Resilience is a trait rooted in thoughts, choices, and behaviors. Spiritually speaking, the means for resilient people and congregations are already yours. The Spirit is at work daily to return you to Jesus, to listen to His Word, and to guide your words and deeds. Immediately after Pentecost, the Spirit-gathered Church was given the gifts that make for resilient people—people who would be persecuted, slandered, attacked, and even killed. All but one of the Apostles died a martyr’s death, yet remained faithful unto death. “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers… And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:42-27). 

Death is interrupted in Jesus. He comes up to our coffins and says, “No more! Son or daughter, I say to you, arise!” And with the cry of the archangels and the sound of trumpets, all the dead are raised, now by faith and then by sight. Because Jesus lives, all those who are in Jesus will never die but shall live. Yes, it is hard to live in that paradoxical tension between the now and the not yet, just as it is to believe that we are sinners deserving nothing but death and punishment but at the same time believing that we are forgiven children of God, who thus also have salvation and eternal life. Indeed, this can only be believed by the working of the Holy Spirit through the Word. 

You’ll note that the things that cause us the most worry, anxiety, and fear are those that God promises to give and protect. He gives them in the Creed and the Prayer and protects them with the Ten Commandments. In the Creed, God the Father and Maker promises everything you need for your life. God the Son gives you everything needed for salvation through His suffering and death. God the Holy Spirit gives you faith in His Church to keep you with the Father and the Son. So, why do you worry? Why are you anxious? What are you afraid of?

One key to understanding is that children don’t take the kingdom for themselves. They are not innocents who deserve Jesus and his kingdom, any more than the disciples could somehow merit a higher status in the kingdom through their righteous doing. They receive Jesus as a gift by faith, which is also a gift. Children, especially infants, can do little for themselves but depend on their loving parents for everything. There’s no hierarchy of merit but reception by identity as children of God. Of course, this is why Holy Baptism is given to all as the gift that gives adoption as sons regardless of any distinguishing mark. And with the adoption comes forgiveness, faith, life, and Spirit. 

Jesus isn't just a wise teacher or a philosopher; He embodies divine wisdom. In a world inundated with conflicting ideologies and self-proclaimed gurus of enlightenment, we must remember that our true source of wisdom is found in Christ alone. He is the One who illuminates our path, guiding us through the labyrinth of moral ambiguity and intellectual chaos. 

Science is making great strides in restoring hearing and overcoming speech impediments. Nerve endings can be replaced. Electronic signals can be sent directly to the brain. Surgery can restore the speaking function of the tongue and lips. Stuttering children can take speech therapy. But hearing the Gospel so that we believe is a miracle only God can perform. “No one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Co 12:3). For 168 years, the Holy Spirit has worked the miracle of faith in this place by a succession of faithful pastors through their preaching. 

God never abandons or forsakes us. He remains amidst the struggles and chaos of our own making, amidst the debris of our shattered promises. 

You cannot serve God and the pursuit of happiness any more than you can serve God and life or freedom. And what does God do when your worship is not on him but on the gifts He gives? He takes them away. The unanimous witness of Moses, the Prophets, the Psalmists, Wisdom, Evangelists, and Apostles is that God removes whatever and whoever gets in the way of you trusting Him. Whether patriarchs, Israel, or Gentile, God ceases to give when the gift is received apart from praise and thanksgiving to Him. 

The economy of the Christian Church is impossible and absurd. But that’s only to reason and experience. And it’s the voice of unbelief speaking. Jesus’s kingdom is not governed by power and wealth. It doesn’t mimic our poor attempts at community-building and providential care. Fundamentally it can’t because Christ’s kingdom is ruled by the very Word that made and kept making all things out-of-nothing. Jesus is the Word of the Father that said, “Let there be!” Matter can be created or destroyed but only by God the Creator. 

