Rev. Michael Holmen's Sermons
282 episodes - English - Latest episode: 14 days ago - ★★★★★ - 1 ratingSermons preached at Peace Lutheran Church, Oelwein, IA and Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Independence, IA. This is a dual parish of The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod. We use the one year, historic lectionary.
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Episodes
210502 Sermon on John 16:5-15 (Easter 5) May 2, 2021
May 02, 2021 14:50Audio recording Sermon manuscript: The psalmist says, “For you, O Lord, are the most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods.” Again, it says, “The Lord is exalted over all the nations, his glory is higher than the heavens.” In one of our songs in the liturgy we sing something similar: “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth! Heaven and earth are full of your glory!” God is glorious. The Christ is glorious. The apostles had thought on Holy Week that this glory had on...
210425 Sermon on Lamentations 3, 1 John 3, John 16 (Easter 4) April 25, 2021
April 26, 2021 18:58Audio recording Sermon manuscript: Marketers are always trying to get people to buy their products. Perhaps you remember a couple often used phrases by the inventor Ron Popeil. With his kitchen gadgets he would say, “Set it and forget it.” And when he was working on his pitch he would say, “But wait, there’s more!” Consumers want things that will make their life easier. They want to get as much as they possibly can for their money. Marketers try to make the consumer believe that their lif...
210418 Sermon on Ezekiel 34:11-16 (Easter 3) April 18, 2021
April 19, 2021 14:48Audio recording Sermon manuscript: The relationship between shepherds and sheep is not a relationship of equality. Shepherds are one thing. Sheep are another. Their roles are not interchangeable. It is also not the case that sheep need to have their say in what is going on. They are not asked for input on where they should go or what they should do. All the decisions, or at least all the good decisions, are made by the shepherd. I say “good decisions” because the sheep are able to wander a...
210411 Sermon on John 20:19-31 (Easter 2) April 11, 2021
April 11, 2021 14:36Audio recording Sermon manuscript: On the evening of Easter Jesus appeared to his disciples. He said to them, “Peace to you.” We have a hard time grasping what Jesus says to us here. It is almost standard operating procedure for us to not think very highly of something when it does not seem to be needed. We don’t appreciate health until we are sick. We don’t appreciate good weather until we’ve had weeks of gray skies. So it is also with peace. There’s another problem with peace: we use...
210404 Sermon for Easter, April 4, 2021
April 05, 2021 16:25Audio recording Sermon manuscript: There is a man named Elon Musk who is very busy. He owns and oversees several companies. Tesla and Space X are the most famous. For a brief time this year he surpassed Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, as the richest person in the world when his stock prices went way up. The reason why Elon Musk is so thoroughly believed in that people are prepared to throw their money at him is because he is so forward looking. He is looking for the next big thing. There is ...
210403 Sermon on 1 Peter 3:17-18 (Holy Saturday) April 3, 2021
April 04, 2021 12:54Audio recording Sermon manuscript: Tonight I’d like to consider something that Peter says in our epistle reading: “Indeed, it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil, because Christ also suffered once for sins in our place, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” First, I’d like to speak a little bit about suffering. We know from the Bible that suffering is the consequence of the fall into sin. With sin came death and everything that...
210402 Sermon on 2 Corinthians 5:14-21 (Good Friday) April 2, 2021
April 03, 2021 22:06Audio recording Sermon manuscript: I remember one of my seminary professors telling the classroom of future pastors that Good Friday is not a funeral for Jesus. That is to say, it is not an opportunity to open the vein of sentimentality and let it gush all over everything. There is a way of observing Good Friday where we feel good about feeling so bad about what happened to Jesus. In a way we hold up a mirror, while watching the sad scene with Jesus, to look at our own tears streaming dow...
210401 Sermon for Maundy Thursday, April 1, 2021
April 02, 2021 22:01Audio recording Sermon manuscript: Calendars go together with culture. They help to reinforce the culture. For example, on July 4th, we could ask our neighbor, “Don’t you know what day it is?” And they could probably tell you. It’s Independence Day. What happened on this day? The Declaration of Independence from Great Britain was signed in 1776. It was the birth of our nation as an independent entity. Besides national events and national culture, there are also more personal calendars. ...
