Sermon for Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost, October 20, 2013
St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas
Sermon Text: 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
Sermon Theme: “Surrounded by the Enemy”
(Sources: Concordia Pulpit Resources, Vol. 23, Part 4, Series C; Harper’s Bible Dictionary; Concordia Journal, Summer 2013; original ideas; Believer’s Commentary)
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Former Lutheran Hour speaker, Kenneth Klaus, shares a war story from World War II that speaks to us this morning.
With over 250,000 German soldiers and 1,000 army tanks, the Nazi’s stormed the city of Bastogne, hoping to reclaim Europe. American troops, under the command of General A. C. McAuliffe were surrounded.
Their general would not surrender, so American soldiers were plenty worried. A sergeant in Bastogne talked to some of his men, including a young soldier, a private, from the South. Being relatively new, he might, you’d think, be shaking in his boots. He wasn’t. He seemed so incredibly calm that his sergeant asked him a question.
Expletives deleted, the conversation went something like this: The sergeant asked, “You do understand the Krauts have us surrounded, don’t you?”
“Yup, I got that, Sarge.”
“And how do you feel about that?” asked the Sergeant. Continue reading