Sermons
"So, faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ." (Rom 10:17). While it's preferable to hear the sermon in person, those who could not attend, or would like to review the sermon again, can do so here.
Join us for Worship Sunday's at 10:00am
April 12, 2026
JESU JUVA QUASIMODO GENITI—THE OCTAVE OF THE FEAST OF THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD Text: St. John 20:19-31 ALLELUIA! CHRIST IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED! ALLELUIA! IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. AMEN. Doubt. If you are human, then you have wrestled with doubt. It plagues all of us, and when it comes to our faith in JESUS—who He is and what He has done for our salvation—doubt comes as that tiny little voice that seems to whisper in your ear, “Is this really true? Did GOD really come and live among us and die for us? Is JESUS really GOD? Did JESUS really rise from the grave? Did JESUS really die for me?” In other words, “Did GOD really say…?” Doubt. It is the fruit of all unbelief. Doubt, all doubt, stems from our failure to fear, love, and trust in GOD above all things. Doubt is what happens when one feels he or she needs more control over one’s life. Doubt can produce feelings of fear and hopelessness as though one’s life is slowly spinning out of control. Doubt-induced feelings of fear and hopelessness certainly invaded that little locked room where the disciples had hidden themselves away on that first Easter Sunday evening. The disciples heard the reports of the women who went to the grave with spices. Saints John and Peter even ran to the tomb to see things for themselves. Two of JESUS’ disciples rushed back on foot from the village of Emmaus to Jerusalem in the dark, a distance the Bible tells us of seven miles, to share the news that they had seen the Lord. Still, ten of JESUS’ closest disciples could not believe the reports, and so they hid for fear of the Romans and their fellow Jews. They had seen the cruelty and viciousness meted out to JESUS three days before and they wanted no part of it. The disciples feared for their lives, and I am sure they thought that they would be the next to be crucified if only they were found. Then behold, here is JESUS standing among them speaking sweet words of absolution, “Peace be with you.” JESUS did not break down the door. He did not have to. The One who burst from the tomb without bothering to roll away the stone has no need to break down locked doors. The disciples, still fearful, did not believe their eyes. Then JESUS showed them the wounds in His hands and His side in order to break down the doors of doubt and unbelief in their hearts and minds. Again JESUS says, “Peace be with you,” and His words give what they say: Peace. “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” His peace comes amid turmoil, unrest, fear, hopelessness, and doubt. “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” JESUS, the Lamb of peace, having conquered death through His innocent suffering and death, now comes in peace to bring life to His disciples and all creation. Still, there is St. Thomas or Doubting Thomas as we have come to know him. He was missing that night and missed the chance to see JESUS. Not seeing JESUS, he refused to believe. “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” St. Thomas, another practical man, must have thought, “This story must be some sort of cruel joke. What kind of a fool do you take me for? How can the dead raise themselves from the grave? Do you really expect me to believe such silly nonsense? Show me the proof and I will believe.” That is the reaction of our unbelieving world as well. Indeed, St. Thomas sounds a lot like the so-called “scholars” we see on nearly every Easter television special; documentaries claiming to be historically based about JESUS. When the Body of CHRIST on Earth celebrates the resurrection of our LORD you can count on the naysayers to come out of the woodwork like cockroaches when one turns out the light. Pick up nearly any so-called news magazine and you will read story after story casting doubt on the faith of the Church. They call into question the truthfulness of the Bible with many denying that JESUS ever really lived, never mind His rising from the dead. Book upon book searches for the “Real JESUS” and claims that if JESUS lived at all, His bodily resurrection after His brutal death is a misunderstanding of the truth by foisted upon unsophisticated peasants; that He only spiritually or figuratively rose from the grave; that in truth the story about JESUS’ birth, life, death, and resurrection is nothing more than a wonderful fable meant to simply illustrate some higher truth or meaning in life. Worse, they often accuse the early Church Fathers of purposely lying in order to advance some moral agenda. The saddest part of all of this is that many of the so-called “scholars” writing these lies or appearing on these programs, call themselves Christian. To be honest, and just as sad, St. Thomas often sounds like many of us as well. We want proof. “Seeing is believing,” or “I will believe it when I see it!” are phrases one often hears. We are natural-born skeptics. So, we search for signs that GOD is real, that He is truly with us while we look for them in the wrong place—our hearts. We judge our relationship with GOD by what we feel, not by what His Word tells us. The pastor will tell us what GOD has said and promised, and then we will tell the pastor what we really believe. But do you not know that Satan and his demons believe in GOD? Do you not know that Satan and his demons even believe JESUS is the SON of GOD? That is why they hate Him and had a hand in murdering Him. That is why they fear Him, and that is why they hate you. You see, JESUS has come to crush the head of the serpent—Satan. To be sure, Satan got in his licks bruising JESUS’ heal with the pain of crucifixion. Satan though he had won the battle not realizing he had lost the war. JESUS crushed that old evil foe and ground him into powder! Yes, JESUS did suffer and die, and indeed, no ordinary man has ever climbed up out of the grave on his own. But JESUS is not only true Man, but He is also true GOD. “Very GOD of very GOD… of one substance with the FATHER.” Our LORD JESUS is the same true Man and true GOD who came to that pathetic little room one week later, appearing again to His disciples and St. Thomas. JESUS appeared and fulfilled Thomas’ requirement to believe, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” With that St. Thomas repented of his unbelief, “My LORD and my GOD!” Then JESUS imparts more teaching to Thomas and to all of us, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” JESUS is telling Thomas, and by extension all of us, that we are to “walk by faith, not by sight.” He is telling us that our axiom should not be “seeing is believing,” but “believing is seeing.” For “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” So, we too, just as St. Thomas, must repent. We must hear JESUS’ Words, “Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” Our hearing of the Word of CHRIST is important because, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” We do not physically “see” JESUS among us with the eyes of flesh, yet we do see Him with the eyes of faith. He is no less present for us than He was for His disciples locked away in that little room. With the words, “Peace be with you,” JESUS announced His presence among His disciples. Today, He announces, through our pastors, His very same presence among us in in Word and Sacrament. In a moment you will hear of our LORD’s presence among us in the words of the liturgy, “The peace of the LORD be with you always.” Then, the risen JESUS will invite you to touch His hands and His side in the Eucharist. For CHRIST, through His called servants gives His true Body still bearing the scars of the wounds made by the nails for the forgiveness of our sins—scars that are marks of our salvation. Then, receiving His true Blood we touch His side. For what was it that flowed from JESUS’ side but His precious Blood? Therefore, when the host is placed on your tongue, when His life-giving Blood is poured into your mouth, you are truly touching the Flesh and Blood of CHRIST for the forgiveness of your sins. So it is, that here, at the altar, we repent with Thomas, “My LORD and my GOD!” And here at the altar, we receive the same life-giving absolution JESUS spoke to His disciples, “Peace be with you.” His Word gives what it says: Peace. Just as the apostles, we too know Him by His scars, and by them we are healed. By the grace of God, here at Our Savior, there is not a first day of the week that JESUS does not come to you, His disciples. Every Sunday is a Good Friday and Easter, and every day is a first day of the week, a new creation, when the Crucified and Risen Lord is present with His disciples with His Words and His wounds, His breath, and Spirit. Hear now Jesus’ Words of peace, “Peace be with you, for I have died and have risen again for the forgiveness of all your sins.” IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. AMEN. SOLI DEO GLORIA Rev. Raymond D. Parent II Our Savior Ev. Lutheran Church Crestview, Florida 4/12/26
Join us for Worship Sunday's at 10:00am
April 5, 2026
+++JESU JUVA +++ THE FEAST OF THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD / EASTER DAY Text: St. Mark 16:1-8 Alleluia! CHRIST is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. AMEN. Yesterday, I took the opportunity to again watch the Mel Gibson movie, “THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST.” To meditate on Our LORD’s suffering is a good and noble thing. But it strikes me that proper and helpful meditation of the LORD’s passion is far too often misunderstood. But how? How can meditation on the suffering of our LORD ever be improper and therefore unhelpful for the strengthening of our faith and the understanding of our salvation in CHRIST? And that brings up another question. For what reason have we so joyfully gathered together this morning? Certainly, we have not come to pour oil and spices over a dead body, as did the women who traveled to JESUS’ tomb early that first Easter morning. Or have we? I feel obligated to remind you that there is a reason we call the Friday just past “Good Friday.” If we do not guard our hearts as we ponder the suffering of our LORD we can quickly be turned inward. Let me give you a couple of examples. During Passion Week, in many Christian congregations from various denominations all around the world, the Church of CHRIST remembers the events of that week with reenactments of our LORD’s last days upon this earth—from Palm Sunday parades, to foot washing and Seder meals on Maundy Thursday, even up to, and including, our LORD’s suffering and death upon the cross on Good Friday. So, in many locations like the Philippine Islands and Mexico, they beat their flesh with whips (called flagellum) until they are a bloody mess, and in others, they actually nail men to crosses to reenact CHRIST’s suffering and death in a twisted effort to show the world and GOD the depth of their piety in a vain attempt to merit GOD’s forgiveness. Yet, for all their piety, those who believe such things merit forgiveness are mistaken; their faith is misplaced and for this they must repent. They are mistaken because their desire has already been fulfilled and the empty tomb of Easter dawn is proof positive that all the work of our LORD for our salvation is completely accomplished. “It is finished” even as JESUS said. We Christians should not dwell in the past, but live in the ever-present reality of the