Septuagesima 2024 Redeemer Fort Wayne Sermons podcast

Player FM - Internet Radio Done Right

Lagt till seven år sedan

Innehåll tillhandahållet av Redeemer Fort Wayne. Allt poddinnehåll inklusive avsnitt, grafik och podcastbeskrivningar laddas upp och tillhandahålls direkt av Redeemer Fort Wayne eller deras podcastplattformspartner. Om du tror att någon använder ditt upphovsrättsskyddade verk utan din tillåtelse kan du följa processen som beskrivs här https://sv.player.fm/legal.

Threshold

1
Hark | 8 | The Queen's English 30:00

för 18 dagar sedan30:00

Spela Senare

Listor

Gilla

Gillad

30:00

Living together in a group is a strategy many animals use to survive and thrive. And a big part of what makes that living situation successful is listening. In this episode, we explore the collaborative world of the naked mole-rat. Threshold is nonprofit, listener-supported, and independently produced. You can support Threshold by donating today . To stay connected, sign up for our newsletter . Operation frog sound! Send us your frog sounds for an upcoming episode. We want you to go out, listen for frogs and toads, and record them. Just find someone croaking, and hit record on your phone. It doesn’t matter if there’s background noise. It doesn’t even matter if you’re not sure whether or not you’re hearing an amphibian—if you think you are, we would love to get a recording from you. Please also say your name and where you are in the world, and then email the recording to us at outreach@thresholdpodcast.org…

Redeemer Fort Wayne Sermons Podcast «
Septuagesima 2024

för ungefär ett år sedan

Dela

M4A•Episod hem

Septuagesima

St. Matthew 20:1-16

February 5, 2023 A+D

https://cyberstones.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/2023-Trinity-24-Sermon.m4a

NO SERMON TEXT

10 episoder

#Religion #Redeemer Fort Wayne #Christianity #St Matthews

Redeemer Fort Wayne Sermons Podcast

Septuagesima 2024

Redeemer Fort Wayne Sermons Podcast

published för ungefär ett år sedan

Dela

M4A•Episod hem

Septuagesima

St. Matthew 20:1-16

February 5, 2023 A+D

https://cyberstones.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/2023-Trinity-24-Sermon.m4a

