Bloghardt's Reflector

St. Matthew 2:1-11 - Epiphany 2012
Zion Ev. Lutheran Church, McHenry, IL
January 7-8, 2012 
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In the Name of Jesus.  Amen.  Epiphany! 

St. Luke 2:1-20  - Christmas Eve Candlelight - 2011
Zion Ev. Lutheran Church - Dec. 25, 2011 
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Merry Christmas!  In the name of Jesus. Amen. 

St. John 1:1-14 (15-18) – Christmas Day 2011
Zion Ev. Lutheran Church, McHenry, IL
December 25. 2011
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Merry Christmas! In the Name of Jesus.

St. Matthew 28:18-19 - “Something about Baptism”
Higher Things Retreat 2011
Zion Ev. Lutheran Church, McHenry, IL
Nov. 11, 2011
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In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. You can’t learn everything about Baptism in a weekend.  You can’t learn everything about Baptism in your whole life.  But, in a weekend, you can learn “Something about Baptism.”

Probably good to start at the beginning:  your Lord Jesus.  He lived the life that you should live perfectly before God.  Every commandment, He kept.  Every law, He fulfilled.  For you, each one, checking them off as if you had done them.

Then, for you, for your salvation, Jesus paid the penalty and took the punishment for all your sins.  All the wraith and anger that God could have for you, Jesus bore on the Cross.  And after three days, this same Jesus who died for you rose again from the dead.

That is salvation’s achievement - Jesus’s holy life and bitter sufferings and death.  To make that salvation yours and deliver it to you, Jesus sends His eleven disciples after His resurrection to deliver His salvation to you.   

He comes to them - they don’t meet Him.  He sets the place - on a mountain.  Mountains are where God does business.  He gave the Law on a mountain.  Tonight, we hear that He’s sending His men to deliver His salvation to you and me.

“All authority on Heaven and earth has been given to me.”  He says.  The authority of the Father comes to Him as a gift.  Then, He uses it not for Himself.  No,  He uses this power to save you and me.

St. Matthew 6:24-34 - Trinity 15 - 2011
Zion Ev. Lutheran Church
Oct. 1-2, 2010 
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In the name of Jesus. Amen.   Beloved in the Lord, in Christ Jesus you are a child of God, heaven is yours, even if you have lost everything.  No matter what else seems true about you, right now today yours is the kingdom of God.

Don’t worry.  Don’t fret.  Don’t fear.  Don’t worry about what you will eat.  Don’t fret about what you will drink.  Don’t be concerned about you wear.  Don’t worry about what will happen to you.  

When our eyes are lifted toward the heavens wondering what bad thing might happen to us next, He directs us to His gifts – down to earth and every day – look at the birds of the air… consider the lilies of the field.

Don’t worry, the Father loves you in the cross of Christ.  Don’t be afraid, He has not abandoned you.  Don’t be uneasy or nervous, for the Son of God has taken upon Himself all that you have ever done and He has died in your place.   

St. Luke 17:11-19 - Trinity 14 - 2011
Zion Ev. Lutheran Church
September 25, 2011 
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In the name of Jesus. Amen.   Happy Thanksgiving!  Yes, Thanksgiving.  This is the Gospel for Thanksgiving Day.  Obviously!  It’s all about thankfulness!  Who could miss that!

Well, the other nine lepers missed it.  The crowd, the disciples, they probably missed it too.  You and me?  We’ll get to that in a bit.  

“Jesus, Master, Have mercy on us!”  The Lord Jesus had come to the ten lepers.  Sinners don’t come to God, He comes to sinners.  

They called out to him from a distance.  Ten Lepers.  Unclean. Outcasts.  Their lives filled with death and their bodies living pictures of the decay of our sinful world.  

Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem, the Cross, salvation, eternal life - for all.   For all means for them, for you, and even for me!  Happy Thanksgiving!