Trinity Sunday| John 3:1-15| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church| June 15, 2025 Is Baptism Law or Gospel? The conflict about Baptism among Christians centers around this question. The Bible is divided into two fundamental teachings: The Law and the Gospel. The Law is what God commands of us, summarized in the Ten Commandments….
Pentecost 2018| John 14:13-31| Acts 2:1-24| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church| May 20, 2018 When you think of Pentecost, what do you think of? A rushing wind? Tongues of fire dancing on the heads of Christ’s disciples? Uneducated Galileans speaking in languages they’ve never learned? Yes, these things did indeed happen on that…
Rogate Sermon| John 16:23-30| Praying in Jesus’ Name| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church In our Gospel lesson, Jesus commands His disciples to pray. We pray to God for two reasons. First, God commands us to pray to Him. Second, God promises to hear us and to answer us. Martin Luther explains the conclusion…
Cantate Sunday (Confirmation)| John 16:5-15| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church| May 18, 2025 It is common for people to speak about God without specifying which god they mean. But not all gods are the same. The god worshipped in Islam, Hinduism, and Judaism did not send Jesus Christ to die for our sins….
Jubilate Sunday| John 16:16-23| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church| May 11, 2025 “When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.” Jesus tells…
Rev. Rolf Preus| May 4, 2025| Trinity Lutheran Church, Ottumwa Iowa| John 10:11-16 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and…
Quasimodo Geniti (Easter 2)| John 20:19-31| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church| April 27, 2025 What is the Office of the Keys? Our Small Catechism states, “The Office of the Keys is that special authority which Christ has given to His church on earth to forgive the sins of repentant sinners, but to withhold…
Easter Sunday| 1 Corinthians 5:6-8| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church| April 20, 2025 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice…
Good Friday| Luke 22-23; Isaiah 52:13-53:12| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church| April 18, 2025 Who killed Jesus? Well, the Romans did, right? Pilate may have washed his hands saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” (Matthew 27:24), yet he himself said that he had authority to put Christ to death or set…
Maundy Thursday| John 13:1-15, 34-35 and 1 Corinthians 11:23-32| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church| April 17, 2025 “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” Jesus said to Peter when he refused to let Him wash his feet. Those are sobering words. If Jesus does not wash your feet,…