Sermon for November 27, 2016

Sermon for the First Sunday in Advent

November 27, 2016, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  Romans 13:11-14

Sermon Theme:  “Some Straightening Up Before He Comes Back”

(Sources:  Anderson, Cycle A, Preaching Workbook; Brokhoff’s Series A Preaching Workbook; Emphasis Online Illustrations; original ideas and examples; Concordia Self-Study Bible “Introduction” to Romans; The Life-Application Bible Footnotes; Believer’s Commentary)

Being a Circuit Counselor (now called “Circuit Visitor”) for a group of churches was never easy, and especially not in Paul’s day.  I am so thankful God never called me to serve as Circuit Visitor.  In my previous sermons, I’ve talked about some of the problems in the various churches which Paul addressed in his letters to those churches.  Some congregations had one problem, and other congregations had just the opposite problem; but almost all of them had trouble with relationships, — disagreements and quarrels, often severe.

When congregational issues got really bad, the Circuit Visitor was often called in to help before things got completely out of control.  Since my wife is organist and music director of our church, I just have to share a joke with you, wherein the music director is obviously not the pastor’s wife, and no doubt represented the thinking of the whole congregation.

In a small church in the Midwest, the music director and the pastor had conflicting viewpoints about everything and were openly feuding.  At one worship service, the Pastor announced the theme of his sermon as “Making Progress through Service.”  The music director chose the hymn, “I Shall Not Be Moved.”

The next Sunday, the Pastor preached on the necessity for generous giving.  The hymn that followed the sermon was “Jesus Paid It All.”  When the sermon theme chosen by the Pastor was “The Sin of Gossip,” the hymn that followed was “I Love to Tell the Story.”

Believing that the conflict between him and the music director could not be resolved because the people were on the director’s side, the Pastor announced at the end of the next service he was considering resigning.  The song that followed was “Why Not Tonight.”

The very next worship service, his last, the Pastor formally announced his resignation, explaining that Jesus had called him to a different ministry.  The hymn was “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.” Continue reading

Thanksgiving Eve Sermon November 23, 2016

Sermon for Thanksgiving Eve, Nov. 23, 2016

St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  Luke 17:11-19

Sermon Theme:  “How Do WE Worship?”

 (Sources:  Concordia Pulpit Resources, Volume 25, Part 4, Series B; original ideas and examples; Lutheran liturgy; Prayer by Timothy Keller)

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

           How do we worship?  That question is the theme of my sermon for tonight.  Since you are a Lutheran in a Lutheran church, it may seem like an odd question.  ‘How DO we worship?  Like Lutheran are supposed to!’

But that can mean a lot of different things in the 21st Century.  Most of the time our worship is liturgical, occasionally, it is not.  Some Lutheran churches have contemporary worship; some have traditional services; some have both.  Some Lutheran churches lean heavily one way, while others focus on another.

Sometimes, we, here at St. Paul’s, sing old Lutheran hymns; sometimes we sing contemporary Christian music; sometimes we sing old-time Gospel songs.  But they are all songs that are true to the Bible.  Sunday, we had a Holy Communion service that was traditionally liturgical; tonight, we are doing a non-liturgical service.

But, you see, that’s not what I mean by the question, “How do we worship?”

What I mean by that question is:  What is true worship really all about?  That’s an important question to answer on Thanksgiving Eve.

In our sermon text for tonight, nine of the ex-lepers continue on their way to the Temple to be inspected and receive a ritualistic cleansing from the priests.  They were already cured by Jesus, but the religious leaders of the people required rites and rituals.  People could not associate with lepers unless they were pronounced cleansed by the priests. Continue reading

Sermon for November 20, 2016

Sermon for Christ the King, November 20, 2016

St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  Luke 23:27-43

Sermon Theme:  “Was He a King of Fools?”

(Sources:  Emphasis online Commentary; Emphasis online Illustrations; Anderson, Cycle C, Preaching Workbook; original ideas; History Jokes, history.inrebus.com; Brokhoff, Series C, Preaching Workbook)

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

While America has no King or Queen, most Americans are familiar with royalty, because of the British royal family.  By the way, in England, when a royal male becomes King, his wife is always given the title “Queen.”  However, when a royal female becomes Queen, her husband must never be called “King” if he is a foreigner, — such as the case of Prince Albert who was from Germany and Prince Phillip who was from Spain.  Such a designation reminds the folks that Queen Victoria, or Queen Elizabeth, is the true Royal Monarch of the United Kingdom.  Not their husband.

Australia is a Constitutional Monarchy, with Elizabeth II as their figurehead Queen.  Once when Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip were visiting a university in Australia, a couple introduced themselves to Prince Phillip as Mr. and Dr. Robinson.  When the husband explained, “My wife is a doctor of philosophy.  She is much more important than I,” Prince Phillip sympathetically replied, “Ah, yes.  We have that trouble in our family, too.”

In the early days, including Old Testament times, when Israel had a King, the King had absolute authority, and people believed in the Divine Right of Kings.  In England during the Middle Ages, it was believed that a bad King was allowed to rule the people as punishment for their sins, so you deserved and had to endure a “bad” King.  In today’s world, some countries, like England, still have Kings and Queens, but they have little or no authority and are pretty much figureheads.

God used the images and languages of the world to communicate His nature, the mystery of His existence, to us, and so we view God as the King of Kings, the divine monarch of His Kingdom.  Earthly kings, then and now, are political; the Divine King, Christ the King, is spiritual, although at the time of His crucifixion, Roman leaders and the religious leaders of the Jews saw Jesus as a political threat.  Obviously, Christ was a very different kind of king. Continue reading

LWML Food Booth Pictures

Cheryl Davis making kolaches for the Food Booth the day before the citywide event.