210328 Sermon on John 12:12-33 (Palm Sunday) March 28, 2021
March 28, 2021 20:01Audio recording Sermon manuscript: Our Gospel reading today has two parts. The first part deals with the events that we are familiar with concerning Palm Sunday. Jesus was entering into Jerusalem to celebrate the upcoming festival of Passover that was happening that week. There were more people than usual in Jerusalem because they were doing the same thing that Jesus and his disciples were doing. Interest in Jesus was quite keen because of what he had done just days before. He had raised ...
210324 Why infants should be baptized
March 28, 2021 13:06Audio recording Sermon manuscript: This Lent season we have considered baptism by answering the fundamental questions of our catechism: What is baptism? What benefits does baptism give? How can water do such great things? and What does such baptizing with water indicate? Here, at the end of our series, we will take up a topic that is important, especially where we live, because churches are divided on the question of whether infants should be baptized. Lutherans, Roman Catholics, Easte...
210321 Sermon on Genesis 22:1-14 (Lent 5) March 21, 2021
March 21, 2021 19:22Audio recording Sermon manuscript: I’d like to consider our Old Testament reading today about Abraham and Isaac from two perspectives. First, I’d like to consider how an unbeliever might regard what is going on. Then I’d like to consider how a believer understands what is going on. By looking at this event from these two different perspectives, I hope that you can see the radical difference faith makes for how a person understands God and his actions. So let’s begin with the unbeliever’...
210317 What does such baptizing with water indicate? (Lent 4 Midweek) March 17, 2021
March 21, 2021 19:21Audio recording Sermon manuscript: The second reading that we heard tonight, from Matthew’s Gospel, is very valuable because it answers a very basic question: “What does it mean to be a Christian?” First and foremost is the confession of faith. Jesus asked the disciples who people were saying that he was. They gave the answers that they were hearing. These were very flattering answers. They thought Jesus was one of the mighty prophets from of old, or that faithful-unto-death-greatest-man-...
210314 Sermon on Exodus 16:2-21 (Lent 4) March 14, 2021
March 14, 2021 14:30Audio recording Sermon manuscript: The apostle Peter has an interesting phrase in his second epistle. He is writing to Christians about how they have to live in the midst of people who are like the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. He says that these people “have hearts that have been trained in covetousness.” The word that is used for training is “gumnazdo” in the Greek. Perhaps you can pick up the English cognate if I say gumnazium, that is, gymnasium. What do people do at a gym? People hav...
210310 How can water do such great things (Lent III Midweek)
March 14, 2021 12:59Audio recording Sermon manuscript: For the question from the catechism that we will be considering tonight it is helpful to know the question that comes before it: “What benefits does baptism give?” Answer: “It works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this as the words and promises of God declare.” Think about what is being claimed here about baptism. It forgives sins. It rescues from death and the devil. It gives eternal ...
210307 Sermon on Luke 11:14-28 (Lent 3) March 7, 2021
March 07, 2021 15:54Audio recording Sermon manuscript: The bible presents us with a tremendous either/or. Either we are a child of God or we are a child of the devil. Either we are on God’s side or we are on the devil’s side. Either we are obedient to God or we are obedient to the devil. Either we are receiving the Holy Spirit or we are possessed by one or more evil spirits. We’ve never liked this either/or very much. In our modern times we seem to have been given a powerful argument against it. There is a...
210303 What benefits does Baptism give? Lent 2 Midweek
March 07, 2021 15:49Audio recording Sermon manuscript: Last week we considered the question: “What is baptism?” The answer was very simple. It is the application of water together with God’s Words: “I baptize you in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” The whole process takes less than a minute. With such a simple ceremony we naturally tend to believe that it can’t do very much. This is why it is important that we do not just stick with the thoughts that come naturally to us, but ...
