Lent 4 Laetare Sunday| John 6:1-15| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church| March 27, 2022 Last week, my son Thomas caught a centipede. It was the biggest centipede I’ve seen around here. He put it in a jar with a stick and some dirt, and much to the chagrin of his older sister, he put the…
Lent 3 Oculi| Luke 11:14-28| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church| March 20, 2022 In Genesis chapter three, after Adam and Eve fell into sin, the LORD God said to the serpent, who deceived them, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise…
Invocavit Sunday (Lent 1)| Matthew 4:1-11| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church| March 6, 2022 When people think of Satan, they often think of two extremes that are both false. The first extreme is that Satan is a harmless spirit, who couldn’t hurt you if he tried. (This is why many so flippantly play around…
Quinquagesima| Luke 18:31-43| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church| February 27, 2022 Jesus plainly says to his twelve disciples, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be…
Sexagesima Sunday| Luke 8:4-15| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church| February 20, 2022 Jesus does every preacher a great kindness by interpreting this parable for us. The seed, which the sower sows is the Word of God. Yet, we must speak for a minute about the content of that Word. What is the message…
Septuagesima| Matthew 20:1-16| Pastor James Preus| February 13, 2022 In this parable, our Lord Jesus simply teaches us how God rewards his laborers in the kingdom of heaven. You shouldn’t get hung up trying to figure out what the denarius symbolizes, but simply recognize that God does not save us based on our works….
Transfiguration of our Lord| Matthew 17:1-9| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church| February 6, 2022 In the Old Testament, in Deuteronomy chapter 19, God commanded through Moses that no charge should be established except by the evidence of two or three witnesses. No charge was permitted on the evidence of one witness. And this standard…
Epiphany 4| Matthew 8:23-27| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church| January 30, 2022 In 1 Kings 18, the Prophet Elijah challenges the prophets of Baal to determine who the true God is, the LORD or Baal. Each party set up an altar and prepared a bull to be sacrificed, but neither the false prophets…
Epiphany 3| Matthew 8:1-13| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church| January 23, 2022 The Epiphany season is about Jesus being revealed as God in the flesh. Jesus is true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, just as he is true man, born of the Virgin Mary. Jesus, being God, is all-powerful. He has…
Epiphany 2| John 2:1-11| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church| January 16, 2022 St. John tells us that there were six stone water jars at this wedding for the Jewish rites of purification. These six stone water jars are a symbol of the Law. They are made of stone. God gave the Ten Commandments…