Month: May 2012

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Fresh Breath

Text: Ezekiel 37:1-14
Date: Day of Pentecost + 5/27/12

On the fiftieth day after His resurrection from the dead, on the tenth day since His ascension into heaven, and on the day of your Holy Baptism, our Lord Jesus sent the Helper, the Spirit of truth, the Witness, the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life who proceeds from the Father and proceeds also from the Son, who, with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, the same Spirit who spoke by the prophets. He spoke through Moses and Isaiah and Ezekiel, and through Matthew and John, Luke and Paul and through countless servants sent throughout the world with the Word, the eternal life by faith in Jesus. Through their word, through God’s Word, this Spirit creates saving faith when and where it pleases Him in those who hear the Gospel. Today we commemorate the day when God first poured out His Spirit on those gathered together in Jerusalem so that, filled with the Holy Spirit, He might get the ball rolling—the preaching of the Gospel and administration of the sacraments, the making of disciples of all nations beginning in Jerusalem and to the ends of the earth. So today is kind of like a family reunion with all those who have gone before us who have been reborn and made alive by the Spirit, the Wind, and the Breath. Continue reading “Fresh Breath”

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11 + 1 = 13

Text: Acts 1:12-26
Date: Easter VII + 5/20/12

The sermon title, “11 + 1 = 13,” is, at first, intended to be a little humorous comment about finding a replacement for Judas Iscariot to restore the number of apostles to the original number of twelve. The humor I see is that though in today’s text, Acts chapter one, Peter and about 120 others solemnly choose Matthias to be the replacement, in Acts chapter nine Jesus Himself directly chooses Saul of Tarsus for this purpose. So, not to disallow the choice of Peter and the first “voters assembly,” instead of restoring the number of apostles to twelve the end result is thirteen! Yet I do not find this observation to be purely amusing nor incidental. For we are to discover that the Gospel of the resurrection not only restores life and things to merely the original design of creation before the fall into sin but salvation in Christ actually increases God’s gift of life to be even more than it was before. The resurrection, for instance, turned the old first day of the week, Sunday, to be now also the eighth day, the eternal day, the first day of eternal life. The Ascension of Our Lord elevated human nature itself to be identified with the divine. And the promise of our resurrection in the new heavens and earth is that we will reign with Christ (2 Tim 2:12). As Martin Luther wrote of all the baptized in reference to Psalm 82 which says, “God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment” (Ps 82:1), “for we are all the children of God…and therefore we are gods”[1] Continue reading “11 + 1 = 13”

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More Water!

Text: Acts 10:34-48
Date: Easter VI + 5/13/12

Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! For thirty-six days now the Lord, risen from the dead, has appeared alive to His disciples. Quoting St. Paul’s list, “he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time…. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me” (1 Cor 15:5-8). But that appearance was some time after the event we celebrate this Thursday, the fortieth day of Easter, our Lord’s last appearance and His Ascension into heaven. There the last thing He said to His disciples echoed the first thing God said to Abraham of old. As God promised that through Abraham’s seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed, so our Lord commanded to make disciples of all nations. The salvation of God is not for the Jews only but through the Jews to all people everywhere. That was the burden for Peter’s understanding as the preaching of the apostles began to awaken even the Gentiles who heard. As the mighty Word of the gospel awakened the Ethiopian eunuch who asked Philip, “See, here is water. What prevents me from being baptized?” so St. Peter asked, “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” Last Sunday we heard of the necessity of baptism with water. Today we hear about more faith and More Water! Continue reading “More Water!”

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See, Here Is Water!

Text: Acts 8:26-40
Date: Easter V + 5/6/12

The Lord is risen! He is risen, indeed! After appearing to His disciples a number of times after Easter, on the fortieth day at His Ascension He mapped out the mission that they should preach repentance and the forgiveness of sins, baptize and teach beginning in Jerusalem, then branching out to all Judea, even including Samaria and, as He said, “to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). This mission happened quickly as today, already in Acts chapter eight, we’re told of St. Philip being directed to go down from Jerusalem to Gaza. There He encounters a man from Ethiopia, which at the time was considered to be part of the end of the known world. Through an interesting turn of events Philip “told him the good news about Jesus” (8:35). He must have done quite a thorough job of it for “as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, ‘See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?’” Nothing prevented him, so he was and he “went on his way rejoicing.” Continue reading “See, Here Is Water!”