Two Advantageous Advent Announcements

Sermon delivered to God’s people at St. Mark’s Ev. Lutheran Church on December 5, 2010 to the glory of God.

Sermon based on Matthew 3:1-12

Two Advantageous Advent Announcements

1. Prepare.
2. Prepared.

Today’s sermon information in the bulleting and what Matthew recorded for us to read doesn’t really follow all that well.  Aren’t you either preparing for something or prepared for it?  Either you’re packing for the trip (preparing) or the trunk is

Be Sure to Take a Timeout and Thank the Lord!

Sermon delivered to God’s people at St. Mark’s Ev. Lutheran Church on November 25, 2010—Thanksgiving Day to the glory of God.

Sermon based on 1 Samuel 12:24

Be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you.

Be Sure to Take a Timeout and Thank the Lord!

1. A timeout to fear the Lord.
2. A timeout to serve the Lord.

Chances are pretty good that as you enter the Thanksgiving/Christmas season, you will at some point find yourself running out the door with some last second instructions.  Maybe you will be sent out with a shopping list, or maybe you will be dashing out of the

It’s A Good Day In Zion

Sermon delivered to God’s people at St. Mark’s Ev. Lutheran Church ~Citrus Heights, CA on April 18, 2010

The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe (Proverbs 18:10).

Sermon text: Isaiah 12

 

¹ In that day you will say: “I will praise you, O LORD. Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you have comforted me. ² Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.” ³ With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. ⁴ In that day you will say: “Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. ⁵ Sing to the LORD, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. ⁶ Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.”

It’s a good day in Zion.

1. To praise God for your salvation.

2. To make God’s salvation known.

3. To thank God for your school.

Dear people of God,

Do you know who first said, “It’s a good day to die.”  It was a member of the Lakota people who held that it would be honorable to die in battle and go

He Served As No Other Priest

Sermon delivered to God’s people at St. Mark’s Ev. Lutheran Church ~Citrus Heights, CA on April 2, 2010

In the past God spoke…through the prophets…but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son (Heb. 1:1,2).

Sermon text: Hebrews 7:27

 

²⁷Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.

He served as no other priest.

1. He had no sin of his own.

2. He offered himself for others.

Dear people of God,

 

If you are a golf fan, you are giddy with anticipation of the Masters, a golf tournament that happens about this time every year.  It got the name, the Masters because

Listen to Lent’s Warning

Sermon delivered to God’s people at St. Mark’s Ev. Lutheran Church ~Citrus Heights, CA on March 7, 2010

I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD” (Psalm 122:1).

Sermon text: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13

 

¹For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. ²They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. ³They all ate the same spiritual food ⁴and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. ⁵Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert. ⁶Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. ⁷Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry.” ⁸We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. ⁹We should not test the Lord, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. ¹⁰And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel. ¹¹These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. ¹²So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! ¹³No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

Listen to Lent’s Warning: Because:

1. You can’t handle temptation.

2. God does handle temptation.

Dear people of God,

Dashboard warning lights have been on the receiving end of some pretty harsh criticism over the years.  These lights are called idiot lights, they have been ignored, they have been yelled at and flat out ignored for years.  Shannon and I have a 1993 Subaru

Let’s Reconcile A Few Things

Sermon delivered to God’s people at St. Mark’s Ev. Lutheran Church ~Citrus Heights, CA on February 7, 2010

I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD” (Psalm 122:1).

Sermon text: 2 Corinthians 5:14-21

 

¹⁴For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. ¹⁵And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.  ¹⁶So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. ¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! ¹⁸All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. ²¹God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Let’s reconcile a few things.

1. We are sinful, yet we are righteous.

2. We can be spiritual failures, yet we are successful ambassadors.

3. We are in the world, yet our hearts are set on heaven.

Dear people of God,

A few years ago people had a much better handle on the word “reconcile” than people do today.  We just don’t use the word that much today—outside of catechism classes or BICs or when it comes up

Good Friday Devotions

Good Friday Devotions delivered to God’s people at St. Mark’s Ev. Lutheran Church ~Citrus Heights, CA on April 2, 2010

Isaiah 53:4-6

I would be very curious to be inside the brain of an outsider looking in on what’s being reported in Isaiah 53:4-6.  Perhaps he would say