Judica Sunday| John 8:46-59| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church| March 17, 2024 Our Gospel lesson today is a portion of one of the most contentious arguments Jesus ever had with the Jewish leaders. They call Him a Samaritan and say that He has a demon, while they claim to be Abraham’s children and…
Christmas Eve 2020| Luke 2:1-20| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church Every once in a while, someone, usually from the church, will ask me if he can stop to check on something in the parsonage. And I almost always answer, “Yeah, sure.” This annoys my dear wife, not because she has a problem with…
Advent 1| Matthew 21:1-9| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church| December 3, 2023 Over the past few weeks, we have been focusing on Christ’s return in judgment. Seared in our memory is the image of the unrighteous being banished to eternal punishment prepared for the devil and his angels, and foolish virgins banging on…
Third to Last Sunday| 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18| Matthew 24:15-28| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church St. Paul offers to the church in Thessalonica and to us comfort concerning our dead. He does not want us to be ignorant about our loved ones who’ve died, so that we do not mourn as the unbelievers do….
Trinity 6| Matthew 5:17-26| Pastor James Preus| July 16, 2023 “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” What does Jesus mean by righteousness? Righteousness is an attribute of God. It is the order by which He runs the universe….
Luke 5:1-11 On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on [Jesus] to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, 2 and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 Getting into one of the boats,…
Presentation of the Augsburg Confession| Matthew 10:32-33| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church| June 25, 2023 “So everyone who confesses Me before men, I also will confess before My Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies Me before men, I also will deny before My Father who is in heaven.” Today, we celebrate…
Pentecost Sunday| Acts 2:1-21| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church| May 28, 2023 Pentecost celebrates the work of the Holy Spirit. What is the work of the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit sanctifies us. What does it mean to sanctify? To sanctify means to make holy. But what does it mean to make holy?…
Gospel: John 16:5-15 5[Jesus said:] “But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I…
Oculi Sunday (Lent 3)| Luke 11:14-28| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church| March 12, 2023 The unbelievers blaspheme Jesus for doing a good work of casting out a demon, so that a poor mute man can speak, saying that He casts out demons by Beelzebub the prince of demons. Jesus immediately points out the absurdity in…