NO SERMON TEXT

10 episoder

#Religion #Redeemer Fort Wayne #Christianity #St Matthews

Alla avsnitt

Redeemer Fort Wayne Sermons Podcast

1
Easter 2024

för 1 year sedan

—

Easter April 9, 2024 Mark 16:1-8 https://cyberstones.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2024-Easter-Sermon.m4a Easter Sunday March 31, 2024 A+D Job 19:23-27 In the Name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Job’s bold confession, “I know that my Redeemer lives,” is one of the most important passages in all of Holy Scripture. His example of where to find comfort in the midst of scoffers is maybe more necessary in our age than it has ever been before.This great confession, “I know that my Redeemer lives” should be on our lips every day. The book of Job begins with God holding court. He praises Job as righteous. Satan, the accuser, challenges God. He claims that Job does not love Him but only acts like he is righteous in order to manipulate God to get what he wants. Satan says that if God were to let Job suffer and not reward him, then his true character would emerge and it would show how shallow and self-serving Job really is. God accepts the challenge. He hands all that Job has over to Satan and Job’s famous misery begins. On the surface the question is about justice and suffering. Job is innocent, but he suffers horrific loss. His friends believe that God’s justice means that anyone suffering deserves it. They accuse Job of being wicked because they believe that God punishes the wicked and rewards the righteous. This is the modern idea of reincarnation or karma. According to such teaching you shouldn’t feel sorry for those who suffer because they deserve it and God is getting even with them for what they did in a past life. According to them, you shouldn’t feel sorry for the baby born disfigured and in pain because her mother is drug addict who poisoned her in the womb. That baby deserves it. Can you see what a horrific, satanic doctrine this is? It is judgemental in the worst sense of the term and it poses as wisdom and charity, while claiming that Christianity and its offer of free forgiveness is bigoted and oppressive. Job hates it. So should we all. Job chafes under their accusations. They are unfair and unreasonable. At times, under this pressure and in his weakness, Job gives in to despair. He is suffering terribly. He finds no comfort from his friends and his theology isn’t holding up. He even curses the day he was born, claiming that God had punished him without cause, and despising God’s most precious gift, life itself. But while he waffles, sometimes even blasphemes, Job doesn’t lose faith. In the middle of it all, he claims not innocence but hope for and an eager expectation of a Redeemer. He says: 25 For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; 26 And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God, 27 Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me! (Job 19:25–27 , NKJV) He is a man of two minds: part of him is angry at the wickedness in this world and is exhausted with pain and sorrow and disappointment at the seeming arbitrary reality of evil. Yet the other part still holds on to the hope that God is good and all powerful and wise. That part, by the gift of the Holy Spirit, knows what is real and eternal. There is a Redeemer, God in the Flesh, the living God as a living Man. Then a a new friend arrives. He is the a young man Elihu. He is angry with Job because Job justified himself rather than God. He is also angry with Job’s friends because they had condemned Job. Their theology doesn’t simply fail, it is dead wrong. It is not man’s place to condemn men. They should have seen in Job’s sorrows and opportunity for service not a time to feel superior. Elihu explains that God can use suffering to expose pride and take away idols. It is not just punishment. It can be a chastisement, a rebuke and warning, a setting of boundaries to keep His servants safe. God is love and moves purposefully. We cannot see the big picture or comprehend the complexity of the world. The call to faith is not to know all the answers but to believe and trust in God’s goodness. Job is innocent in an outward way. But his heart is not free from sin. He was wrong to claim that he had no iniquity and wrong to speak evil of God. Finally, God visits Job in the midst of a storm. He mocks Job’s proud assumptions about his capacity to understand the world and justice and calls him to repentance. It is a harsh scene. But what does Job do? He prays: 2 “I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. 3 You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. . . 6 Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:2–3, 6, NKJV) Job repents. And the Lord relents. He restores to Job twice that which he lost: twice the livestock and twice the children. That last part is a bit hard to see at first. With the cows it is as easy as counting heads. He started with 500. They all died. Then he gets a 1000 as replacements, exactly double. With children the math works differently. He started with seven sons and three daughters. They all died. Then he gets not fourteen new sons and six new daughters, but only another seven and three. But that is double. They are not replacements they are additions. The children of Job were raised in the faith. They went to heaven early for their sake and his. Job will see them again. In heaven he will have double the children he had on earth. So what do we learn? We learn what Job learned: this world is not our home. It is temporary and fickle. Thus saith the Lord: “You shall have no other gods.” We can love our stuff and our lives too much. We can love peace and getting along with our neighbors too much. We can even love our children too much. The hope we have is not in ourselves or our country or our savings account. It is in Our Redeemer who died but who lives. Job learned patience and faith the only way it is ever learned: by the Word of God and suffering. Strength comes by resistance. It is a shocking history, but the Redeemer was with Job every step of the way. He did what He did for Job’s sake and for ours. We can, and I think we should, see the Book of Job as a trickster tale where God is the trickster and Satan is the fool. Satan sought to destroy Job out of jealousy. His analysis of Job’s weakness wasn’t completely wrong. Job did suffer from pride and that did come from an easy life. But Satan didn’t understand God’s love or perseverance or His commitment to His children. He spoke in court as though God was ignorant of Job’s heart and his weaknesses. Satan reveled in inflicting suffering, but God tricked him into doing unto Job precisely what Job most needed. The suffering didn’t destroy Job’s faith, it distilled and strengthened it. It taught him where to look for comfort. When Job’s idols were removed, even his children, and even before his faith had come to its fullness, he was able to confess a hope that goes beyond the grave: ”I know that My Redeemer lives! I will be redeemed. I will be made alive again because I have a God who lives. He will become a Man like me, my own family, in order to die as ransom price for me and He will live again. I will see Him with my own eyes.” The outcome was never in doubt. God held Job in His hands the whole time. Satan was duped. He served God’s own purpose and end. It wasn’t to provide wisdom about justice. It was the strengthening of Job’s faith and safeguarding Job from Hell while simultaneously bestowing upon us a great and necessary lesson about faith and God’s providential mercy. And, of course, this wasn’t the last time that Satan fell for such a trick. Satan entered into Judas and set the Passion in motion. Satan, our accuser, was Christ’s accuser. He was with the priests, the crowds, and Pilate. He was an old friend of Herod and has always loved misusing soldiers for the sake of atrocities. He gets a chance to kill God and he can’t resist. He meant it for evil, but God used it for the highest good. This is the redemption that Job waited for, the only Redeemer who could redeem Him when all else was stripped away. Jesus died on purpose, laid down His own life and then took up again. He lives. And if He lives then Job will stand upon the earth, forgiven, restored, alive. And if Job then also us and our loved ones who have gone before us in the sign of Faith. This is the wisdom that confounds Satan and steals us back from Hell, that fills our hearts with joy and makes the angels sing. It is our rally cry, the beating heart of all our hope, Job’s creed and our confession: “I know that my Redeemer lives.” May it ever be in our hearts and upon our lips. Alleluia! Christ is risen!…