210228 Sermon on Gen 32, Rom 5, Matt 15 (Lent 2) February 28, 2021
February 28, 2021 20:38Audio recording Sermon manuscript: All three of our readings today deal with something that is important for us to understand. I have to warn you from the outset, though, that it is a hard thing to learn. Here is what we can learn: Although there is sadness in all three readings, that sadness was for the good. All the Christians involved ended up praising their God who laid these burdens on them. So first let’s look at the sadness in each of the readings. In our Old Testament reading Ja...
210224 What is Baptism? (Lent 1 Midweek) February 24, 2021
February 25, 2021 17:23Audio recording Sermon manuscript: Tonight we are considering the question: What is baptism? Let’s begin with the word itself. Baptism is not an English word, but a Greek word. It comes from the Greek word Baptizdo, which means “to wash.” So to baptize something means to wash it. Normally when we are washing something we use water, and so it is also with Christian baptism, but, as our catechism puts it, it is “not just plain water.” Something has been added to it. What has been added to...
210221 Sermon on Matthew 4:1-11 (Lent 1) February 21, 2021
February 22, 2021 19:15Audio recording (sorry about the quality) Sermon manuscript: In both our Old Testament reading and our Gospel reading this morning we heard about temptations. In the Old Testament reading we heard about Adam and Eve being tempted in the Garden. In the Gospel reading we heard about Jesus being tempted in the wilderness. It is important to understand that with both of these temptations we are dealing with a different situation than what happens when we are tempted. The reason why the situat...
210217 Sermon for Ash Wednesday, February 17, 2021
February 21, 2021 13:50(Sorry, no audio recording) Sermon manuscript: King David says in Psalms 14 and 53: “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” It is easy for solid, Midwestern people to think that this verse of the Bible hardly applies to them. The vast majority of the people in our neck of the woods would say that there is a God if you asked them. If there are atheists among us, they don’t seem to be very militant. Plus, when it comes to you, not only do you believe that there is a God, but you ac...
210214 Sermon on 1 Corinthians 13 (Quinquagesima) February 14, 2021
February 16, 2021 18:40Audio recording Sermon manuscript: The original temptation held out a promise to Adam and Eve. The serpent said, “You will be like God.” That promise achieved the serpent’s desired effect and has continued to be attractive up to the present day. Deeply seated within us is the desire to be recognized as the greatest. If it were possible we would all like to be the greatest in absolutely every aspect of life. We would all want to be the most charming, the prettiest, the smartest, the fastes...
210207 Sermon on Mark 4:2-20 (Sexagesima) February 7, 2021
February 08, 2021 15:47Audio recording Sermon manuscript: There is no higher or more exalted thing than that God should speak to us. The fact that this is the highest thing in life is understood even by those who do not know the true God, but follow some other god in their hearts. The Buddhist monk sits in silence at the monastery, waiting for enlightenment. When he believes that he has received it, he is very pleased. The astro-physicist pours over numbers and theories, looking for new insight. When enlightenm...
210131 Sermon on Exodus 17:1-6 (Septuagesima) January 31, 2021
February 01, 2021 17:56Audio recording Sermon manuscript: Today I’d like to speak about our will? Perhaps the first thing that comes to mind is a person’s last will and testament. This is a solemn declaration that a person makes about his or her property and effects—what he or she wants to have done after death. A will is what someone wants to have happen. And so we can talk about a person’s will in a different way than just this last will and testament. We can speak about a person’s will as being what a person...
210129 Funeral Sermon for Linda Meyer (Matt. 28:16-20) January 29, 2021
January 29, 2021 18:10Audio recording Sermon manuscript: Linda chose the hymns that we are singing today. She also made known a favorite bible passage of hers that I’d like to speak about. It was in our Gospel reading: Jesus said, “Surely, I am with you always until the end of the age.” It is important to take into account when Jesus spoke these words to properly understand their meaning. They come at the very end of Matthew’s Gospel. In fact, they are the very last words of the book that the apostle Matthew ...
210124 Sermon on 2 Peter 1:16-21 (Transfiguration) January 24, 2021
January 29, 2021 18:08Audio recording Sermon manuscript: Our epistle reading today is from a letter that the apostle Peter wrote. No doubt the reason why this was chosen as the reading for today, Transfiguration, is because Peter speaks about his own experience when Jesus’s appearance was changed. He says, “We weren’t making it up when we made known to you the powerful appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ. We, Peter, James, and John, were eyewitnesses of his majesty. He received honor and glory from God the F...
210117 Sermon on John 2:1-11 (Epiphany 2) January 17, 2021
January 17, 2021 18:48Audio recording Sermon manuscript: Things weren’t going so well at this wedding banquet in Cana. It’s every host’s nightmare. They must have figured the numbers wrong. They should have ordered more wine. Now what are they going to do? Offer people a lukewarm glass of water? They don’t even have ice. Who goes to a wedding banquet and gets served water? This was going to be embarrassing. We are not told what the connection is between Mary, the mother of Jesus, and the folks who were putt...
210110 Sermon on Matthew 3:13-17 (Baptism of our Lord) January 10, 2021
January 10, 2021 15:31Audio recording Sermon manuscript: The word “Christ” means “anointed one.” Anointing is to have a liquid poured over something. In the Old Testament there were a couple of anointings that were especially important. Being anointed was one of the things that was involved in becoming a priest—someone who could serve before God in the Temple at Jerusalem. Another important anointing was when someone became king. They were anointed with oil. Anointing has not been important in our society’s ...
20210106 Sermon on Matthew 2:1-12 (Epiphany) January 6, 2021
January 07, 2021 16:44No audio (preached at Our Redeemer) Note: This sermon was written without knowledge of what happened at the capitol during the day. I hadn't seen the news until just before the service. In our Gospel reading this evening it says that when the wise men came from the east to Jerusalem they asked, “Where is he who has been born King of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When King Herod heard this, he was alarmed, and all Jerusalem with him. Being alarmed ...
210106 Sermon on Matthew 2:1-12 (Epiphany) January 6, 2021
January 07, 2021 16:44No audio (preached at Our Redeemer) Note: This sermon was written without knowledge of what happened at the capitol during the day. I hadn't seen the news until just before the service. In our Gospel reading this evening it says that when the wise men came from the east to Jerusalem they asked, “Where is he who has been born King of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When King Herod heard this, he was alarmed, and all Jerusalem with him. Being alarmed ...
210103 Sermon on 1 Peter 4:12-19 (Christmas 2) January 3, 2021
January 04, 2021 16:10Audio Recording Sermon manuscript: The way that we are saved as Christians is that we are united with Christ so that there is a sharing that takes place between him and us. We share what belongs to us. Christ shares what belongs to him. We hold all things in common. The result of this sharing is that Christ receives our sin so that it becomes his own. He dies in order to atone for the sin that we could never rid ourselves of otherwise. He shares with us his righteousness, life, and status...
201227 Sermon for St. John Apostle and Evangelist
December 28, 2020 19:05Audio recording Sermon manuscript: December 27th is the day that has been set aside to commemorate St. John, the apostle and evangelist. Setting aside a day to commemorate a saint can sound rather Roman Catholic, and therefore not quite kosher for us protestants. However, I will not be recommending St. John to you as someone who can give you grace. Nor will I be encouraging you to pray to him so that he can pray for you. The reason why I won’t be doing these things is because God has neve...
201225 Sermon on John 1_1-18 (Christmas Day) December 25, 2020
December 25, 2020 16:11Audio recording Sermon manuscript: The Christmas Day Gospel that we have just heard from John is different. Luke, in his Gospel, speaks about Jesus’s birth in the way that we are accustomed. You heard that Gospel read last night. Matthew also, in his Gospel, gives us history—perhaps more from Joseph’s perspective than from Mary’s. John is also speaking about real events—just as much as Luke or Matthew. He is speaking about the eternal Word of God, the second person of the Trinity, becomin...
