Sermon Podcasts

The ship was an ancient Christian symbol. It is the Church tossed on the sea of disbelief, worldliness, and persecution but finally reaching safe harbor with its cargo of human souls. In The Ship of the Church, we study how God works through his church and keeps it safe during a time when the message of Christ is spoken against.

Week 3 discusses the blessings and responsibilities of membership in a local church that God gives his people.

Pastor Pat Brown preached this sermon on March 14, 2020 at the Family Worship Gathering of Bethany Lutheran Church’s Lynndale campus in Appleton, WI.

Learn more at www.bethanyappleton.org

The ship was an ancient Christian symbol. It is the Church tossed on the sea of disbelief, worldliness, and persecution but finally reaching safe harbor with its cargo of human souls. In The Ship of the Church, we study how God works through his church and keeps it safe during a time when the message of Christ is spoken against.

In week 2, we examine how God blesses his church through the spiritual leaders he gives us.

Pastor Zach Gebert preached this sermon on March 7, 2020 at the Family Worship Gathering of Bethany Lutheran Church’s Lynndale campus in Appleton, WI.

Learn more at www.bethanyappleton.org

The ship was an ancient Christian symbol. It is the Church tossed on the sea of disbelief, worldliness, and persecution but finally reaching safe harbor with its cargo of human souls. In The Ship of the Church, we study how God works through his church and keeps it safe during a time when the message of Christ is spoken against.

Pastor Mark Henke preached this sermon on February 29, 2020 at the Family Worship Gathering of Bethany Lutheran Church’s Lynndale campus in Appleton, WI.

Learn more at www.bethanyappleton.org

Anger, spite, pride, lust. In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus takes head-on four temptations that can so easily become the controlling force in a person’s decisions. But if these temptations are so strong, how can a person ever control them? Only the Spirit who sanctifies us can master our desires

Pastor Zach Gebert preached this sermon on February 15, 2020 at the Family Worship Gathering of Bethany Lutheran Church’s Lynndale campus in Appleton, WI.

Learn more at www.bethanyappleton.org

In a gripping story where their lives are on the line, three men must choose their master. But they know that even more than their lives are on the line. As they stare down fear, they follow faith, even as they are in their hearts sealing their earthly demise. But the master they follow is gracious and powerful, and answers their faith with a turn no one could have seen coming.

When fear is so real that it seems like there’s only one option, there is always another. God’s love and power is stronger than any fear, and his strength is the core of our faith.

knowing him: Perfect love from God to his people and an eternity of glory with him.

Pastor Pat Brown preached this sermon on February 1, 2020 at the Family Worship Gathering of Bethany Lutheran Church’s Lynndale campus in Appleton, WI.

Learn more at www.bethanyappleton.org

John cuts right to the heart of fraudulent assumptions of Jesus. “The one who says, ‘I know him’ but does not keep his commands is a liar.” People can spin Jesus to fit their agendas as much as they want, but if they don’t live what Jesus says, then they’re exposing themselves. And what does it look like to live by Jesus’ commands? You love.

Love is the heart of everything Jesus says. Love is the light that breaks the darkness. Because the truth is, as tolerant and loving as the world may claim to be, if it “does good” without Jesus, it’s just blanketing the world in one more layer of darkness. The light that cuts through the darkness is the love that gives freedom from guilt and the punishment of sin. It’s love that doesn’t just justify sin away but deals with it. The love of Jesus breaks the darkness and shines us to eternal life with God. And when we live in love, we push back the darkness as the heavenly light of the gospel shines in us.

In the love that he himself embodies as he is the vehicle of God’s love, we find the true story of Jesus and the true importance of knowing him: Perfect love from God to his people and an eternity of glory with him.

Pastor Zach Gebert preached this sermon on January 25, 2020 at the Family Worship Gathering of Bethany Lutheran Church’s Lynndale campus in Appleton, WI.

Learn more at www.bethanyappleton.org

If Jesus was someone who just took advantage of the times and people for his own popularity, “lamb” would certainly not have been an accurate title of him. But when John wants to introduce Jesus to his followers, that’s exactly what he calls him, “the Lamb of God.”

Jesus didn't come to win fame and stoke his ego. He came to give up everything for a purpose that didn’t serve himself. He came to sacrifice himself for the very people who rejected him.

What do you expect when you follow Jesus? To find a leader who will vindicate you in the eyes of people on earth? A leader who will add prestige and success to you because of your association with him? Or do we expect to find what he said we’ll find: forgiveness.

Forgiveness is a blessing that seems far more mundane than prosperity, but it is a blessing that is eternal and that results in an eternity of riches at God’s side.

Pastor Mark Henke preached this sermon on January 18, 2020 at the Family Worship Gathering of Bethany Lutheran Church’s Lynndale campus in Appleton, WI.

Learn more at www.bethanyappleton.org

History books would have us think that Jesus was just a Judean man, perhaps exceptional in charisma and eloquence, but in all other aspects, normal. That his ambitions, his personality, along with the social and political conditions in ~30AD Judea mixed together, yielding the movement that became Christianity.

However, God makes clear just how intentional, planned, and altogether unordinary Jesus was. At his baptism, God publicly declared who Jesus was and formally set him apart for his work. God in Isaiah 42 expands on what he says there at the Jordan, “This is my Son whom I love. I am well pleased with him.”

Enjoy all the beautiful phrases God uses in Isaiah 42 to speak of the comfort and love inherent in Jesus’ work. Work that Jesus did in perfect obedience to his Father. Find peace in knowing that Jesus has been set apart from the beginning to do the specific work of bringing peace to his people.

Pastor Pat Brown preached this sermon on January 11, 2020 at the Family Worship Gathering of Bethany Lutheran Church’s Lynndale campus in Appleton, WI.

Learn more at www.bethanyappleton.org

“God’s Will” is a phrase we throw around often as a validation, justification, excuse, or just affirmation of our lives. But what does “God’s will” actually mean? And how is it relevant to me? Far more than just a pithy saying, God’s will has the power to give freedom.

Pastor Zach Gebert preached this sermon on January 4, 2020 at the Family Worship Gathering of Bethany Lutheran Church’s Lynndale campus in Appleton, WI.

Learn more at www.bethanyappleton.org

We take a look at a silent hero of the Christmas story, Jesus’ foster father, Joseph. Though Scripture records no words or Joseph, we see him listen, believe, and obey as God works through Joseph’s faith to protect his Messiah.

Pastor Mark Henke preached this sermon on December 28, 2019 at the Family Worship Gathering of Bethany Lutheran Church’s Lynndale campus in Appleton, WI.

Learn more at www.bethanyappleton.org