James 4:8 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Dear Friends in Christ, I’d like to begin this morning by seeing how well you listen to my sermons. In a sermon I preached earlier this year I stated that of…
Hebrews 12:12-17 12 Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. 13 “Make level paths for your feet,”[a] so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed. Warning and Encouragement 14 Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy;without holiness no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no…
Luke 22:39-44 Jesus Prays on the Mount of Olives 39 Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. 40 On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” 41 He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 42 “Father, if you…
Romans 12:1-2 A Living Sacrifice 12 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then…
Matthew 26:36-44 Gethsemane 36 Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul…
Luke 11:5-13 5 Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ 7 And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother…
Genesis 8:20-9:3 20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. 21 The Lordsmelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though[a] every inclination of the human heart…
Genesis 6:5-8 5 The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. 6 The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. 7 So the Lord…
Revelation 4:11 (NLT) 11 “You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and they exist because you created what you pleased.” Dear Friends in Christ, We’ve all had them at some time or another – those experiences or events that stand out in our minds and…
Psalm 39:4 4 “Show me, Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is. Dear Friends in Christ, Early on in my ministry I remember visiting with an elderly pastor whose name was Ervin Meseke. He was raised in the Augsburg area, just 4 miles east of…