201224 Sermon on Luke 2:1-14 (Christmas Eve) December 24, 2020
December 25, 2020 14:23Audio Recording Sermon manuscript: There’s no two ways about it: The little Lord Jesus entered this world in an unusual way. It can be a little hard to visualize. Why was Mary taking this journey so late in her pregnancy? Why didn’t the people of Bethlehem have some compassion on a pregnant woman? How could anybody tolerate a baby being born in a barn? St. Luke the evangelist does not tell us these things that we might wonder about. So often the Scriptures simply say something, when we ...
201220 Sermon on Philippians 4:4-7 (Advent 4) December 20, 2020
December 21, 2020 01:39Audio Recording Sermon Manuscript: From time to time I get a certain type of dream that prevents me from sleeping peacefully. These dreams are not what you’d call scary. The best word for them would be “annoying,” because there’s always something that is wrong that I can’t get right. It is always something very minor, unimportant. I get obsessed with it in my dream, and I can’t get it to come out right. It feels like all night long I wrestle with this stupid problem. Then I wake up with a...
201216 Midweek Sermon on Judges 4 (Advent 3 Midweek) December 16, 2020
December 20, 2020 13:52Audio Recording Sermon manuscript: Just like last week I’d like to begin tonight by talking a little bit about geography, specifically topography, or the lay of the land. Canaan is very diverse in its topography. Generally speaking, there are a lot of low mountains. In the south the mountains are so close together that they form somewhat of a rocky plateau. There isn’t much for low and broad plains or valleys in the south. Toward the north there is a large valley, called the Jezreel valle...
201209 Midweek Sermon on Judges 3 (Advent 2 Midweek) December 9, 2020
December 20, 2020 13:48Audio Recording Sermon manuscript: The promised land, the land of Canaan, was not a very large area geographically. The length of it, north to south, was a little less than the length of Iowa, north to south. Its width was much less than the state of Iowa. It was only perhaps a fifth of Iowa’s width, east to west. So if you take one fifth of Iowa, you’d be able to fit the land of Canaan inside those borders. So when the Bible talks about different places and regions, it is talking in pr...
201213 Sermon on Isaiah 40:1-11 (Advent 3) December 13, 2020
December 13, 2020 15:34Audio Recording Sermon manuscript: All four of the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, make reference to our Old Testament reading, Isaiah chapter 40. All four Gospels refer to Isaiah chapter 40 when John the Baptist is brought up. He is “the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord!’” This is the way that others saw John the Baptist, and it is the way that he saw himself. He was the forerunner of the Christ. With his preaching of repentance, and with ...
201206 Sermon on Malachi 4:1-6 (Advent 2) December 6, 2020
December 07, 2020 22:00Audio Recording Sermon manuscript: Generally speaking, old people receive comfort from things being predictable. They like to know what to expect. They are not bothered by one day plodding into the next where everything happens just the same. Perhaps this is related to something else that I’ve noticed for myself as I’ve gotten older—the days go by so quickly. One after another the days fly by. Soon a whole year has passed. Where did all the days go? This is not how it is for young peopl...
201202 Advent Midweek Sermon on Judges 2, December 2, 2020
December 07, 2020 21:55Audio Recording Sermon manuscript: One of my goals as a pastor is to help you read the books of the Bible for yourself with more enjoyment and with greater understanding. We Lutherans do not read the Bible on our own like we should. Part of the reason for this is the spiritual problem that afflicts all who are born of Adam and Eve. We naturally are inclined to be bored by God’s Word and are eager to do other things instead. It is similar to that other great spiritual problem of ours with ...
201129 Sermon on Romans 13:8-14 (Advent 1) November 29, 2020
November 30, 2020 21:43Audio recording Sermon manuscript: Our epistle reading is the second half of Romans chapter 13. Although our reading begins with verse 8, I’d like to also speak about what comes before it. The context for our reading is important. Chapter 13 starts out this way: “Everyone must submit to the governing authorities. For no authority exists except by God, and the authorities that do exist have been established by God. Therefore the one who rebels against the authority is opposing God’s instit...
