Trinity Sunday Sermon: To the End

Preached on Matthew 28:16–28
The Feast of the Holy Trinity
7 June AD 2020

Video: Click to view the YouTube video of To the End.

Audio: Alternatively, choose To the End to hear the MP3.

Summary: Just as with His apostles, so Jesus continues to remain with all believers "to the end of the age." By the power of the Holy Spirit, He comes through Word and Sacrament. He protects and provisions us, leading us through earthly life into life everlasting.

Text: In normal recreation, we’re only treating symptoms while missing the cure. We mispronounce it and look for it in the wrong places. We need what the word clearly says: re-creation. We need to be remade in God’s image, not to merely clean and polish our fallen sinful images.

Text: Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted.

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

“And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:16–28

Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Video: Click to view the YouTube video of To the End.

Audio: Click To the End to listen to the MP3.

Other Readings: Psalm 8; Genesis 1:1–2:4a; Acts 2:14a, 22–36

Trinity 25 Sermon: Informed Encouragement

Mission Festival Sermon Preached on 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
The Twenty-fifth Sunday after Trinity
13 November AD 2016

Title: Click to hear the MP3 of Informed Encouragement.

Summary: I was invited to preach for mission festivals at two Missouri congregations, Bethlehem Lutheran, Mount Leonard and Zion Lutheran, Blackburn. I chose to use the appointed Epistle for the One Year Lectionary at each, but with slightly different emphases.

While I spoke on missions in general, I also emphasized the work of hospice chaplain. I noted also the partnership that exists between all Christians and those tending to the special needs of the dying and their families.

Text: But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.

And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

Therefore encourage one another with these words. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Audio: Click to hear the MP3 of Informed Encouragement, preached at Zion Lutheran Church, Blackburn, Missouri

NB: A few people have had problems trying to play the inline audio with Windows Media Player. If this occurs, you can either change to QuickTime or another default browser player, copy and paste the link directly into a selected player, or download it to your computer, where it seems to work regardless of which player. Several folks have suggested VLC Player from VideoLAN.

Other Readings: Psalm 14; Exodus 32:1-20; Matthew 24:15-18

Illustration: Luca Signorelli; Resurrection of the Flesh (1499-1502); Web Gallery of Art.

Trinity 25 Sermon: Resurrection Hope

Mission Festival Sermon Preached on 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
The Twenty-fifth Sunday after Trinity
13 November AD 2016

Title: Click to hear the MP3 of Resurrection Hope.

Summary: I was invited to preach for mission festivals at two Missouri congregations, Bethlehem Lutheran, Mount Leonard and Zion Lutheran, Blackburn. I chose to use the appointed Epistle for the One Year Lectionary at each, but with slightly different emphases.

While I spoke on missions in general, I also emphasized the work of hospice chaplain. I noted also the partnership that exists between all Christians and those tending to the special needs of the dying and their families.

Text: But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.

And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

Therefore encourage one another with these words. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Audio: Click to hear the MP3 of Resurrection Hope, preached at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Mount Leonard, Missouri

NB: A few people have had problems trying to play the inline audio with Windows Media Player. If this occurs, you can either change to QuickTime or another default browser player, copy and paste the link directly into a selected player, or download it to your computer, where it seems to work regardless of which player. Several folks have suggested VLC Player from VideoLAN.

Other Readings: Psalm 14; Exodus 32:1-20; Matthew 24:15-18