A Sermon for the First Sunday in Advent
Isaiah 64:1-9
There is a remarkable verse in the first chapter of 2 Corinthians which says: “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him” (2 Corinthians 1:20). We might paraphrase that by saying: “Christ is the answer: What is the problem?” Christ is the answer. That’s set, but what is the problem?
A Sermon for Christ the King Sunday
In the church year this Sunday is New Year’s Eve and the new year begins next Sunday, the first Sunday of Advent. As we typically do on New Year’s Eve, we take stock of what has been and look ahead at what is to come.
Looking back at this past year we see that Christian churches in our country and elsewhere are struggling, as we are individually, due to a volatile world, financial pressures, and a corrosive secularism. On top of all that is the ominous rise of Islamic jihad and a timid, confused response by many Christian leaders.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
Here we are one Sunday before Christ the King Sunday, the end of the church year. The texts are stronger in terms of judgment, especially judgment on those who are leaders, and then also the note of hope that we find in 1 Thessalonians.
As we have noted, there are many today, particularly among evangelicals and Baptists, who are caught in end-time thinking. Dallas Theological Seminary, which has over 2,000 students and over 100 faculty, is a major center for study of “the Rapture” and end times. And Dallas Theological Seminary is not alone. There are many such schools, neighborhood Bible studies, and preachers. We ask ourselves: What do we Lutherans say to this?
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Every year for the Sundays of November the texts are about the end times as we approach the end of the church year: Christ the King Sunday, which this year is November 26th. The text for this Sunday in November is an end-times text from 1 Thessalonians.
As we have noted before, scholars are pretty sure this is the first of the letters Paul wrote, and it was written about 50-51 A.D., shortly after he became a Christian and only twenty years after the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Sermon 1: The last enemy to be destroyed is death
1 Corinthians 15:26
A sermon for All Saints Sunday
Select here to read more or here for a pdf document.
Sermon 2: “He who calls you is faithful and he will do it.”
1 Thessalonians 2:8-13
A sermon for the end of the season of Pentecost