My Lord and My God Podcast—St. Thomas Evangelical Lutheran Church (UAC), Magnolia, Texas

On the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity, we hear St. Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:13–21 and the raising of the widow’s son at Nain (Luke 7:11–17). These texts show us Christ’s deep compassion and His power to raise the dead.

As Christians, we confess that apart from the Holy Spirit we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves. Yet in Christ we have been raised to new life. Through the Word and Sacraments, the Spirit renews our will, strengthens us in the inner man, and leads us to confess Christ before the world.

This sermon explores what it means to be set free in Christ: no longer slaves to sin, but soldiers strengthened by our Captain in the midst of the battle against the flesh, the devil, and the world. Just as the widow’s son sat up and spoke, so the Christian, raised with Christ, is given a voice to confess Him.

Join us at St. Thomas Lutheran Church in Magnolia, Texas, as we rejoice in the Lord who works in us “both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13), and who promises that on the Last Day He will raise us to eternal life, free from sin forever.

From St. Thomas Evangelical Lutheran Church (UAC) in Magnolia, Texas, this sermon for the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels explores how God’s holy angels behold the face of the Father, rejoice when sinners repent, and fight for the Church. Rooted in the Augsburg Confession and Holy Scripture, the sermon shows how the angels serve as guardians and examples of faith and vigilance. Through Baptism, Absolution, the Lord’s Supper, and the preaching of the Word, we in Montgomery County also behold the face of God and are strengthened to fight the good fight of faith under Christ our Captain.

For more information, check out stthomastx.church!

In this sermon from St. Thomas Evangelical Lutheran Church in Magnolia, Texas, we reflect on the cost of confessing Christ before the world through the lens of St. Matthew’s martyrdom, the beheading of St. John the Baptist, and even recent events in our own time.

The tradition of Matthew’s death, though uncertain, shows the reality that God’s servants have often suffered not only for proclaiming the Gospel but also for speaking His Law in truth and calling rulers and nations to repentance. John the Baptist was imprisoned and executed for confronting King Herod’s sin. The apostles suffered persecution for preaching both Christ crucified and the Word of God’s Law that exposes human sin and pride.

Drawing on these biblical examples, this sermon challenges us to consider what it means to follow Christ in an age where speaking the truth of God’s Word—about marriage, sexuality, repentance, and godliness—can bring hostility, slander, or worse. Even so, Jesus calls His people to confess Him before men, promising that He will confess them before His Father in heaven.

Join us as we give thanks for St. Matthew’s ministry, hear God’s Word of both Law and Gospel, and are encouraged to live faithfully in Montgomery County, Magnolia, Texas, and beyond—trusting in Christ, who values us more than sparrows and who promises eternal life to all who believe in Him.

For more about St. Thomas Evangelical Lutheran Church, visit stthomastx.church!

Sermon on Mark 7:31–37 preached at St. Thomas Evangelical Lutheran Church, Magnolia, Texas.

Jesus takes aside a man who is deaf and has a speech impediment. With His own touch, His own Word, and His own compassion, He opens his ears and looses his tongue so that he speaks rightly. In this miracle, we see what Christ does for us: in Baptism He sanctifies our ears and tongue; in the preaching of His Word He opens them again; and in the Holy Supper He strengthens us with His own flesh and blood.

If you have misused the ears and tongue the Lord has given you, here He restores you again in the midst of His Church, to go forth confessing with the crowd: He has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.

Worship Location: 14711 FM 1488, Magnolia, Texas 77354

Divine Service every Sunday at 9:00 AM

Family Catechesis for all ages every Sunday at 10:30 AM

For more information, visit www.stthomastx.church!

This sermon from St. Thomas Evangelical Lutheran Church (UAC) in Magnolia, Texas, explores Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:9–14). The Pharisee boasts in his outward righteousness, while the tax collector beats his breast and pleads for mercy. We face the same deceptions today—trusting in works or abusing grace. But God justifies the sinner through Christ alone, our propitiation (Hebrews 2:17), who delivers us from this body of death (Romans 7:24–25).

For more information, check out www.stthomastx.church!

