Once some declared himself to be an atheist, I would probably try to engage him/her in a conversation to help me understand why he/she is an atheist. The conversation might go something like this: “I am sure there is a reason you consider yourself to be an atheist. Would you mind sharing that with me? Following ...

That’s right. I said it.  What!?   A pastor telling me to stop going to church? Yep, you guessed it.  If there was anything our Lord would not have wanted of us, it is to GO to church. Have I got your attention now?  That’s right.  We Christians get all…

As a Lutheran pastor, certainly one of my favorite stories is the story of Martin Luther. And since 2017 marks the 500th anniversary year of the Reformation, I am really going to enjoy telling the story throughout this year to our community! It was October 31, 1517 when a German monk named Martin Luther nailed ...

We think God is only at work where there is health and wealth and prosperity, when, in fact, God is most often at work where there is disease and hurt and pain. He is most often at work there, because that is where He is needed most. …

I have been in awe of the Lord all my life and have many God stories. The one I’ll share here is when I felt the Lord leading me to start my own lawn and landscape business. I had a good job with good pay and good benefits, so I was much in…

One of my many God stories was when I was forced to make the decision to no longer care for my mother in our home, My Mother had dementia and had become too unmanageable for me and my family. I found a very nice assisted care facility and for weeks had begun decorating the apartment ...

Because the church is people, not brick and mortar, there will always be obvious things “wrong” with the church, since people are not perfect! The church is a group of sinners saved by the grace of Jesus Christ, therefore, it is a good idea to look long enough to notice the wonderful things about…

In the final analysis, there really is only one eternally soul damning sin, blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, a shorthand way of saying refusal to repent and confess sin.  The only sin that the Lord cannot cover is the one that the sinner refuses to surrender unto Him through repentance and confession. …

I must confess: what follows does not heed the given instructions. It is supposed to be different from the hundreds I’ve delivered in the past but Lutheran pastors are taught to preach every sermon as if it is his last. Perhaps the question should be, “what sermon would you preach if it is…

Hebrews 12 is referred to as the “Race of Life.” It reminds me of the fact that there was a day in my life that the race began (salvation) and today the race continues (sanctification), and one day this race will end (glorification). John Newton penned this in the 1700’…