FaithCapo.com Sermons

What things make you fear to be a Christian? What things make you fear to be more boldly Christian in all that you say and do? Perhaps it is fear of being ridiculed. Perhaps it is the fear of being labeled a religious fanatic, or a Bible-thumper, or - in Lutheran circles - a pietist. Fear and intimidation are the devil's tactics. Our Lord Jesus teaches us how to live and how to die without fear. The Psalmist says to God, "With You there is forgiveness that You may be feared." Fear of God destroys all other fears. For God is the One who destroys the power of sin by bearing it Himself on the cross. God is the One who destroys the power of death by rising from the dead, and by promising that all who believe in Him will also rise. If God is for us, who can be against us? We need not be afraid when the world taunts us or persecutes us. As our Lord Jesus says, "Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid." You have been purchased with the blood of Christ! You are a Christian!

The ordination of the first High Priest, Aaron, was a bloody affair. God so ordered this Old Testament rite for us also, that we would be pointed to the One who is our great High Priest: Jesus Christ. By His bloody death on the cross, He shows Himself to be our great High Priest and the sole Mediator between God and Man. Having made atonement for us with His blood, our High Priest rose from the dead and stands before God making intercession for us. In Jesus, who is both true God and true Man, we have a God who prays.

God tempts no one. Our temptation comes from the Devil. The Devil's goal is to lead you and all others into more temptation. He does this by destroying our faith using self-righteousness and despair. He does this to us, even though He knows our sins are forgiven. We must look to the Cross to sustain our faith. The Cross is where our sins are laid on Jesus and He gives us his righteousness as a gift. Jesus stood against and conquered the Devil, once and for all by crushing him under His foot. God "leads us out of temptation" by sending His Son to do it for us.

Our sins cut us off from God. Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return. The ashes on our foreheads today are meant to jog you into reality. They are in the shape of a cross. The cross of Jesus gives life from death. The ashes on your forehead mark you both for death and life. Rend your hearts, not your garments. God is the mercy we need. God is a light to lighten our dark hearts. Why is God so gracious and merciful? It is all for the sake of Jesus. When you pray, when you give to the needy, when you fast, do it in secret. To know and be known by God is our goal and what we are to practice quietly before God. We rend our hearts in order to see more of the heart of Jesus.

The greatest thing about the Transfiguration is that it actually happened. Peter, James, and John were eyewitnesses. We should marvel, wonder and ponder this so that we might believe and have life in Jesus. The Transfiguration shows Jesus is God of God and Light of Light. We will see this on the Last Day when He comes in glory to judge the living and the dead. The blood of Jesus cleanses us all. The Cross is the exodus of Jesus, leading us out of our sin to the Promised Land. Our lives are part of his story because we take part in His exodus. We go through death with Him. We need not be afraid of the coming judgment. We follow the Son of God. God is well pleased with Jesus, His Son, and because we are part of Him, God is pleased with us.

The Lord of the universe became a lowly embryo, coming into the world in the form of you and me. The world despises weakness, yet Jesus, the creator of the world, came to be Lord of the lowly. Baptism seems like nothing to this world, yet God's strength is made perfect in what seems to be weakness. God uses Baptism as His means of grace to wash away our sin so that when God sees you, He sees none of your inadequacies. They are all blotted out by the blood of Christ. And, when God commands us to love our enemies, those who hate Christ, and not judge them, the world scoffs at this apparent weakness and foolishness. Yet the weakness of God is stronger than the power of sin. In this command to love and not judge another, Jesus gives us another way to break the power of sin -- the weakness of love and the foolishness of forgiveness. The day is coming when you will see that His weakness is stronger than any strength. On that day, you will know that His foolishness was wiser than all the wisdom in the world, when you, with nothing but your baptism, are gathered around His throne with other forgiven sinners.

What is the highest honor, greatest goal for life? Whoever your god or God is will determine it. The greatest honor in life is to be conformed into the image of God. We need to know the God who gathers in our midst to serve us. Wherever His word and sacraments are, He is present, truly and bodily. Our present sufferings cannot compare to the glory to come. Good Friday now, Easter to come. All who share in God's Good Friday will share in His Easter.

Our sermon text today is more than a fishing story. Jesus was speaking for God, about God, because He was God. Peter says, "At your word, I will drop the net." Too much of a good thing happens. This was a living parable. The fish represent men, the net is the Gospel, the boat is the Church. The boat fills because of the word of Jesus. Don't judge churches by their crowds. Growing the church is not the priority. Preaching Christ crucified for the forgiveness of sins is the priority. Human reason won't fill our boat. Only fish with the net of the pure Gospel. This is what Jesus, the greatest fisherman, says to do. Only then, on the shore on the last day, do we see the good fish separated from the bad fish. Let's drop our nets only at the word and only in the manner Jesus tells us.

The word of God is greater than all other powers. It doesn't depend on the messenger. The power is not in the speaker but in God's own divine word. Christians are called to stand against darkness because we are light, and God's word is sufficient to do so. Those who trample God's word will be brought down to death. The Word of God (Jesus) silences and casts out demons, sickness and death. Jesus was not sent for miracles, but for preaching God's word. He was sent to set an "upside-down church" right again. Why is there demon possession, sickness, and death in this world? The answer is sin. Sin cuts us off from the One who is light and life. Jesus must take all our sin on Himself. Christ�s death is the price required for God to buy us back and set us free. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. But the blood of Christ has been shed and we are forgiven!

