Sermon for August 24th 2014

Sermon for Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost, Aug. 24, 2014

St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  Romans 11:33-12:8

Sermon Theme:  “What Is Worship?”

 (Sources:  Anderson’s Cycle A Preaching Workbook; Emphasis Online Commentary; original ideas; Emphasis Online Illustrations; Concordia Pulpit Resources, Volume 24, Part 3, Series A)

 Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

           What is worship?

          Today’s sermon text boils down to that one question.  In other words, what do we really mean by worshipping God? 

          We often think of worship as something we do in a church service, such as sit down, stand up, sit down, stand up, walk to the chancel area, kneel down, stand up, return to pew, sit down, stand up, doing such things for religious purposes in a building that is used primarily for religious purposes. 

          However, if our bodies aren’t set apart for serving God, then we are merely going through the motions on Sunday morning, merely burning calories as we sit, kneel and stand.  If songs of praise, prayers, and meditation are not connected to what we do the rest of the week, then our worship is merely physical exercise.  Continue reading

Sermon for August 17th, 2014

Sermon for Tenth Sunday after Pentecost, Aug. 17, 2014

St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon Theme:  “And That’s a Fact!”

 (Sources:  Emphasis Online Commentary; Emphasis Online Illustrations; Believer’s Bible Commentary; original ideas; Anderson’s Cycle A Preaching Workbook; Harpers Bible Dictionary)

 Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

           Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler’s Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, seriously stated once, “Christ cannot possibly have been a Jew.  I don’t have to prove that scientifically.  It is a fact.” 

          Of course it was not a fact; Jesus was indeed a Jew.  Stating that something is true because you say it is true is a gross fallacy in reasoning.  To say that the Jesus we see in our sermon text is not the real Jesus would be such a fallacy.  Continue reading

Sermon for August 10th 2014

Sermon for Ninth Sunday after Pentecost, August 10, 2014

St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  Romans 10:5-17

Sermon Theme:  “Near You, In Your Heart, and Out of Your Mouth”

(Sources:  Emphasis Online Commentary; Emphasis Online Illustrations; original ideas; Believer’s Bible Commentary); Anderson’s Cycle A Preaching Workbook)

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

          When I was a kid, I would put a cup towel around my neck and play like I was Superman.  My brother, with his cap gun, always wanted to be the Lone Ranger, and our friend Jackie, with his cap gun, was Red Ryder.  I didn’t need a gun, because I was Superman. 

          Since my cup towel cape enabled me to fly, I jumped off the roof of the garage one day, and the only thing that kept me from breaking my legs was the manure pile I landed in.  Fortunately, it was dry manure. Continue reading

Sermon for August 3rd, 2014

Sermon for Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, Aug. 3, 2014

St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  Matthew 14:13-21

Sermon Theme:  God’s Incredible Generosity

 (Sources:  Emphasis Online Illustrations; Anderson’s Cycle A Preaching Workbook; original ideas and examples; Believer’s Commentary)

 Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

           Not only does God keep all of us alive by providing us with our basic needs, but also His great generosity leaves us with abundance.  A little boy learned this lesson in Sunday School one Sunday. 

          After the boy got home from Sunday School, and his mom served lunch, he began to examine a slice of tomato and commented to his mother that it was awesome how many seeds the tomato had.  She replied that each seed had the potential of creating a whole new plant, but that hardly any of them would get planted.

          The little boy pondered on that for a minute and exclaimed, “God sure wastes a lot, doesn’t He?”  Continue reading