ST. STEPHEN’S EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH
Striving to speak God’s saving truth in love. Ephesians 4:15
11Oct
God Calls, Chooses and Clothes Us
Today’s lesson, the parable of the wedding banquet, is about invitation—God’s invitation. I suppose you could say that it is about God’s gospel invitation. It’s not really about a command, but an offer—come to the wedding feast. In the catechism we learned about God’s invitation under the Third Article of the Creed, “I believe that…
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27Sep
Our Fight Against the Devil Is Not Ours
The battle of good versus evil. Whenever any mention of this matchup occurs, people tune in. Even Disney movies create a plot line with this scenario. Things start out well but for some reason the good takes a disastrous step. They find themselves somehow hamstrung in what they can do. Nobody believes in them. Evil…
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23Aug
Who Is Jesus?
Sermon on Matthew 16:13-20 for Pentecost 12 (Pr 16), August 20, 21 & 23, 2020 It is a bold and a brave thing for a teacher or a leader of any kind to ask, “What do you think, guys? How am I doing?” or “What are they saying about me out there?” I’ve done it—and…
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16Aug
Don’t Give Up!
A sermon based on Matthew 15:21-28 for the 11th Sunday after Pentecost, August 13/14/16, 2020. How long will we try something before we give up? One, two, three, ten, twenty times? Sometimes television shows poke fun of people who always give up. They try something only to find out they don’t like it, or they…
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09Aug
Two Lessons from Jesus Walking on the Water with Peter
Sermon on Matthew 14:22-33, August 6, 7 and 9, 2020 I. Jesus shows us his power, might and person. Today I’m going to tell you about some false doctrine. I’m not going to teach false doctrine, I’m going to teach you about it. The problem has to do with how we are supposed to understand…
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26Jul
The Christian Recognizes Their Blessings
A sermon on I Timothy 6:17-21 for the 8th Sunday after Pentecost, July 23/24/26, 2020. The year was 1922. At this time one of the greatest archaeological finds of all was uncovered. Howard Carter found the nearly intact tomb of King Tutankhamun, more commonly known as King Tut. This discovery renewed interest in the study…
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19Jul
How Should We Deal with Evil in the World?
Sermon on Matthew 13:24–30, 36-43 for Pentecost 7 (Pr 11), July 16, 17 & 19, 2020 A Christian writer I follow recently made this observation: “Every time I look at social media or watch news programs two thoughts cross my mind: The good news is that we still believe in sin and it still really…
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05Jul
We Will Be Content
A sermon on Exodus 33:12-33 for the 5th Sunday after Pentecost, July 2/3/5, 2020. How content are you? If someone would come up at this very moment to ask this question of you, how would you answer? Contentment might be something that many in the world miss right now in their life. Sure they have…
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28Jun
The First Table of God’s Law, Smashed
Sermon on Exodus 32:15–26 for Pentecost 4 (Pr 8), June 25, 26 & 28, 2020 There are many things happening in this lesson. First, there are some sad opposites caused by fallen human nature. Moses is on the top of Mount Sinai receiving the commandments from God, and at the foot of the mountain the…
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14Jun
The Lord Demands Faithfulness
A sermon on I Corinthians 4:1-7, for the 2nd Sunday after Pentecost, June 11/12/14, 2020. The summer Olympics, like so many other things, were supposed to take place this summer in just over a month. Now, we will have to wait another year for these games to take place. Millions of people tune in to…
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08Jun
The Holy Trinity: Transcendent and Immanent
Sermon on Genesis 1:1—2:3 for The Holy Trinity, June 4, 5 & 7, 2020 Trinity Sunday is unique among the special festivals of the church year. All others are based on events: Christmas—the birth of Christ. Epiphany—the visit of the Wise Men. Palm Sunday—Jesus rides into Jerusalem. Good Friday, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, all remember events….
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31May
The Holy Spirit Gives Gifts to His Church
A sermon on Acts 2:1-21 for Pentecost, May 28/29/31, 2020. Recently, we found a surprise outside our window. We knew something was up before making the discovery. Birds kept flying to this one spot by our house. We did not think anything of it. We have feeders outside. Birds fly from tree to tree around…
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10May
Follow Jesus!
A sermon on John 14:1-11, for the 5th Sunday after Easter, May 10, 2020. In the movie The Wizard of Oz Dorothy dreams that she lands in a strange new land. Immediately it becomes obvious that she is no longer in Kansas. Glinda, the good witch, tells Dorothy in order to get home she has…
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26Apr
Dear Christian, Remember…
It seems like every generation has a monumental event happen in which they will remember all the details quite vividly. We remember exactly where were, what we were doing, and how we reacted to the event. In the 1960’s everyone knew where they were when news broke that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in…