Growing in Christ - Matthew 5:1-12, Luke 19:1-10

A Bible Study taught by Pastor Lewis Polzin on January 30, 2014 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Bemidji, MN, on Matthew 5:1-12 and Luke 19:1-10. This Bible Study is based on the curriculum from Concordia Publishing House's Sunday School curriculum, "Growing in Christ," a curriculum for all ages, helping to teach parents and teachers the material God in Christ wishes His children to learn to trust more in Him.

The Bible Study recording may also be accessed by clicking the title of this blog post and playing it in your browser.

Bible Study: Luke 2:22-40, January 29, 2014

A Bible Study taught by Pastor Lewis Polzin on January 29, 2014 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Bemidji, MN, on Luke 2:22-40. This Bible Study will help to lay a foundation for the sermon that is preached the following Sunday.

The Bible study recording may also be accessed by clicking the title of this blog post and playing it in your browser.

A Pastoral Approach: Sermon: 1 Corinthians 1:10-18, January 26, 2014

A sermon preached by Pastor Lewis Polzin on January 26, 2014 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Bemidji, MN, on Isaiah 49:1-7. The text of this sermon may be found by clicking this link here. The sermon recording may also be accessed by clicking the title of this blog post and playing it in your browser.

Sermon: 1 Corinthians 1:10-18, January 26, 2014

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

The text this morning is from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, the 1^st chapter:

I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 

Thus far the text.

Dear friends in Christ,

     The situation in Corinth had gotten bad.  It wasn’t just a time where people in the church were fighting over how to spend their offering money.  It wasn’t a time where some thought they should build a new building, but others thought what they had was fine.  It wasn’t a time where one member of the church offended another.  It was a rather more serious thing.  It was a matter of salvation.

     Imagine if I came in in the morning and told you that I had decided that instead of worshipping Jesus this morning, we were going to honor the Buddha.  Or, if you will, if I came in and told you that Christ did not save you, but rather Pastor Wurm had.  Or that the baptisms I had done were because it is only by my hand that you are saved.  These are serious accusations, and this is what Paul heard about and the reason why he needed to correct the Corinthians as soon as possible.

Sermon for the Funeral of Robert Wayne Zeller, January 25, 2014

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

The text this morning is from the first epistle of Peter, the first chapter:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 

Thus far the text.

Mary, Deb, Rob, Sandra, Lou, Susan, Steven, Greg, Terry, Robert, Jodi, all other family, and my dear friends in Christ,

     Today is indeed a day of tears and pain.  Today is a day of loss and suffering.  Today is a day of much sadness.  But, Peter tells us today that today should also be a day of rejoicing.  I know that it is hard to understand “joy” in the midst of today’s activities, and yet, joy is not something that wells up within us, it’s not an emotional state, rather joy is a gift given to us by God.  It comes from outside of us.

     And that’s good, because I know that today, the only real thing coming from inside of us is sadness.  Yet, God tells us in the Scriptures that joy comes in the morning.  Like smelling that first cup of coffee; joy is in the scent.  Like seeing a baby smile for the first time; joy is in that little one.  Like seeing a long lost friend again; joy is in the meeting.

     And this is the joy that we have today.  For indeed, we shall see Bob again one day.  We shall see him as Christ has meant him to be.  We shall see him raised in an incorruptible body.  And this is the joy that is there; joy is in the resurrection.

Growing in Christ - Matthew 4:12-25

A Bible Study taught by Pastor Lewis Polzin on January 23, 2014 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Bemidji, MN, on Matthew 4:12-25. This Bible Study is based on the curriculum from Concordia Publishing House's Sunday School curriculum, "Growing in Christ," a curriculum for all ages, helping to teach parents and teachers the material God in Christ wishes His children to learn to trust more in Him.

The Bible Study recording may also be accessed by clicking the title of this blog post and playing it in your browser.

Bible Study: 1 Corinthians 1:10-18, January 22, 2014

A Bible Study taught by Pastor Lewis Polzin on January 22, 2014 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Bemidji, MN, on 1 Corinthians 1:10-18. This Bible Study will help to lay a foundation for the sermon that is preached the following Sunday.

The Bible study recording may also be accessed by clicking the title of this blog post and playing it in your browser.

