12-18-2013_Location Location Location-Surrounded

John the Baptist's jail cell walls speak to how the devil tries to surround us and rob us of our joy. Jesus reminds John that He came to set people free from the walls that imprison them.



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12-15-2013_An Animated Joy

The joy of the coming Messiah animates inanimate objects as well as strengthens weakened people.



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12-11-2013_Location Location Location: Stuck

The feeling of being stuck is the feeling of hopelessness.  Christ came into the world to unstick stuck sinners through the forgiveness of sins and restore to us hope.



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12-08-2013_Hope

Hope is not "wishful thinking."  It is a present certainty in Christ.



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12-04-2013_Advent Midweek 1_Location Location Location-BEHIND

In Exodus 33, Moses glimpses God's glory from the rear, reminding him that his job was to follow the Lord.



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12-01-2013_Peace

Peace in this world is fleeting and flighty.  Christ, our Advent King, comes to bring peace and draws all nations to Himself.



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11-24-2013_A King For Those With Nothing Left

Jesus extends paradise to a robber about to die as He Himself is being crucified.  With nothing left but repentance, the robber got paradise and a kingdom which never fades.

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11-17-2013_Straighten Up! Your Redemption Draws Near!

Despite the gravity of Jesus' warnings about the signs of His return, Jesus leaves His disciples with a hopeful message.  The Christian sees in all the signs the consummation of the hope into which he was baptized.

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11-10-2013_Yes There IS A Resurrection

Jesus tells the Sadducees that there is a resurrection because God is a God of the living, not the dead.

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11-03-2013_Do You Know Where The Treasures Are?

The saints of all time always knew where the treasures of heaven were to be found.  At the Baptismal font, at the pulpit and at the altar Christ serves His treasures which make saints of sinners and give eternal life to all who believe.

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10-20-2013_Generosity In Giving

"For God loved the world so that He gave..." already says a lot about God before we even get to the part about giving His one and only Son into death in order that we might live eternally.  God is generous and a generous giver by nature.  Why?  Because He loves us.  Generosity in prayer, good works, and offerings is about love or it's about nothing at all.

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10-13-2013_Generosity In Mercy

Generosity is giving for the sake of giving, above and beyond the call of duty, without expectation of reward or recognition.

In Eph. 2:10, Paul reminds us that good works are prepared beforehand by God for us to walk in them.  They are His works done through us and are part of the Christian's generous living.  This is modeled in Christ whose cross is the greatest good work of all, far surpassing anything and everything we do in this life.

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10-6-2013_Generosity In Prayer

Christians don't pray enough, but the bigger problem is that they do not think to pray in any given situation.  Prayer teaches us how we stand before God and how better to look on the situations in life and other people as well.  Prayer isn't our thing we do for God nearly so much as one of the gifts of God which teaches us far more than we can even begin to imagine.

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9-29-2013_Nothing Will Harm You

The devil and his evil angels are real, but they are defeated and only gain power by stealing it from you.  Jesus has won the victory and now His promise to His disciples is yours, "Nothing will harm you."

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9-22-2013_It's All About The Rich Man

Is It "The Parable Of The Dishonest Manager?"  Or is it "The Parable Of The Shrewd Manager?"  The answer is yes, but even more importantly, it should be called "The Parable Of The Gracious Rich Man."

God takes the loss in order for you and I to have our sin debt paid by Christ on His cross.

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9-15-2013_It All Comes Down To One

In Luke 15:1-10, Jesus tells us that 99% of all sheep will fail to live the life of repentance and, thus, fail to be saved (found) by the Good Shepherd.  Jesus wants you to be the one for whom He gave all.

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9-8-2013_Discipleship: Easy Or Hard (Rev. Dr. John Wohlrabe)

Is following Jesus easy or hard?  The answer is...YES.  Christ does not promise us a bed of roses if we follow Him, but in Him and His grace all obstacles are overcome.

Rev. Dr. John Wohlrabe, 2VP of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, is our guest preacher.

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9-01-2013_A Pattern In Christ And Creation

Jesus' saying, "everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and everyone who humbles himself will be exalted," reflects the way God made the world to work before it fell.  It is also embodied in Christ, who humbled Himself to the point of the cross and who exalts us to heavenly thrones by grace even though we did not deserve it.

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8-25-2013_The Narrow Door

Jesus pictures the entrance to heaven as a narrow door, framed by the Ten Commandments.  There's only one way through.  JESUS!

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08-18-2013_FREEDOM In The Spirit

The world needs Christ.  It's His loving, renewed Christians who bring the mind, body, and Spirit of Christ to the world.  Nurtured by Christ's gifts, transformed by the renewing of their minds, Christians offer up their whole lives to be little Christs for the good of the world around us.

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8-4-2013_The Holy Spirit Among The 'spirits'

Colossians 2:1-10 reminds us that we are full of the fullness of Christ and that all other messages in the world are empty and vain by comparison.

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7-28-2013_A Bold Prayer For A Sinful World

In Gen. 18, Abraham pleads for Sodom and Gemorrah in their great sin of homosexuality and sexual perversity.  Although God did not spare the cities, Abraham's witness demonstrates that being a person of faith is not being a better person than others caught in manifest sin, but rather one who prays for the unrepentant that they too might know the love of God and be spared the consequences of sin.

Rev. Daniel McMiller, Executive Director of Luther Academy, is the preacher.

You may learn more about Rev. McMiller and the work of Luther Academy at www.lutheracademy.com.

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7-21-2013_God Doesn't Need Your Good Works!

Jesus praises Mary, who is busy not being busy, for sitting at His feet and hearing His Word.  He gently chides Martha for being too busy to attend to the most needful thing, hearing His Word and receiving His gifts.

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7-14-2013_Vocation: God's Higher Gift

Paul encourages the Corinthians to quit overfocusing on the pastors in their midst and desire earnestly the higher gift of their calling, or vocation.

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7-7-2013_Many Members, ONE BODY

In 1 Cor. 12:12-26, Paul reminds us that a healthy body is one whose members are directed by the Head, which is Christ.  Still, all the members are important, both in our physical bodies and in the Body of Christ known as the Church.  Where one suffers, all suffer.  Where one rejoices, all rejoice.

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6-30-2013_Growing Up Into Christ The Head

A sermon on Eph. 4:15 through the end of the chapter in the continuation of the series "Healthy And Holy: Peaceful Living In The Mind, Body, and Spirit of Christ."

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6-23-2013_The Mind At Peace_Phil. 4:4-9

God wants peace, not anxiety, for his Christians of all ages, particularly in this anxious America of the 21st century.

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6-16-2013_Loving Shrewdness_Matt. 10:16-20

A sermon on some of Jesus' most difficult words, "...so be shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves."  This loving shrewdness is not sin.  It is part of having the mind of Christ.

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6-9-2013_The Mind Of Christ_1 Cor. 2:6-16

The first in a summer sermon series titles "Healthy And Holy: Peaceful Living In The Mind, Body, And Spirit Of Christ."  Today's topic defines the "mind of Christ" from 1 Cor. 2:16.

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