Messiah Lutheran Church Podcasts
25 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 7 years ago -Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
July 31, 2016 Sermon
August 08, 2016 16:54"The Good Life" What is the good life? Ask everyone here this morning – what does the good life look like to you? Maybe it’s being up north, being on vacation, being far, far away from the stresses and difficulties of every day life…being away from work…being from from any type of pain and suffering we face. The good life is much better than every difficult thing we face in life. What is the good life? That’s really the question and the desire of the man in our lesson today who came to Jesu...
July 10, 2016 Sermon
July 13, 2016 20:03"All Over the World...the Gospel Bears Fruit" Think about apple trees. Why is it that they produce apples? Is it because they’ll feel guilty if they don’t? Is it because they will be in some sort of trouble if they don’t produce enough fruit? That’s foolish! Apple trees produce apples because that’s just what apple trees do. It’s natural. Christians produce good works, not because they’ll feel guilty if they don’t, and not because they’re afraid that otherwise they’ll get in trouble w...
June 26, 2016 Sermon
July 08, 2016 21:30"Don't Look Back!" You know that feeling you get when you look out at the lawn that’s been freshly cut? You have a sense and feeling of accomplishment b/c of how nice it looks. Maybe you needed to cut the grass in preparation for company that’s coming over to the house or simply b/c it needed to be cut. Have you ever stood back and looked at how straight the lines of the grass were? Were they straight? Were they crooked? Off to the side? Sometimes it happens to us when we cut the grass. Our ...
June 19, 2016 Sermon
July 08, 2016 21:29"The Only Way to Win is to Lose" Today we celebrate Father’s Day. There are a lot of things that we’ve learned from our fathers. Fathers teach their children the value of hard work. Christian fathers share God’s Word and their faith with their children. And fathers…they also share their competitive spirit and teach their children about winning. Winning and competing are note everything in life – but they are important aspects of life. Maybe it was a board game, or out on the field or the co...
May 29, 2016 Sermon
June 10, 2016 16:00"The Lord Fights Our Battles" Tomorrow our nation celebrates Memorial Day. It’s a day for us to remember those who have served our nation in battle, especially those who gave their life to protect our freedoms. Maybe you’ve been to Arlington National cemetery and have seen the thousands upon thousands of graves. Or maybe you’ll remember a relative that has served and given their life in battle. Across the country millions of Americans remember the battles that have been fought, and the lives...
May 15, 2016 Sermon
June 10, 2016 16:00"The Three P's of Pentecost" I would like you to think of the most wonderful, awesome and amazing thing that you’ve ever witnessed in your life. Maybe it was that trip out west and you were looking at the majestic mountains and were gazing at the beauty of God’s creation; or you were on the beach looking out at miles and miles of ocean and wondering if it ever ends. Or maybe you’re thinking of the day in the hospital room you had the opportunity to gaze into the eyes of your child as you hel...
May 8, 2016 Sermon
May 15, 2016 05:35"What Are You Looking For?" Happy Mother’s Day! Think to yourself of the special phrase that your mom has said on more than one occasion to you. Maybe it’s one your mom is famous for. Maybe it’s something along the lines of – “You’ll thank me for this when you get older.” But it’s one in particular that we were told that – mom has eyes in the back of their head. They say that because they want their children to behave and because they want them to know they are always watching them. And you ...
February 28, 2016 Sermon
February 29, 2016 21:58"Why Do Bad Things Happen?" Why do bad things happen? It’s an honest question that both believers and unbelievers have asked throughout life. We know not to talk about “if” bad things will happen, but “when” – b/c we know that it happens to all. This past week I heard on the news – Ingrid Williams, the wife of Oklahoma City Thunder assistant coach Monty Williams, was killed in a tragic car accident at the age of 44. She was hit head-on by a car that crossed over the center lane. She was tak...
February 14, 2016 Sermon
February 17, 2016 19:42"Jesus Defeats the Devil!" I don’t know if you noticed or not, but I believe there was a big football game played last Sunday. Did you catch the game? Well, even if you missed some or all of it, all you had to do was look at the headlines this past week to give you a pretty good idea of what took place – § “Defense powers Broncos to Victory” § “Broncos give Manning 2nd Super Bowl Ring” § “What’s next for Payton? And the headlines for the losing team, the Carolina Panthers weren’t nea...
February 10, 2016 Sermon
February 12, 2016 20:16Ash Wednesday Sermon 2016 This Man Went Home Justified “It’s not my fault!” Does that sound familiar? Who in all the world might’ve said those words? Could it be you – when you were 4,5,6 or 7 years old and you said that about your brother or sister who got you into trouble. If you’re a teacher, you’ve probably heard a student say that. If you’re a supervisor, you’ve probably heard it from an employee. You may have heard it from a neighbor or coworker. What it is an attempt to justify yo...
January 24, 2016 Sermon
February 01, 2016 16:34"Jesus is Our Hope" You can easily see the glass of water here (point to it). No, it’s not a science experiment. But I am getting kind of thirsty. There are two ways that you can look at this glass – and you’ve probably heard the expression before – “Is the glass half empty? Or half full?” The person who looks at life as a glass half-empty is the one who thinks to themselves about situations in life – “What’s the point? There is no hope. I might as well just quit.” This is the time of year ...
October 4, 2015 Sermon
October 09, 2015 00:22"The Recipe For A Healthy Diet" When was the last time, or how often do you find yourself looking at the nutrition facts on the back of the label of whatever it is you’re eating? What do you notice about what you’re eating? You notice the healthy things that you should be eating – proteins and the like. Or you’ll notice the things you shouldn’t be eating too much of – sodium or fats. You read through the labels b/c you want to know exactly what you are eating. You want a healthy diet – and n...
