Author: Bethlehem Lutheran
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Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity
Readings: Deuteronomy 10:12-21 | 1 Corinthians 1:1-9 | Matthew 22:34-46 Text: Matthew 22:34-36 In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. The context of our Gospel places Jesus’ confrontation with the Pharisees in Holy Week. He had entered Jerusalem on the back of a donkey to…
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Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity
Readings: Proverbs 25:6-14 | Ephesians 4:1-6 | Luke 14:1-11 Text: Luke 14:1-11, Ephesians 4:1-3 Not everyone who gathered around Jesus was there to simply to hear Him and be healed by Him. Some were there to watch Him and wait for Him to stumble. At one such instance, Jesus is at the house of a…
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Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity
Readings: 1 Kings 17:17-24 | Ephesians 3:13-21 | Luke 7:11-17 Text: Luke 7:11-17 The Holy Scripture records incidents of women who weeping over their barrenness (1 Samuel 1:10), of the Lord weeping over impenitence (Luke 19:41-44), of God’s people weeping over those who reject salvation (Phil. 3:18), and even Christ Himself weeping at the death…
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Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity
Readings: 1 Kings 17:8-16 | Galatians 5:25-6:10 | Matthew 6:24-34 Text: Galatians 5:25–6:10 After hearing our Lord’s Word from Matthew 6:24-34, it probably hits all of us as very relevant. Who of us has not been worried at one time or another about the outcome of things? If you’ve been able to get by without…
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~ Feast of St. Matthew ~
Readings: Ezekiel 2:8-3:11 | Ephesians 4:7-16 | Matthew 9:9-13 Text: Matthew 9:9-13 Today we’ll be following along with excerpts from a book called The Message of Matthew by Dr. Michael Green,[1] in a section called “What do we know about the tax collector?” Most of what we know about Matthew the tax collector comes from…
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Holy Cross Day
Readings: Numbers 21:4-9 | 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 | John 12:20-33 Text: John 12:20-33 Greeks seek wisdom, Jews seek signs. This is shorthand for what two particular groups of people are looking for out of their religion. They are still applicable to people today. There are those who seek a brand of religion so that they…
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Twelfth Sunday after Trinity
Readings: Isaiah 29:17-24 | 2 Corinthians 3:4-11 | Mark 7:31-37 Text: Mark 7:31-37 “And they brought to [Jesus] a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him. And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after…
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Eleventh Sunday after Trinity
Readings: Genesis 4:1-15 | Ephesians 2:1-10 | Luke 18:9-14 Text: Luke 18:9-14 In the hearts and minds of the faithful, this parable stands second only to the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32). It is one of the most important because it contains the core message of our faith: that no man is holy…
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Tenth Sunday after Trinity
Readings: Jeremiah 7:1-11 | Romans 9:30-10:4 | Luke 19:41-48 Text: Jeremiah 7:1-11 Law in the Text The people were being duplicitous. It wasn’t their first time, either. Jeremiah was preaching to the Israelites about 150 years after the events of Elijah: 21And Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you…
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Ninth Sunday after Trinity
Readings: 2 Samuel 22:26-34 | 1 Corinthians 10:6-13 | Luke 16:1-13 Text: Luke 16:1-9 This parable has been making people squirm since it was first on the Lord’s lips. To some, it offends because it seems like the Lord is advocating that we break the Seventh Commandment, “You shall not steal.” The manager cooks the…