A Pastoral Approach: Sermon: Isaiah 49:1-7, January 19, 2014

A sermon preached by Pastor Lewis Polzin on January 19, 2014 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Bemidji, MN, on Isaiah 49:1-7. The text of this sermon may be found by clicking this link here. The sermon recording may also be accessed by clicking the title of this blog post and playing it in your browser.

Sermon: Isaiah 49:1-7, January 19, 2014

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

The text this morning is from the Prophet Isaiah, the 49th chapter:

… And he said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” But I said, “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my right is with the Lord, and my recompense with my God.” And now the Lord says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to him— for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength— he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers: “Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall prostrate themselves; because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.” 

Thus far the text.

Dear friends in Christ,

     In Isaiah’s prophecy to the Israelites about to go into exile, he gives us, not words of anger or wrath, but instead, words of the one in whom we have set our hope: Jesus the Christ.  Not only is Isaiah inspired by the very Christ who is coming to him by the Holy Spirit, but this Christ then is prophesying through Isaiah about His own coming, the time when He shall take upon Himself human flesh, to be incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary.  And this gave these Israelites hope.  They were to be taken away into exile and they feared, rightly, for their lives.  

     Yet God did not abandon them; rather God was using this time of great turmoil and tribulation in order to set in motion the events that would lead to this coming of the Christ.  Yet, Christ's main goal, as Isaiah points out, is not to work miraculous wonders in the world, where everyone would be awed by His majesty and glory.  

     Rather, Isaiah tells us that the Christ would cry out in dereliction to God the Father, why have I toiled in this life?  Has everything been for nothing?  Or perhaps, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?  For Christ, the one who had lived a perfect life, His expectation should certainly have been set on receiving a perfect reward, eternal life, together with His Father.  But instead, bearing our sin upon the cross, Christ’s Father turned away from Him, He turned His back on His own Son, He despised what His Son had become, and let Christ die upon that Cross.  Jesus the Christ, who knew no sin, became Sin itself for us, and God cannot abide sin in His presence.  So He turned away.

Growing in Christ - Matthew 3:1-12, John 1:29-34

A Bible Study taught by Pastor Lewis Polzin on January 16, 2014 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Bemidji, MN, on Matthew 3:1-12 and John 1:29-34. This Bible Study is based on the curriculum from Concordia Publishing House's Sunday School curriculum, "Growing in Christ," a curriculum for all ages, helping to teach parents and teachers the material God in Christ wishes His children to learn to trust more in Him.

The Bible Study recording may also be accessed by clicking the title of this blog post and playing it in your browser.

Bible Study: Isaiah 49:1-7, January 15, 2014

A Bible Study taught by Pastor Lewis Polzin on January 15, 2014 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Bemidji, MN, on Isaiah 49:1-7. This Bible Study will help to lay a foundation for the sermon that is preached the following Sunday.

The Bible study recording may also be accessed by clicking the title of this blog post and playing it in your browser.

Bible Study: The Book of Concord, Augsburg Confession 19 & 20

A Bible Study taught by Pastor Lewis Polzin on January 12, 2014 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Bemidji, MN, on The Book of Concord. This Bible Study uses Concordia Publishing House's Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions as a basis for our study. Please feel free to follow along.

The Bible Study recording may also be accessed by clicking the title of this blog post and playing it in your browser.

A Pastoral Approach: Sermon: Psalm 29, January 12, 2014

A sermon preached by Pastor Lewis Polzin on January 12, 2014 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Bemidji, MN, on Psalm 29. The text of this sermon may be found by clicking this link here. The sermon recording may also be accessed by clicking the title of this blog post and playing it in your browser.

Sermon: Psalm 29, January 12, 2014

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

The text this morning is from the 29^th Psalm:

...The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord, over many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon. He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox. The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness; the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth and strips the forests bare, and in his temple all cry, “Glory!” The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the Lord sits enthroned as king forever. May the Lord give strength to his people! May the Lord bless his people with peace! 

Thus far the text.

Dear friends in Christ,

     In this morning’s psalm, perhaps you didn’t even pay that much attention to it, we find a magnificent description of what the Lord does, specifically through His voice.  And we find that because of all these wonderful things, glory is due His name.  If you listen, you hear that the voice of the Lord is over the waters, and it thunders, it’s powerful, and full of majesty.  The voice of the Lord shatters the trees, the thickest and tallest of the trees, and also makes whole nations skip around like calves in springtime.  The voice of the Lord gives life and He takes it away.