September 27, 2015 Sermon
October 01, 2015 16:52"Who Is The Greatest?" When I was a kid we would play a game called king of the mountain. We did it during winter because we needed a mountain of snow to do it. The object of this game was to stay on top of this snow mountain. Players in this game would try to knock the current king down and take their place as the new king. Whenever a new king would take his place at the top they usually shouted out with joy that they were the greatest. However, their excitement was short lived as they...
July 26, 2015 Sermon
August 01, 2015 16:19"God Builds His Church" One of the channels on TV my wife and I find ourselves watching is Homes and Gardens – HGTV. There are a lot of shows on this channel that involve the buying, selling and building of homes. Flip or Flop and Property Brothers are two such shows that take older homes and completely renovate them – b/c there is a character flaw in the house that the owner doesn’t like or for potential profit. You get to see many aspects of building or renovating a home from start to comp...
July 19, 2015 Sermon
July 20, 2015 21:21"Are You Ready For This?" Right after high school he enlisted in the Marine Corps. His dad had been a Marine and his uncle had served in the Air Force. Over the years they had mentioned boot camp once or twice, but never in any detail. He was a pretty good athlete in decent shape. He had seen movies that showed a few clips about boot camp. The recruiter had kind of glossed over it, so he wasn’t real sure what all went on. A few weeks before he went to camp, his dad sat him down and told him ...
July 12, 2015 Sermon
July 13, 2015 22:03"Celebrate God's Grace In Times Of Trouble" For many athletes, Olympic and others as well, discouragement can become a big obstacle in their path to finishing their race. There are many stories of athletes who have been faced with a medical issue while they are training, or even during competition. Many times it is a physical ailment or a diagnosis of a medical condition that threatens to halt their training. At other times, and because of the time and energy they have placed into their trai...
July 5, 2015 Sermon
July 07, 2015 15:35"I'll Wait...For The Salvation Of The Lord" How good are you at waiting? When it comes to the good things in life, we can’t wait to get to it – like the day of our retirement or the birth of a child or grandchild and we’re like a kid on the 4th of July waiting for the fireworks. But then there are the things in life that we do not look forward to – like our gospel lesson, where there is a sickness in the family. We’re like Jairus and pleading with Jesus, “Please, don’t let my little daughter...
June 28, 2015 Sermon
July 01, 2015 14:35"Why?" Curiosity is a very powerful thing. Curiosity is arguably one of the strongest traits that the Lord created and placed inside the mind of the human race. Curiosity has caused discoveries of many kinds. Columbus was driven by curiosity. Sir Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawkings were driven by curiosity. We want to know the reasons. We want to know the answers. How many of us, especially parents, have heard the question "Why?" How many of us wish we had the answer when som...
June 21, 2015 Sermon
June 23, 2015 22:30"Kingdom Work Requires Patience" This past week I happened to be watching the NBA Finals. During the course of game 6, there was a moment when the announcers began talking about the graphic laid out across the screen - “Time since their last Championship.” What it amounted to is that it has been a really long time since the Cavaliers, or Indians or Browns have won a championship. It would certainly be fair to say, Cleveland sports fans have learned a great deal of patience over the years – a...
June 14, 2015 Sermon
June 14, 2015 13:53"Are You Hiding From God?" My guess is you’ve been there before. You’ve been in that situation when there comes a moment of truth. It was a beautiful day outside. The kids were outside playing and having a blast. In fact, they were having so much fun mom was inside and could hear all the giggling and laughing that was taking place. But then that giggling and laughing stopped. You see, the kids were outside playing and enjoying each other’s company and doing exactly as mom asked them to do – ...
June 7, 2015 Sermon
June 08, 2015 17:07"Do I Have To?" There are things that we do because we want to. There are things we do because we have to. Some of us go to work because we want to. We almost feel guilty being paid for what we do because we enjoy it so much. Others of us go to work because we have to. We don’t enjoy what we’re doing, but we need the cash to pay for the groceries, the mortgage and the car. No matter what we do, there are basically only two attitudes that we carry. Because I want to, or because I have to. If...
May 31, 2015 Sermon
June 01, 2015 20:41"Go!" I'd like to share with you just for a moment, one of the events that I witnessed over this past weekend. In addition to celebrating my dad's birthday, we also had the opportunity to attend graduation and call day at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary. This time it was my brother's turn as he was assigned to be a tutor at Michigan Lutheran Seminary, one of our two preparatory high schools in our church body in Saginaw, MI. And if you're wondering, as a tutor, my brother will have the opportuni...
May 24, 2015 Sermon
May 26, 2015 16:58"Come Find Peace" I don’t think you saw many smiles on the faces of the disciples during Holy Week. They knew that the Jewish leaders had it in for Jesus. Who knew what they had up their sleeves? Jesus cleansed the temple one last time, overturning the tables of businessmen and disrupting one of their most profitable days just before the Passover. Jesus’ teaching of forgiveness and love had clashed time and time again with the demands of the Pharisees. On top of it all, Jesus told them that ...
May 17, 2015 Sermon
May 20, 2015 13:45"You Are My Witnesses" We’re so used to having options and choices in our lives, aren’t we? When you go to a restaurant, you get to choose from a menu. When you buy a car, you get to choose what options you will buy. If you purchase a suit, you get to choose the color and the size. You get to choose what goes in your house. You get to choose where you go on vacation. We’re so used to having choices in our lives that we often can’t comprehend not having those choices. As Christians however, ...