Sermon Podcasts

On Saints Triumphant Sunday, we celebrate the victory that God has given to those who have died in faith—the eternal victory of life with him in heaven. We certainly look forward to receiving that reward of faith someday when God calls us home, too. But today we’ll also consider how knowing what God has in mind for us in eternity shapes the way that we live as his people right now.

Pastor Pat Brown preached this sermon at Bethany's Saturday worship on November 13, 2021.

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There are a lot of things about Judgment Day that can be frightening or disconcerting, even to us as God’s people. But we want to walk away with one primary truth—God’s promise that everyone who believes in his Son Jesus shall not perish but have everlasting life. That’s the judgment that we’re looking forward to on the Last Day.

Pastor Pat Brown preached this sermon at Bethany's Sunday worship on November 7, 2021.

Learn more at bethanyappleton.org

Today we celebrate the Lutheran Reformation of the church. We give thanks to God for that treasure of the gospel that he restored and passed on to us through the reformers. But we’re also going to hear that God’s work of reformation by no means began or ended with Martin Luther. The need for reformation is something that continues as long as the world continues. And since God has entrusted the gospel to us, we know that we have the opportunity for reformation as well.

Pastor Pat Brown preached this sermon at Bethany's Sunday worship on October 31, 2021.

Learn more at bethanyappleton.org

Ambition can be good or bad. What are we ambitious for? We see people ambitious to do a lot of things in our world, but what they’re ambitious for are not always such good things. But when Jesus captures our hearts as his people, he also captures our ambition—and harnesses it for service to him and for the building up of his kingdom. Godly, true ambition—that’s what Jesus wants to teach us today. Because he has done everything well.

Pastor Pat Brown preached this sermon at Bethany's Sunday worship on October 24 2021.

Learn more at bethanyappleton.org

The gift of wealth, perhaps more than any other, can become a snare to our salvation. We either treasure too much what we have, or covet too much what we don’t have. Jesus shows us that this is not so much a wealth issue, but a First Commandment issue. It’s a failure to love God above all things. But God’s love for us is so great that even this sin is overcome by his grace in Jesus.

Pastor Mark Henke preached this sermon at Bethany's Saturday worship on October 16, 2021.

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We live in a world where the institution of marriage is under attack from many fronts. What God once included under the pronouncement “very good” is now viewed by so many as not so good at all. Who hasn’t been impacted in one way or another by a broken marriage? The world has plenty of ammunition to use in its attacks on this institution—and their arguments against it can sound compelling. But this relationship between husband and wife, which God established in the very beginning and which is patterned after Jesus’ relationship with us, is just as good now as it was then.

Pastor Pat Brown preached this sermon at Bethany's Saturday worship on October 9, 2021.

Learn more at bethanyappleton.org

Envy is not just an issue that is dealt with in the secular realm, but in the sacred realm too. The gifts of God to his Church are so rich and varied that the devil uses that very generosity to stir up jealousy and envy. Jesus instead wants us to rejoice that the many gifts God gives serve to further the goal of his kingdom—that Christ is preached. Today, Jesus comes to us through his Word in the example of the Apostle Paul, and helps us when we are tempted to be envious, and when we are hurt by the envy of others.

Pastor Pat Brown preached this sermon at Bethany's Saturday worship on October 2, 2021.

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With Jesus’ words about his impending passion still hanging in the air, his disciples can talk only about which of them is the greatest. Didn’t they get it? Do we? In our world, there are so many different ways we measure greatness. But most of them are simply not in line with God’s Word. What does greatness mean to us, and what should it mean to us as God’s people? Today, Jesus tells us and shows us the path to true greatness in his Kingdom.

Pastor Pat Brown preached this sermon at Bethany's Sunday worship on September 25, 2021.

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Does suffering shock us or surprise us? Jesus (and Peter too) says it shouldn’t. He endured it, so will we. This is life under the cross, life lived in his footsteps. But Jesus has the word to sustain the weary, those who are worn out by the suffering that is part and parcel of a believer’s life in a sinful world. Jesus has done everything well, even when it comes to suffering—both in his perfect suffering for our sake, and in what he teaches us through our own suffering.

Pastor Mark Henke preached this sermon at Bethany's Saturday worship on September 18, 2021.

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“He has done everything well.” We hear that phrase in our gospel reading as we see Jesus address the special needs of a certain man with the special care that only he can provide. And we see Jesus do that for us, too—not only in situations where we’re dealing with health issues or worries or fears, but with so many situations in our lives. Jesus comes to us with his wisdom and his love, and he takes what’s difficult for us and makes it better. He takes what’s confusing and makes it clear. Because he has done everything well.

Pastor Pat Brown preached this sermon at Bethany's Sunday worship on September 12, 2021.

Learn more at bethanyappleton.org