Pastor Hodel says farewell after serving 37 years in the ministry. He asks us to cherish the Benediction, because in it, God, for Christ's sake, grants us peace. He reminds us that we are sinners together. We should absolve one another when we fail each other, and be real with one another. His sermon message for today covers Jesus' first Messianic appearance in His hometown. Jesus preaches from Isaiah about the Messiah and says "I am He". The people wanted Him to perform a miracle, not realizing they were hearing the word, spoken by the Word. For them and for us, what more do we need? We do not need any more miracles. The only miracle we need to see is the incarnation and the work of Calvary. The cross is eternal and is for everyone, without exception. All we need is God's Word to sustain our faith. Let us fight to hear it. All God has is ours, by pure grace, just receive it.

In the account of the wedding at Cana, John 2:1-11, there is more than meets the eye. In this, His first miracle, Jesus changes water into wine for wedding guests. In His last miracle, Jesus changes His blood into wine for us. We lack wine because we have sinned. Our Savior gives us His wine to cleanse us from all our sin. It is the wine of immortality that we receive in the Lord's Supper, and it is free for us. But it cost Jesus everything. Now we can be included is the Wedding Feast of the Lamb.

All you ever need to know about baptism and its power is given in this message. There are great differences between the baptized and unbaptized. Jesus was baptized to give you gifts. Let nothing take them away.

Epiphany is the Gentile Christmas. Jesus came to the Jews through the Word. He came to the Gentiles through a star. Christ is the Messiah for both the Jews and the Gentiles. The Gentile astrologers, after meeting Jesus and receiving the gift of faith, went home another way. After we meet Jesus and receive the gift of faith, we go back to our vocations in another way. We become God�s hands and feet to shine as stars in the darkness in the ways of Jesus.

Are you ready to die? Most people avoid this question. But learn from Simeon how to die. You can die in peace because you, like Simeon, have seen the Lord's Christ. Christ has baptized you into His death and resurrection, and He feeds you with His body and blood in the Lord's Supper. You are totally forgiven because Jesus has worked peace between you and the Father. So you can die in peace, just like Simeon.

Sin can't stand in the presence of God. Light and darkness can't mix. So we hide from God because of our sin. But at Christmas, God now hides Himself in man. Christmas is a proclamation of good news! God is beginning His work of salvation. The baby in the manger is the Messiah, God's Son, coming to be a light for us in the darkness and to show us the way to salvation. Christmas reminds us that God has given to us the greatest gift of all time, His Son, wrapped in human flesh. We can now become children of God and heirs of His kingdom. We need not hide anymore!

Marvel, marvel, marvel. If you don't marvel at Christmas, there is something wrong. Marvel at the birth of Christ because He saves us from our greatest problem, sin. This is what Christmas is all about. Jesus makes us a new creation and changes death into new life. The maker of the stars is making all things new. Even you!

You're too little! We hear it all our lives, at many times and in many places. We will always be "too little" spiritually, no matter how hard we try. We feel we must pay up, but we never can pay enough, even for the smallest sin. But Bethlehem was not too little. She would be the birthplace for the Son of God. Any Mary was not too little for God. She would be the mother of the Messiah. And John the Baptist showed he was not too little to proclaim Jesus as the Savior of the world. And "too little" Jesus came to be the final sacrifice to God to pay for the sin of all men. And we are not too little, if we are in Christ. We are the Children of God, and all that is His, is ours. Merry Christmas.

It was a joyous scene when the ark of God drew near to Jerusalem in King David's day. The ark of the covenant was such a gift of grace and mercy, David did something that adults�especially kings�never do. He leapt for joy before the ark. But it was an even more joyous scene when John the Baptist, the forerunner, met Jesus, the Savior, for the first time, while they were both still in their mother's wombs. John, in the womb of an elderly, formerly barren woman, leapt for joy at the voice of Mary, the Virgin carrying God's Son in her womb. God's special presence on earth would no longer be tied to a gold-covered box but rather to the incarnate Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. Our hearts have every reason to leap for joy as John the Baptist leapt. God's presence is among us as Christ draws near to us in His Word and Sacraments, and He has promised to be near to us forever when He comes again on the Last Day.

All of life is meant to draw you to Jesus, to be forgiven and conformed to Him. Rejoice in the Lord always, in both good and bad times. Life is not something we possess, only Jesus is life. "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." Jesus removes the curse of sin and death, but first He must come under it, carrying our griefs and sorrows and atoning for them on the cross. Rejoice in the Lord always. The true joy of Advent and Christmas is knowing all things will be made new. In death we have life. Only by losing our bodies in death do we get them back, restored.

Throughout Holy Scripture, God brought forth important men from the wombs of barren women. One such woman was the wife of Manoah. Through her, God gave oppressed Israel a great deliverer named Samson. But the greatest son to come from an unlikely mother was the Child born of the Virgin Mary. He was the greatest gift this oppressed world will ever receive. Samson's greatness was evident in feats of incredible strength, but the greatest of Mary's Son was seen in His willingness to set aside His power to deliver us from sin, death, and the devil.