The Twin Steeples Podcast

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Hymn of the Day:

This recording is a condensed version of the sermon preached at Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church in Mankato, Minnesota on November 1, 2026. You can watch the full recording on our YouTube Channel.

Sermon Text: Ephesians 6:1-4 (NKJV)

Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the moneychangers doing business. 15 When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables. 16 And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!” 17 Then His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.”

Theme: Zeal for God's House

1. A Zeal That Rejects What Is False

2. A Zeal That Accepts Responsibility for Sin

This weekend we are celebrating the Festival of Reformation. Reformation is almost synonymous with the name of Martin Luther. The Lutheran Reformation restored the true teachings of God's Word which had been lost or corrupted by the Roman Catholic Church, such as Justification by Grace, the Authority of God's Word, the Priesthood of All Believers, as well as the true teaching on the Lord's Supper. Luther loved music and believed that music was to be used to God's glory and in the instruction of the Christian faith. Because of this he wrote many hymns which were intended to teach the Christian faith to young and old alike. This weekend we will be singing several hymns which were written by Martin Luther. One of those was the hymn he wrote to teach the truths of the Lord's Supper. This is hymn 313 in The Lutheran Hymnal: O Lord, We Praise Thee. 

In contrast to the view of the Anabaptists and Reformed theologians, Luther upheld the Scripture's teaching of the Real Presence of Christ in the Sacrament. As Jesus clearly stated, Christ's body and blood are present in the Lord's Supper "in, with, and under" the bread and wine. This hymn clearly teaches Jesus words: “Take, eat; this is My body.”  and “This is My blood of the new covenant" (Matthew 26:26,28).

The opening verse proclaims: "Thou with Thy body and Thy blood didst nourish our weak souls that they may flourish."

Luther also teaches that the Lord's pours out His rich blessings to us through this Sacrament. "That Thy blood should bless and sustain me."

In the final verse Luther points to the strength which the Spirit imparts to the Christian through the Means of Grace to live lives that honor God and serve our neighbor. "May God bestow on us His grace and favor to please Him with our behavior and live as brethren here in love and union." This thought reflects the words of the Apostle Peter in 1 Peter 2:24 - "who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed."

Lord, bestow Your blessing of forgiveness on us as we receive Your Supper this weekend. Work in us through this Sacrament that we might live for you as the Apostle Paul prays in 2 Corinthians 13:11: "Finally, brethren, farewell. Become complete. Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you." Amen!

Devotion

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Hymn of the Day:

This recording is a condensed version of the sermon preached at Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church in Mankato, Minnesota on October 25, 2026. You can watch the full recording on our YouTube Channel.

Sermon Text: Ephesians 6:1-4 (NKJV)

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2  “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: 3  “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.” 4  And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. 

Theme: God's Recipe for a Good Life

This weekend the focus of our service will be on the desire of God to save all people and how he uses the institution of the family as a means to accomplish that. God is the ultimate authority, but He bestows His authority on human institutions to carry out His blessings upon mankind. One of the most important of these is the family and the role of parents. If they don't do what God calls them to do, the result can be catastrophic. This hymn is the oldest Christian hymn, dating to the end of the second century.

Written by the Church Father, Clement of Alexandria, it describes Jesus using Biblical pictures like: Shepherd, King, Lord, Word, High Priest, Guide, Pride, Staff, Song and Christ. In these roles, God desires to feed and nurture our faith and bring us to the eternal home He has opened for us by His death and resurrection.

He uses His Word (v.4) and the Sacraments of Baptism (v.1) and the Lord's Supper (v.3) to accomplish this.

But parents also play an important role. They are to bring their children to the Word and Sacraments at an early age (infancy - v.5), so that they grow in the training and admonition of the Lord.

Christian Education is God's calling to parents and to His Church on earth. May we be faithful in this important calling as caretakers of God's children! 

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Hymn of the Day:

This recording is a condensed version of the sermon preached at Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church in Mankato, Minnesota on October 18, 2026. You can watch the full recording on our YouTube Channel.

Sermon Text: Romans 14:1-9 (NKJV)

Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things. 2 For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. 3 Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him. 4 Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand. 5 One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks. 7 For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. 8 For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

Theme: We Are the Lord's!

1. Have Confidence in Him

This week we take up our "Hymn of the Week," which is the hymn that develops the theme of our service and in this case, is based on our sermon text. We are looking at TLH 453, which was written by a largely unfamiliar German hymnwriter named Carl Spitta. Spitta had a very difficult life, dealing with a severe illness for four years in his childhood that left him academically behind, and loosing his father at only four years of age. But these challenges led Spitta closer to His Savior, and motivated him to pursue the ministry. He also had a gift for poetry from a young age. While this gift was used for worldly purposes in his youth, by the age of 25, Spitta came to realize that God had a greater purpose for those gifts. He wrote: "In the manner in which I formerly sang I sing no more. To the Lord I consecrate my life and my love, and likewise my song. His love is the one great theme of all my songs; to praise and exalt it worthily is the desire of the Christian singer. He gave to me song and melody; I give it back to Him." What a beautiful Christian sentiment and realization!

This hymn is based primarily on Romans 14:7-9, where the Apostle Paul writes: "For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living."

In the four verses of this hymn Spitta points to the confidence we have in life and in death because we are the Lord's. Christ's life and death is the reason we are the Lord's. And His work of redemption motivate us to live for Him as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:20: "For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s," and as Peter says 1 Peter 1:17-18: "conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct."

But that confidence is not just in life, but also in death. Spitta concludes: "No pangs of death shall even then appal us. Death we shall vanquish, for we are the Lord’s."

Rejoice that you are the Lord's! Live in a way that reflects that you are the Lord's. Die in the absolute certainty that Jesus has defeated death for you, because you are His!

The LORD bless your worship and reflection on this truth this weekend!

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Hymn of the Day: