Our Savior Evangelical Lutheran Church
Sermons
The Twelfth Sunday after Trinity
August 23, 2026
A man was brought to Jesus who was deaf and therefore also had an impediment in his speech (St. Mark 7:31-37). In the same way, all are by nature deaf toward God and therefore also unable to confess the faith rightly. For "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Rom. 10:9-17). Jesus put His fingers into the man's ears, and He spat and touched His tongue. Even so in Holy Baptism water sanctified by the words of Jesus' mouth is applied to us; and the finger of God, that is, the life-giving Holy Spirit (2 Cor 3:4-11) is put into our ears in the hearing of the baptismal Gospel.
The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity
August 16, 2026
The lowly tax collector who prayed, "God be merciful to me, sinner!" was the one who went down to his house justified before God, not the respectable, outwardly righteous Pharisee who trusted in himself and his own good living (St. Luke 18:9-14). "For by grace you have been saved through faith and then not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast (Eph 2:1-10). The one who penitently despairs of his own righteousness and relies completely on the atoning mercy of God in Christ is the one who is declared righteous. For Christ died for our sins and rose again the third day (1 Cor 15:1-10). Therefore, "everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
The Tenth Sunday after Trinity
Aug. 9, 2026
Our Lord wept over Jerusalem for the destruction that would soon come upon her. For she did not recognize the time of God's visitation in Christ, who had come to bring her peace (St. Luke 19:41-48). Through His prophets God had consistently called His people to turn from their deceit and false worship. They sought to establish their own righteousness rather than receive Christ's righteousness through faith (Rom. 9:30-10:4). So it was than God was in His temple to cleanse it, a precursor to the once-for-all cleansing from sin which He would accomplish in the temple of His own Body on the Cross.
The Ninth Sunday after Trinity
Aug. 2, 2026
The steward's shrewdness is praiseworthy for two reasons. First, he knew the master would be merciful. He trusted that the master would honor the debts he forgave in the master's name. In the same way, though we have squandered our heavenly Father's possessions in selfishness and sin, Jesus is the stead wo has canceled our debt, knowing that forgiveness will be honored by the Father because of the Holy Cross. Secondly, the steward was shrewd in using oil and wheat to provide for his earthly welfare. So also do these earthly elements aid us when pressed into heavenly use in the anointing of Baptism and the wheat of the Lord's Supper.
The Fifth Sunday after Trinity
July 5, 2026
The LORD called fishermen to be fishers of men (St. Luke 5:1-11). The net they would use is the message of the Cross, which is foolishness and a stumbling block to the world (1 Cor 1:18-25). The power of God to save is not in spectacular signs like wind and fire and earthquakes (1Kings 19:11-21), nor is it to be found in human intelligence and wisdom. The power of God to save comes in the still, small voice of the preaching of Christ crucified.
The Fourth Sunday after Trinity
June 28, 2026
"Be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful" (St. Luke 6:36-42). The old Adam in us, however, wants to condemn and seek vengeance. But the LORD says, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay" (Rom 12:14-21). To condemn, to avenge yourself, is to put yourself in the place of God. Only Christ is merciful as the Father is merciful. He is the one who overcame all evil with the good of His Cross.
The Thrid Sunday after Trinity
June 21, 2026
"This man receives sinners and eats with them) (St. Luke 15:1-10). This statement of judgment against Jesus by the Pharisees is in fact a proclamation of Gospel truth. For our God is one who delights in mercy, who casts all our sins into the depths of the sea through the Cross (Micah 7:18-20). "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." (1 Tim 1:12-17). Those who refuse to be counted as sinners also refuse Jesus who came only for sinners.
Our Savior Evangelical Lutheran Church is a congregation of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod