Faith Looks Forward

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Pastor: Pastor Horton

Date: August 10, 2025

Passage: Hebrews 11:1–3,8–16

Three summers ago we began to receive the first images from the James Webb telescope.  It is unique because it’s in orbit and therefore free from earth’s atmospheric interferences.  And what has this powerful telescope been able to see?  Hundreds of billions of stars both, for the lack of better terminology, being born and passing away, massive black holes, and galaxies even beyond where human science assumed to be the border of the big bang.  This telescope has allowed us to look forward through traveling light years, and see the illuminated expanses of the created universe.  We’re told today that “By faith we know that the universe was created by God’s word.”  It’s humbling to look forward through the cosmos and to be able to see what God has done. 

The people of the Hebrews were being asked to look forward as well.  They didn’t have a telescope, but rather they had the inspired word of God, which was more powerful and more useful when it came to their salvation.  They were to fix their eyes on Christ by faith, and look forward to salvation won through Jesus alone.  And yet we’re told: that came with hardships for them.  Because they had an Old Testament way of life with its regulations and cultural heritage and family traditions all attached to the past.  To look forward instead to all that they had in Jesus was a much needed reminder.

In this famous chapter from Hebrews 11, the listeners are asked to consider the founding father of their people, Abraham, as he looked forward by faith.  There must have been hardships for Abraham as well.  After all, as the reader was reminded, his family and his heritage was not that of a native believer from Israel, but rather he was the son of Terah from a place called Ur, beyond the Euphrates River.  His religion?  The family already had at least one.  Scripture tells us that his father’s house already had “other gods.”  And his wealth?  He had earthly means and didn’t need to relocate or restart or rebuild his life.  To ask Abraham to blindly go wherever God would send him and become a tent-living traveler and stranger and foreigner in the land?  That’s a big request!  I may have been tempted to say “no thank you, I’m okay right where I am.  I know what I have here and it’s a lot, but out there, who’s to say?”

And yet marvel at our words for today, “By faith Abraham obeyed.  By faith he lived as a stranger in the Promised Land, as if it did not belong to him, dwelling in tents along with Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.  For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”  Home, as he knew it was no longer behind him, but ahead of him in heaven.  Home in heaven wasn’t going to be temporary or transient – as if it’s something one hopes for one day and gone the next.  No!  Home in heaven was secure in the promise of his coming Savior.

And did you notice that these timeless truths were passed on to the future generations in his family?  Promises echoed to Isaac and Jacob and later Joseph and beyond.  God had Abraham look forward by faith and see that his wife would conceive at an old age.  “Impossible!” shouts human reasoning, for this senior citizen and his barren wife!  But not impossible when it comes to God.  Abraham “considered him (God) faithful who made the promise.”  And from God’s faithfulness in fulfilling the fullness of that promise came a numerous people, and a spiritual Israel as vast and diverse as the galaxies in the sky (you are part of that promise fulfilled), and that promise included a Savior for the world.  That’s an impressive sequence of fulfilled events illustrating God’s faithfulness – all in that promise made to a man who was “as good as dead” and standing under the starry sky.

We find in those early patriarchs people whose faith continued to look forward to their heavenly home.  Far from perfect people they lived in a far from perfect world with sin and died.  “One by one, all of these died in faith, without having received the things that were promised, but they saw and welcomed them from a distance.  They confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth….Instead, they were longing for a better land—a heavenly one.”  We have the same God they do, and the same Word full of truth, and are given faith like they were.  But what about those days when I feel like my faith can’t compare to theirs?   

What exactly is this faith given by God?  Faith is not merely a human hope or a human feeling.  As in “I have faith that the Brewers win the World Series since they have the best record in baseball and swept the Dodgers twice.”  That kind of faith is based upon my wants and wishes.  Faith, as described in the Bible, is far better than that.  Faith is assurance in God’s Word as the Holy Spirit has converted your heart and drawn you closer to Jesus through the saving gospel.  Faith is trust and confidence that God is and will work all things out for the eternal good of his children.  And faith is based securely upon Christ Jesus, who is today risen, living, ascended, and in total control of all things and who dwells actively in your heart.  This is faith according to Scripture, a gift from God graciously given to you and to me and to Abraham.  And faith points our focus forward and to Jesus and throws wide open the promise of heaven.

There with God in heaven is that “better land” the early believers longed for.  There is the goal of our faith.  There is an eternal country beyond our best dreams.  The leader there is never corrupt or tyrannical, but selfless in serving and providing for all our needs.  There our enemies have no voice – fear and sorrow gone forever.  There in that land exists the very best health plan where we will be completely free from sin and death and all that disturbs the body, mind, and heart.  There in that heavenly land, constructed by God with you in mind, we will have perfect relief, perfect contentment, perfect stability, perfect joy, and perfect love.  This is what the believers of old, by faith, “saw and welcomed from a distance” and is ours through Jesus.

Like those Hebrew believers we need that constant reminder to look through the lens of the Word at what is coming through Christ.  How often do we try to convince ourselves that we can have that better land right here and now apart from Christ by thinking, “if only that family or financial situation was fixed, or I have that new job or new relationship, or the country improves – then everything will suddenly be better!”  Maybe sometimes better, but not perfect.  And we become so earthly minded that we forget where our true home is and where our true treasure is.  Pastor Lauersdorf, the People’s Bible commentator, wrote beautifully, “‘I’m but a stranger here, heaven is my home,’ we love to sing, but in life’s reality it is often so different. “Eyes that should be raised heavenward are riveted on earth.  Feet which should be marching toward Canaan’s shores are mired in earth’s swamps.  Hands that should be reaching for eternal treasures are wrapped around gaudy marbles.  Backs that should be straining in effort for the kingdom are bent over in valueless pursuit of earthly wealth and gain.”  And yet try as we might, this place will never be our real home.  The gift of faith in Jesus helps you and I to look forward.

By faith Abraham and the fellow believers, our brothers and sisters in the Old Testament recognized this fact. They lived in mobile tents and in earthly bodies.  These men and women passed away without receiving the Promised Land and without meeting the Savior.  Yet they died knowing he would come to earth, knowing he would die and rise for them.  Why?  Because God is faithful.  That’s why the author says, “Faith is being sure about what we hope for, being convinced about things we do not see.  For by this faith the ancients were commended in Scripture.”  And there the Bible, in both Old Testament and New, Jesus is held up, who is the foundation of our faith.

Consider all that your God-given faith sees and knows.  Faith sees Christ lying in a manger.  Faith sees Jesus living a sin-free life in your place.  Faith sees Jesus being heavenly-minded all the time – he even speaks that way: “the kingdom of heaven/God is like, I want to be with my Father, etc.”  Our heavenly-minded Savior set the wants of the world aside, he went to the cross to win forgiveness for you before God, he gave you his perfect life, he covered you in his righteousness like a glorious dress, and he rose from the grave so that heavenly land is yours one day.  That is what our faith sees and believes.  Like Abraham, faith sees a glorious heaven and looks forward to it.  Faith understands that in this day of grace, we have work to do in sharing Jesus, and yet faith also longs for that day when we will pass over the threshold of death to life, and say, “Thank you, Jesus, I’m finally home.”

Dear brothers and sisters, as you take that final summer camping trip, or find yourself under a starry sky, remember God’s promises to Abraham.  We have a God who is faithful, we can do the impossible, and who gives us a faith to hear, believe, and rejoice in his promises.  Press on, share the good news with those inside and outside your home, and keep your eyes on the coming Christ.  The good land and heavenly home awaits.  And by faith we look forward.  Amen. 

“Prayer is a Privilege, not a Right”

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Passage: 1 Timothy 2:1-7

Pastor: Pastor Walther

Date: July 27, 2025

Is it a privilege or a right?  We don’t always like to think in those terms. “I have a RIGHT to protest whenever & wherever I want!…” “I have a RIGHT to bear whatever firearm however I want to bear it!…”  “I have a RIGHT not to wear a mask, or not get a vaccine!…”  “I have a RIGHT to insist that people use my pronouns and accommodate my needs!…” Do you?  Or, are some of those privileges rather than rights?

Don’t worry, I’m not here to give you my opinion on these matters.  As your new pastor I’m not going to be preaching politics from the pulpit.  But it’s this classic debate between rights and privileges that frames our look at God’s Word today as we consider a vastly more important topic than any I just mentioned: a topic that doesn’t just affect our lives here on earth, it affects our souls forever in heaven.

That topic is prayer.  Perhaps we’re tempted to think of prayer as a God-given right we’re born with, where we can ask God for whatever we want whenever we want it!… But under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Apostle Paul presents prayer more as a PRIVILEGE than as a right.  And far from that limiting our prayers, God actually uses it to give us more. Listen again to some of what we we heard earlier in 1 Timothy 2,

1 First of all, then, I urge that that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made… which is really every kind of prayer!  Petitions: that’s asking God for things – often for yourself!  Intercession: that’s also asking God for things – but this time for others!  And (also) thanksgiving: don’t forget to thank God when he answers those prayers and pours out his blessings on you!  But notice what Paul adds: (Make such prayers) for ALL people—for KINGS, and ALL those in authority….  As you think back to some of the politically-charged topics I mentioned earlier, do you really want to pray for all people, including those in government?  God tells us to do so here, and for good reason: so that we may live peaceful and quiet lives.  Simply put, when things go well for those in authority, life under them tends to go better also.  That’s why it’s worth praying for them.  And there’s also this: 3 This is good, and pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. Why wouldn’t we want to please God?  Not only does he want all people to be saved, he backed up his talk with action:  5  There is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all. It’s something we hear all the time, but we just continue to marvel…  God sent his own Son into the world to pay for the sin of every person?  Even that politician who had an affair, or who stole from others, or whose actions led to someone’s tragic death?  Even me, with the ugly thoughts that run through my mind or the wicked things these hands have done?… Yes, Christ Jesus gave himself as a RANSOM for ALL. And as Paul wraps up our reading, he makes it clear that’s what his ministry was all about… Mine too, as your new pastor. 

We all need to hear this. Like me, did you just bristle at some of those words?  Pray?  For the government!?!  Maybe that’s hard to do with the current local or state or federal leaders above you.  Maybe that was hard to do with previously elected officials.  And it just goes to show, we are tempted to treat prayer as more of a right – as something we’re born with, that’s all about what we should demand for ourselves

But prayer isn’t just some right we inherently possess.  Not when we were born in the sinful image of our parents, separate from God as the Father to whom we pray.  I mean, you want to talk about rights?  Our right is that God would absolutely ignore our prayers, just like you would ignore someone’s petitions who hurt you, hated you, and rejected what you wanted.  That should lead us in great humility to approach God on our knees, only in terms of what he wants.  Yet how often do we spit in the face of what he wants and continue to pester him only regarding what we want?  One way we see that is by failing to honor and respect the government he has placed over us.  We also see this whenever we reject God’s plans in any other area of our lives with our money, our relationships, or our possessions.

Finally, it’s why Paul said we need a mediator – a word that implies there is conflict between two parties. And make no mistake, our sin means there is war between us and God – or at least, there would be, had there not been a mediator who came in God’s perfect image as a proper son, who had every right to petition God as Father.  Jesus paid exactly the ransom we needed for our every sin against the government.  Remember those Sunday School stories where Jesus always perfectly obeyed and respected his authorities, whether they had earned it or not?  It’s just like he did for our every other sin through his perfect life and innocent death on the cross. 

With that price paid, God has now adopted us through his Spirit in baptism.  It’s why we can approach God in prayer – not with fear & trembling as his subjects, but with confidence & joy as his children, just like Jesus described in today’s Gospel – God has granted us that privilege.  In fact, you could almost say it is a right, but God defines this right not as we so often think of it – in terms of entitlements and what we’re owed.  Rather, it’s a right defined by the values of his family – in terms of grace and mercy.

For example, how about the “right” to quiet and happy living – not on our terms, but on God’s terms –by faithfully respecting & following & praying for our governing authorities?  We may think we have it bad – and to be fair, life will never be perfect here, this isn’t heaven! – but think of what God still gives us through the governing authorities in this country?… A few of you may be aware that my dad is a pastor who does Hispanic ministry over in Watertown.  And one thing he’s heard again and again from the people he serves is that they find life so “tranquilo” here: peaceful!  They love living here under our government, and it’s because of what they left behind in some parts of Mexico…. You consider that, and then you look at some of what we have – honestly great infrastructure & roads, more wealth than any people on earth has amassed, history’s most powerful military – and we have it so good.  Of course we do.  If the Almighty God loved us enough to give us his own son as a ransom for sin, we can trust that he’ll bless us in other ways too. 

So, trust the Lord.  Along with it, trust his will.  And as you do so, God urges you through your pastors to pray.  Pray as a privilege.  Pray not just for what you want, or you feel you’re owed; rather, pray for what God wants, to whom you and I owe everything!…  So yes, pray for your governing authorities.  Pray especially for those with whom you disagree!  Then lead quiet lives in piety, godliness, and submission, not because you always agree with those above you, but because you always agree with God.  That mans you trust God will always bless you through your leaders, no matter who they are.  Then thank God for those blessings when they come.  (And they will come!)

If that’s not enough reward for such prayer, how about one more: it pleases God… it pleases GOD – who loved you and me enough to give us his own Son, who has given us the privilege to come to him in prayer And he doesn’t just yank that privilege away whenever we sin, he just continues to forgive us in Jesus.  He even wants to forgive us in Jesus, as he reminds us today.  We don’t always want to forgive others when they wrong us, but he does!  I mean, why would we not want to make our God happy?  We DO!…  So, like Abraham in our Old Testament reading, see prayer as a privilege.  He knew he had no right to come before God, but still he appealed to him on the basis of his mercy & love, and God was pleased to listen.  God delights in listening to you as well, even though he owes you nothing.  Be amazed at his love for you.

That’s ultimately what it was about for Paul as he told his people what to do & how to pray.  That’s also what it’s about for me or Pastor Horton or any other pastor as we tell you to do things.  It’s not about what we want, but about what God wants.  More than that, it’s about his love for us which explains what he wants, even if we have trouble seeing it.  So see prayer as a privilege, not as a right.  Granted, Christ HAS given us the right to come before God the Father in prayer, but not as we so often think of rights: to seize things only to satisfy ourselves.  Rather, this is a right we’re privileged to have.  And how much better would politics and so many other things in this world be if we just remembered that?  God grant us strength and ability to be his instruments to bring peace and quietness to this world.  We start by praying for all people, including those above us.  Amen.  

Appointed with Purpose

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Passage: 1 Kings 19

Date: June 29, 2025

Pastor: Pastor Horton

In the movie, The Hunt for Red October, a rogue Russian submarine was led by its captain – a character played by Shawn Connery.  Before disembarking on their mission, he writes a letter to his Soviet authorities informing them of his intent to defect.  Mid mission the officers learn of this and are shocked by the gravity of their situation.   The captain then references Spanish conquistador, Hernan Cortes, who, as legend has it, set fire to his boats upon landing and invading the Aztec empire.  Cortes may have actually scuttled, or dismantled them, but the point is clear: “Look at the smoke!  Retreat is not an option!  We’re not going back!  The only way for us is forward!”

Shawn Connery’s character could have referenced our reading for today in the calling of Elisha by Elijah.  Something similar had happened.  We hear about in 1 Kings how Elijah the prophet went through some highs and lows spiritually and emotionally.  From witnessing God’s victory firsthand upon the Carmel ridge over the prophets of Baal, to fearfully running from the wretched royalty of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel and praying to God for death.  “I am the only prophet left and have had enough, Lord.”  And then you may remember the great wind, the earthquake, and the fire, but God instead speaks to his disheartened prophet through the gentle whisper of his word.  “When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.”  For God has preserved 7,000 true believers in the land and has appointed his successor as prophet.  “Take heart,” says our God!

Speaking of that cloak, he’s going to need it in our reading.  We find the cloak or mantle to be an outer garment, loosely fitting, and most likely made out of animal skin.  But more importantly, this cloak was a symbol of prophetic authority and the divine call given to the man.  This mantle would fall to the ground as Elijah was taken up into heaven.  And both Elijah and Elisha would use this mantle to part the waters of the Jordan River.

And it’s there in our reading, “So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat.  Elisha was doing the plowing with twelve teams of oxen in front of him, and he himself was driving the twelfth team.  Elijah crossed over to him and threw his cloak over him.”  Did you notice how God works in this anointing of his prophet?  There was no job resume.  No list of candidates.  No interview process (no words spoken that we know of).  God chooses.  And in this case he chooses a man who is farming, not one from the well versed Levites or the most gifted from the school of prophets.  Elisha didn’t feel a special feeling in his heart or a specific drive to suddenly seek out this calling.  He was busy doing something else – driving oxen through the fields.  And he had enough oxen, scholars speculate, that Elisha’s family were a pretty well-to-do farm family.  He had other things going on in life.  And yet God is specific.  His call is divine.  And in this case it is sudden.  What a scene out there in the fields as Elijah walks up to him seemingly out of nowhere and throws his cloak over him.  You’re the next one up!    

And yet in some ways this scene mirrors how God calls us.  Mankind was given the gift of perfection with both one another and with God and we fumbled it away in the fall.  Yet God knew you and wanted you for his own from before even before the opening days of creation.  God appointed Christ Jesus as his solution to our sin and death.  You have personally been brought into God’s family of believers and given the gift of heaven.  This is not because we have earned or deserved it.  But entirely by grace – God acting in love – seeking you out – and making you into his own.  

While you may not be wearing a pastor’s stole today after being appointed, ordained, and given the uniquely special calling of public minister, it would not have been inappropriate for me to meet you at the church doors this morning and throw a cloak (or a robe) over each and every one of you as you walked in.  For God has appointed you as his own.  You who may be busy in life with many other things as Elisha was.  You are the ones to whom he comes in Word and Sacrament.  He wants you to hear his message of salvation for you in Jesus.  It is you who were set apart by God in the water and gospel words of your baptism.  You whom God has chosen to equip, and train, and bless with faith and knowledge of Jesus your Savior.  That is a gift that matters for all of eternity!  Do not take that for granted!

Because that temptation is very real for you and me.  Elisha?  He just had one simple request: “Then Elisha left the oxen and ran after Elijah.  He said, “‘Let me kiss my father and my mother good-bye!  Then I will follow you.’”  “Let me say goodbye to my mom and dad.”  But it got me thinking…what are we ready to kiss goodbye to for the sake of the gospel?  Maybe that question is all the more real after moving my family.  Not only because of all the earthly goods (a of it my junk) that I’ve accumulated over the years.  But also as we fashion our house: buying and selling on facebook marketplace, giving attention to just the right kind of planets in just the right pots with just the right amounts of shade, and finding my mind obsessing on the material.  Kiss that goodbye for the gospel?  And then there’s the people: family dearly loved, friends closely trusted, my social status in the world and the familiar faces around me.  Kiss all them goodbye?  And then of course there’s the comfort issue.  More than having air conditioning, boba teas, and vacations, am I (are you) willing to kiss away that personal comfort and be exposed to rejection or even persecution for Jesus?  That is hard.  And many times I find myself falling back into the trap of prioritizing the earthly over the eternal.  Maybe you do as well.  Lord forgive us for the many times we are unwilling to burn the boats in our lives as we conveniently forget that you have appointed us with purpose.  

Help us be more like Elisha.  Watch his example for you and me in the remainder of our text: “Then he took the team of oxen and slaughtered them.  Using the equipment from the oxen as fuel, he cooked the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate.  Then he got up, followed Elijah, and served him.”  Did you notice the lack of questions and demand for answers?  He speaks volumes with his actions stemming from a heart of faith: “The Lord is calling?  My answer is automatic: ‘Wherever you want me at and whatever you need me to do may it be always only to the glory of God.’”  We know from the pages of Scriptures that not everything would go well for the new prophet, Elisha.  His call would not be a call into wealth or into the praise of men, but into service.  Elisha would face some exceptionally trying times in war and famine.  And yet God would be enough.  He would give enough.  He would equip and train and guide and provide enough to his servant.  

In the same way we find God continuing to provide enough for you and for me in Christ Jesus.  In light of God’s calling us into service, what can we then, moved by the Holy Spirit, do today to serve in that same kingdom Elijah and Elisha belonged?  God doesn’t demand that we go out and torch our houses or burn our wallets, but rather be faithful stewards of what he gives us – mindful of the gospel opportunities we have to do and support.  And Elisha?  He makes full use of what he has at his disposal to sacrifice what God had so generously given him.  He then willingly follows and willingly serves and willingly glorifies God.  We find in him a heart moved by faith that is ready to commit all, even his life to the Lord, knowing that God will provide on earth for he has already provided him the promise of salvation through the coming Messiah.
That gospel promise of salvation through Jesus remains for you and for me today.  And the gospel has been given to you to share.  Go with God as you reenter the world – and don’t forget your Savior placing on you a mantle in the form of his robes of perfect righteousness and forgiveness!  He calls you to serve today!  He calls you to go rogue from the ways of the world today!  You have what you need for all of eternity in Christ Jesus.  Give thanks from the heart.  And look for ways to respond in faith – abounding in love – eager to serve – and made ready to go through life and death and into heaven with Jesus.  For he has appointed you with purpose.  Amen. 

Telling How Much God Has Done For You!

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Passage: Luke 8:26-39

Date: June 30, 2025

Pastor: Pastor Horton

There’s something to be said for coming home.  Be it after a long vacation and getting to finally sleep in the comfort of your own bed, or the happy reunion with your pet after boarding them, or seeing family again and having that favorite meal that mom always makes as your personal comfort food.  Home is familiar and welcoming and more often than not, something we long for.  It’s where we feel connected and loved.  Some of the children of our church may know that very feeling if you are away at a summer camp and spend the night there.  It may be fun to be with friends, but by the end of the week, it’s also fun to come home.

Biblical homecomings abound in Scripture.  Some are really good reunions that are even better than expected: remember Jacob returning home to brother Esau as they heal up their relationship, or the Israelites returning home from exile to rebuild God’s house – the temple in Jerusalem, or Naomi (with Ruth loyally journeying alongside her) to Bethlehem, and then there’s the joyful forgiveness and restoration we find in the parable of the prodigal son returning home to his father who runs to meet him and throws his arms around him.

I’m guessing that may not have been the initial reaction of the townspeople for the formerly demon possessed man in our reading.  This miracle was incredible.  And his return home was made possible entirely by Jesus.  

And you might expect him to be cautious on his return home – many people are.  They may feel unsure or embarrassed by their life or the lack of stability in their life.  They may have found themselves in trouble and are not proud of their situation.  At times people feel adrift, alone, or unwanted.  They may suffer through many things that separate them from family and friends: depression or battles with mental health and various disorders.  

But these are not the reasons why this man was ostracized by his hometown.  The inspired Word of God tells us that he was possessed by demons.  One of these devils would be unwanted and bad enough, and yet we are told that there were numerous cohorts of the evil one at work inside this man.  “Legion” was the self given description of the invaders.  A Roman legion in those times was about 5,500 soldiers strong.  That’s a lot of evil at work.  This man had suffered intensely and for a long time.  He was shackled but broke the chains with supernatural strength.  He was in torment, violent, naked, and living in the desolated areas where the dead were buried.  His condition was helpless and hopeless.  His new home was filled with death all around him and under the control of these dark forces.

And yet see our Savior set foot into this region – thought to be a place most likely inhabited by unbelievers since we find pig herds (the locals were farming what would be considered unclean animals to the Jews).  But pay special attention to the limitless love of God moving in ways that would serve this man.  Jesus knows him, knows all that is tragically going on with him, knows where to find him, and knows how to help him.  Jesus knows that this man would be called and given faith and be considered one of God’s very own.  

And what a powerful reaction to just the presence of Jesus by this drove of destructive devils!  Many humans today diminish the divinity of Jesus and poopoo the fact that he is true God, but watch the response of these vile and wicked creatures  – who, unlike so many today, they know exactly who is standing there and exactly what the Son of God is able to do to them.  And they shudder.  We’re told, “When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before him, and said with a loud voice, ‘What do I have to do with you, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?  I beg you, don’t torment me!’”  The power dynamic has in an instant shifted away from them to him who is alone the Son of the Most High God.  In Philippians 2 we are reminded “that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth.”  So off the unclean entities were sent into the unclean animals – and down the steep hills they ran – stampeding into a watery grave.  Interestingly enough, the same lake Jesus so often lifted up and saved his followers above the surface – now would see these possessed pigs sent down below.

The locals were horrified by all of this.  Upon further investigation they were shocked to find the same once out-of-control man now clothed, sane, and sitting at Jesus’ feet – at home with his Lord.  Jesus had a lot to tell him.  And the man would have a lot to tell the locals.  The people had a hard time dealing with this reality of who Jesus was, and did what is so often the case in unbelief: push the reality of this  truth aside because it was simply too much to process and apply in their own lives.  “Jesus we don’t know who you are, and who you might be makes us afraid, and we’d just like you to go away from us now,” was their response.  And what else should be expected from the natural unbelief of man when confronted with the authority of almighty God in action?

There are a number of things we are able today to take away from this reading.  The first involves seeing Jesus’ clear authority even over demons.  His victory at the cross marked their demise – the abyss of hell becoming their forever home.  The devil himself has now been made into a footstool of the Almighty.  Yet their power and threat to our faith is real.  That is their goal now: to tempt and to distract us away from our Savior.  There can be possessions (although they are exceptionally rare), as well as what we might call oppression (the account of King Saul may perhaps serve as an example of this), and then from the human perspective: people often have an unhealthy obsession with evil realms and entities.  God calls dabbling with such powers “despicable” before him.  He steers his children away from them.  He holds us close by faith to himself and even sends out his angels, ministering spirits, to guard and protect us.

And what a good reminder: that we are considered by God to be to his children thanks to Jesus!  We need not cower under the covers even if “devils all the world should fill.”  We have a champion in Jesus!  Just as this man was in a spiritual sense shackled to sin and the power of the devil.  So were we by nature.  We could not free ourselves or escape his clutches – and for our sin the eternal grave awaited.  Jesus had to act to save him – and Jesus had to act to save us.  And he did that through his suffering and death on his cross to win for you and for me full and free forgiveness before God.  His victory and his perfect status with God the Father are now yours!

The next good reminder for us in all of this?  Where was this man most at home?  Where did he want to be?  At his Savior’s side and learning God’s Word.  Our lesson concludes this way: “As Jesus got into the boat and started back, the man from whom the demons had gone out begged to be with him.  But Jesus sent him away, saying, “Return to your home and tell how much God has done for you.”  Then he went through the whole town proclaiming what Jesus had done for him.”  Jesus had a plan for this new man of faith: his vocation would be back home, amongst his own people.  He would stay there and be a walking, talking testimony of God’s grace shown to sinners.  God’s saving act wouldn’t be the thing of local legend – his story would not be a regional tall tale.  For years the next generation could go ask the guy who lived right down the street about his experience firsthand.  And would he have a lot to tell them about Jesus!  

The same holds true for you.  As you get a breather this summer, go on vacation or off to camp – we will come home.  Take a moment and reevaluate your home with the Lord.  Home is where God has placed you and sent you.  The Triune God has already won your heart and converted it into a dwelling place for Jesus.  You carry the gospel of salvation with you.  And you go home with it.  So how has that been going?  I know for myself I’ve always got 100 things to do or places to be.  Yes, even the summer months tend to fill up fast.  But what is the number one focus in our homes?  Where is it that we can congregate as a family?  It is around the same gospel of salvation that this man was given through Jesus.  We have lots to tell in our very own homes about God’s goodness to us!  As we tell and live and share the very same joy of salvation this man had in our homes, consider a renewed focus on your prayer life or maybe starting that family devotion time!  Let’s look to make our homes a place where Jesus lives and dwells, where we like him sacrifice and love, forgive, encourage, and grow in the Word.

After all, you and I and our families are going home.  We are headed home to heaven to be with the Lord forever.  That is the goal of our faith.  We will get to be reunited there with loved ones thanks to Jesus.  We will get to be with the greater family of believers forever.  We can’t wait.  But today we can rejoice, and, beginning in our homes and on to the world, tell how much God has done for us in Jesus.  Amen.

“A Blessing That Lasts”

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Author: John H. Boggs

Passage: Numbers 6:24-26

Date: June 15, 20205

I’ve used the NPH book “Sermon Texts” a lot in ministry. It not only brings you through the proposed texts & readings for Sundays of the church year, but also includes suggested texts for special festivals. The “Easter” section is full of suggestions, as is “Christmas” & others. “Trinity Sunday”, though, is a little light on texts. There were a few I looked at and thought, “that might work”, but nothing really jumped out. Thankfully, when I dug a bit deeper my search was complete as I turned to Numbers 6 (read text). While there are others that would do, the words before us are perhaps the PERFECT passage for Trinity Sunday. Why? Because, it includes A Blessing That Lasts, sharing 1) A promise of protection; 2) A gift of Grace; & 3) An Assurance of Peace- All of which come from Father, Son, & Holy Spirit.

Israel was one year removed from the first Passover in which God freed them from Egypt’s slavery. They had crossed the Red Sea & been recipients of water from a rock and manna from heaven. They had witnessed God flex His muscles against their foes. Now they camped at the foot of Mt. Sinai, where they would receive His expectations in the form of the 10 commandments. It’s here where he would also reveal Himself as LORD- the God of the covenant who loved them, who would protect them, who would bring them much more than they deserved. This same LORD told Moses, “‘Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites’”. What follows is a blessing so powerful it has stood the test of time & is how God’s called NT servants dismiss their people, as well.

There is no missing the mystery of the Trinity in these verses. Three blessings, each specific to the part the Father, Son, & Holy Spirit play in the lives of God’s people. The Father’s work is evident in vs 24, “The Lord bless you and keep you.” Whether OT or NT ears, what a privilege to hear these words spoken! Martin Luther writes in his explanation to the first article of the Apostles’ Creed, “I believe that God created me and all that exists, that He gave me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my mind and all my abilities.” My how the Lord has blessed us! In different amounts; in different ways; but He has blessed us- The house which keeps us dry. The car that’s faster than walking. The ability to provide for self & others. The blessings of sight, learning, comforting, leading, following- the list goes on. Take a second and think how God has blessed you… amazing. There’s more, though, “The Lord bless you and keep you” We pray to our heavenly Father in the prayer He taught us, “Deliver us from evil.” We ask Him to keep bad things away from us, to deliver us from them when they do come, to make them work out for our good and to His glory. And He does! The One who created all things, the One who parted seas and provided for 2 million people wandering through the desert cares about each of us so much He not only blesses us beyond imagination, He protects us when Satan, this world, & even our sinful selves get in the way. That’s God our Father.

The blessings keep coming in our text, “The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you;” I love the personal nature of the words here as we see the work of our Savior, Jesus, “The Lord make His face shine upon you.” I’ve gotten away in my ministry from using the phrase “What would Jesus do.” I understand what it means and that it was popular years back. When I look at my life, though, and ask WWJD & then compare that to myself, I’m horrified. I picture Jesus looking at me with his face downcast like a hurt mother or disappointed father. I ask myself WWJD and it’s so often not what I’ve done or contemplated or spoken. Oh, how I don’t deserve the blessing in this verse. And yet Jesus loves the unworthy. He loves the unlovable. He loves those who deserve wrath. God the Father is seen in the first verse of our text as LORD, “Yahweh”- the God of an undeserved, one-sided covenant. How much more for the second member of the Trinity we worship. It’s the same love revealed in Exodus, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.” (34:9-10) As if this weren’t enough, we also hear, “The LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;” Luther states that this Jesus “has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil, not with gold or silver but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death.” 1500 years before that Good Friday outside the gates of Jerusalem, we today- at the foot of Mt. Sinai- see the effects of our Savior’s love, “The LORD make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you.” That’s what undeserved love does! It looks on us & doesn’t see our warts and all. It sees us as blood bought souls because of the One who laid down His life for us. It sees us as new creations, as heirs of eternal life.

Finally, the Aaronic blessing concludes with the words, “The Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.” The Holy Spirit often gets the short end of the Trinity stick, doesn’t He?! I know He gets Pentecost, but throughout the Church year, Christians focus more on the work of the Father & Son than this “behind the scenes” member of the Trinity. Not today, though. The One who both creates faith in us and strengthens this faith through the Gospel in Word and Sacrament is revealed as we hear the timeless truth that God does indeed ‘turn His face toward us.” Luther continues, “But the Holy Spirit has called me by the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.” There is nothing worse than when you are talking to someone and they- either because of anger, boredom, or distraction- turn away to focus on something else. Wow is that frustrating. It’s also something that never happens in life for those who call on the name of the Lord! The faith created in our hearts by Water & the Word gives us access to a God who never sleeps, vacations, or gets bored with ‘turning His face toward you.” Think about that- the Creator of the universe, the Savior of our every sin, partners with the Holy Spirit to answer our every prayer, to conquer our every fear, to be attentive to our every need. Only because this is true can we hear the final words of our text, “The LORD turn His face toward you and give you peace”- Peace in the middle of a messed up marriage; peace bigger than a hurting back or body ravaged by cancer; Peace when sleep deprivation hits us or financial crisis is an everyday reality or when life seems to either be passing us by or hitting us in the face again and again. This peace that the triune LORD gives us assures us that in Him we can handle any situation. And why?! For the same reason Paul could proclaim, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This blessing of peace is not built on me, myself, & I. It’s built on Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

I’m going to read the words of our text again with the understanding that the original Hebrew uses the 2nd person singular every time the word “YOU” is said. Hear these words spoken directly to you today, dear friends. Know this blessing first spoken 3,500 years ago is just as valid today as it was at Sinai. It’s a blessing powered by our Triune God- Father, Son, & Holy Spirit. Hear these Words and know that this same God continues to shower His love on you and gives you His peace (read verses; end with “That is the Word of the Lord- AMEN.”)

A Perpetual Promise

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Theme: A Perpetual Promise                                         

Text: Matthew 28:20b (EHV)

Pastor Souksamay

Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come. – Rev. 1:4

Dear friends in Christ,

“And surely I am with you always until the end of the age.” (v.20b) These are some of the last words our Lord spoke before his ascension back to heaven. It is the culmination and completion of his life here on earth. And how would you describe that life on earth? God became man for us. God the Creator lived among his creation for some 33 years. During that time the Almighty did not always reveal his almighty power and glory. Rather the Sinless walked among sinners, looking like any mere mortal. He was tempted. He suffered abuse and rejection from those he came to save. He endured misunderstandings and misconceptions from friends and foes alike. He was betrayed, he was denied, he was ridiculed, he was abandoned. Even God the Father forsook God the Son as he hung on the cross to redeem us. That was our Lord’s life on earth.

I.

But now in this one verse, our Lord’s earthly pilgrimage is coming to a glorious conclusion. He has risen victorious from the dead. He is ready to ascend back into heaven: his human and divine natures still perfectly and forever connected. So, Jesus, our Lord, true man and true God, ascends back into heaven. This is how it should be. All is right for him now.

Aren’t you happy for our Lord? At last he will receive there in heaven what he should have always had. His human nature will share in the glory that his divine had before the beginning of time. No more holding back or hiding his almighty power and glory. No more walking among sinners but in heaven only being among saints and angels. No more temptations but in heaven perfection, sinless. No more abuse and rejection but glory everlasting. No more betrayal, no more denial, no more ridicule, no more abandonment, no more forsaking. Never again will he hang on that dreadful, terrible cross. He will now and forever enjoy the songs of the saints and the accolades of the angels. For all of this, aren’t you happy for our Lord that he has ascended back to heaven?

Yes … and No. There is one part of us that can say, “Yes. Good for you, Lord Jesus! This is right! You will finally be where you belong!” But now, there is the other part of us that says “No,”, the other part of us that is also a little bit sad. For don’t we also say this about our Lord’s ascension? “But now we cannot see you, Lord. If only you would stay just a little while longer, just as long as we are here on earth. It would be easier then to overcome our own temptations to doubt and all the other temptations that plague us our whole life long. It would be easier if you were still here with me.” We are sad, we don’t want him to go because we still need him and miss him: our Lord and Savior.

But our Lord Jesus anticipates this sadness. He knows that sadness and so he gives us these few words. Some of the last words he spoke while on this earth. And as always when he speaks to us it is with compassion, with love, with comfort … so astonishing and so far above anything we could have asked for or imagined. We see that already with that one word translated: “Surely.” It can also be translated: Behold, see. It’s a word used to make us stop and get our attention. For Jesus is about to say something important.

II.

After getting our attention, he simply says in today’s sermon text, “And surely I am …” “I am” What wonderful grace! What matchless love! Wouldn’t you think that our Lord would be glad to be rid of us? It is after all, for us and our sins that he came down to earth and endured: temptation, abuse, rejection, misunderstanding, torture, torment, that terrible cross, that death. Wouldn’t you think that he would be glad to be rid of us? But no! What does he say? “I am.” Who is that? He is our God and Savior, true God and true man. In his person as God and as man, he has all the attributes of God, including omnipotence, being all-powerful; that is, he miraculously and according to both his divine and human nature is wherever he chooses to be. He is God. Nothing is impossible for him. Nothing – neither time nor space – can limit or contain him in any way. So what he says here will come true? And what does he continue to say?

“And surely I am with you …” “With you.” Wow. With that phrase the gospel of Matthew ends where it began. Matthew’s first OT prophecy about the Savior was recorded in Matthew 1:23. There Matthew quotes from Isaiah 7:14. Remember that passage? “‘Look, the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son. And they will name him Immanuel,’ which means, ‘God with us.’” WOW and what does Jesus promise here? What does Matthew end his gospel with?  “And surely I am with you always until the end of the age.” The Gospel of Matthew begins and ends with telling us about Jesus and his relationship to his people. He is God with us.  He came down to earth to live with us and to live for us. So even this ascension, as in all things with our Lord, all he does is for you, for me, for us! He did not ascend to leave us as orphans. He did not ascend to be rid of us. He did not ascend so that in eternity, he could forget about us. He did not ascend so that the noise of the world would be drowned out by the songs of the saints and the accolades of the angels. No, it’s just the opposite. He ascended for you, for me, for us. He ascended … so that he could and would always be with us.

And here’s the special thing about his always being with us. His presence, his being with us, is not a fractional or divided or partial presence. His words are plain and clear: “And surely I am with you …” He, who does not lie and can never deceive, gives us this amazing, perpetual promise. When you get up in the morning and go to bed at night and during every moment in between, before, and after, Jesus is there with you. He is there not partially, but wholly and completely he is there. For that’s who this “I” is: Jesus, true God and true man, one undivided person. Even before you pray at meal time, “Come, Lord Jesus,” Jesus is already there. When you open your Bible to read it, Jesus is right there with you. When you enter his house to worship, it is Jesus who invites you; it is Jesus who speaks to you in the order of service, in the readings from his Word, and in the sermon. When you come to his table, it is the real, the true, the living Jesus, true God and true man, who reaches out to you and feeds you with his real body and true blood. When you rejoice on good and healthy days in the company of friends and family, Jesus is there to share in the joy he has given you. When you are tempted and fall into this or that sin, Jesus is right there to pardon and forgive. When you sigh in sorrow over living a life in a sinful world, Jesus is right there to sustain you in his life. When you are hurting or in pain, it is Jesus who is right there with you to help and to heal. When you feel all alone and wonder if anyone is who cares, it is your Lord and Savior right there with you. When you need him the most, he is still there. “And surely I am with you always until the end of the age.”

Could there be anything more compassionate, anything more loving or comforting than that? His presence and his attention to you and to your needs is never interrupted by a phone call. No text message takes his eyes off of you. No phone notification takes his focus off you. The doorbell doesn’t ring to take him away from you. For your God, there is no one else more important than you. How amazing is that! How rare such attention is among us! His love and devotion is perfect, is constant, is without interruption. What could be more astounding! “And surely I am with you always until the end of the age.” This perpetual promise is exactly that: everlasting, always until the end of the age. These words are for you, for me, for us, for always, forever. They are our constant comfort as long as we are here on this earth … until we see Jesus face-to-face. So until that day, let’s conclude today with a prayer from the sainted Professor Daniel Deutschlander. He wrote:

“Preserve me to the end of my pilgrimage and in the hour of my death let me ascend to the home your work has prepared for me and that your Word has promised me.” In other words: Lord be with us now until we are with you forever. AMEN.

The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. AMEN.

Listen, Live, & Let Loose: Worthy is the Lamb!

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Passage: Revelation 5:11-14

Date: May 4, 2025 (Confirmation Day)

Author: Pastor Horton

Have you ever experienced great excitement?  It was an exciting night a week from Thursday in Green Bay, WI.  The NFL draft took place and I can’t even imagine hearing your name called and walking out to hundreds of thousands of people cheering for you.  I can’t imagine the excitement.  What a celebration!  We often celebrate when big life events take place: acceptance into the college you were hoping for or that job promotion you’ve been wanting, or a wedding day.  These things bring about great celebration.  And then there are those things in life that make you incredibly happy: achieving a life goal, finding pleasure in music or nature or friendships, or spending time with loved ones (yes, pets count as loved ones).  These things may bring us great joy.

Excitement.  Celebration.  And joy.  I hope on this day of your confirmation you are feeling some of those things: excitement, celebration, and joy.  Why?  Well, because of the One who sits upon the throne of heaven.  The One who is able to receive all “power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.”  The One who has made your Confirmation Day possible for you.  So as we approach our reading: Listen.  Live.  And Let loose.  For Worthy is the Lamb!

As you listen to that reading from Revelation, what do you hear?  The verbally inspired author, John tells us what he hears,  “I heard the voice of many angels who were around the throne and around the living creatures and the elders.  Their number was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands upon thousands.”  There’s a party going on; on this your Confirmation Day!  We here in church are singing but we are also joining together with hundreds of millions of saints as well as with hundreds of millions of angels cheering, praising, and breaking into song for the Lamb on the Throne. 

But that is what we are told in these impactful and encouraging words from John, the disciple whom Jesus loved.  Listen!  The Lamb on the Throne is in control of all things including your life!  And believers need to be reminded of that.  Remember, the Christian church at that time of this writing was going through it.  About 60 or 70 years after the ascension of Jesus, the force of the Roman Empire was now being brought against the Christian faith.  Sporadic persecutions were erupting.  Popular opinion in  the world was turning against this Christian faith that disrupted Roman lifestyles and empire worship practices.  Would they survive?  Remember it was to these hurting people that this last letter of the Bible, Revelation was written. And remember in the opening chapters of the book, how some of those young Christians were losing their love of the gospel?  How some were growing lukewarm in their life of faith – to the extreme of Jesus ready to spit them out of his mouth?  And how some looked alive spiritually but were dead inside?  This letter was Christ’s gift to people running low on hope.  Just as much as any other, this book of the Bible is written to give hope.

And we need this secure hope built on Jesus and guaranteeing us salvation through his righteous blood.  Because sometimes we lose hope.  We lose faith.  We lose trust.  Sometimes the world will overwhelm you and apply pressures from the outside and your hearts will face temptation from within.  The devil is a deadly adversary and know that he will  do all he can to poison the well of your soul with doubt, and with despair.  And there is still the matter of your old Adam, which will want to do its own thing and go its own way – in defiance of the loving path God lays out before us.  There will be moments for you that are far removed from the excitement, celebration, and joy of your Confirmation Day – times when you are running low on hope.

“Listen” Jesus says to John and to you and to me, “take your eyes off your fallen world and your sinful self and look at what is coming!  For what we have here will only lead to despair and destruction and death.  But look at the life that is coming through Christ!  Listen to the shouts and cheers of praise!” 

Instantly John is transported to the throne room of heaven.  He sees God the Father there. And around him, as he describes the scene, are a crowd of countless angels, then 24 elders, and finally four mysterious beings, perhaps the cherubim the prophet Ezekiel had seen, but called here: “living creatures.”

Seated on that throne in the middle of the crowd, God holds a scroll.  The scroll is sealed.  This is the message John has been summoned to hear.  “But” John says, “no one in heaven or on earth… could open the scroll or even look inside it.  I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside.”  At first it sounds a little silly: crying because you can’t open a letter.  But remember: this is the message he has been called upon to hear.  Imagine a final message from a loved one, a special farewell video you simply could not open.  That would be incredibly sad.

“Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep!  See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed.  He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”  Which brings us to our verses.  Listen to the excitement, celebration, and joy of the hundreds of millions who were there: “They (the angel hosts)) encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders.  In a loud voice they sang: ‘Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!”

Praise be to the Lamb.  Worthy is the Lamb!  Far better than walking out to the draft day crowds, here is an unexpected source of hope.  Not a fierce gladiator or a merciless tyrant, but a Lamb.  And not just any lamb, but a Lamb that looks like it has been slaughtered; his wounds still visible in the perfect holiness of heaven.  Now hopefully you (confirmands) have learned who this Lamb is and why he looks like he has been offered up in death.  We just sang “Crown him the Lord of love — Behold his hands and side, Rich wounds, yet visible above, In beauty glorified.”

Praise be to the Lamb!  His glory, in heaven “for ever and ever”, will be that he has died for us.  Think of it!  Jesus did a lot of miraculous things while on earth.  He taught many wonderful things.  But his glory is that he died to pay for our sins.  He did what we could not.  He opened heaven’s doors.  Our salvation comes through him alone.  That is what our youth have been taught here at our church and school, it is what we all know by the gift of faith thanks to the activity of God the Holy Spirit, it is what our former family members who died in the Lord now get to celebrate in glory, and it is what one day we will get to see and sing alongside the heavenly hosts.

Worthy is the Lamb!  Listen to the truth of your salvation.  And then live it with your Lord Jesus.  There will be times you will have spiritual highs.  Today, your Confirmation Day may very well be one of them.  You hear what in our reading?  The joy of heavenly victory.  You are ready and eager to charge out into the world with Jesus.  But then the realities of this world and the lack of perfection which exists in you and in me have a way of dashing those heavenly hymns to pieces.  There are times the world says it knows better than God and we listen.  And there are times we are not doing our confirmation best, and get bogged down in our own muddy sinful struggles.  There are times the devil is able to trip us up.  Then, oh, Lord, especially in those times, but always, show us our salvation in Jesus, pick us up in your forgiveness, brush away our sins, cleans us by your blood, take us under the arm and help us put one foot in front of the other in those ways you would have us go, ways that honor you and reflect our thankfulness and joy in being yours.

Help us to always listen to you.  Help us always to live for you.  And then, dear Jesus, help us to let loose great praise and adoration to your name now and forever in heaven!  John tells us more about worshiping the worthy One in heaven, “I also heard every creature that is in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying: To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever.”  And then, cascading “Amens” of praise are sung forever in the throne room of our Lord!

Worthy is the Lamb!  Dear confirmands old and young, the same One who knew you before creation, and claimed you as his own in your baptism waters, and who blessed you and kept you in the faith, will now strengthen and guide you all your days, and will nourish your soul with forgiveness, life, and salvation in his supper, and will see you safely home.  And one day, purely by the grace of God given to you by Jesus, the worthy Lamb on the throne, as your earthly walk of faith comes to a close, you will get to see that scene that John saw, and hear those millions of angels and millions of saints, and you will get to let loose with your own song of praise in excitement, celebration, and joys unending.  For worthy is the Lamb.  Amen.

Seeing does not equal believing

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Passage: John 20:24-29 (EHV)

Pastor Souksamay

Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come. – Rev. 1:4

Dear fellow believers as we continue in the Easter season,

The world has done a big disservice to Thomas. What I mean is this. When you think of the apostle Thomas, what is the first thing you remember? Probably this account from John, and the nickname that Thomas now has: “Doubting Thomas.” We even use that name for anybody who refuses to believe anything to be true unless they see it for themselves. But there is more to Thomas’ life and even more to this account than just the doubting. Now we can’t justify everything that Thomas did here, but the one thing that I want us to take away from this gospel account today is this: seeing does not equal believing.

I.

Where we are in Scripture is the evening of that very first Easter evening. The apostles were behind locked doors that evening. They had seen the Jewish leaders kill their leader on the cross, just three days ago. They were probably afraid that they would be the next to die. But also that whole day, they had heard rumors and accounts from other followers of Jesus. These reports told the apostles that Jesus was alive and had even appeared to some other believers. But the apostles did not believe them. In fact, when some of the women, who had gone to the tomb and had seen Jesus, reported what they saw, we are told this about the apostles, “Yet these words seemed to them like nonsense, and they did not believe them.” (Lk 24:11) But then Jesus appeared to the apostles personally, and they did believe. But we are told that one of the apostles was not there: Thomas (v.24) Thomas means “twin” so most people assume he was a twin. 

But in any case, since he was not there, the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” (v.25a) Can you imagine their excitement?! The entire emotional roller coaster they had been on since the previous Thursday when Jesus had been arrested and they had all fled. Think about all those events. Jesus dying on the cross. Them fearing for their own lives. All the rumors and reports of his resurrection. Then Jesus appears to them too. Everything was alright again. They tell that to Thomas, to help him through his own emotional roller coaster and what does he say? “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands, and put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe.” (v.25b) Can you imagine the let down the other apostles had at this reaction? 

But then we are told that one week has passed. Maybe during that whole time, the other apostles kept telling Thomas it was true: Jesus had arisen. Maybe Thomas kept insisting he wanted personal proof. But anyways, a week later, they are all together again, including Thomas. (v.26a) And again, although the doors were locked, Jesus again entered the place where they were at. (v.26b) And he says, “Peace be with you!” (v.26c) The common way of saying “hello” among the Jewish people, and also what Jesus gave to his apostles because of his death and resurrection: peace between God and us.

But the thing that Jesus says next is even more shocking than him entering a room through locked doors. For Jesus then turns to Thomas and says, “Put your finger here and look at my hands. Take your hand and put it into my side. Do not continue to doubt, but believe.” (v.27) Why is that shocking? Jesus was not in the room when Thomas said similar words one week earlier. But Jesus still knew what Thomas had asked for and he actually tells Thomas to do what he asked. He wants Thomas to place his finger into Jesus’ side, see the nail marks on his hands. Jesus wants to have Thomas stop doubting that he has actually arisen and … believe. 

But my counting this would be the 3rd miracle that Jesus performed that evening. First he entered through locked doors. Second, he appears before all of them again, showing he had risen from the dead. And third, he talks to Thomas and knows exactly what he had said and wanted to do, even before Thomas says it again. With all of those miracles, Jesus was again showing Thomas and the other disciples who he is. 

That is why Thomas then makes that glorious confession, “My Lord and my God!” (v.28) He saw the proof. He saw all he needed to see. He calls Jesus who he actually is: the only Lord and God. His only Lord and God. He calls Jesus the two most common names for the true God in the Bible: the Lord, reminding us that he is faithful; and God, reminding us that he is powerful.

And then Jesus has the last word, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (v.29) He has a subtle rebuke of Thomas’ doubting, but I also always loved this one verse because it is one where Jesus is actually and directly talking about you and me. We are the ones who have not seen him and yet have believed. Unlike Thomas: seeing does not equal believing for you and me.

II.

Like I mentioned at the beginning, I think the world has done a disservice to Thomas. He is only remembered for his doubting in this gospel account, but he also has one of the best confessions of any of the apostles’ or any other believer in the Bible. He says to Jesus: My Lord and my God. Those words of his, recorded for the rest of time, in God’s Word, tell us exactly who Jesus is: the true Lord and God. What a legacy for this apostle!

The world has also done Thomas a disservice by nicknaming him: “Doubting Thomas.” Remember Thomas was not the only doubter. At first, the other apostles doubted that Jesus was alive when the women told them. They only stopped doubting when Jesus appeared to them, and they saw him personally. Same with Thomas. 

But even those apostles are not the only doubters when it comes to Jesus. So were all of us. I mean just think about it logically for a moment. What would it take for you to believe something is true, anything? What would it have taken for us to believe that Jesus was actually alive, if we had seen him die on a cross? What does it take today for people to believe that Jesus is the true Lord and God? What did it take for you?

If it was left to us, why would any of us believe that Jesus is the true Lord and God? What did it take for you to believe that the Bible’s account of the world is true and not the Big Bang Theory? What did it take for you to believe that Adam and Eve brought sin into the world and no other reason? What did it take for you to believe that God destroyed the world with a worldwide Flood and not believe the world that denies a worldwide flood? What did it take for you to believe that God himself was born in a manger in Bethlehem 2000 years ago and not just another baby? What did it take for you to believe that Jesus lived a perfect life for you and not just for himself? What did it take for you to believe that Jesus actually died on a cross and didn’t just faint or something like that? What did it take for you to believe that his death was for our sins and for no other reason? What did it take for you to believe that Jesus actually rose again from the dead, no matter what the world thinks or says? What did all of this take for you to believe all of it?

It took the only true Lord and God to create that faith in you, that belief that he is who he says he is. That just goes to show you the truth of Jesus’ words in the last verse today. None of us have ever seen Jesus, but we still believe. That just goes to show you that Jesus is the only true Lord and God. He is our Lord and God too. For who else could overcome our doubts and make us his believers!? Who else could make us believers, indeed, people who have not seen, but yet have believed!? 

Jesus overcame Thomas’ doubts and he continued to be a faithful disciple of the only true Lord and God. And if tradition is correct, he even carried the message of Jesus all the way to India and died there for his faith in his Lord. What a way for a man to live his confession that he made here. What a way for Jesus to still use this former doubter in his kingdom. Just like Jesus does with all his believers, with you and me as well. AMEN.

The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. AMEN.

It is Hidden Even in the Savior’s Triumph

/in /by

Date: April 20, 2025

Passage: Matthew 28:1-10

Pastor Horton

CHRIST IS RISEN!  HE IS RISEN INDEED!  Listen to the angelic report, see Jesus alive through the gospel, and let your hearts be filled with joy!  A few verses from Matthew: “The angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.  He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.  Come and see the place where he lay.”  So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples.  Suddenly Jesus met them.  “Greetings,” he said.  They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid.”

Could there be a more glorious day than this?  What could compare?  Maybe that first day of creation, when God simply spoke and created time and space and all matter out of nothing?  Or, maybe the fourth day was more glorious, that day on which God, just by his Word, created the sun, the moon, and the stars and flung them into the vast universe with their positions and courses that they hold to this very day?  Was that day more glorious?  Well, no!  A thousand times no!  For as glorious as that was, such actions for God were as easy as you taking off an Easter coat on this chilly morning and throwing it down on the pew!  Ah, but this day!  This day will shine forever and ever in its glory and in its importance.  Now wait, what about the Last Day, the day when Christ will come again with all the saints and angels, the day on which all will rise from the dead and face the judgment seat of God?  Is that day more glorious than this one?  Oh, no!  Again, a thousand times no!  For if not for this day, that future day would not be glorious to us at all.  If not for Jesus’ resurrection, that Last Day would only be filled with horror and terror unimaginable as we stood before God’s proclamation of condemnation.  No, this day, the day of Christ’s resurrection, is by far the most glorious day in all of time and in all of eternity.

May you grow to love and treasure this day as the greatest day – a day more glorious than your birthday, your wedding day, the day of your child’s birth, and even than that of your own entrance into heavenly glory.  All through Lent we have been looking for the glory hidden on the cross.  And now on this day, that glory reaches a pinnacle! 

And yet, even on this most glorious of days, the glory of Christ remains hidden.  Did you catch it?  Who appears as glorious in the gospel lesson?  It isn’t Jesus!  It’s an angel.  The angel descends from heaven, knocks open the grave, and sits on the stone.  Where is Jesus?  He has already done his great works hidden from sight!  On Easter Sunday his body and soul were reunited in the grave.  No one saw it.  On Easter Sunday, as St. Peter reports in his epistle, the risen Christ descended into hell and proclaimed there his great victory over sin, death, and Satan.  No one on earth heard the shrieks of rage and the vain howlings of the devils that day.  That glory was hidden.

The only one that appears glorious in Matthew’s gospel is the angel who rolled away the stone.  His appearance was like lightning, and his face, white as snow.  And the glory of the angel made an impression!  Those tough soldiers who knew how to stare death in the face were no match for the glory of the angel.  Stunned and terrified, they fell to the ground like dead men.  When the women arrive at the tomb, the soldiers have apparently recovered and run into the city to report to the chief priests.  The angel is still there, but it is his message that is far more glorious than his appearance. “Go in and look,” he tells them. “See, he is not here in the house of the dead.  He has risen, just as he said he would.  Go and tell the disciples.”

Now, truth be told, in all of this great excitement, maybe we might feel a tinge of disappointment?  Don’t we want to see Jesus front and center on this day of days?  Don’t we want to see him shining brighter than the angel?  Trouncing the powers of hell before us and making those Romans run?  Don’t we kinda want to see him looking the way he will look on the Last Day and as John saw him in the opening chapter of the book of Revelation with blazing eyes and roaring voice?

No!  Instead we see his glory from the vantagepoint of the women at the tomb.  Jesus appears to them – yet with his glory hidden!  And thanks God for that, if the sight of angel caused soldiers to fall down like dead men, what, then, would become of us if we would see Jesus in all his resurrection glory?  Freeze in terror?  Die of fright right on the spot?  But no.  This is a day for gladness.  Unlike mere mortals, Jesus has no need to make sure that everyone is impressed by his might and his majesty.  This day is a day of joy for our Savior to comfort our souls.  The women have no dread, no fear, no terror.  They run to him, not away from him.  They fall down before him in worship and adoration.  Their joy cannot be contained.  How they must have drenched the ground with their tears of gladness!  And yet there will be a day where he arrives in full glory, but not this day.  On Easter he hides it. 

The glory is hidden in his words.  He tells the women, “Do not be afraid.  Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”  Do not be afraid!  Even with Adam and Eve falling in the garden where we were separated from God by our sin.  And death became our lot in this life, and hell became our future in the next.  Do not be afraid, for Jesus died and has risen.  He did exactly what he said he would do already in the Garden of Eden.  He went into battle for us on the cross.  And he won.  Easter Sunday is proof of it.  Do not be afraid; he paid for our sin.  Do not be afraid; he conquered hell.  Do not be afraid; he has triumphed over the grave.

But how can I, sitting here in the pew this morning, know that he did that for me?  If you’re like me, my conscience still condemns, temptations still nag, and the thought of death still makes me uneasy.  Today we also listen to Jesus who says: “Go and tell my brothers!”  What an astonishing thing!  He calls the disciples his brothers!  Now if you remember, all they did was sleep in the Garden of Gethsemane after he warned them and told them to watch and pray.  All they did was both fight and flight, when the soldiers came to arrest Jesus.  All they did was disappear, deny, and double-cross. 

And he calls them “brothers?”  That’s exactly the point.  That’s exactly the glory of Lent and of Easter.  The disciples don’t deserve that gracious name, and neither do we.  We are no better than they.  But we are no worse either.  Their sins are gone, and our sins are gone.  They are buried in Jesus’ grave when we were baptized.  And now with our sins handled and hidden away, Jesus looks at you and calls you brother or sister with a smile.  “Don’t be afraid!”  For behold the glory of Easter, now as God’s own children!

What a message!  See your risen Savior.  Appreciate how gentle, kind, and considerate, he is with us!  He does not scare us to death or terrify us sinners.  He hides his glory in his Word.  That’s where we will find Jesus emphasizing the point of Easter.  Jesus promised that he would rise.  And he has the women “go and tell.”  He does not appear to the disciples right away – He wants them to depend on the Word.  Soon enough his visible presence will ascend into heaven on the 40th day.  But his real and abiding presence he will not take away.  He will be with them, and us, until the end of time, just as he promised: in his Word and sacraments.

Do you want to find the glory of Easter?  You’ve come to the right place!  Here is where his Word is proclaimed.  The Word declares sin forgiven.  The Word drives away fears.  “Don’t be afraid.”  Tomorrow you will still have problems and temptations.  But “Don’t be afraid.  I have died, and see, I am alive.  I will not leave you or forsake you.” Ah, but Jesus, the grave – my grave – still lies ahead.  “Don’t be afraid.  I conquered it all in my death and resurrection.  Because I live, you will live also.  Death, the last enemy, has been defeated, and the grave is now the portal to life eternal.”

Go ahead then.  Go with Jesus.  Go and depart in peace.  And remember that he always gives more than he promises—so you too will see him in splendor in heaven.  Yes, and you will even share in his glory.  For you are his brothers, his sisters.  He will hold nothing back from you.  And every step of the way, whenever you can, come to his Word and return to his sacraments, so that through the whole journey you may taste and see the glory that is hidden on the cross, the glory that is his resurrection and the promise of your own.  FOR CHRIST IS RISEN!  HE IS RISEN INDEED!  HALLELUJAH!  Amen.

Praise God for Palm Sunday!

/in /by

Passage: Luke 19:28-40

Pastor Horton

Date: April 13, 2025-Palm Sunday

What a day!  Maybe you are wondering what I mean by that.  For you, the day is just beginning.  In fact, it is not even 8:30 in the morning.  But in my homeland on the other side of the world, the sun is about an hour away from setting over the Judean hillside.  The day is almost over for me, but it is a day that I will never forget.

This Sunday began like many others.  I woke up after the Sabbath with many things to do.  I had to take care of some business in the village.  I had to take care of my animals in the yard.  And like you with your holiday rush, I had to make final preparations for the Passover that was now only a few days away.

At least I had it easier than many of my countrymen.  Some God-fearing Jews had to travel over a hundred miles to reach Jerusalem in time for the Feast.  My house was only a few miles away.  And especially at this time of year it was common to see a steady stream of pilgrims passing by on their travel into the Holy City.      

But this particular day was different.  There was an excitement in the air, something I could sense but not explain, something I could feel but not fully understand.  Maybe it was because the crowds were larger than usual.  Maybe it was because the buzz was louder than usual.  I wasn’t aware of it at the time, but my life was about to change forever.  What I am about to share with you is everything that happened to me today, a day when the prophecies of the Old Testament came to life, a day when I saw the Messiah with my own eyes, a day that shares its name with the branches the people were waving in the air.  And at the end of the day, I want you to share in my joy.  I want you to be at peace.  I want you to raise your voices with me and…PRAISE GOD FOR PALM SUNDAY.

As the sun peaked over the horizon, I loaded up my donkey to go into the village.  There was a chance that I would be taking home more than what one pack animal could carry, so I brought along her colt just in case.  This foal was not ready to be ridden, at least not yet, but it was strong enough to carry a few things in its saddle bags.

After the short trip into town, I tied the animals to a post and left.  It was a good thing my business didn’t take long because when I came back I found two men untying them.  At first I thought they were trying to steal the animals, but these men were not acting like thieves.   They were working slowly and deliberately, as if they were the rightful owners.  As I approached, I didn’t really know what to do so I said: “Why are you untying the colt” (Lk 19:33)?  They weren’t startled.  They weren’t surprised.  It was as if they knew my question before I even asked it.  They simply replied: “The Lord needs them”, and they gave me their word that they would return the animals shortly (see Mk 11:3). 

Even though these men were complete strangers to me, even though I didn’t know where they had come from or where they were going, even though losing these animals would set me back quite a bit of money, I let them go.  But I decided to follow at a distance, partly to make sure that my animals were safe, partly because I wanted to catch a glimpse of this “Lord” who needed them.  The two men led the donkey and her colt to a larger group.  Some put their cloaks on the animals, and then one of them sat on the colt, the colt that had never been ridden before.  That was strange, I thought to myself.  He did it with such ease.  He sat on that colt like he was its own, like he was in charge of much more than this animal.  It reminded me of a Bible passage I had learned as a boy, taken from the great prophet Zechariah: “Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!  Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!  See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey” (9:9).  As the group made its way on the road leading to Jerusalem, I wondered out loud: “Is this some kind of great coincidence, or am I in the presence of the Messiah himself?”

Now, I had work to do back at home, especially with the Passover only a few days away, but I couldn’t let this man out of my sight.  I decided to keep following at a distance, not knowing exactly what to expect.  And because there were many others on the road heading in the same direction, I was able to blend right in.

That was until one of the travelers almost ran me over.  He grabbed onto me to keep me from falling and exclaimed: “Oh, it’s good to see you!”  Since I had never met this man before, I had no idea what he was talking about.  “My name is Bartimaeus,” he said as he brushed himself off.  “I am from the city of Jericho, and until just a few days ago I was blind – I was sitting by the roadside begging for money one day when I heard this noise.  I was told, “it’s Jesus (as he pointed to the guy who just went past on the donkey).  I had even heard that he had the power to perform miracles, and hey, I had nothing to lose, so I shouted at the top of my lungs: ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me’ (Mk 10:47).”  “Some people were embarrassed by me.  Others tried to silence me.  But Jesus listened to me.  I’ll never forget those precious words: ‘Go.  Your faith has healed you’ (Mk 10:52).  Immediately my eyes were opened, and I have been following Jesus ever since.”

The man then disappeared into the crowds as quickly as he had appeared.  I didn’t know if I should believe him, but I knew that I couldn’t turn back.  I needed to keep following this man, wherever he was going.  I needed to learn more, so I stopped to ask a woman standing on the side of the road: “Do you know this man, the one they call Jesus?”  And she said with a smile: “Well, yes, I actually do.”

Her name was Martha, and Jesus had been staying with her and her sister Mary in Bethany.  She told me that she also had a brother named Lazarus who had died.  I was beginning to express my sympathy for her loss when she stopped me.  And I could tell by the look in her eyes that there was more to this story.  Martha told me that Jesus reassured her that he was the Son of God, the “resurrection and the life.”  Even though Lazarus had been dead for four days,” Martha told me, “Jesus called: ‘Lazarus, come out’ (Jn 10:43)!  And he did, linen strips, burial cloth and all.  Lazarus walked out of the tomb alive.”  That helped to explain the absolute excitement of the people who had come from all over to celebrate the Passover.  They had heard other amazing stories about Jesus, but now they had proof.   Lazarus was a living, breathing illustration of this man’s power.  Jesus was different.  Jesus was special.  And he was on his way to Jerusalem.

My unplanned journey brought me to the edge of the Mount of Olives overlooking the Holy City.  As Jesus began his final descent into the valley, the crowds grew larger and louder.  They treated this man like a king.  They threw their cloaks on the road.  They waved palm branches in the air.  And they declared: “Hosanna to the Son of David (Mt 21:9)!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord (Mk 11:9)!  Peace in heaven and glory in the highest” (Lk 19:38)!  Maybe it was the power of the moment.  Maybe it was the testimony of Bartimaeus and Martha.  Maybe it was a combination of things, but before I knew it I was a part of this grand procession.  Once inside the gates of the city, the people were overjoyed.  Children were singing about him.  Pilgrims were praising him. 

But not everyone was happy.  The Pharisees were visibly upset.  They came up to Jesus and demanded: “Teacher, rebuke your disciples” (Lk 19:39).  Their anger caught me off guard.  I don’t know why they wanted the people to stop.  Personally, I didn’t want this day to ever come to an end.  And Jesus wasn’t ready to put an end to the celebration either.  He replied: “I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out” (Lk 19:40).

The stones didn’t have to jump into action that day but eventually the crowds dispersed and the people went home.  As I retraced the route I had walked only a few hours earlier, I was able to think about all the things I had seen and heard.  I knew that something special had happened.  About an hour later, I heard a knock at the door.  It was the two disciples returning the animals they had borrowed that morning.  I invited them in and immediately began to ask them questions.  “Who is the one you call ‘Lord’?  Who is this Jesus?  Why has he come?  What do today’s events mean?”

The disciples admitted that they didn’t have all the answers.  They had been with Jesus for three years, and they still had some questions of their own.  But one of them did share with me something Jesus had shared with them when they started out on their journey:  “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law.  They will condemn him to death and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified.  On the third day he will be raised to life” (Mt 20:18,19)!

I didn’t witness anything like that, but then again nothing on this day was exactly as it appeared.  Jesus was hailed as a king, yet he rode on a common beast of burden.  Jesus was treated like a conquering hero, but he led no army.  Jesus accepted the praises of the adoring crowds, but he knew that those praises would not last.  And there was something else I thought about, something I could not get out of my mind.  Jesus knew exactly where my donkey was.  Jesus knew exactly what I would say.  That means he knows the future.  That means he knows what is waiting for him in Jerusalem.  And if he knows about the betrayal, if he knows about the condemnation, if he knows about the mocking and flogging and crucifixion and death, then why did he come?

I think I know why.  He did it for me.  And He did it for you.  He did it for those times when we are not so willing to part with our possessions.  He did it for those times when we are not so quick to follow him.  He did it for those times when we are content to let the stones sing his praises instead.  Jesus knew that without Palm Sunday there could be no Easter Sunday.  And so knowingly, willingly, humbly, and lovingly Jesus entered Jerusalem to complete his Father’s saving work, to suffer and die and rise again to take away my sins and your sins in full.

This is my story, but it isn’t exclusive to me.  This is your story too.  Maybe you weren’t right here alongside Bartimaeus, Martha, and myself, but you have heard about Jesus and all that he had done for you through the Word.  What a blessing God has given to you and to me!  Today Christians all over the world wave their palm branches in the air.  Today we worship our King.  Today we sing, “Hosanna to the Son of David!”  Today we proclaim, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord,” and realize that we are the ones who are truly blessed in Jesus.  He rode on to save us from our sins.  Praise God for Palm Sunday!  Amen.