201125 Sermon for Thanksgiving Eve, November 25, 2020
November 27, 2020 20:56Audio recording Sermon manuscript: If there hadn’t been this latest surge in cases, we might have thought that we were getting back to some kind of normal. As it is, case count have gone up significantly not just in Iowa, not just in red states, not just in the United States, but throughout the northern hemisphere. In light of this, the governing authorities have recommended that we all stay home for Thanksgiving. And so we can just add this to the list of things that we thought would ...
201122 Sermon on Matthew 25:1-13 (Last Sunday of Church Year) November 22, 2020
November 22, 2020 23:26Audio recording Sermon manuscript: Today I’d like to consider our Gospel reading. This is one of Jesus’s parables. At the outset I’d like to remind you that, generally speaking, Jesus’s parables are not nice, satisfying stories, as some might assume. More often than not Jesus’s parables are intentionally unsatisfying. What I mean by that is that usually not everything is wrapped up in a tidy package where the plot goes the way that you think it should go. Jesus’s parables describe the kin...
201115 Sermon on Daniel 7:9-14 (Second to Last Sunday of the Church Year) November 15, 2020
November 16, 2020 14:55Audio Recording Sermon manuscript: The Old Testament prophet Daniel lived during a time when everything had fallen apart. Long gone were the days of Moses, David, or Solomon. The northern kingdom of the people of God was no more. It had long been taken over by the Assyrians. During Daniel’s own lifetime the remnant of God’s people, the southern kingdom, Judah, where Daniel was from, was also taken over. The Babylonians had conquered Judah and torn down to the ground the great temple that ...
201108 Sermon on Luke 17:20-30 (3rd to Last Sunday of the Church Year) November 8, 2020
November 09, 2020 15:06Audio Recording Sermon manuscript: The belief that the universe is eternal has been around for a very long time. The ancient Greek philosophers, Plato and Aristotle, taught that the universe has always existed. Plato believed that there was an infinite regression went all the way back into infinity. Aristotle taught that in the gray dawn of time there was a prime mover. Now all things are working themselves out of their own accord. Despite all our sophistication, our people have not go...
201101 Sermon on Matthew 5:1-12 (All Saints' Day) November 1, 2020
November 01, 2020 18:04Audio recording Sermon manuscript: Lately I’ve spent some free time learning about artificial intelligence by watching some YouTube videos. Artificial intelligence has made much progress in the past couple decades. What by now is a long time ago scientists were able to program a computer that was able to beat a grand master at chess. A little more recently they were able to do a similar thing with the much more complicated game of Go. Perhaps you remember watching Jeopardy a few years ago...
201025 Sermon for Observation of Reformation, October 25, 2020
October 26, 2020 14:25Audio recording Sermon manuscript: This Sunday of the Church Year is a little different from what we normally concern ourselves with on the other Sundays. On the other Sundays we are mainly concerned with something that happened with Jesus—his birth, his baptism, his death and resurrection, his teachings, his miracles, and so on. This puts our mind back in biblical times. With Reformation Sunday, however, we are dealing with things that happened in the 1500s and the times since then in th...
201018 Sermon on Genesis 28:10-17 (Trinity 19) October 18, 2020
October 18, 2020 14:36Audio recording Sermon manuscript: Let’s begin today by dealing with some history that takes place before our Old Testament reading. The Bible first introduces us to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12. That’s not too far into that first book of the Bible. Up to that point the history of the earth is laid out in a more general way, with a wide angle lens. In chapter 12 it focuses in on Abraham. God spoke several times to this man. He told him that he would inherit the land of Canaan for himse...
201011 Sermon on 1 Corinthian 1:1-9 (Trinity 18) October 11, 2020
October 11, 2020 14:37Audio Recording Sermon Manuscript: Our Epistle reading this week begins with chapter 1, verse 1. It is at the very beginning of a letter that the apostle Paul wrote to the congregation that existed in the Greek city of Corinth. It is customary that we go about doing these kinds of things in a certain way. Among us we might begin a letter or an email by saying, “Dear So-and-so…” And then, before we get into the subject at hand, we might talk about things that are a mutual concern of the au...