Jesus is the King of kings, God and man in one person. He knows you intimately. More! He is willing to do absolutely anything necessary to serve and protect you. We see that this Holy Week. It begins with Jesus riding a donkey colt into Jerusalem—as the prophet foretold. As this week nears its end, Jesus is given a crown of thorns. He carries a cross out of Jerusalem and is nailed to it. Placed on his cross was this sign: “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” The sign was partially right. Jesus is a king, just not of the Jews. He’s our King, infinitely mightier than any ruler in history, while also being infinitely humbler. King Jesus has come to save us. Other heads of state can serve as blessings, but this is the greater type of king that we need most.

The Bible reading for this message is Zechariah 9:9-12.

Video for this service can be found here.

This is Part 7 of the Lenten sermon series Our Greatest Needs.

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Remember your Savior Jesus loves you! May he bless you with his grace!

During the weeks of Lent, we follow Jesus to the empty tomb of Easter. However, before he abandons that tomb, Jesus has a mission to accomplish. He must become our suffering Savior.

In Matthew 27, we find Jesus on the cross. While on the cross, Jesus endures suffering at the hands of Roman soldiers, hateful crowds, even the thieves crucified on either side of him. It’s a pathetic scene that breaks our hearts, but why is Jesus there? Why does Jesus allow himself to endure all that suffering? He could save himself! He could come down from the cross. Yet he does not! Jesus remains there to suffer the full punishment for the sins of the world. Jesus remains there to be forsaken by his heavenly Father. Jesus does not come down from the cross, but remains there to save us! Praise God that our Savior did not save himself, but us! 

The Bible reading for this message is Matthew 27:27-66.

Video for this service can be found here.

This is Part 5 of the midweek Lenten sermon series See Our Suffering Savior.

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Remember your Savior Jesus loves you! May he bless you with his grace!

The author and poet George Eliot once wrote, “Our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them.” The Roman philosopher Cicero said much the same. He wrote, “The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living.” What second rate comfort! But that is the best the unbelieving world can offer—the sappy sentiment that our dead loved ones somehow “live on” in our memories. It is a sad way to attempt to cope as you walk through the cemetery. 

Jesus provides a better solution to death. He promises life. One day Jesus will give your faithful dead back to you—to love and to laugh and to hug and to dance. Body and soul, living and walking in the new heaven and the new earth. How do we know Jesus can and will keep that promise? Because the Son of God descended into the darkness of death himself and emerged on Easter Sunday as the first fruit of the resurrection of all God’s people. In the creed we confess, “I believe in the resurrection of the body.” Yet again, Jesus satisfies our greatest needs.

The Bible reading for this message is John 11:17-27, 38-45.

Video for this service can be found here.

This is Part 6 of the Lenten sermon series Our Greatest Needs.

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Remember your Savior Jesus loves you! May he bless you with his grace!

During the weeks of Lent, we ultimately follow Jesus to the empty tomb of Easter. However, before he abandons that tomb, Jesus has a mission to accomplish. He must become our suffering Savior. 

Tonight, we see Jesus on trial before Pontius Pilate—the Roman governor. Even though God had established government for the good of humanity, Jesus innocently suffers injustice and torture at the hands of a ruler who fails to see Jesus for who he really is. Nevertheless, through this suffering, Jesus makes his way to the cross that we might see for who he truly is—our Savior. 

The Bible reading for this message is Matthew 27:1-26.

Video for this service can be found here.

This is Part 4 of the midweek Lenten sermon series See Our Suffering Savior.

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Messages from the King is produced by King of Kings Lutheran Church in Maitland, FL.

To find out more about King of Kings...

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Remember your Savior Jesus loves you! May he bless you with his grace!

We know that unbelief will have consequences in the future—eternal separation from God. But unbelief also has consequences now. It makes you blind, in a sense. The unbeliever is unable to see the world as it really is. That which is harmful the unbeliever considers good; that which is good he considers meaningless. The unbeliever cannot see the danger that lurks behind temptation. He cannot see the blessing contained in God’s Word. The unbeliever cannot see the tragic fate that lies in his future, and he certainly cannot see the Savior. 

The Old Testament said that restoration of sight to the blind was one of the works of the Messiah. In his ministry, Jesus healed those who were physically blind. But even if our eyes work just fine, we still need Jesus to give us spiritual vision. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” Christ comes to shine his light into our darkened eyes that we might see him and live. Jesus meets our greatest needs. He provides sight for the spiritually blind.

The Bible reading for this message is John 9:1-7, 13-17, 34-39.

Video for this service can be found here.

This is Part 5 of the Lenten sermon series Our Greatest Needs.

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Remember your Savior Jesus loves you! May he bless you with his grace!

A person can survive between one and two months without food. But a person can survive only two to three days without water. Water is one of our greatest needs. Research shows that even slight dehydration will adversely affect your mood, memory, and motor coordination. Become seriously dehydrated, and life ends quickly. This helps us understand what Scripture means when it says things like, “My soul thirsts for God” (Psalm 42:2). If one is separated from God, he is adversely affected. If he remains separated from God, he will die an agonizing eternal death. 