Redeemer Fort Wayne Sermons Podcast

1
Lent 6 Palm Sunday 2024

för 1 year sedan

—

Lent 6 Palm Sunday March 24, 2024 Matthew 26:1—27:66 https://cyberstones.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2024-Lent-6-Palm-Sunday-Sermon.m4a Palm Sunday March 24, 2024 A+D Psalm 118, St. Matthew 27:25 In the Name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Psalm 118 is at the center of Palm Sunday. It serves as a guide for how to read the Passions. It teaches us to take the wicked words and even blasphemies of all the unbelievers at the trial and crucifixion of Jesus and make them our own. It is a confession of our own culpability, responsibility, and even complicity in the death of Jesus. We are Barabas and cowardly Pilate and the thief who mocked Jesus on the cross. But we also learn to turn those wicked words on their heads and to let them be transformed by grace into the most pious of prayers. Psalm 118 is the source of the people’s response to Jesus astride the colt. From it they cry: “Hosanna to the Son of David” and “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord.” It is a Psalm of thanksgiving and a call to trust in the Lord. The Psalm begins and ends with a call to thanksgiving based on the Lord’s eternal mercy. 1 O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: Because his mercy endureth for ever. The Psalm goes on to explain that it is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It exalts in answered prayer. The psalmist is confident in the Lord’s mercy and deliverance. He will not die but live. Men are wicked and bring much suffering upon him, surrounding him like bees, mocking him, even torturing him, but he says: “The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: What can man do unto me?” and “The LORD hath chastened me sore: But he hath not given me over unto death.” The Hosanna and Blessed is He come in the last verses. The King James Version translates the Hebrew word “Hosanna” as “Save now.” Here are the verses in their immediate context: 22 The stone which the builders refused Is become the head stone of the corner. 23 This is the LORD’s doing; It is marvellous in our eyes. 24 This is the day which the LORD hath made; We will rejoice and be glad in it. 25 Save now, I beseech thee, O LORD: O LORD, I beseech thee, send now prosperity. 26 Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the LORD: We have blessed you out of the house of the LORD. 27 God is the LORD, which hath shewed us light: Bind the sacrifice with cords, Even unto the horns of the altar. 28 Thou art my God, and I will praise thee: Thou art my God, I will exalt thee. 29 O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: For his mercy endureth for ever. The Stone which the builders rejected is the Stone that followed them in the wilderness, the Stone from which fresh, clean water flowed. That Stone was Christ, rejected then and rejected now, without honor on the earth which He created and loved. There was never grief like His, never a betrayal so unfounded or unreasonable, never a pain so deep. But He has become the chief stone, the foundation of the Church. The faith of all believers rests on Him. He is still without honor on the earth, but He has reserved for Himself more than Elijah’s 7000. He has set the solitary into His family, has called us by the Gospel, enlightened us with His gifts, sanctified and kept us by His grace. We are not of the earth. We belong to heaven. We should die but will not. Jesus lives and so do and so will we. Thus we look upon the cross, the rejection of the Christ and His sacrifice, and say: 23 This is the LORD’s doing; It is marvellous in our eyes. 24 This is the day which the LORD hath made; We will rejoice and be glad in it. And because of that sacrifice, only by that sacrifice, we make a bold demand: Hosanna. 25 Save now, I beseech thee, O LORD: O LORD, I beseech thee, send now prosperity. 26 Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the LORD: We have blessed you out of the house of the LORD. In that euphoria of the Spirit, that holy confidence in God’s good providence, we even command the crucifixion. We say: Bind the sacrifice with cords, Even unto the horns of the altar. 28 Thou art my God, and I will praise thee: Thou art my God, I will exalt thee. Who is my God? The one bound to the Cross, who is lifted up from the earth to draw all men unto HImself. Blessed is He! He comes in the Name of the Lord. This is the Lord’s doing. It is marvellous in our eyes. This is the day the Lord has made, the day when the sun went dark and water and blood flowed upon the earth outside the city gates. We will rejoice and be glad in it. Reading the Passion together and making ourselves say things like, “Give us Barabas instead of Jesus” and “crucify Him” and even “let His blood be on us and on our children” is painful. There is a part of us that hates that this happened, that Jesus suffered so. We stand accused by the Law. We are guilty. We have betrayed Him, failed Him, turned away from Him. We repent. We turn back to Him. We love His Word and Law. We love Him. We want to do better. At the same time, even though those people meant those sentences for evil, there is an irony here beyond description, and that irony is the heart of the Gospel. Consider this: if we asked the Father whether He would have Barabas released or Jesus, what would He say? He would say “Barabas.” He would say this not because He does not love Jesus. He would say it because He loves Barabas. He sent Jesus to redeem the wicked. He believes that He can do it and He is right. The release of Barabas and condemnation of Jesus is the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. The height of this, for me, is when the people cry out: “Let His Blood be upon us and on our children.” In their mouths this is blasphemy. They don’t care if Jesus is innocent. They test God. They are saying that they do not think He can or will do anything to them no matter how many innocent people they will kill as many as they want. We, too, have acted as if God’s Word did not matter and we mattered most. And yet, in faith, redeemed by Christ, we use the same words, “let His Blood be upon us and on our children” to mean something completely different. We want His innocent Blood upon us because His life is in the Blood. He washes us clean and marks us as His own by His Blood. His Blood is poured over our hearts through our mouths to protect us from the angel of death. We want what He gives in and through His Blood for us and for our children. What we meant for evil, God uses for good. “Let His Blood be upon us and our children” is a prayer of faith. It trusts that the death of Jesus is the Lord’s doing. It is marvelous in our eyes. Thus the whole Passion, the whole life and ministry of Jesus, and even our own personal stories become holy histories of God’s intervening grace and providence. The outcome was never in doubt. Let all those who fear the Lord say, that His mercy endureth forever. In +Jesus’ Name. Amen.…

