires of your flesh to separate you from God and blind you to the kingdom of heaven, the world would also play with your mind and would have you think the perfect life is defined by equal rights, equal opportunity, equal pay.

· Equal rights of eating, drinking, and pleasuring yourself to death.

· Equal opportunity to get sick, shot, or blown to kingdom come.

· Equal pay of wages that never seem to be enough and always disappear way too soon.

Yup. We’re all equal all right.... there is no distinction: ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵ whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. Romans 3:22b ff



Jesus' Resurrection Is Your Resurrection

He is risen!

He is risen indeed!

Alleluia!

Alleluia!

And so are you, dear Baptized. So are You. Jesus’ resurrection is your resurrection.

The resurrected Christ is here with you in His Holy Church. And because He is seated at the right hand of the Father, that means you are with Him in the kingdom of heaven.

To hear and/or read the entire sermon preached for Easter Sunday, The Resurrection of Our Lord, click on this link. http://lcmssermons.com/index.php?sn=3235

He Bore the Sin of Many

Confession is your Good Friday.

Absolution is your Easter Resurrection.

To hear and/or read the entire sermon preached for Good Friday, click on the link provided below. http://lcmssermons.com/index.php?sn=3232

Christ's Seven Words from the Cross

“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” 
- Luke 23:34 -

 
P: Lord Jesus Christ, our only Mediator and Advocate, who

by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God was taken, and by the hand of wicked men was crucified and... slain, and did make intercession for the transgressors, we pray Thee, grant unto us all the blessed assurance that there is now no condemnation to them which are in Thee, 

 C: and that, if any man sin, we have an Advocate with
the Father in Thee, the Righteous, whose blood speaks better things than Abel’s blood, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

“Today shalt thou be with Me in Paradise”
- Luke 23:43 -

 

P: Lord Jesus Christ, Thou merciful King and Prince of Peace, who didst veil Thy divine glory and was robed in humility, crowned with thorns, nailed upon the tree of shame, and numbered with the transgressors, we thank Thee that Thou hast remembered us in our condemnation and hast translated us into Thy Kingdom of Grace.

C: We pray Thee, rule in our hearts and lives with the scepter of Thy Word, and when life’s brief day is ended, take us with Thee into Paradise, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

 

“Woman, behold thy son!” – “Behold thy mother!” 
- John 19:26, 27 -
 

P: O Compassionate Lord Jesus Christ, we thank Thee for Thy

perfect obedience which Thou did render for us even to the death of the cross. We pray Thee, grant us Thy Holy S...pirit, that He may write Thy holy Law upon our hearts, so that, following Thy example of filial love and obedience, we may honor and serve our parents, and, from the least to the greatest, may learn obedience and walk in Thy footsteps. 

 C: And let Thy strength be made perfect in our weakness,
who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

 

“My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”
- Matthew 27:46 -
 

P: Lord Jesus Christ, Thou Author and Finisher of our faith, who

didst tread the winepress of God’s wrath alone and wast made a curse for us on the accursed tree, being forsaken... of God, we pray Thee, grant that our faith in Thee may never know doubt or change. Strengthen us in the sure knowledge and confidence that nothing shall separate us from the love of God in Thee and that, though Thy Father hide His face from us in a little moment of wrath, 
 C: we may never despair of His loving-kindness, for the sake of Thy bitter agony, who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

 
“I thirst!” 

- John 19:28 -
 

P: O Lord Jesus Christ, Thou Redeemer of the world, who on

the cross didst endure the pains and anguish of body and soul to accomplish all things for our redemption and in Thy cry “I thirst!” didst reveal Thy fer...vent desire and zeal to draw all men unto Thyself, 

 C: grant that the souls of men everywhere may hear Thy
gracious Gospel and drink of the waters of life and be satisfied, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

 
“It is finished!”