eternal day of our LORD. The death of JESUS on Good Friday and His resurrection on Easter Sunday are not simply days on the calendar of human history long past. They are days whose events transcend all time, reaching farther back than the very first day of creation, and forward even beyond the Day of our LORD’s triumphant return on the clouds of Heaven. For this reason, it is proper to say that every day in the life of a Christian is Good Friday and Easter. You see, we are Good Friday and Easter people who, by faith in the all-atoning Sacrifice of CHRIST upon the Cross to save us, live every day in the gracious mercy of our GOD who has given us a share in His victorious resurrection. Therefore, we Christians celebrate Good Friday and Easter, not as the ancient Hebrews and their Jewish descendants celebrate Passover. Good Friday and Easter are not annual requirements observed only once a year, nor are they celebrated simply as memorials through which we remember our redemption and its cost. For the Christian, every day is a small Easter because every day we reap the benefits of Good Friday. They are, therefore, ever-present realities in the life of GOD’s Church and her people—realities lived out in the here and now in our risen LORD, JESUS CHRIST. Nor is our celebration simply a passion play performed to get the players and audience closer to JESUS. We need no such prompts or crutches, for we are alive in CHRIST and He in us. This life became a reality in your Baptism on the day you were buried into death with JESUS that you be raised again with Him to newness of life in His resurrection. We Christians celebrate Good Friday and Easter every LORD’s Day as we hear GOD’s Word, pray in JESUS’s Name, and eat and drink His sacrificed Body and Blood. This is how we Christians can face the pain of this life. For all the pain experienced in this vale of tears, for war, famine, disease, earthquake, hurricane, fire, and flood, even for temporal death and the cold dark grave, believers in CHRIST JESUS sing the song of everlasting life. We sing because we know that we are nothing more than strangers here. We know that all we experience here, gold or dross, wealth or poverty, good or bad, is only temporary; Heaven is our home. So we sing. We tell all the earth what JESUS has done. We would have all the world know what GOD has accomplished in CHRIST for the whole of creation. We sing, we confess, we celebrate, and yes, we remember. We remember, but not for the reason of conjuring up saccharine-sweet emotions, not for tears, not to feel closer to JESUS, but in remembrance of Him who died and yet lives. We remember that because He lives, so too, do we. We remember what His sacrifice means to our here and now—that we are redeemed, forgiven, and made holy—that because JESUS died we live, now and forever—that because JESUS died conquering Satan and sin, because JESUS rose again on the third day conquering death and the grave, Satan no longer can accuse us, sin no longer holds sway over us, and death has lost its sting—the grave its victory. “O Death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” They are swallowed up in the death and resurrection of our LORD and SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST. For this reason, we Christians sing because we no longer need fear the grave. We no longer need approach the tomb with sorrow or foreboding. Death has lost its power for “Death is swallowed up in victory.” We sing because JESUS’ death and resurrection have defeated death forever. We sing because death is dead, and life lives! Thus, the tomb we witness this day is not the tomb we left behind on Good Friday. That tomb preached sin, death, and despair. It held the broken, bruised, and bloodied Body of a broken Man—a dead Man. Today, that tomb proclaims life. The guards are gone, the stone is rolled away, the Body is gone, and instead of death, a young man clothed in white garments, whose face glows with the brilliance of heaven, is there to greet us. The tomb of Good Friday preached an indictment against a fallen world, a world in which every intent and thought of the heart of men was only for evil. Today, it preaches Light and Life and freedom for the captives. This messenger from Heaven now brings a message of eternal life. What is that message? “Do not be alarmed. You seek JESUS of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him.” Therefore, I ask you, “What became of mold and decay?” Our LORD JESUS is not found in the grave; He is not there. He has gone before us to prepare our final home where we shall one day follow Him and live with Him forever. If it were not so, He would have told us. So no, we do not wait for JESUS to fulfill all things. That He has already done. Remember, “It is finished.” Now we patiently await our LORD’s return. That Day, the Day of our LORD’s return at the end of time will be heralded by trumpets; glorious divine music which will signal the last day has finally arrived. JESUS’, “…resurrection is the first and decisive blast of GOD’s great final music. That final music cannot cease because the score is written by GOD, and He writes no unfinished symphonies. As surely as Adam once set a fatal deathward cadence for mankind and made all human life a march of death, so surely has CHRIST reversed that cadence and made it music that shall surge inevitably upward to eternal life.” (Martin Franzmann, Ha! Ha! Among the Trumpets. St. Louis, CPH, 1966, p. 67.) This is the meaning and message of Good Friday and Easter. Death is dead and life lives! CHRIST is risen! He is risen, indeed; and the Risen CHRIST says to you, “I forgive you all your sins.” Alleluia! Amen! IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. AMEN. SOLI DEO GLORIA Rev. Raymond D. Parent II Our Savior Evangelical Lutheran Church Crestview, Florida 4/5/26 AD