Cheryl Davis making kolaches for the Food Booth the day before the citywide event.

Maxine Cates busy preparing kolaches for the LWML Food Booth.

Maxine Cates busy preparing kolaches for the LWML Food Booth.

The St. Paul LWML had an assembly line going on Nov. 11 to make kolaches for their Food Booth at the Wallis Citywide Garage Sale on Nov. 12.

The St. Paul LWML had an assembly line going on Nov. 11 to make kolaches for their Food Booth at the Wallis Citywide Garage Sale on Nov. 12.

Peggy Spitzenberger is bagging  up cookies to be sold at the LWML Food Booth.

Peggy Spitzenberger is bagging up cookies to be sold at the LWML Food Booth.

Cheryl Davis and Maxine Cates busy making kolaches for the LWML Food Booth on Nov. 12.

Cheryl Davis and Maxine Cates busy making kolaches for the LWML Food Booth on Nov. 12.

Maxine Cates, Judy Stallings, Caroline Osborne, Annie Mae  Korenek, and Pauline Koening waiting for customers to arrive at the LWML Food Booth on Saturday, November 12, 2016.

Maxine Cates, Judy Stallings, Caroline Osborne, Annie Mae
Korenek, and Pauline Koening waiting for customers to arrive at the LWML Food Booth on Saturday, November 12, 2016.

The men came to watch the ladies work at the LWML Food Booth, left to right, Gary Davis, Pastor Ray, and Robert Osborne.

The men came to watch the ladies work at the LWML Food Booth, left to right, Gary Davis, Pastor Ray, and Robert Osborne.

Sermon for November 13, 2016

Sermon for the Twenty-sixth Sunday after Pentecost

November 13, 2016, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  2 Thessalonians 3:6-13

Sermon Theme:  “Be Busy, Not a Busy-Body”

(Sources:  Anderson’s Cycle C Preaching Workbook; Brokhoff, Series C, Preaching Workbook; original ideas and example; Footnotes, Amplified Study Bible; Online quotes and jokes about being lazy; Emphasis Online Illustrations; footnotes, Concordia Self-Study Bible; The Faith by Charles Colson and Harold Fickett)

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

It’s just amazing how many funny things have been said or written about laziness or lazy people.  If I quoted all of them, we’d be here all day.  Here are just a few of them:

“They say that hard work never killed anyone, but why take the chance?”  “Give a lazy person a fish and he will eat it.  Teach him how to fish, and he will sit in a boat and sleep all day.”  “I should have suspected my husband was lazy on our wedding day, his mother told me: ‘I’m not losing a son, I’m gaining a couch.’”  “I hate housework, because several months later, I have to do it all over again.”  “When you have the urge to work, lie down until it’s gone.”  “You know you’re lazy if you have to save up energy to take a nap.”  “Don’t do anything tomorrow, if it can be done the day after tomorrow.”

And there are zillions of jokes about preachers’ being lazy, since they work only on Sundays.  Once when a grandfather had to take his granddaughter to school on Opening Day (her mother was sick and her father was too busy), Grandpa said to his grandchild during an interview with her new teacher, “Tell the lady where your daddy works.”

The little girl looked at her grandfather and said with a frown, “Grandpa, you know daddy doesn’t work, — he’s a preacher!”

Well, nobody could ever have said that about the famous preacher in our sermon text for today, — the Apostle Paul.  If you’ve ever read the Book of Acts and Paul’s letters, you know how hard Paul worked, how tireless he was all of the time.  Not just with his ministry, but with making tents to earn money and helping others.  Paul was a skilled tent-maker, and he used his skills to make and sell tents. Continue reading

Sermon for November 06, 2016

Sermon for All Saints’ Sunday

November 6, 2016, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  1 John 3:1-3

Sermon Theme:  “Saint and Child of God”

(Sources:  Concordia Pulpit Resources, vol. 26, Part 4, Series C, 2016; Emphasis Online Illustrations; Life-Application Study Bible footnotes; original ideas and examples; The Timetables of American History; Merriam-Webster Collegiate Encyclopedia)

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

I want to begin with my favorite joke about saints, so if you’ve heard it before, laugh anyway.  It goes like this:

A pastor dies and is waiting in line at the Pearly Gates.  Ahead of him is a guy who’s dressed in sunglasses, a loud shirt, leather jacket, and jeans.  St. Peter first speaks to this rather colorful-looking guy:  “Who are you, so that I may know whether or not to admit you to the Kingdom of Heaven?”

The man replies, “I’m Joe Cohen, taxi driver, of New York City.”

Saint Peter consults his list.  He smiles and says to the taxi-driver, “Take this silken robe and golden staff and enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”

The taxi-driver goes into heaven with his robe and staff, and it’s the pastor’s turn.  Pastor stands proudly and booms out, “I am Jonathan Snow, Pastor of St. Mark’s for the last forty-three years.”

Saint Peter consults his list.  He says to the pastor, “Take this cotton robe and wooden staff and enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”

“Just a minute,” says the pastor.  “That man was a taxi-driver and he gets a silken robe and golden staff.  How can this be?”

“Up here, we work by results,” says Saint Peter.  “While you preached, people slept; while he drove, people prayed.”

While that joke implies that there are levels of sainthood based on good works, we are convinced all true believers, dead or still living, are “saints.”  Period. Continue reading