Redeemer Fort Wayne Sermons Podcast

1
Lent 5 Judica 2024

för 1 year sedan

—

Lent 5 Judica March 26, 2024 John 8:(42-45) 46-59 https://cyberstones.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2024-Lent-5-Judica-Sermon.m4a Judica 2024 March 17, 2024 A+D Psalm 143 In the Name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Psalm 143 provides the Introit for today. It is built like two sets of stairs. The first goes down into a basement and the second comes back up again. We walk down five steps in confession and prayer. Then we find something that lets us walk up the other side. No surprise here. That something is the grace of God in the Messiah delivered throughout Israel’s history. Then, by that grace, we come up one step for every step we that we walked down. Listen carefully. Psalm 143 A Psalm of David. 1Hear my prayer, O Lord, Give ear to my supplications: In thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness. 2And enter not into judgment with thy servant: For in thy sight shall no man living be justified. 3For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; He hath smitten my life down to the ground; He hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead. 4Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me; My heart within me is desolate. 5I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands. 6I stretch forth my hands unto thee: My soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Selah. 7Hear me speedily, O Lord: my spirit faileth: Hide not thy face from me, Lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit. 8Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; For in thee do I trust: Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; For I lift up my soul unto thee. 9Deliver me, O Lord, from mine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me. 10Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: Thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness. 11Quicken me, O Lord, for thy name’s sake: For thy righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble. 12And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies, And destroy all them that afflict my soul: For I am thy servant. The 5 steps down lay the problems or descriptions of our sorrows and our guilt. On the first step we cry out that God would hear our prayer and that He would answer us not because we are righteous or faithful but because He is. “Answer me,” we say, “in Thy faithfulness and Thy righteousness.” The next step is the confession that “the enemy has persecuted our souls.” Then we confess our fear. We say: “The enemy has smitten my life down to the ground.” The fourth step is even worse. We say: “The enemy hath made me to dwell in darkness as those long dead,” that is, he has put me into Hell. Finally, we say simply: “My spirit is overwhelmed and my heart is desolate.” The center, the key thing of the Psalm, that upon which everything else depends,, that which will allow us to begin the ascent is in verses 5 and 6. I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands. I stretch forth my hands unto thee: My soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. This seems out of order. It seems as though we should first say “I stretch out my hands, my soul thirsteth.” That would be the last step, the last description of our actions and needs, a last confession. Then we would say “I remember the days of old, the work of Thy hands.” That way the last step would be stretching forth our hands in prayer and the beginning of the ascent would be the remembrance of God’s mercy and all the good things He has done. But that is not how it goes. Something else going on here. But before we get there, we should note that there are more problems with our staircase. The ascending correspondence to the descent of repentance isn’t what we expect. It seems as though it should be praise or exclamations of joy. We would expect the corresponding ascending step to “My spirit is overwhelmed and my heart is desolate,” to be something like “My spirit rejoices and my heart is gladdened.” Instead we get “Hear me speedily, O Lord; my spirit faileth.” To the complaint that the enemy has caused me to dwell in darkness we get “Hide not Thy face from me, lest I be like them that go down into the pit,” that is, like them that go to Hell. These are steps up, but make no mistake: they are hard steps. You’ve got to dig deep. Your thighs will burn. The work of repentance is not done just because we are going up. We belong to Christ. Our sins are forgiven. But this is a slow ascent. To “The enemy has smitten my life down to the ground” we get “Cause me to hear Thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in Thee do I trust: Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; For I lift up my soul unto Thee.” It is getting a bit easier. We can see the rising sun coming over the horizon: it is Jesus out of the grave. We come up out of the pit, climbing toward Easter. And then to “the enemy hath persecuted my soul” we get “Deliver me, O Lord, from mine enemies: I flee unto Thee to hide me.” We are almost out, and not just out but almost to the other side. We are passing through Hell on our way to heaven. Finally we get the correspondence to the initial plea that God hear our prayers. We now pray: “Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: Thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness. Quicken me, O Lord, for thy name’s sake: For thy righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble. And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies, And destroy all them that afflict my soul: For I am thy servant.” (Psalm 143:10–12, KJV 1900) That is great. But remember that this whole thing hinges on those center verses. The question is: “Will God let the devil have me? Will He abandon me to Hell? Will I be stuck down here in despair?” The answer to that question is found at the bottom. We’ve finally leveled out and on our way back up when we say: “I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands.” In that moment we have shifted away from our enemy the devil and toward the gracious history of Our Lord. There we see that we are not alone, that we were never alone, that Jesus, Himself, is with us. He built the steps and descended them with us. It is He who has been cast to the ground and left in the pit by the devil for us so that we would be spared. He stretched forth His hands to be nailed into the posture of prayer that He might bring our prayers to His Father. Thus has God joined Himself to us, to our cause. He stands in the depths of Hell and says: “I stretch forth my hands unto thee: My soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land.” Since He said it, we can say it too. We can join ourselves to Him, join ourselves to His cross, add our petitions to His prayer. Thus we begin the journey up the staircase to the rising sun of His mercy, not alone, but with Him. He bears the weight. His thighs do the real work. We also find on every step the Father waiting with open arms. He quickens us, that is enlivens and raises us, for His Name’s sake. He brings us out of trouble. His good Spirit has been leading us all along, on the descent as well as the ascent. The Psalm is short. Lent is almost over for the year. Listen to the Psalm one more time and picture Jesus in the treasury being attacked and slandered by the Jews. That is the descent. Walk down with Him. Do not shrink from His grief or cross. Then see Him graciously guiding Israel through history and you through your life. You’re on your way back up, with Jesus, and soon you will go all the way home. Psalm 143 A Psalm of David. 1Hear my prayer, O Lord, Give ear to my supplications: In thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness. 2And enter not into judgment with thy servant: For in thy sight shall no man living be justified. 3For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; He hath smitten my life down to the ground; He hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead. 4Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me; My heart within me is desolate. 5I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands. 6I stretch forth my hands unto thee: My soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Selah. 7Hear me speedily, O Lord: my spirit faileth: Hide not thy face from me, Lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit. 8Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; For in thee do I trust: Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; For I lift up my soul unto thee. 9Deliver me, O Lord, from mine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me. 10Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: Thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness. 11Quicken me, O Lord, for thy name’s sake: For thy righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble. 12And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies, And destroy all them that afflict my soul: For I am thy servant. In +Jesus’ Name. Amen.…

