Concordia Sermons

When people get excited about something, they will often speak of “getting stoked up,” like embers in a fire. God wants us to get stoked up about the different vocations he has for us. We can look at these vocations like spokes in a wheel – we need to faithfully live out several vocations at once to make our life roll forward. For the next two weeks, we will talk about getting spoked up! That is, we will discover what spokes God has placed in the wheel of our vocations. We begin with our two primary vocations – seeking God’s kingdom and sharing God’s kingdom.

Crafting a personal purpose statement helps bring clarity to the ways in which God has gifted you to live for Him. Writing it down allows you to revisit your purpose statement time and time again and discern whether or not you are being faithful to God’s purpose for your life. When God comes to Habakkuk and asks him to write down a revelation, the Hebrew word for “revelation” in verse 3 is chazown. The chazown that God wants Habakkuk to write down has to do with righteousness before God. What chazown is God asking you to write down?

Our unique chazowns are rooted in the spiritual gifts God has given us. In order to discern our spiritual gifts, we need to ask what we love, what upsets us when it is not done or done incorrectly, what our past experiences are, and be familiar with the areas in which we have consistently been affirmed.

Far too many people drift through their lives aimlessly, not knowing what they will do next. Or, when they do make plans, they do not make them with God in mind. When you reach the last day of your life, will you be where God has designed you to be? Or, will you simply live and die without purpose?

Before we ever had a purpose in our lives, God had a purpose for our lives. And His purpose for us is expressed in the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. For when Christ died and rose, our eternities were secured and our salvation was fulfilled. Do you believe in Christ’s purpose for you?

As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.” 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: 5 “Say to the Daughter of Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’” 6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them. 8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

In the eighteenth year of his reign, King Josiah sent the secretary, Shaphan son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, to the temple of the LORD. He said: 4 “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest and have him get ready the money that has been brought into the temple of the LORD, which the doorkeepers have collected from the people. 5 Have them entrust it to the men appointed to supervise the work on the temple. And have these men pay the workers who repair the temple of the LORD— 6 the carpenters, the builders and the masons. Also have them purchase timber and dressed stone to repair the temple. 7 But they need not account for the money entrusted to them, because they are acting faithfully.” 8 Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the LORD.” He gave it to Shaphan, who read it. 9 Then Shaphan the secretary went to the king and reported to him: “Your officials have paid out the money that was in the temple of the LORD and have entrusted it to the worker

King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. 2 They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. 3 He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. 4 As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been. 9 The LORD became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10 Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the LORD’s command. 11 So the LORD said to Solomon, “Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kin

The LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.” 2 But Samuel said, “How can I go? Saul will hear about it and kill me.” The LORD said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.’ 3 Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.” 4 Samuel did what the LORD said. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him. They asked, “Do you come in peace?” 5 Samuel replied, “Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. 6 When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the LORD’s anointed stands here before the LORD.” 7 But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appe

When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with tambourines and lutes. 7 As they danced, they sang: “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands.” 8 Saul was very angry; this refrain galled him. “They have credited David with tens of thousands,” he thought, “but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?” 9 And from that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David. 10 The next day an evil spirit from God came forcefully upon Saul. He was prophesying in his house, while David was playing the harp, as he usually did. Saul had a spear in his hand 11 and he hurled it, saying to himself, “I’ll pin David to the wall.” But David eluded him twice. 12 Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with David but had left Saul.

All the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. 5 They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.” 11 He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. 12 Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. 16 Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. 17 He will take a tenth of your flocks

As Christians, how do we live in a world filled with so much depravity? How do we work with those who share radically different worldviews from us? Paul argues that, without compromising our core convictions, we can gladly enter into the lives of unbelievers, seeking by any moral means possible to bring to them the message of the gospel.

When conducting the Facebook survey that served as the basis of this series, one person commented, “I need a 25 hour day.” This was the one thing she wanted more than anything else for 2012. We have so many things to do and we never seem to have enough time to do them. The apostle Paul realizes that “time is short” (verse 29). And we will not get any more hours than what have been appointed for us. What we need, then, is not more time, but to use the time God has given us to His glory.

“It seems like everyone I know is getting cancer.” A dear lady said this to me a year ago after her husband was diagnosed with cancer. She prayed for healing. It did not come. Why is it that Jesus heals so many people in the Bible, but so many of our prayers for healing go unanswered? How do we trust Christ even when our prayers for healing aren’t answered as we might like them to be?

“Children are a gift from the Lord” (Psalm 127:3 NLT). Yet, with children also comes heavy responsibility. The call of Scripture is clear: We are to raise our children in the faith and, when they stray, we are to exercise patience and seek gentle restoration.

Many people struggle with long-lasting and lingering temptations. Whether we are tempted by alcohol, food, anger, resentment, or sexual indiscretion, we all face some type of temptation. Jesus models how to overcome temptation: through Scripture, the power of God, and consolation from others.

Selected Sermons from the Pulpit

Selected Sermons from the Pulpit

Selected Sermons from the Pulpit

“What does God want me to do?” “Where does God want me to go?” “What does God want me to be?” These big questions about life’s direction do not have easy answers. What’s more, when we approach God in prayer about large life decisions, heaven can sometimes seem strangely silent. Yet, even when we don’t know what to do, we are given this admonition: “When we do not know what to do, we are to fix our eyes upon You”