Category: Sermons
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The Ever-Effective Weapon Against the Devil (Matthew 4:1-11)
Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Lebanon, OR First Sunday in Lent + March 5, 2017 Text: Matthew 4:1-11 Doctors who fight infections are all too aware that having just one weapon isn’t enough. Viruses and bacteria each respond differently to medication. Sometimes a strain comes along that refuses to respond to treatment. Then, newer, stronger, and more…
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Ash Wednesday (Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21)
Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Lebanon, OR Ash Wednesday + March 1, 2017 Text: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 The Introduction “Our Father, who art in heaven” In the Name of Jesus. Amen. During this penitential season, we will turn our eyes to something which is integral to our life as Christians: prayer. You heard Jesus’…
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The Transfiguration of Our Lord (2 Peter 1:16-21)
Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Lebanon, OR The Transfiguration of Our Lord + February 26, 2017 Text: 2 Peter 1:16-21 On the Mount of Transfiguration, Peter, James, and John have a great experience. They saw Jesus transfigured before their very eyes, so that “his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.” They…
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Balancing the Scales with Grace (Matthew 5:38-48)
Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Lebanon, OR Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany + February 19, 2017 Text: Matthew 5:38-48 It’s the way of justice, the way of accounting, and the way of nature. An eye for an eye, reconcile every transaction, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. That’s fine for crime and punishment, economics, and…
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St. Valentine (Circuit Winkel) (Matthew 5:38-48)
Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Lebanon, OR St. Valentine (Circuit Winkel) + February 14, 2017 Text: Matthew 5:38-48 We know what we’ve heard about Valentine’s Day since we were kids. It’s about love. But as with most things of God which the world gets a hold of, it gets turned into a human parody of the real…
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Humanity Recreated in Christ (Matthew 5:21-37)
Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Lebanon, OR Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany + February 12, 2017 Text: Matthew 5:21-37 Since Jesus said, “I have come not to abolish the Law or the Prophets, but to fulfill them,”[1] we are called as Christians to take a whole new look at the Old Testament because, since the Christ came,…
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Distinguishing Law and Gospel (Matthew 5:13-20)
Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Lebanon, OR Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany + February 5, 2017 Text: Matthew 5:13-20 C.F.W. Walther once wrote, “The true knowledge of the distinction between the Law and the Gospel is not only a glorious light, affording the correct understanding of the entire Holy Scriptures, but without this knowledge Scripture is and…
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Church in the Wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:18-31)
Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Lebanon, OR Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany + January 29, 2017 Text: 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 We know a lot of stuff about the Bible, and about the Gospel, right? We know God, or we’d like to think. Maybe a better way to put it is in the words we just confessed in…
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Bringing Us Out of Darkness into His Light (Isaiah 9:1-4)
Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Lebanon, OR Third Sunday after the Epiphany + January 22, 2017 Text: Isaiah 9:1-4 One of the first works of God was to separate the light from the darkness, and making a distinction called Day and Night.[1] The difference between light and dark is a matter of contrast. For our life, we…
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Pointing to the Lamb of God (John 1:29-42)
Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Lebanon, OR Second Sunday after the Epiphany + January 15, 2017 Text: John 1:29-42a Jack Friday in Dragnet was famous for saying, “Just the facts, ma’am.” Whenever they would interview a witness, it undoubtedly happened that they would trail off into personal experiences and opinions about the suspect. But what is…