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Sermon - Trinity XXIII 2026 - Matthew 22:15-22

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Tribute Money , Peter Paul Rubens, 1612 The Things that are God’s Intro: The sorrows and travails of our lives with Caesar Nevertheless, God created the three estates, therefore all are God’s, including the state We owe Caesar what little belongs to him We owe God everything, since all belongs to Him Although Caesar has much power to do harm on earth, the Lord has far greater power to bless us for all eternity Joachim Magdeburg was a 16th century German Lutheran pastor. He was a man of firm resolve and faithful to his friends. Much of the time he was faithful to the pure doctrine of God’s word, even if at times he erred in this or that way. As a result of his staunch faithfulness for the most part, Joachim Magdeburg didn’t remain in any one place for very long. Just as the Son of Man had nowhere to lay his head, neither did Joachim Magdeburg, it would seem. Joachim Magdeburg during his life wrote a small set of hymns for each day of the week, and in that collection we find the first st...
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Sermon - Reformation Day 2026 - John 8:31-36

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The Mond Crucifixion , Raphael, 1503 True Indulgences are found in Christ Indulgences in the papacy were received as a result of human merit True indulgences are found in Christ alone Christ sets us free through His merits  A blessed feast of the Reformation to you, dear brothers and sisters in Christ! Today the Lutheran Church celebrates the festival of the Reformation by which we have been released from slavery to sin and death and set free through the blood of Jesus Christ; we celebrate the truth and the clarity of justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ Jesus our Lord. Also greetings to you from the saints, your brothers and sisters in the true faith, at Our Savior in Mankato, Minnesota. It is my privilege to be among you today to celebrate the grace given to Seraphina in Holy Baptism and to rejoice in our Gospel freedom restored during the Reformation. We mark October 31st, 1517 as the beginning of the Reformation. On that day Martin Luther published the 95 ...
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Homily - LifeChain 2026 - Genesis 9:1-7

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The Virgin of the Lilies,  1899, William-Adolphe Bouguereau Human life is valuable because it is made in God’s image, therefore: Fertility is a blessing, not a curse There is a reckoning for those who hate life A business of death. Planned Parenthood, along with the other abortion mills in Minnesota and throughout our nation are in the business of death. At this abortuary they do chemical abortions using the abortion pill every Wednesday. Based upon my research they charge between five and seven hundred dollars for that. At other abortion mills where they do later term surgical abortions the price goes up to a couple thousand dollars. In years past we learned that Planned Parenthood, and other abortionists, sell baby body parts and perform experimentation on them, and have even received funding from our government, using our taxes, to do all of these nightmarish things with the bodies of babies. This business of death places a price tag on these lives, and gives them a value of a f...
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Sermon - Trinity XVIII, 2026 - Matthew 22:34-46

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Christ Among the Pharisees , Jacob Jordaens, 1670 What do you think about the Christ? He is no mere worldly king, but He is the Son of God He is no mere lawgiver, but He is your God who has fulfilled the law “ What do you think about the Christ? ” In a way this is a huge question that could take many hours to answer, but in another way this is a very simple and straightforward question and that is the genius of this question for us to consider today. Because the way in which you answer this question reveals quite a lot about your faith. So that is the question I want you to chew on today: “ What do you think about the Christ? ” Among the Jews the Christ was a worldly king. Immediately preceding today’s gospel reading Jesus dealt with the Sadducees, a group of powerful Jews who were largely responsible for the temple. The Sadducees were the theological liberals of their day, since they rejected some basic tenets of the faith, most notably the resurrection of the dead. Jesus put them to ...
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Sermon - Trinity XVII, 2026 - Luke 14:1-11

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The Peasant Wedding , Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1567 Honor in the Kingdom of Heaven The exalted ones are humbled The humbled ones are exalted “ When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. ” Jesus isn’t just talking about party etiquette. Sometimes Jesus uses ridiculous parables to teach a heavenly truth, other times He uses ordinary and relatable and uniformly understood parables to teach a heavenly truth. Today Jesus uses a well understood and practiced social custom about seating at wedding feasts. Everyone knows, regardless of you...
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Sermon - Calov Conference Sermon 2026 - Psalm 91

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Isenheim Altarpiece, Matthias Grunewald, 1512 Trust in the Lord and Look upon the Savior God delivers us through the blood of Jesus Christ He ordains the angels to lift us up He intentionally directs us to walk in danger for the sake of our faith After Absalom killed Amnon he fled. Joab directed a theatrical scene between David and a pretend widow, in order to convince David to welcome Absalom back to Jerusalem. In this dramatic scene, the actress recites a powerful line: “ We must all die; we are like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. But God will not take away life, and He devises means so that the banished one will not remain an outcast. ” What a rich illustration she uses of water spilled on the ground. Two other times in the book of Samuel water is poured on the ground. Once when Samuel is judge, after the ark has returned to Jerusalem, he pours water upon the ground as a sign of repentance. A second time David pours the water on the ground when his m...
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