The theological constitution of our congregation asserts: “Our churches teach that people cannot be justified before God by their own strength, merits, or works. People are freely justified for Christ’s sake, through faith, when they believe that they are received into favor and that their sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake. By His death, Christ made satisfaction for our sins. God counts this faith for righteousness in His sight (Romans 3 and 4 [3:21–26; 4:5].” (Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions, Augsburg Confession, Article IV, 33)

If we are to feed ourselves by the work of our hands, God's blessing must accompany it. If God is to bless our work, we must celebrate His Sabbath both inwardly and outwardly—because breaking the Sabbath is punished by the curse. Peter first loaned Christ his boat, and then he caught the great haul of fish, even though previously he had caught none. Therefore, take care first of your soul; take Christ into the little boat of your heart; let Him teach and work in it; then your work will be blessed. The Third Commandment comes first, and then the Seventh follows. Obedience to the Third Commandment should be first to us, for then we will follow the Seventh Commandment.

If the law of God or the commandments have helped us see that we do not live up to the standards and have no right to judge others, then they can aid us further in a matter that is even more important. They can become for us "a tutor to Christ" (Gal 3:24). They can teach us to begin to listen seriously to the Gospel. He who allows what compelling reason God has for judging him will begin to listen freshly to the Savior who does not judge—not because Jesus needs forgiveness and not because he had no occasion to judge, but because he has taken upon himself his brothers' destiny and has died in place of sinners.

Today we celebrate the festival of St. Peter and St. Paul. These men called to be apostles are radically distinct and often at odds. So, both get their days: the Confession of St. Peter (Jan 18) and the Conversion of St. Paul (Jan 25). Yet, those festivals are only a week apart. Despite their disagreements, the Church has taken great pains to show that these two apostles share a confession in one Lord—God the Father, Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit. And so, on June 29th, we celebrate these men together. 

Most of us have been with the flock since infancy by our Baptism, with the community of God's people, among whom is our safety and welfare. You can't be a member of the flock in isolation. A sheep that is separated from the flock is a lost sheep. Sometimes we have gone our own way, deserted the flock and the shepherd. Left to ourselves we would perish, drugged and poisoned by the noxious weeds of the world, the prey of that lion who walks about seeking whom he may devour and torn by the sharp teeth of fear and uncertainty.But the Good Shepherd would not let us perish. He came after us, patiently and lovingly, and carried us back on His shoulders to the flock. On our wounds and injuries, Jesus poured the balm of forgiveness, and for our hunger, He gave the food of His Word and the fellowship of His family. If we are in the flock today, we must confess that Jesus has often come after us and carried us back.

The Lord is having Supper. You are invited today – to His table. Today, Jesus gives you His Body to eat and His Blood to drink for the remission of all your sins. You eat and drink Salvation. Everything He earned for you by His perfect life, He delivers to you, into your mouth. Everything He paid for by His suffering and death, He gives to you, into you today.

What the rich man did with his mammon colored, shaped, and finally destroyed him. Like an alcoholic, he was unaware of his self-destructive behavior even after its bitter conclusion. What Lazarus was able to do without mammon becomes an inspiration for all. Why? Because mammon cannot save you from sin, cannot resurrect you from the dead, and cannot give you life that lasts forever. Thinking he has everything, the rich man fails to see that he has nothing that matters. 

The word for disciple is a verb. In English, it's been turned into a noun by putting "make" in front of it to make disciples. I’ll spare you the Greek grammar, but it should be translated like a verb, as in, “Go disciple.” And if “disciple” is the verb, how do we “go disciple” people? It's by baptizing and teaching and going. Typical “missional” theology typically has cut off the phrase from “baptize,” and then it's tried to establish what it means by making disciples without the baptism Jesus gives! 

Nicodemus is a teacher of Israel, a man well-versed in the things of God. He was well qualified to recognize that, because of the things Jesus did, He had a special relationship with God. Today we would call Nicodemus a theologian. But as John tells the story, it soon becomes evident that, even though Jesus is religiously important, Nicodemus has no idea about what Jesus means when He says that Nicodemus must undergo a complete change in his being if he is going to be included in God's kingdom.

Yes, the Spirit is given to each individual, then that individual is gathered to others into fellowship. Just as Luther says in the Catechism, "I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him, but the Holy Spirit has called me by the gospel and enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith." Here we have both next to each other. The Holy Spirit has called me to faith. No one else can believe for me, But my faith is never separated from the faith of others in the Church, which is why we can listen, sing, and hear God's word together. "In the same way, He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith."