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Showing posts with the label Exaudi

Sermon - Trinity IX, 2026 - Luke 16:1-13

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The Parable of the Unjust Steward , Marinus van Reymerswaele, 1540 Christian Wisdom Seeks Eternal Dwellings Wisdom is forward thinking and focused on the goal Christian wisdom employs every treasure, heavenly and worldly, for the sake of reaching the goal If there is a hardest parable, it might be this one; throws people off every time. The parable presents a rich man with a steward who was found wasting the rich man’s possessions. The job of a steward is to be faithful with someone else’s possessions, and this guy wasn’t cutting it. So obviously, he got fired. What’s crazy is the rich man lets the steward hand in the books, and he doesn’t hunt them down and take them from him immediately. The steward does exactly what you don’t want the steward to do, which is why normally the books get taken from the steward: the steward cooks the books. He meets some of the rich man’s debtors, probably tenant farmers, and in order to ingratiate himself with the debtors he adjusts how much they owe, ...
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Sermon - Exaudi 2026 - 1 Peter 4:7-14

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Gossip , Eugene de Blaas, 1903 Covering One-Anothers’ Faults Jesus not only overlooks our sins, but forgives them and covers us up We glorify Christ by forgiving one another, and covering up their shame Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! “ Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses. ” Strife is all too common among us and it’s hard to get along with others. Some people are really mean, some are really annoying, and some people are both. Sometimes this comes out after just brief interactions, other times it’s with people you are around all the time. Perhaps this happens most often with those whom we love a lot. So today St. Peter instructs us: “ Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. ” When considering our sins and the sins of one another, it’s important for us to establish our love for one another in Christ. Jesus teaches us: “ Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. ” St. Paul says: “ Wal...
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Sermon - Exaudi 2024 - John 15:26 - 16:24

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Christian Martyrs in Colosseum , Konstantin Flavitsky, 1862 Remembering the promises to keep us from falling away The difficulty of faithfulness over time The Spirit who helps us by reminding us of the promises Training for hardship Rejoicing in persecution It’s easy to be a mother for just a few seconds. It’s easy enough to change a few diapers or cook a couple meals for one day. It’s easy enough to be a babysitter and only be responsible for a child for a couple of hours while the kids sleep or watch tv. But the glory of motherhood is that moms take care of their children all day, every day, for years. They don’t quit when the kids are sick and so are they; they don’t quit feeding their kids when they’re tired of cooking; they don’t quit teaching their kids even when the kids seem to never get the message; they don’t quit loving their children even when the kids throw a massive temper tantrum in the most public places. Mother’s don’t quit when it’s hard, and that is why we honor them...
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Sermon - Exaudi 2023 - John 15:26-16:4

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Persecution of Christians,  J. Wierix, 1532-1603 To keep us from falling away Persecution for being faithful may tempt us to apostatize Jesus warns us so that we can prepare Jesus strengthens us by sending the Holy Spirit Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Last Sunday we heard in the sermon that theology has consequences, and many of these consequences are fantastic! Chiefly, the consequence of theology is our redemption, our salvation from sin and death to life eternal through the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus. Consequently we are no longer dead in our tresspasses, but we are alive in Christ; we are free to live good lives. We aren’t doomed to dwell in our past errors and sins, instead each day is a new day and we are given a fresh start to make this a good day. God’s word shapes us and forms us in the likeness of Jesus, so that our every thought and action is taken captive to obey Christ, and thus our lives are made good when we live in Christ’s light. The vas...
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Sermon - Exaudi 2022 - John 15:26-16:4

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Reading the Bible , Jean-Baptiste Greuze, 1755 Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Hurry up and wait. It’s a pretty apt phrase for our modern society. We’re always in a hurry, but we also spend a lot of time waiting. We speed down the road to wait at a stoplight; we hurry to the restaurant to wait for our food; we hurry to the doctor’s office to sit in the waiting room. The church is also busy waiting. This Sunday has been referred to from ancient times as “waiting Sunday.” The Sunday between Ascension and Pentecost, the apostles waited in Jerusalem until they received the Holy Spirit. The church continues to wait for the return of our Lord Jesus, and He can’t come soon enough. During this time, in order to give us courage and patience, the waiting church makes use of the Spirit’s gifts by remembering Jesus’ words and speaking them. See, we’re not waiting for the Holy Spirit anymore, instead we’ve already received the Spirit and His gifts. Ezekiel prophesied: “ I w...
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Sermon - Exaudi 2021 - John 15:26-16:4

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  "The Christian Martyrs' Last Prayer," Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1824-1904 Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Early on in the nation of Israel, after God had brought His people out of bondage in Egypt, He established laws among them. Rather than setting over them an earthly king, He was their King who had written their laws and provided for their needs. On earth the Lord had established judges who would judge the people on the basis of His laws.  However, the Israelites didn’t like that they didn’t have an earthly king like all of the Gentile nations. They didn’t like being different from everybody else. So they said “ appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations. ” The Israelites didn’t like being different, they didn’t like that God had set them apart and established holiness laws, distinguishing the Israelites. What the Israelites wanted was conformity with this world. This conformity is what many people want; it’s a human characteristic to wan...
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Sermon - Exaudi 2020 - John 15:26-16:4

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Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Forrest Gump’s momma always said that life is like a box of chocolates, because you never know what you’re gonna get. She’d be right if chocolates weren’t just filled with sugary sweets, but some were filled with rocks or dog poop or poison. Because in the course of life, while eating the proverbial box of chocolates, you’re not merely faced with a myriad of sweet experiences, but you often also take a bite out of something rather bitter and painful. It’s apparent to most anyone that this life is filled with many a fiery trial, for this reason Christ has sent us the Holy Spirit as our comforter. Before we dive-in to speaking about the Holy Spirit’s comfort, it behooves us to say a little something about who this Holy Spirit is. Christ said: “ When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. ” When Christ says that the Spirit proceeds ...
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