Redeemer Fort Wayne Sermons Podcast

1
Lent 4 Laetare 2024

för 1 year sedan

—

Laetare March 10, 2024 A+D St. John 6:1-15 https://cyberstones.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2024-Lent-4-Sermon.m4a In the Name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Jesus offers the 5000 eternal life, but they try to seize him for some bread. It is the same mistake that Eve made in the garden. It is the mistake we make every time we sin. We think what we really need is not Jesus and His Law but something material or temporary to make us happy, to take away our pain, or to satisfy us. To our fallen flesh it seems as though Jesus is both holding out on us and getting in our way. He is not. He has come to give us life and that abundantly, that is to say He has come to give Himself to us and nothing less. His Flesh is our food. His blood is our drink. All who eat His flesh and drink His blood remain in Him and He remains in them. That is eternal. He is the Bread of Life sent for the life of the world. The manna and the loaves in that grassy place could only feed for a day. Then they were passed through the body. They needed no faith to do their work, but neither was their work enduring. They gave no greater reward than a continuance of this temporary state of living death. They didn’t forgive sins. They didn’t create peace. They didn’t give real life. But Jesus is the Bread from Heaven, the Bread of Life. He incorporates the eater into Himself. Whoever feeds on Him lives – not for a day, but for eternity. The eater is brought into the Body of Christ who is life. The eater is changed: the Bread remains the same. This is the Bread which came down from heaven. He who eats this Bread will live forever even though he die. This should not be a difficult lesson. We want that Bread not just bread to feed the body. We don’t live by bread alone but every Word that proceeds from the Mouth of God. Eternal life in heaven is better than staying alive on this earth for another day. It is a difficult lesson for our fallen flesh and corrupt reason. We must learn and relearn every day until we are transferred to glory. The flesh seeks to avoid pain and gain pleasure. It only believes what it can see or feel. But we believe in Jesus. We believe He is the Bread of Life that takes away our sins and makes us whole. Faith is essential. Jesus says “I am the Bread of Life” and offers no proof. You don’t have to believe it. You can deny it. Many do. But to those who believe He gives power to become the sons of God. Do not think that this call is pollyannaish, blind optimism or a vain attempt to name it and claim it, to make it real by an effort of our will and concentration. This isn’t an animated Christmas special where our belief in Santa calls him into reality. Saving Faith is simply the recognition and acceptance of God’s Word. He tells us what is real and what endures and what we can trust. Men and flowers will be forgotten. Bell towers will crumble. Governments will collapse. The weapons of war will decay. The rich will die. Barring the return of Our Lord in glory, our souls will be separated from our bodies. We will face judgment. God’s Word reveals the eternal, pulls back the veneer of this temporary world, and shows us what really matters, while also showing us the heart of the Father in the Son. Proverbs issues a warning about distinction between reality and our perception in chapter 3. We must repent, learning to rely on His Word and not our passions. The Teacher says: 5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. 7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and depart from evil (NKJ). He continues in chapter 14: 12 There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death (NKJ). This call to faith is not just a call to certainty about what will be, in an eschatological sense, and already is, in the sense of Proverbs above, but it is also a call to subdue that within of us that is tempted by the false promises of the material world. That is to say that it is also a call to be faithful. This faithfulness is driven by love and faith. It wants to remain with Jesus and be like Jesus. It desires what He gives in His Body and in His Blood. It hangs on every Word that proceeds from His mouth. It trusts that He will give what He says, that He will sustain us through His gifts, that this world is not what matters and there are some things worse than poverty, loneliness, and death. Confident in grace, it seeks to squash the old man and walk on the path of the Spirit as directed by Jesus in His Father’s love. The Old Man walks by sight. He trusts what he can see, taste, and feel. He figures he is smarter than most other people, has a better sense of how the world works, of common sense and street smarts. He thinks he knows how things “really are.” He is proud that he can see for himself, like Eve before him, what is good for food and capable of making him “wise.” He lives for the moment, which is to say, he lives for himself, grabbing what he can along the way. That is the way of the 5000 who wanted to seize Jesus and put him to work as their personal baker, a bread provider, that they wouldn’t have to work. They didn’t seek a Lord or a Savior but a slave. In contrast to this, faith sees Jesus working in the vineyard much in the way that a young boy sees his father working in the garden and looks around for a shovel, eager to help. The Bread that is needed, that which is promised by Jesus, is not visible to the human eye. What do we see but words on a page, water in a bowl, bread on a sliver plate? We hear the history, but we cannot touch it. It took place on another continent, in a time that might as well be another planet. We have little in common with those people and their lives. But we do have this: they were dying and needed a Savior. So do we. They behaved badly, foolishly, because of their own pride and wicked desires. So do we. As cliche as it sounds: Jesus is the answer. He is what we need. He provides a ram in the thicket for Abraham and Isaac. He provides bread and fish for 5000 in the wilderness. He provides the forgiveness won of the cross to us in His risen Body and Blood in the Sacrament. He provides as a father for his children, not out of our worthiness and for any profit to Him, but out of love. He is the Lord who provides, He is in control of history and all of creation. What cannot be bought in the wilderness, 200 denari of bread or the forgiveness of sins, He gives for free to faith. He is the Lord of Life, the Lord of the Living. He gives eternal life to all who believe in Him. Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough to feed so many. All the money in the world and all the strength and power of men would not be enough to rescue us from Hell. But the Body of Jesus, scourged and pierced, is enough. He gives it not only in the wilderness but also in the city, not only to the Jews but also to Gentiles, not only then, but also now, and even forever. Jesus has come for more than to give us a free meal. He does not hold out on us. He is not in the way. His Law is not a burden but goodness. He comes to give Himself and in Himself, His Life, for us and to us. In +Jesus’ Name. Amen.…