     The voice of the Lord, the voice of YHWH, is indeed powerful.  It is a creating voice, it is a destroying voice, it is a loving voice, it is a vengeful voice.  This voice of the Lord was being sung in this Psalm by the gathering congregation of Israel.  The voice of the Lord was being addressed in the worship of the whole Israelite congregation as they gathered together in the Temple.  They would sing praises to God, and even in this Psalm, they cry out with a loud voice, Glory!  But even their collective voices, raised high to heaven, as loud as they could make it, could not compare to the awesome, destructive, creating, marvelous power of the voice of the Lord.

     The voice of the Lord always does as it pleases.  And it should then not surprise us that when this voice of YHWH comes into the world, it accomplishes all things.  In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 

Growing in Christ - Matthew 3:13-17

A Bible Study taught by Pastor Lewis Polzin on January 9, 2014 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Bemidji, MN, on Matthew 3:13-17. This Bible Study is based on the curriculum from Concordia Publishing House's Sunday School curriculum, "Growing in Christ," a curriculum for all ages, helping to teach parents and teachers the material God in Christ wishes His children to learn to trust more in Him.

The Bible Study recording may also be accessed by clicking the title of this blog post and playing it in your browser.

Bible Study: Psalm 29, January 8, 2014

A Bible Study taught by Pastor Lewis Polzin on January 8, 2014 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Bemidji, MN, on Psalm 29. This Bible Study will help to lay a foundation for the sermon that is preached the following Sunday.

The Bible study recording may also be accessed by clicking the title of this blog post and playing it in your browser.

Bible Study: The Book of Concord, Augsburg Confession 17 & 18

A Bible Study taught by Pastor Lewis Polzin on January 5, 2014 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Bemidji, MN, on The Book of Concord. This Bible Study uses Concordia Publishing House's Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions as a basis for our study. Please feel free to follow along.

The Bible Study recording may also be accessed by clicking the title of this blog post and playing it in your browser.

A Pastoral Approach: Sermon: Isaiah 60:1-6, January 5, 2014

A sermon preached by Pastor Lewis Polzin on January 5, 2014 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Bemidji, MN, on Isaiah 60:1-6. The text of this sermon may be found by clicking this link here. The sermon recording may also be accessed by clicking the title of this blog post and playing it in your browser.

Sermon: Isaiah 60:1-6, January 5, 2014

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

The text this morning is from the prophet Isaiah, the 60^th chapter:

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. Lift up your eyes all around, and see; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be carried on the hip. Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and exult, because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you. A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall bring good news, the praises of the Lord.

Thus far the text.

Dear friends in Christ,

     Today, in the calendar of the Church, is all about the visit of the Magi to the child Jesus.   We call it Epiphany.  But it is more than just a visit from the Magi.  It's about what God will do among all the nations.  As Isaiah prophesies about this visit, the Magi coming to the Lord Jesus with their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, they would be at the forefront of the coming of the Lord to all people, not just the Jews, but also the Gentiles.  What would start with a slow trickle of these men and their gifts would soon grow into a deluge at Pentecost and out into the whole world and across time and space.

     In fact, we could say that if it were not for the sign of these Magi coming to Jesus here, we should be suspicious that the Lord had even come from us.  For very few, if any, of us gathered today have Jewish blood within us.  In fact, it is more likely that we have none whatsoever.  So, for us who are Gentiles, if we were lead to believe that this Messiah was only for the Jews and not for us Gentile dogs and sinners, we would have no hope.

     But, you see what God is up to here.  He is using pagan practices and pagan men to bring about His glory.  And how is this done?  The same way that the Lord uses Jewish practices and Jewish men to bring about His glory.

Growing in Christ - Luke 2:21-42

A Bible Study taught by Pastor Lewis Polzin on January 2, 2014 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Bemidji, MN, on Luke 2:41-52. This Bible Study is based on the curriculum from Concordia Publishing House's Sunday School curriculum, "Growing in Christ," a curriculum for all ages, helping to teach parents and teachers the material God in Christ wishes His children to learn to trust more in Him.

The Bible Study recording may also be accessed by clicking the title of this blog post and playing it in your browser.