Happenings

Sermons by Pastor Walter Snyder plus announcements, articles, videos, and anything else that doesn’t fit Ask the Pastor or the Luther Library.





08 September 2019

Pentecost 13 Sermon: Righteous Planting

Preached on Psalm 1:1–6
13th Sunday After Pentecost — Proper 18C
8 September AD 2019

Psalm 1 Summary: Believers flourish when rooted in Christ. As trees in a dry climate only grow strong when they can draw from a source of pure water, so our strength comes when we draw upon Jesus, our Living Water. We find ourselves here not because of our own actions but because the Holy Spirit takes us to the waters and plants us through Baptism and the Word.

Preached at Big Bend Retreat, a care center in Slater, Missouri.

Text: Blessed is the man
   who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
   nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
   and on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree
   planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
   and its leaf does not wither.
   In all that he does, he prospers.

The wicked are not so,
   but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
   nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
   but the way of the wicked will perish. Psalm 1:1-6

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 Righteous Planting.

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: Deuteronomy 30:15-20; Philemon 1-21; Luke 14:15-25

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Pentecost 13 Sermon: Life and Good

Preached on Deuteronomy 30:15–20
13th Sunday After Pentecost — Proper 18C
8 September AD 2019

Title: Click to hear the MP3 of Life and Good.

Deuteronomy 30:15-20 Summary: Today Moses lays out a simple choice: Life and good or death and evil? And while “life” would seem to be the obvious and only answer, most of the world chooses death in one form or other. That’s because most choose themselves over God and neighbor.

Only Christians can choose true and eternal life because only they know that God first chose them. Left to our own devices, we will al eventually choose wrongly. But when guided by the Spirit, we choose life because we already possess that life in Christ.

Text: “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.

“But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse.

“Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” Deuteronomy 30:15-20

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 Life and Good.

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 1; Philemon 1-21; Luke 14:15-25

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Pentecost 13 Sermon: Counting the Cost

Preached on Luke 14:15–25
13th Sunday After Pentecost — Proper 18C
8 September AD 2019

Title: Click to hear the MP3 of Counting the Cost.

Luke 14:15-25 Summary: Of what value is faith in Christ? The world assigns no particular worth to redemption through Him while He tells us that life in Him is the only thing that matters. We take up our crosses to follow Him because He took up His cross and carried our sins to die with Him on Golgotha.

So while the cross of our discipleship has weight, it’s no burden because He bore the burden for us. Therefore, when we count the cost of following Jesus, we don’t think like the world, which asks, “What will this cost me?” Instead, we think like His beloved Church, which instead asks, “How much did this cost Him?”

Text: Now great crowds accompanied [Jesus], and he turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

“For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’

“Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

“Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Luke 14:15-25

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 Counting the Cost.

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 1; Deuteronomy 30:15-20; Philemon 1-21

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04 September 2016

Pentecost 16 Sermon: Life and Good, Death and Evil

Preached on Deuteronomy 30:15-20
The Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost — Proper 18C
4 September AD 2016

Title: Life and Good, Death and Evil (MP3 Audio)

Deuteronomy 30:15-20 Summary: “I’d like ‘Death and Evil’ for One Thousand, Alex,” said what Jeopardy! contestant ever? Yet from the Fall of Adam until now, mankind continually puts itself in jeopardy, making choices ranging from less good to horrifyingly wicked.

Only those who know that Christ chose to die for them and believe that because of Jesus, the Father chooses to forgive them have any chance of truly choosing life and good. Those who choose to reject salvation in Jesus Christ make the decision of their first parents, attempting to set themselves as gods over the one true God.

When Christians hear the Lord say, “Choose life and good,” we know that He is simply inviting us to continue living in faith toward Him and in fervent love for others. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we answer with the “Amen” of body, mind, and soul in thought, word, and deed.

Text: “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.

“But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse.

“Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” Deuteronomy 30:15-20

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 Life and Good, Death and Evil.

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 1; Philemon 1-21; Luke 14:25-35

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