Posts

Showing posts from January, 2025

Sermon - Calov Conference Sermon 2026 - Psalm 91

-
Image
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...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sermon - Epiphany 2, Year C, 2024 - John 2:1-11

-
Image
The Wedding at Cana,  Paolo Veronese, 1562 Jesus Manifests His Glory in Marriage Jesus manifested His glory at the wedding at Cana His hour hadn’t yet come; the ultimate wedding feast is yet to come Our abuse of marriage dishonors Christ  Our honoring of marriage points us to the wedding feast of the Lamb in His kingdom to His bride the church. When you think of all of the things which have changed over the past century, from vehicles to entertainment to careers to clothing, many things have changed dramatically. But perhaps one of the most dramatic changes in the past century has been something far simpler: the household. Marriage is one of those areas of life that has seen dramatic change. A century ago nearly 80% of US households included a married couple, today it’s closer to 45%. Of those married couples today, the majority have no children compared to a century ago when the majority did have children.  I mention these statistics, however we know this already without...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sermon - Christmas II, Year C, 2025 - Luke 2:40-52

-
Image
Child Jesus in the Temple , Jan Steen,1659 The Comfort of Predestination Distinction between foreknowledge and predestination We are predestined through Christ and His work of redemption We are predestined through the hearing of His Word “ In love He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will.” The topic of predestination often reveals the confusion people have regarding who is going to be saved. For example, there are some groups of Christians who believe in what is called double-predestination, whereby God predestines some to heaven and some to hell. Or on the other side of this many conclude that none are predestined to hell, but that all people are predestined to heaven. In which case they missapply predestination to mean that it doesn’t really matter what they believe or do in life, since if they’re predestined to heaven they will be saved regardless. It’s this latter misapplication I mention which is I think most prev...
Post a Comment
Read more