On the Feast of St. Bartholomew, we hear how God builds His kingdom not through human glory but through hidden, often anonymous faithfulness. Scripture records little of Bartholomew—perhaps only his confession, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God!”—yet Christ called and sent him to carry the Gospel to the nations. Tradition tells of his preaching in Armenia, his conversions enraging King Astyages, and his gruesome martyrdom by being flayed alive. By worldly standards, his life seemed to end in obscurity and failure. But through Bartholomew and the rest of the Apostles, the treasure of Christ has been handed down through fragile vessels all the way to us. This sermon from St. Thomas Lutheran Church in Magnolia, Texas calls us to take courage: what seems like straw to the world will be revealed by Christ in the end as precious stone built on the one foundation, Jesus Christ our Lord.

In this sermon on Luke 16, preached at St. Thomas Evangelical Lutheran Church (UAC) in Magnolia, Texas, Pastor Stanley Lacey unfolds Jesus’ parable of the dishonest steward. The world often uses fleeting possessions with shrewdness, while Christians forget the urgency of time. Yet all that we are and have belongs to God, given through His fatherly goodness and mercy. Our Lord Jesus, the perfect steward, laid down His life so that we might inherit eternal riches. Here we are called to use our daily bread, our time, and our possessions not for ourselves, but for our neighbor—so that friends may greet us in the resurrection and we may enter the eternal dwellings of God. Proclaimed in Montgomery County, Texas, this sermon directs hearers to Christ’s generosity and the eternal future secured in His blood.

For more information about St. Thomas, go to https://stthomastx.church/!

In this Trinity 7 sermon from St. Thomas Evangelical Lutheran Church (LCMS) in Magnolia, Texas, we hear how Jesus feeds the 4,000 (Mark 8:1–9) and answers the disciples’ question: “How can one satisfy these people with bread here in the wilderness?” This is not a repeat of the feeding of the 5,000. Here the Lord has compassion on the Gentiles; seven large Roman baskets (spyrides) replace the twelve Jewish baskets (kóphinoi), signaling Christ’s sufficiency for the nations.

The sermon faces our doubts head-on: we often suspect that we—or our children, neighbors, and friends—won’t be satisfied by the Bread God gives. We chase novelty and distraction, yet Jesus takes what the Church has, blesses it, gives it through His disciples, and all are satisfied. The call is to repent and be comforted: Christ feeds us now with His Word and with His Body and Blood—more than enough for the wilderness we walk (see Numbers 21:5; Matthew 6:31–32).

St. Thomas is a confessional, liturgical Lutheran congregation serving Magnolia and Montgomery County, Texas. We invite you to hear Christ’s Gospel and receive His gifts in Word and Sacrament. Visitors and families are welcome.

In this sermon preached at St. Thomas Lutheran Church (UAC) in Magnolia, Texas, Pastor Stanley Lacey explores Jesus’ words in Luke 6: “Be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.” What does true Christian mercy look like? What does Jesus mean when He tells us not to judge or condemn, but to forgive and give?

Drawing from Luther’s Fourth Sunday after Trinity postil, the sermon addresses the misuse of judgment, the withholding of forgiveness, and the cold calculations of miserliness. We are shown not only the danger of self-righteous condemnation, but the gracious way of Christ, who “erased the record of debt… having nailed it to the cross” (Colossians 2:14).

This message challenges Christians to examine whether we live out the confession we claim, especially in how we treat those who have wronged us. It also reminds us that the Christian life is one of continual mercy—without retirement—until our final rest in Christ.

Join us as we hear God's Word read and preached faithfully each Sunday in Montgomery County. Learn more at www.stthomastx.church.

This sermon from St. Thomas Evangelical Lutheran Church (UAC) in Montgomery County, Texas, proclaims the heart of the Gospel from Luke 15. The Pharisees and scribes grumbled that Jesus received sinners and ate with them—but these parables reveal God’s own joy over every lost soul that repents.

Drawing on the hymn “Oh, Come, Ye Sinners, Straying Long!”, this sermon invites hearers to see themselves in the wayward son, the straying sheep, and even the grumbling Pharisee. It makes clear that Christ welcomes sinners—not those who come to be affirmed in their sin, but those who come weary, burdened, and repentant.

No one is too far gone. Whether you're crushed by guilt, hardened in self-righteousness, or just numb, your Shepherd is seeking you. The robe, the ring, the feast—they’re ready.

Join us at St. Thomas Lutheran Church in New Magnolia for Divine Service every Sunday at 9:00 am, where sinners are gathered, forgiven, and fed.