Redeemer Fort Wayne Sermons Podcast

1
Lent 3 Oculi 2024

för 1 year sedan

—

Oculi 2024 March 3, 2024 Luke 11:14-28 https://cyberstones.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/2024-Lent-3-Sermon.m4a In John’s vision he saw war in heaven. St. Michael and the holy angels fought against Satan and his angels. Satan was defeated and cast down to earth. The war continues. It is fought here among us and we are the prize. Satan is the strong man who guards us with all that He has. His armor could not defend Him from Jesus, the stronger Man. He has been defeated. Jesus death on the cross has undone Him. But Jesus warns us: there are no empty houses, no neutral countries. If you are not with Him, you are against Him. The consequences are eternal. We live in crazy times. Once again, we are taught that we must guard our hearts and souls by guarding the Word of God. Jesus says: blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” Our opponents live in an upside down world. Listen to what they say in the Temple. They claim Jesus is in league with the devil. They know He helps people, heals and feeds them. They aren’t pleased that He drives off demons, they are annoyed. They are like the Gerasenes who got one of their own back but lost a herd of pigs. That was a fiscal loss. They preferred money and demons to poverty and Jesus. Satan loves to set it up this way. The fastest way to a man’s heart is money, a root of all evil. The devil is also the one who tells the world that all wars are religious wars. That is total nonsense meant to undermine the goodness of Christianity. Tell me: how was the 2nd Pelponesian war a religious war? How about Alexander’s conquest of Persia? What about the American revolution? It would be closer to the truth to say more wars have been driven by greed or lust for power than by religion. But our opponents are deluded by demons. They live in an upside down world. In our day, in the schools run by Indiana, on practically every television sitcom or drama they pretend that that boys are girls, that greed is productive, that children should decide for themselves what to learn in school. They claim as scientific fact that which can’t endure the scientific method or be observed. We have doctors whose mission should be to preserve and promote life killing babies and pretending that it is a medical procedure. How can we remain sane in this insanity? How can we keep the faith? We must read, study, and embrace the Bible. That is how we know what is real. First all of all we must know the Catechism from the Bible. We must know the apostolic doctrine: that God is One in Three Persons, that the Second Person took on flesh for us and is true God and true Man, crucified and risen. We must know the proper distinction between Law and Gospel to read the Bible rightly, recognizing that many passages in Holy Scripture show us our sins and show us what God’s will is for our lives. Those passages teach us but they don’t show us salvation directly. Other passages do show us directly. They proclaim God’s love for us, His mercy. They reveal God to us as He wants to be know, showing us our Savior in the Jesus the Messiah. We must know the Apostolic doctrine also of prayer, Holy Baptism, the Office of the Keys, and the Sacrament of the Altar. In these we know the Gospel which is the power of God unto salvation. That is enough for salvation, but the Bible has more. In our day, we must also know the order of creation, the three estates, and the doctrine of vocation. The order of creation is that God made everything according to its kind. This is why we can predict what will happen to a puddle of water when the temperature drops below 32. It will freeze. It is predictable because water is according to its kind. It does not behave the way that rocks do or trees do. All of the animals and humans also have a kind, an order and structure, natural law. God made us male and female. Male and female are complimentary. It was not good when Adam was alone. He needs Eve. Together, with God’s blessing, they become a family and are productive. Men are to be the heads of their houses. Wives are to be subordinate. Children are to obey. We experience the order of creation in three different estates or hierarchies that God has created: the family, the Church, and the government. The family is the basis of it all. The Church and the government are derived from the family. Thus Job, Melchizedek, and Abraham were able to offer sacrifices before the office of priest was limited to the sons of Aaron in the tribe of Levi. That law got added because of transgressions and because of the complexity of the organization and walking through the desert and then being a nation. So also, originally each patriarch would rule his house. That also got taken away because of sin and complexity. But originally priest and patriarch were the same. We need to know what the duties and responsibilities of each estate are and where they overlap. Broadly speaking the family’s primary responsibility is procreation, nurture, and education, the church’s is catechesis, the conduct of worship and administration of the sacraments, and evangelism, and the state’s is protection. We should expect there to be governmental overreach. We should also expect failures in all estates and at every level. But we should not abrogate our duties and responsibilities. We owe the government some of our love, our money, and our sons, but not everything. The government is not God. We owe the Church reverence, tithes, and even obedience, but again, not blindly. The Church is led by fallible men. Pastors can certainly fail. So can voters’ assemblies and conventions. And even the family cna become corrupted and abusive. So what to do with imperfect families, churches, and country? Insofar as it is possible to suffer and work for good, we should. We should not rebel against a father easily. At the same time we recognize that God is our true Father, that He setteth the solitary into families, that His mother, brothers, and sisters are those who hear the Word of God and keep it. So also He is our great high priest and He is our King. All of the estates are found and perfected in Him. He is the One who begot us, who feeds us, who teaches, forgives, and protects us. In +Jesus’ Name. Amen.…

