If ministry involves serving others with love and compassion, you would think that people would respond only with glee and gratitude for the help they received. Sometimes, but not always. If you offer to help a family member who is having trouble paying his bills, he might be offended, wondering if you are implying that he is not a good provider. Likewise, if you try and share the gospel with someone, he might resent the message that he is a sinner in need of salvation. You are trying to minister to this man’s greatest need. Your intentions are loving. Yet he responds with rejection and resentment.

When our ministry efforts are met not with glee and gratitude but rejection and resentment, we are in good company. The prophets, apostles, and even Jesus himself all had those who responded negatively to their ministries. When that happens to us, it doesn’t mean our ministry is no longer meaningful. For if others do not appreciate our efforts to serve them, God still appreciates our efforts to serve him.

Look at our lives—the problems, the pains—and it’s easy to conclude that we are losing. Look at the world—the brokenness, the bedlam—and it’s easy to believe that the devil is winning. It all can lead us to despair. Yet this turmoil is exactly what God said would happen already in the Garden. There God declared that until the end of time enmity would prevail between the devil and mankind. But God promised more than that. He promised that from humanity would rise one who would completely defeat the devil.

We need a top-down faith to understand that things are definitely not what they seem. Yes, the devil and his allies are constantly doing their worst. Their work always brings pain. Yet, ultimately, Jesus always wins. And His victory is our victory. Jesus’ victory is so complete that even when Satan continues to cause chaos, Christ uses it to reveal His glory and grace to those gifted with top-down faith.

God on Trial – The unbelieving world has always insisted on putting God on trial. As our society becomes more secular, we Christians are increasingly aware of the many ways in which God—and His people—are judged. Temptations are many in this environment: treating unbelievers as enemies, retreating from the world, even questioning God ourselves. How do we live as people of God in this hostile world? We find our model—and our motivation—in Jesus. This series takes us back to the moments when God was literally on trial before men in the person of Christ. In these inspired episodes, we find forgiveness for us and all people, love for our enemies, strength for our faith, and courage to testify to the truth.

Accusations – As we begin a series about our life in a hostile world, a world that puts God on trial, we must first confess that we have done the same.
We accuse God! Today, He puts us in our place, and that’s a good thing. To repent in dust and ashes is to turn to the Lord for forgiveness.

At His baptism in the Jordan River, Jesus was publicly anointed with the Holy Spirit and designated by God the Father as His chosen Messiah. Thus, Jesus’ baptism was the beginning of his public ministry. Jesus’ baptism revealed that He was not just a nice guy who could make a sturdy table. He was God’s chosen servant, the one who had come to bring salvation to the ends of the earth. Jesus is the one willing to stand in our place as our substitute and Savior.

Jesus’ baptism reveals to us who He really is. Our own baptism does the same! Our baptism was the beginning of a new and better life—eternal life!—a gift graciously given to us by our truest friend. Jesus’ ministry and our eternity with Him. It begins with baptism.

Manitowoc Lutheran High School Sunday with the MLHS Lancer Singers.

This midweek Advent Sermon Series tells the stories of the clothing of the King. Stories that describe a wardrobe at once splendid and sin-stained, with fabrics that reveal who we are and cover us all the same. The clothing of the King is tattered and worn and glorious in its incorruptibility. It isn’t ours, yet He gives it to us freely.

Scriptures teach that King Jesus is the Son of God in flesh and the only hope for salvation. Jesus himself claimed that He is the only way into the glorious kingdom of heaven. You do not approach meeting someone like that casually or carelessly. You prepare meticulously. What does that mean? What does a life of readiness—ready to meet such a King—look like? In one word: repentance. If we insist on hanging onto our sins, how can we receive the One who came for the very purpose of taking those sins away?

Throughout history, God has raised up called servants—like John the Baptist—to preach a message of repentance. This repentance is central to our preparation for the Lord’s coming. Without repentance, the King’s coming only terrifies. But all those who believe and repent look forward to the coming of the King and the consummation of his everlasting kingdom.

The Verse of the Day reminds us that one day, everyone will bow before Jesus of Nazareth and confess Him as Lord. Some will do so in grief and others in joy. God wants real repentance from every sinner so they might bend the knee to Christ in true obedience and confess with gladness that Jesus is Lord. The Church prays that God would rule our hearts through Word and Sacrament, that our repentance might be real and our obedience truly pleasing. Our God wants real repentance that leads to true obedience.

Welcome to worship today at Morrison Zion Lutheran Church.  We exist to glorify God.  We… read more