Pentecost Service
God addressed the problem of our hard hearts that would ignore His salvation with the Holy Ghost’s work through the Word and Baptism. We can’t make ourselves believe in God’s love and mercy in Christ; but He can. He comes to us through the ministry of His Word that took on a new urgency on a special day of Pentecost. He teaches us of our need—showing us our sins, and then our Savior Who removed them. See that Savior today, Whom the Holy Ghost proclaims in Word and Sacrament.
Ascension Sunday Service
If you imagine yourself among the disciples who were present on that day, you don’t look intently up into the sky in confusion or uncertainty; you look there in anticipation of what you are to inherit on whatever day God has in mind. It is yours because your Savior is there, and has prepared it for you. He is working there continually for you, as the One Who calls you His own.
Easter 6 Service
We ask the Father in His name, and we receive. We receive to the extent that our joy is full. We anticipate the inheritance of God’s kingdom. The Father loves us for Christ’s sake. He loves you. He forgives you your sins. He forgives you in Jesus’ Name.
Easter 5 Service
God’s mercy is yours in Christ. You know the difference between what’s really true and what isn’t; the Spirit of truth has told you. You are a sinner. Christ is your righteousness. You are thereby innocent in the judgment.
Easter 4 Service
We wait quietly a little while for the salvation of the Lord. As those forgiven in Christ’s blood, we anticipate the end of our weeping, and lamenting, and sorrowing that give way to eternal rejoicing at His side.
Lent 6 - Palm Sunday Service
What all people really need to know about Jesus, is that God has forgiven their sins in Him. He has forgiven your sins in Him. You sing Hosanna this morning to the Savior who pursued the cross and grave for you so that in Him you now have eternal life.
Easter Day - The Feast of the Resurrection of Our Lord Service
There isn’t any hope or any joy in a crucified Lord who isn’t risen. He doesn’t demonstrate anything by dying. All of us will do that. We’ll do it because the wages of our sin is death (Romans 6:23). He demonstrates something very important by rising, though. His death goes in a different direction. It doesn’t end in defeat; it ends in victory.
And that victory isn’t just His; it’s yours too. Your death will go in this same direction because through faith you are connected to Him. He has removed for you the curse of death. You will rise to follow Him. Your faith isn’t in someone who’s dead; it’s in the One Who was dead and is alive again.
Lent 5 Service
When you’re hesitant to believe that God could really forgive even your sins, then look upon Christ in our text. Listen to His Words, really hearing them for what they are. Consider the meaning of His statement: if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death. Another way of saying it might be: If anyone holds on tightly to the promises about Me—about God’s grace established in Me as the One Who makes real what the Old Testament sacrifices foreshadowed, he will never bear the burden of his or her guilt before God. It has been fully accomplished.
Lent 4 Service
The one Who sees you in the crowd and longs to meet your every need is the one Who became needy for you. The fact that He never neglected to put Himself in the Father’s hands, praying constantly, right up to time of being unjustly arrested and tried before sinners, makes atonement for every shortcoming on your part. Every sin is forgiven in this one Who meets the needs of body and soul.