I've decided to start sharing the YouTube videos of my sermons here on my blog.  I've had some people comment that they enjoy watching them and this will keep them in one place together. 

This is from this past Sunday, August 6th.  It is based on the texts from Isaiah 55:1-5 and Matthew 14:13-21

Food is one of those foundational things for our lives and yet it can get pretty expensive.  When you go to a professional sporting event, concert, or other large event you often find yourself being asked to pay exponentially more that what the food is actually worth.  If you shop for your own food you can often find good deals, but yet you will still end up spending quite a bit every month for food.  

We have good news as Christians.  Jesus had compassion on us and came into this broken, sinful world.  He experienced hunger, tiredness, thirst, temptation, loss, conflict, sickness, torture and death.  And yet he continued to love and have compassion. He feeds us with FREE spiritual food and gives it to us in abundance so we always have more than we need!

God doesn't always work in the ways that we think he is going to.  This week we see a showdown between a false prophet and a real prophet of God.  Paul tells us why the law isn't such a bad thing after all.  And Jesus has some radical words about conflict because of him.

Old Testament: Jeremiah 28:5--9
Epistle Reading: Romans 7:1--13
Gospel: Matthew 10:34--42

LCMS Congregation Locator: http://locator.lcms.org/search.asp 

This week we move into the second half of the church year and see the theme of trust weave it's way through our readings!

Easter has arrived! What a joyous day of celebration. This week we'll hear Peter preach the good news about Jesus to a Roman soldier. Paul writes about the new life that we live in Christ because of his resurrection. Finally, we'll hear Matthew's account of Jesus' resurrection.

First Reading: Acts 10:34--43
Epistle Reading: Colossians 3:1--4
Gospel Reading: Matthew 28:1--10

Our journey through Lent is quickly coming to a close. This Sunday we celebrate Palm Sunday and remember Jesus' entry into Jerusalem as he heads towards the cross!

Readings:
Palm Sunday Processional Gospel: John 12:12–19

Old Testament: Isaiah 50:4–9a
Epistle: Philippians 2:5–11
Gospel: Matthew 26:1—27:66 or Matthew 27:11–66 or John 12:20–43

Sight and light are the themes we see in our readings this weekend. These two things go together well and describe our spiritual condition apart from God. In our Old Testament reading we hear about the Children of Israel being spiritually blind and in the darkness of their idolatry. God is faithful and promises to bring them back out of the darkness and to restore their sight. Paul tells us that we have been brought out of darkness and should live as children of the light. Finally in our Gospel reading we hear about Jesus healing a man who was born blind and exposing the spiritual blindness of the people around him.

Readings:

Old Testament: Isaiah 42:14--21
Epistle: Ephesians 5:8--14
Gospel: John 9:1--41

Faith is our focus this week as we see Abram stepping out in faith to follow God to a new land when he was already 75 years old. Paul tells us that it was God's gift of faith to Abraham that caused him to be saved, not his own works and Jesus clarifies things for Nicodemus so that he too may know how one enters the Kingdom of Heaven and what Jesus mission was on earth. 

Readings: 
Old Testament: Genesis 12:1--9
Epistle: Romans 4:1--8, 13--17
Gospel: John 3:1--17

This week we see another promise from the Old Testament fulfilled in the New Testament.  We also hear Jesus preach in public for the first time and call his first disciples from fishing on boats to fishing for people. In our Epistle reading we hear Paul call on the Christians from Corinth to avoid divisions and focus on the power of the Cross. 

Our readings this week focus our attention on the great gift that God has given to us -- Baptism. The Old Testament reading describes God's servant people Israel who fail and are replaced by God's perfect servant -- his son Jesus. Our Epistle Reading tells us how we are connected to Jesus' death and resurrection through our Baptism and our Gospel reading tells us of Jesus' own Baptism and gives us a picture of the Trinity.