Not all admit it; yet it remains true for all. Everyone has a deep spiritual thirst. In our heart of hearts, we all long for everlasting life. Unbelievers try to satisfy that deep thirst with worldly things, a strategy doomed for failure. Believers look to the One who has promised, “Whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst.” Jesus meets our greatest needs. He alone possesses the water that satisfies those who are spiritually parched. He alone grants eternal life.

The Bible reading for this message is Exodus 17:1-7.

Video for this service can be found here.

This is Part 4 of the Lenten sermon series Our Greatest Needs.

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Messages from the King is produced by King of Kings Lutheran Church in Maitland, FL.

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Remember your Savior Jesus loves you! May he bless you with his grace!

During the weeks of Lent, we ultimately follow Jesus to the empty tomb of Easter. However, before he abandons that tomb, Jesus has a mission to accomplish. He must become our suffering Savior. 

Tonight, we find Jesus with his disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane. Here the weight of the mission Jesus must accomplish crushes down on his shoulders. As truly human, Jesus recognizes that it would be so much easier to not face the suffering necessary for our salvation. Yet as truly God, Jesus knows what must be accomplished for our salvation. Jesus humbly submits to the will of his heavenly Father and drinks the full cup of God’s wrath, starting with betrayal, arrest, and abandonment. Nevertheless, through all of this agonizing suffering, Jesus continues to proves himself to be our Savior from sin and death! 

The Bible reading for this message is Matthew 26:36-56.

This is Part 2 of the midweek Lenten sermon series See Our Suffering Savior.

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Messages from the King is produced by King of Kings Lutheran Church in Maitland, FL.

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Remember your Savior Jesus loves you! May he bless you with his grace!

When assessing the seriousness of need, one factor is how widespread that need is. A homeless individual needs food. During a famine, an entire nation needs food. It is substantially easier to meet the needs of the former than the latter! The more widespread a need, the greater the need.

When Jesus said, “No one can enter the kingdom of God,” he declared that the need for salvation is universal. He rightly condemned humanity as a whole. There is no one on the face of the earth who can make the case that they deserve God’s blessing. Yet, ages ago, God declared that all nations would be blessed. God has declared his love for the world and promised he would save the world. God’s gift of salvation is meant for all people.

Some interpret this to mean that all people will be saved in the end. This is not true. The gift of salvation is meant for the world; however, it is received by faith. “Whoever believes in him…” the Gospel says. However, the good news is that faith is also God’s gift, imparted through that gospel.

The Bible reading for this message is Romans 4:1-5, 13-17.

This is Part 3 of the Lenten sermon series Our Greatest Needs.

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Messages from the King is produced by King of Kings Lutheran Church in Maitland, FL.

To find out more about King of Kings...

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Remember your Savior Jesus loves you! May he bless you with his grace!

During the weeks of Lent, we ultimately follow Jesus to the empty tomb of Easter. However, before he abandons that tomb, Jesus has a mission to accomplish. He must become our suffering Savior. Tonight we see how the people he came to save—people who should have identified him as the fulfillment of all the Old Testament prophecies—plotted to kill him. We hear how Jesus makes the heartbreaking revelation that every one of his own disciples will betray, deny, or abandon him in his hour of need. The conspiracy of sinful humanity to bring about the suffering and death of humanity’s Savior is one of the darkest moments in history.

Nevertheless, in the midst of such darkness with evil looming large that first Holy Thursday night, Jesus shines the light of life as our suffering Savior. He brings the light of fulfillment to the prophetic Passover celebration and institutes a new covenant in his blood that will bring forgiveness of sins to the world—a covenant made ours through Christ’s body and blood given with bread and wine in his Supper. See our suffering Savior! 

The Bible reading for this message is Matthew 26:1-35.

This is Part 1 of the midweek Lenten sermon series See Our Suffering Savior.

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Messages from the King is produced by King of Kings Lutheran Church in Maitland, FL.

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Remember your Savior Jesus loves you! May he bless you with his grace!

Our modern English word “champion” comes from an old English word that meant “warrior.” In ancient times, when two armies gathered to fight, sometimes as a prelude to the battle—and sometimes in place of the battle—each army would pick a mighty solider, and these two men would fight each other. These elite warriors, these champions, would represent their people in battle. They would meet in the middle of the field. With everyone watching, they would fight to the death.

Today we are reminded of an ancient war that began in Eden. The perfect peace and prosperity of Paradise was lost when a fallen angel convinced mankind to follow the demons in rebelling against their Creator. When Adam fell, he condemned the world to darkness and death. The enemy of God claimed that the children of men now belonged to him. God was having none of it. He promised he would send forth his champion, his Son. And so, today we see a battle of champions. The demons send forth their strongest warrior—Satan. God sends forth the best of men, Jesus Christ. Jesus does what Adam and we could not. In crushing the devil, Jesus meets one of our greatest needs.

The Bible reading for this message is Matthew 4:1-11.

Video of this message is available here.

This is Part 2 of the Lenten sermon series Our Greatest Needs.

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Messages from the King is produced by King of Kings Lutheran Church in Maitland, FL.

To find out more about King of Kings...

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Remember your Savior Jesus loves you! May he bless you with his grace!