- John 19:30 -

P: Lord Jesus, who on the cross didst cry out: “It is finished!” we
thank Thee that Thou didst complete the work which Thy Father gave Thee to do: Thou didst fulfill the Law of God for us; Thou didst bear it...s curse in our stead; Thou didst reconcile all men to God.
C: Grant that we may with our whole heart believe this and

that we may never rely on any work or merit of our own, but always trust in Thy finished work on Calvary, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

“Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit”
- Luke 23:46 -
 

P: Lord Jesus Christ, who in Thy dying moment didst commend Thy soul into Thy Father’s hands, thereby assuring us that Thou didst finish the work of our redemption and that Thy Fat...her is well pleased in Thee, we pray Thee, 

C: grant us by Thy Holy Spirit such confidence in Thy redemption that, washed of our sin in Thy blood, we, too, in our dying hour may confidently commend our soul into the Father’s hand, trusting wholly in Thy merits, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

 

 

You Are Clean

Like Peter and the rest of the twelve, less the one who betrayed our dear Lord Jesus Christ, "you are clean." This is what Jesus had done to them and what He is giving them that [they] also should do just as [He has] done to [them]." Here in our Gospel text, Jesus is preparing his disciples to go and make people clean, that is, to wash away their sins.

 

Not only has He given them an example, He has given them a command to do so. He sends them out with authority--the authority of His Word and the power of the Holy Spirit to do what He has commanded them to do according to the example He has lived among them. To hear and/or read the entire sermon preached for Maundy Thursday, click on this link. http://lcmssermons.com/index.php?sn=3228

Where Did They Go Wrong?

[The folks in Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday] are simply not in their right minds—at least not as God created them and meant them to be. They are thinking in earthly terms, empassioned by the desires of their sinful hearts.

...While it is true that you, along with the Palm Sunday crowd, go wrong at every turn. What happened between Palm Sunday and Good Friday was all perfectly right. Make no mistake about it, in the person of Christ both God and Man rode that lowly beast of burden into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to suffer and die for you on the Friday called, "Good." And He descends here for you today as well, for the very same reasons—He has to, because if He doesn't you cannot be in your right minds either. To hear and/or read the entire sermon preached for Palmarum, Palm Sunday, click on this link.  http://lcmssermons.com/index.php?sn=3217

He Who Keeps God's Word Keeps You

There is One who has kept God's Word from the beginning of time—only One. And because He has, and continues to do so, He keeps you with God now and will do so forever as you hear the Word of God.

That is the promise, the work, the comfort, the peace, and the hope of the Holy Spirit we have in Christ Jesus, our Lord. He is the One who keeps God's Word and does so for the very purpose of keeping you with God His Father—Our Father--in heaven so that you will never taste death but have eternal life.

To hear and/or read the entire sermon preached for Judica, the Fifth Sunday in Lent, click on this  link. http://lcmssermons.com/index.php?sn=3210

That Nothing May Be Lost

Do not ever forget that our Father in heaven's desire for all of His creation—and especially for you, dear Christian—is that nothing of it may be lost. That is a big lesson, though not the only lesson, from today's Gospel text. As John says at the end of His Gospel, Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. [John 20:30-31] The same could be said from the lessons to be learned even from this one miracle of our Lord.

So, for this morning, let us focus in on this one lesson and take it with us to carry us through the wonders and the problems, the blessings and the curses of the coming week-- that nothing of God's creation and gifts to us, and especially we ourselves, may be lost. To read and/or hear the entire sermon preached for Laetare, the Fourth Sunday in Lent, click on th is link. http://lcmssermons.com/index.php?sn=3197

Martyrdom: No Shrinking Back

Like Perpetua and Felicitas, we are baptized into martyrdom.

Like Stephen, as servants of the Word, we are called and sent into martyrdom.

This is not a martyrdom we seek, but, like faith it is a gift of God, not of works, lest any of us should boast.

Thus martyrdom, again like, faith, is not a choice or decision of men, but the will of God. I suppose one could go so far as to say martyrdom is the destiny of faith and faith is the life of martyrdom.

To hear and/or read the entire sermon preached to the Utah Circuit pastors for the commemoration of Perpetua & Felicitas, Martyrs, click on this link. http://lcmssermons.com/index.php?sn=3189

Casting Out Demons

Jesus is all about casting out demons. Notice, I said “is.” Jesus is still casting out demons today. Since man’s fall into sin, the second person of the Trinity, the very Son of the Living God has been all about casting out demons. At least from the time of His Baptism, the life and ministry of the incarnate Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, was all about casting out demons.

To hear and/or read the entire sermon preached for Oculi, the Third Sunday in Lent, click on this link. http://lcmssermons.com/index.php?sn=3181