Preaching the Truth

Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan in response to a man who wanted to “justify himself.” But what if we’ve misunderstood the point of the parable?

The Good Samaritan isn’t merely a story about being nice and helpful. It is a story about mercy—and ultimately about Christ.

We are sinners who have been spiritually robbed, beaten, and left for dead. Yet Christ, the true Good Samaritan, does not pass us by. He comes to us, binds our wounds, covers us with His righteousness, and brings us into His Church. He pays the price for our healing with His own blood.

Receiving Christ’s mercy also changes how we love our neighbors. Sometimes “keeping the peace” means leaving someone lying wounded on the side of the road. Sometimes friendship, reputation, and social harmony become excuses for refusing to speak the truth. The Christian is not called to offer empty affirmation while someone remains trapped in deception. Having received mercy from Christ, we are called to show that same mercy to our neighbors.

“You go, and do likewise.”

We are surrounded by a world disordered by sin—and we are part of the problem. We cannot fix ourselves, and even Christ’s ministers are insufficient in themselves. But Jesus Christ is sufficient. He has done all things well.

In Mark 7:37, the people marvel that Jesus makes the deaf hear and the mute speak. This miracle points beyond physical healing to the greater work Christ does for every sinner: opening our ears to His Word, loosening our tongues to confess His truth, and delivering the forgiveness He won for us at the cross.

Through the ministry of His Word and the Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion, Christ continues to distribute His saving work to His people. Your pastor brings nothing of himself. He brings Christ’s sufficient Word, Christ’s forgiveness, and Christ’s gifts.

“He has done all things well.” And that includes forgiving you.

What do you have to boast about before God?

The short answer: nothing.

In the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, Jesus gives us a picture of two men standing before God. One boasts about his righteousness. The other can only confess, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” And Jesus says that the tax collector—not the man boasting about his works—went home justified.

This sermon explores Ephesians 2:1–9 and Luke 18, reminding us that salvation is not our achievement. We were dead in sin, but God, rich in mercy, made us alive together with Christ. “By grace you have been saved through faith.”
The sermon then turns to Cain—the first murderer—and shows how even a sinner with blood on his hands was met by God's mercy. Like Cain, we cannot boast of our works. Like the tax collector, we cry out for mercy. And in Christ, God gives it.
You are a sinner. Christ has forgiven you. You are justified. You live in the abundant grace of God.

The world tells us to “work hard, play hard.” But what happens when work, money, recreation, and the pursuit of pleasure leave no room for Christ?

On the Tenth Sunday after Trinity, Rev. Tyrel Bramwell examines Jesus’ weeping over Jerusalem, Jeremiah’s warning against spiritual complacency, and the danger of being a Christian in name only. The Christian life is not merely about claiming the name of Christ while living according to the world. We need the one thing needful: Jesus Christ crucified for sinners.

True peace is not found in work, pleasure, money, or self-made righteousness. It is found in Christ, who gives Himself to His people through His Word, Holy Baptism, and the Sacrament of the Altar.

Christian, Jesus is your righteousness. He is the one thing needful, and you have Him.

Why does Jesus appear to praise an unrighteous steward in Luke 16? In this sermon for the Ninth Sunday after Trinity, Rev. Tyrel Bramwell looks at one of Christ's most difficult parables, getting into the Greek of Luke 16:8. Far from commending unrighteousness, Jesus exposes the single-minded devotion "the sons of this age" have to their unrighteousness and calls His people to unwavering faithfulness... A call that can only be accomplished by Jesus Himself.
This sermon explores what it means to be a "son of light," why every baptized Christian is an heir of the Kingdom of God, and how Jesus alone perfectly served the Father, where we continually fail. The Gospel of Christ's faithfulness is given to us in Baptism, His Supper, and His proclaimed Word, freeing us from serving two masters and granting us life, peace, and the inheritance of the Kingdom of God.

Jesus warns that false prophets don't look like wolves—they come dressed as sheep. In this sermon for the Eighth Sunday after Trinity, Rev. Tyrel Bramwell examines Christ's warning in Matthew 7 alongside the Apostle John's striking command in 2 John: "Do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting." What did John mean? How should Christians identify false teachers? And what does it mean to love our neighbor without participating in false doctrine?

This sermon explores why doctrine—not popularity, sincerity, or outward success—is the true fruit by which teachers are judged. Yet it also ends where every faithful sermon must: at the cross of Jesus Christ, where even those who have failed to guard the truth receive full forgiveness through His death and resurrection.

esus fed thousands in the wilderness because He had compassion on them. But His compassion didn't end with bread—it led all the way to His cross and to the altar, where He continues to feed His people with His own body and blood.Yet there's another side of God's compassion that we often resist. His "No."Modern Christians love to talk about God's grace, but what happens when His Word confronts our desires? What if God's refusal isn't cruelty, but mercy? What if the same Lord who says, "Take, eat," is also the Lord who lovingly says, "Do not"?In this sermon on Mark 8, we explore the feeding of the four thousand, the Tree of Life, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, Holy Communion, and why God's commands—even the ones we don't like—flow from the same compassion that sent Jesus to the cross.

#Christianity #Repentance #ChristianLife #HolyCommunion #Mark8 #Lutheran #TruthAtAllCosts

Jesus didn't lower God's standards—He raised them.

Our Lord teaches that anger toward neighbor is murder, lust is adultery, and true righteousness goes far deeper than outward behavior. If that's true, and it is, then none of us can stand before God on our own merits.

That's exactly the point.

This sermon explores why Jesus intensifies the Law, how His words expose every human heart, and why the Gospel is infinitely sweeter because of it. Romans 6 reveals the answer: Christ fulfilled the Law perfectly in your place, died under its condemnation, and joined you to His victory through Holy Baptism.

The Law condemns. Christ saves. His righteousness is now yours.

When Jesus told Simon Peter to let down the nets after a long night of failure, everything human reason knew about fishing said it was pointless. Yet Peter answered with one of the great confessions of faith in Scripture: "But at Your word I will let down the nets."

In this sermon on Luke 5:1–11, we explore what it means to trust Christ when His promises seem foolish to our natural minds. From the miraculous catch of fish to the preaching of Christ crucified, from Holy Baptism to the Lord's Supper, the Christian life is lived by faith in the Word of God rather than by sight or human wisdom.

This sermon also exposes the false promises of the prosperity gospel and points us instead to the true riches Christ gives: forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and salvation through His cross.

#Luke5 #Sermon #ConfessionalLutheran #ChristCrucified #Faith #LCMS #TheologyOfTheCross #HolyCommunion #Baptism #JesusChrist

What did Jesus really mean when He said, "Judge not, and you will not be judged"? Few passages are quoted more often—or misunderstood more completely.

In this sermon on Luke 6:37–42, Rev. Tyrel Bramwell explores Christ's teaching in its full context. Jesus is not forbidding Christians from discerning truth or confronting sin. Instead, He calls His disciples to first receive His forgiveness, remove the "log" from their own eye, and then lovingly help their neighbor by speaking the truth with humility and grace.

This message distinguishes righteous judgment from self-righteous condemnation, showing how forgiven sinners become instruments through whom Christ leads others away from the pit and into His saving Gospel. Rather than remaining silent in the face of sin, Christians are called to rebuke, restore, and forgive—not as hypocrites, but as those who have first been rescued by the cross of Christ.