Northwoods Table Talk

Here is the sermon for mid-week Advent services, now cancelled, on 12/13/2017. SOLA:   Sola Gratia Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As you already know, Sola is our theme for this year’s mid-week Advent services. Sola, as our bulletin explains, means only or alone. We have learned that the only way to know about God and the things of the Christian faith is Sola Scriptura, by Scripture alone. And Sola Fide, by faith alone is how a person is saved. Today, we will affirm that all this is Sola Gratia, or by grace alone. What exactly is grace. We could let Webster define grace for us, but we are not talking about “the simple elegance of refined movement.” Instead, let us define grace as God defines it through Paul’s pen, as such, it is simply a gift. What is a gift? Are your wages a gift? No, you earn them by the sweat and toil of your body and mind. If you are retired, are your social security benefits, your pension, ...

Well, it is official, summer is over.   How do I know?   Kids are back in school and the stands are full for High School home football games. I don’t know about you, but the summer was refreshing.   No, I don’t mean anything about the temperatures, for I dislike heat more than just about anything else.   Why was summer refreshing?   I took a few weeks of vacation, and while on vacation was able to attend worship services in God’s house.   While attending these services, I was a hearer of God’s Word and a receiver at the Table of the Lord.   What a blessed thing it was not to be a servant, but to be one of those served.   This is not to say that when I conduct the service, I am not preaching to myself.   In fact, I write my sermons directed at everybody, myself first and foremost.   I am also the first to receive the Lord’s Supper from my hand.   But there is something about being purely receptive that is so refreshing. ...

He Does All Things Well Mark 7:31-37 (This is my sermon from September 3, 2017. I was asked to post it where people could read it. So, here it is) Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.   Amen. How many of you know someone in Texas who has been affected by hurricane Harvey? I know a few pastors in the area, and we have family that is nearby. Some of those pastors have homes and churches significantly underwater, the extent of the damage is at present, undetermined. Not quite sure about the cousins and how they are faring. What has again been discussed as the flood waters rise and the tragic pictures continue to scroll across the news and social media, is – where is God in all of this? Why doesn’t God do something? Doesn’t someone have an answer? When things go bad, we want to have an answer, we want to either receive of bring comfort. We want to have an answer. And, we think that we need to say something lik...

I don’t know how often you read the Old Testament reading, but I’d like to take a moment to consider words inspired of God, through the pen of the prophet Micah. Micah is speaking to God and therefore revealing God's will for His people, words we could do well to read and heed today.   Here is what Micah wrote: Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. You will give truth to Jacob and mercy to Abraham, which You have sworn to our fathers From days of old.   (Micah 7:18-20 - NKJV)   Does Micah have anything to say to us today? Well, it all depends on whether you believe the Old Testament to be God's Word to His people of every age. We should so believe that to be exactly the case. As such, then this short p...

(This was my sermon from the 3rd Last Sunday of the Church Year, 11/9/2014. A couple people asked for it, I thought I'd post it here.) Dead In Christ Will Rise 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.   Amen. I do not believe it is only me, but death has touched our area recently in very tragic ways. In a twenty mile radius around Embarrass, six young people, younger than twenty-five, have died in the last few weeks. As I said before, I do not know the faith of those who died, so I am not speaking of them today. But, I thought today would be a good day to talk about some things about which there seems to be some confusion and misunderstanding. Today’s sermon will not be my normal Law/Gospel sermon where I lead us all to repentance and then proclaim forgiveness and life in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Instead, this sermon will be what is called a didactic sermon, a sermon which has as its ...

It really is just a stupid fishing pole. It is an inanimate object. If it were gone, it means nothing. So, this story begins in 1993 when a buddy gives me a 10’ G. Loomis 7 weight IM6 fly rod, with a hand-painted inscription on it commemorating my Ordination into the Office of the Holy Ministry. It was a rather expensive gift from a dear friend. Whenever I would use it, I would remember my friend.   It was a great stick, excellent feel and action. I cannot even figure how many Atlantic Salmon, Steelhead, Brown trout, Chinook, and Cohos have been caught on this rod. Many were caught while used as intended, as a fly rod. It was also used with a spinning reel and finesse fished - rigged that way, it was easier for those who do not know how to fly-cast. I believe it caught many times the number caught using it as a fly rod. This was how it was most often rigged, especially when I took other people fishing for Steelhead and Salmon, as it was so easy to use this way. ...