Preaching the Truth

There are two types of people in the world, those who make excuses not to attend the Lord's great banquet, and those who take their seats. These two groups are described in many and various ways. One thing is for sure. It's good to be the Lord's guest! I preached this sermon to St. Mark Lutheran Church, Ferndale CA on the Second Sunday after Trinity (6/9/2024). The readings are Proverbs 9:1-10, 1 John 3:13-18, and Luke 14:15-24.

I think a demon sang to me the Friday before last. True story. St. John tells us that we cannot say we love God and hate our brother. How do these two things relate? Luke 16:19-31, has the answer.

Jesus said to Nicodemus, "Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?" Do you understand earthly things? How about heavenly things? Find out.

To whose word do you listen? Man's or God's? The right answer should be God's, but too often we listen to man's words. In this sermon I preach on John 14:23-24 whee our Lord says, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me." I rely heavily on a sermon Maartin Luther preached during the Lutheran Reformation

The reality is that many American Christians are unfaithful. But the Lord promised to vindicate His great name which every Christian bears. When we are insulted for the sake of Christ, we are blessed. Let us not reject it, but live in the absolution of Christ and suffer with Him.

Jesus teaches us the Father loves us, and that in Christ we have direct access to Him in prayer. It is a blessing to be able to pray directly to God, and we have received this blessing with the name of our crucified Lord, Jesus Christ.

Sermon for the Sixth Sunday of Easter.

The world is afraid. The unbelievers go on and on about all these different things, good and bad, in every corner of the world, because they are scared out of their deranged little minds. But not me. Not you. We say, “God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.” (Is. 12: 2) But how do we do this? Who helps us?

For the Third Sunday of Easter Pastor Bramwell preached on John 10:11-13.

For the Second Sunday of Easter Pastor Bramwell preached on John 20:19-23. The podcast and video versions were produced for the benefit of those unable to attend the Divine Service and for the evangelism efforts of the congregation.

For Palm/Passion Sunday, Pastor Bramwell preached on Philippians 2:5-11, emphasizing Satan's equality escalator scheme and pointing us to Jesus who didn't pursue equality with God but humbled himself to save us. The podcast and video versions were produced for the benefit of those unable to attend the Divine Service and for the evangelism efforts of the congregation.