Redeemer Fort Wayne Sermons Podcast

1
Lent 2 Reminiscere 2024

för 1 year sedan

—

Lent 2 Reminiscere March 5, 2024 Matthew 15:21–28 https://cyberstones.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/2024-Lent-2-Reminiscere-Sermon.m4a NO SERMON TEXT

Redeemer Fort Wayne Sermons Podcast

1
Lent 1 Invocabit 2024

för 1 year sedan

—

Invocabit February 17, 2024 A+D St. Matthew 4:1-11 https://cyberstones.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024-Lent-1-Invocabit-Sermon.m4a In the Name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ” “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ Temptation takes place mainly in our minds. It is a battle of words. The devil, the world, and our sinful nature seek to rationalize sin, to convince us that it is valuable, good in some way. This is because all sin begins, in some sense, as covetous idolatry. It is a matter of the will. We have a will that is apart from the Father’s and in crass idolatry we seek to put it first. So it is that the devil comes at Jesus in the desert with words. He overcomes temptation by the Word of God and prayer. He responds to the devil with assertions that are written in the Bible in order to comfort Himself. The devil tempts Jesus by saying, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ” “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” Rather than getting into a debate, Jesus replies with assertions from the Bible: “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ” “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ Then the devil left Him and angels came and ministered to Him. Apologetics is sometimes helpful for tender consciences. A Christian at university who is struggling to understand how the Bible can withstand scrutiny and the scientific method is often comforted by recognizing that the Bible is rational and doesn’t violate observable, testable science. But arguing with the devil or our flesh is worse than futile, it is disastrous. Adam’s fatal mistake was to stand by idly and let the devil’s statements to Eve be taken seriously. Jesus doesn’t argue with the devil. He simply makes assertions and that from the Word of God. He does this not to convince the devil but to remind Himself of what is true. The devil tries to get Jesus to consider His own needs. He says, “Make for yourself some bread.” Jesus doesn’t explain why He won’t. He simply asserts what Moses wrote in Deuteronomy 8. Here is what is trustworthy. Man shall not live by bread alone, but but every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. This is open and shut, over and done. There is nothing else to consider. Will this satisfy the devil? Will this impress the world or the academy? Will this be carved in stone in the halls of philosophy or made into a masthead for Facebook and Google? Absolutely not! But it will serve and it will satisfy faith. It will drive off the devil and feed the soul. Jesus quotes the Bible not so much to the devil as He does to Himself. He is the One being tempted and therefore He is the One who needs comfort and strength. It is much the same with the other temptations. The devil tries to get Jesus to think about what He is missing with the service of angels and the pleasures of this world. Jesus responds with assertions from Deuteronomy 6 “You shall not tempt the Lord your God” and “You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.” He doesn’t get into a debate about the character of angels or the sort of service they provide or whether or not the devil can give him the glory of the world. He simply asserts. He is not particularly clever about it. He is not theologically sophisticated or profound. Here is part of the point: these are defenses we are all capable of, which He Himself has handed us. Again, this won’t convince the devil that he is wrong. But it will comfort and strengthen faith. The Word serves the tempted. We also see that Jesus grounds Himself in the written Word. Even in the secular world, written words have power and endurance that spoken words don’t. If you go to court over a contract dispute, what matters most is what is written and not what you claim someone said. A written “to do” list is a powerful productivity device not just because it keeps us from forgetting something, but because it allows us to forget something. I can concentrate on what I am doing and don’t have to try to hold something in my mind because I wrote it down. That gives it endurance. Job longed for the Word of God to be written so that it couldn’t be forgotten, so that it could be passed down. God doesn’t need the Word written. God doesn’t forget or misremember or twist the things He says. But we do. So we need the Word written. We need an objective standard that we can trust, that we can return to, that is outside of us and not dependent upon our memories, understanding, or current situations. Temptation and sin are always temporal, always contemporary. They are always about what our fallen flesh and will wants in the moment, right now. Therefore they ever changing like the devil moving from a rocky place to the Temple and then to a mountain. But the Word of God never changes. Temptation feels like an ocean in the moment, but it is all a charade, an illusion. In contrast, the Word is eternal, beautiful, and true. It brushes away the lies of Satan and our flesh like drops of dew in the morning sun. Satan and the old man cannot resist. They slink away. The Word endures. “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ” “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’” In +Jesus’ Name. Amen.…

