Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
I. Introduction
1. In our Gospel Reading for this morning, our Lord is presented with a man who has an obvious physical problem—he is paralyzed. He needs healing from this ailment, and so the man’s friends go to great trouble to bring him to Jesus. But what is it that our Lord first says to this paralytic? Continue reading
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
1. In our Gospel Reading for this morning, we find two distinct sections. In the first section, our Lord deals with a question of the law. In the second section, he deals with a question of the gospel. Both questions are taken seriously by our Lord. Both matters are important, but it becomes clear quite quickly that in our Lord’s mind the question of the law is important because it serves the question of the gospel. Continue reading
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
I. Introduction
1. We all know the difference between false and true humility. It doesn’t take much time when interacting with a person to spot someone who has a false humility. We have all known people like this. They portray themselves as sweet and caring, feigning concern and care for you, when in reality they’re too self-absorbed to care about you and your life. Continue reading
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
I. Introduction
1. This morning, our Gospel text invites us to consider the topic of fear. Fear isn’t something that we always actively think about, but fear and reason to fear are all around us, whether we recognize it or not. In life, it isn’t a matter of if you fear, it’s a matter of what you fear. Continue reading
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
I. Introduction
1. There are but two ways of living in this world. There is the way of man. And there is the way of God. Many in our world today would suggest that there are any number of paths one can follow in this world. But the Scriptures constantly exhort us to reject this way of thinking. There are only two ways of living in this world. Continue reading
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
I. Introduction
1. About ten days ago, my family and I were camping in Baxter State Park. One of our favorite things to do there is to rent a canoe and spend time out on one of the lakes. At one point, Matthew and I were in the canoe. He was in the front, and I was in the back. As we navigated around the lake, I was reminded of Saint James’ words from James 3: Continue reading
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
I. Introduction
1. Our Gospel Reading for today is perhaps our Lord’s most well-known parable—so much so that our country even has a law named after it, “the Good Samaritan Law.†And so, when thinking of this parable, this is the lens through which most people tend to think of it. Most people tend to think of this parable as nice advice to follow in life—show kindness to everyone because everyone is your neighbor. Continue reading
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
I. Introduction
1. Have you ever wondered why in the Gospels Jesus sometimes seems reluctant to heal people? There seems to be a kind of reluctance on Jesus’ part in our Gospel Reading to heal this deaf man. To be fair, he does it. He heals the man, but not without first moving to a private area and not without a sigh anticipating the misguided response of the crowd and the later response of the Pharisees. Continue reading
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
I. Looking for Salvation
1. This morning I would like to reflect for a moment on the inevitability of death and specifically how people in our world are constantly looking for salvation from death. Death is the ultimate evil in our world. Despite all the differences people might have, it is the common enemy that all humans share. One day, we will all die. Continue reading
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
I. Introduction
1. In today’s Old Testament Reading, the prophet Jeremiah was instructed to speak on the Lord’s behalf to accuse the people of Judah of rebellion against the Lord. One of Judah’s sins was “saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace†(Jeremiah 8:11b). Continue reading