Sermon for All Saints

What follows is a sermon by Fr. David Petersen for the Feast of All Saints, preached on All Saints (Observed) at Redeemer Lutheran Church, Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Bible, Feasts & Festivals, PreachingJason BraatenNovember 3, 2024Sermons, All Saints Comment

Biblical Sermonizing

Bible, PreachingJason BraatenAugust 23, 2024Bugenhagen Conference, Karl FabriziusComment

Preach the Truth, Not Just Truths

Guest posters should probably fear to go where Frs Eckardt and Beane have trod, but perhaps they would consider this a friendly amendment.

PreachingGuest AuthorMay 9, 2024Scott Adle Comments

Addressing the Weaknesses of the Lectionary

The world is always evil, but as age gives way to age, the spirit of the age chooses different evils to emphasize. Today’s preachers of the Church must bring the Word to bear on today’s evils.

Bible, Historic Lectionary, Culture, PreachingGuest AuthorApril 19, 2024Heath Curtis Comments

A Sermon for Gaudete on the Stewardship of Closing the Altar by Rev. Evan Scamman

Explanation of Closed Communion on Gaudete Sunday

Guest Essay: The Gap Between God and Man

To be sure, the Creator and creature are different, but – especially at this time of year! – we can rejoice in the fact that we shouldn’t draw such a sharp distinction between God and man that the rest of the Scriptures are at odds with a crude understanding of that bare statement.

Bible, Doctrine & Practice, Preaching, TheologyGuest AuthorDecember 9, 2023Scott Adle Comments

Sermon on Psalm 141

Preaching, Sermon, SynodDavid PetersenOctober 27, 2023Psalm 141 Comment

Christ Reigns not Caesar

Find yourself sowing in the spirit. Find yourself, receiving His word with joy. Even in the midst of terrible, evil, wicked things. There is still joy. Because Jesus Christ reigns. The church sings, “What God ordains is always good: This truth remains unshaken. Though sorrow, need, or death be mine, I shall not be forsaken. I fear no harm, For with His arm He shall embrace and shield me; So to my God I yield me.” (LSB 760:6)

Preaching, Culture, CatechesisJason BraatenOctober 15, 2023Conradt, Abortion Comments

The Sum of the Commandment

The chief article of our doctrine must come to our help, namely, that our Lord Jesus Christ, who was sent into the world by the Father, suffered and died for us and thereby reconciled and moved the Father to grace, and now sits at the right hand of the Father, pleading our cause as our Savior and as our constant Mediator and Intercessor interceding for us who can not of ourselves have or obtain this perfect purity and good conscience. Therefore through Him we can say before God: Although I am not pure and cannot have a good conscience, yet I cleave to Him who possesses perfect purity and good conscience and offers them for me, indeed, gives them to me.

Luther, Preaching, SermonRick StuckwischJuly 11, 2023Luther Sermon, Good ConscienceComment

Fred Lindemann on “The Feast of the Holy Trinity"

In this week’s Thinking Out Loud (Trinity Sunday), I had asked Fr. Petersen why John 3 had been the appointed Gospel for The Feast of the Most Holy Trinity. Not having readily available by memory this history of this feast, we embarked upon some sanctified speculation. An astute listener e-mailed me with the following from Fred Lindemann, in volume three of his The Sermon and the Propers:

Bible, Historic Lectionary, PreachingJason BraatenMay 31, 2023Podcast, Thinking Out Loud, Holy TrinityComment

Looking Foolish vs. Looking Evil

If the leaders will not lead with the truth, why should the people take a stand on the truth?

Culture, Doctrine & Practice, Ministry, Preaching, TheologyJason BraatenNovember 29, 2022Carl Trueman Comment

Marquart on The Question of Procedure in Theological Controversies

Given the current climate that Christians face in this world—a world that has lost its mind—here is a little sanity. It is a good reminder of what the task of the church in general, and her ministers specifically, are charged, yes, commanded, to be, do, and say. “In the world you will have trouble, but take heart (have courage, be bold, speak plainly and forthrightly), for I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). And “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God” (1 John 5:4—5)? We have overcome the world. Let us act like it!

Culture, Doctrine & Practice, PreachingJason BraatenMay 20, 2022Kurt Marquart Comments

Thoughts on Sexagesima

After recording the Thinking Out Loud podcast on Sexagesima with Fr. Petersen, I thought I’d put some words to paper as some more food for thought. If it gets the writing juices flowing great. So use it all. Use some. Or use none of it.

Historic Lectionary, PreachingJason BraatenFebruary 15, 2022Sexagesima, Luke 8:4–15 Comment

Classical Lutheran homiletics: Does the preacher matter?

The preacher matters because God chooses to have His Word proclaimed by men who have hearts, minds, souls, and strengths that should be entirely given over to His purposes.

Preaching, SermonAdam KoontzNovember 23, 2021Preaching, Pastoral Practice, Rhetoric, LCMS Comments

On the Blessing and Benefits of a Seeing Eye and Hearing Ears

“It is a very rare blessing for godly priests to have a safe and quiet place where they may teach. It is an extraordinary gift, which the devil, the most malevolent enemy of God and the salvation of man, often obstructs and disturbs. But where there is such harmony that the princes of a land honor, protect, and support ministers for spreading abroad spiritual things, one may truly say that a paradise of the world is there. But if ministers are despised, ridiculed, and treated with contempt, as happened to Isaiah and other Prophets, although they were most excellent and faithful teachers, it is the surest evidence of God’s wrath and of impending disasters; for contempt of so great a blessing as is tendered to men by godly ministers has never gone unpunished.”

Ministry, Preaching, TheologyRick StuckwischOctober 20, 2021Luther's Lectures on Genesis, Father Abraham, Preaching, Church and StateComment

Thoughts on Trinity 14

Historic Lectionary, PreachingJason BraatenAugust 31, 2021Trinity 14, Luke 17:11–19Comment

Thoughts on Trinity 13

A lawyer, desiring to justify himself, asked our Lord, “And who is my neighbor.” And our Lord, desiring to justify the lawyer, flipped the question around and asked him, “Which of these three proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?”

Historic Lectionary, Preaching, SermonJason BraatenAugust 23, 2021Trinity 13 Comment

Thoughts on Trinity 12

To go along with the new podcast episodes on sermon preparation, I’ve put together some notes (some from my own hand and some from one of Petersen’s sermons on the text) for Trinity 12. Use some, all, or none of it. But maybe it will just get the sermon writing juices flowing.

Gottesblog