Redeemer Fort Wayne Sermons Podcast

1
Quinquagesima 2024

för 1 year sedan

—

Quinquagesima February 19, 2024 Luke 18:31-43 https://cyberstones.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024-Quinquagesima-Sermon.m4a NO SERMON TEXT

Redeemer Fort Wayne Sermons Podcast

1
Sexagesima 2024

för 1 year sedan

—

The Marriage of Azrielle Ritzman and Benjamin Horner on Sexagesima February 4, 2024 Luke 8:4-15 https://cyberstones.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024-Sexagesima-Sermon.m4a In the Name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. The ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.” (Luke 8:15, NKJV) We often hear the word “patience” and think of waiting. The Oxford dictionary defines it more broadly. Patience is “the capacity to tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without becoming angry or upset.” What Jesus describes in the parable of the soil is perseverance, endurance, and fortitude in the face of delay, trouble, and suffering. Another name for this virtue is hope. Faith needs endurance built on hope. We need it. We need it because like the earth in the parable we suffer external attacks from demons that snatch at us and men who seek to trample us. This is a spiritual battle. No one in the Church Militant can escape it. We must trust in God’s Word and promise. We are also attacked from within. We are often our own worst enemies. We do not give the attention that we should to God’s Word and thus lack His nourishment. We shrink from the seriousness of the faith and its call to sacrifice. We also are infected with a selfish desire for pleasure and an unwillingness to suffer that tries to choke out faith. We give up hope and live for the present or sell our souls for a bowl of soup. Jesus doesn’t only describe four types of hearers who will be exposed on the last day. He also describes the totality of our own experience. Faith cometh by hearing and faith endureth by hearing. Everything is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer. Demons are driven off in this way, and so also are our passions tamed and virtues trained, sins forgiven and faith strengthened. We live by faith. We face and endure, suffer and persevere what we must in hope and confidence that God does not lie and that He is working in and on us. Jesus is the Sower, but do not think that is all He does, as though He sows and then walks away. He is the Redeemer who has given His life to win us. He is the Advocate who pleads our cause in Himself before His Father. He is our Husband who has loved us to the end. Even before sowing, He chooses the Seed. It is His Word. He also tills the soil. And He weeds, fertilizes, and waters it. On the last day, He Himself will bring the harvest home. He has chosen the Seed deliberately. His Word does not lie or fail. It does not return to Him void. It is the power of God unto salvation. It changes hearts. It saves. He has likewise prepared the soil, that is, He has tilled your heart. He does this by crosses and sorrows and by the preaching of the Law. He teaches you what is temporary and eternal, what is shameful and your need. Yes, He sows. He preaches the Word by sending prophets and apostles and even angels and gets it all written down. He makes examples of all the saints of old for your benefit. He sends parents and preachers and friends with words in their mouths for your ears. He then weeds and fertilizes, waters and tends by that same Word. We stand in a long line of believers. God works through means. We are the beneficiaries of sacrifices and generosity and scholarship long forgotten. We often mention those in the Bible. Sometimes we remember and thank God for those martyrs or teachers of the early Church. Maybe more often than we should we name Martin Luther and his generation. But there have been hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of Christians who have seen to the work of the church, writing books, building churches, donating to Bible and mission societies, sending their children to school, and bringing jello to potlucks. All that the Gospel might be preached, that the Good News might go out, that the call to witness would be fulfilled. In this way, by what appears to the eyes of men to be ordinary means and humble humans, Christ has tilled, sowed, weeded, fertilized, and watered. He has done this that you would hear and believe and bear fruit a hundredfold. What has that to do with Holy Marriage? Marriage is an act of faith. God blesses, sanctifies it through His Word. It will be the most defining cross of your lives. If you cannot tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without becoming angry or upset, if you insist on your way and are ruled by your passions, you will destroy your marriage and do grievous harm to each other and your children. James gives counsel from the Holy Spirit for marriage. He writes: Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. Holy Marriage, built on and centered in Christ, is the seedbed of patience, of self-denial and self-giving. In it you will learn that love covers a multitude of sins, that humility precedes all virtue, and that peace which passes all understanding beams most brightly when there are few material goods and little esteem from the world. It will not come easily. You have little idea of the suffering and difficulty before you. But God instituted Holy Marriage. It is the clearest reflection of our relationship to Him. He blesses and sanctifies Marriage through His Word. Your crosses and failures, your frustrations and regrets, must be washed in His Blood, must be opportunities for repentance and forgiveness. God’s blessing and promise are on and in marriage. By His Word, you will learn to live in and by forgiveness. You will learn to see more deeply into eternity and to ache for it, which is to say, you will learn to live by faith and you will bear a harvest a hundredfold. In +Jesus’ Name. Amen.…

Redeemer Fort Wayne Sermons Podcast

1
Septuagesima 2024

för 1 year sedan

—

Septuagesima St. Matthew 20:1-16 February 5, 2023 A+D https://cyberstones.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/2023-Trinity-24-Sermon.m4a NO SERMON TEXT

Välkommen till Player FM

Player FM scannar webben för högkvalitativa podcasts för dig att njuta av nu direkt. Den är den bästa podcast-appen och den fungerar med Android, Iphone och webben. Bli medlem för att synka prenumerationer mellan enheter.