Saints Peter And Paul Sermons

In Ephesians 1 - Paul tells us that "God has a plan...to unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth." But in the divided world of Ephesus, such a claim seems impossible. How could peoples of different classes, races, and religions be united? A look into the life of Paul provides a possible answer. And this answer has implications for us today - both our unity with God and our unity with one another.

It's all about taking notice. Seeing other people. Too often we get tunnel vision, we listen to voices and information that we already agree with, and we don't notice our neighbors who are right around us. In this final sermon in our series "The Spiritually Vibrant Home," we focus on the parable of the Good Samaritan as we are encouraged to live lives of Biblical hospitality.

Spiritually Vibrant Households are ones that have spiritual vibrant conversations (aka "Loud Tables"). Did you know that you can turn any conversation into a spiritual conversation? It's what Jesus did in his ministry all the time. He would take a practical item and use it to teach people about the Kingdom of God. However, what we find out in this sermon is that through research by The Barna Group, practicing Christians are having fewer than 10 spiritual conversations each year! That's not much at all. That means Christians aren't talking about the faith. This sermon gives some practical examples of how to turn any conversation into a spiritual conversation.

Join us for the launch of our fall kick-off series titled "The Spiritually Vibrant Home" based on a book by Lutheran Hour Ministries and The Barna Group. In this initial sermon, the term "house" is defined based on Biblical definitions and we are encouraged to build our houses upon the foundation, our rock, Jesus Christ! ***apologies for the loud wind during this recording. This service was one combined service with the whole church and took place outside.

These are the final two chapters of the Book of Genesis. In them we have final words from Jacob to his children and Joseph to his brothers. If you had the opportunity to speak final words to your family before you die, what sort of legacy would you desire to leave?

Jacob is on his way to Egypt. But, Egypt is not where he's supposed to be. He's leaving the promised land to go to this place where he and his family will now be foreigners. But, God promises, as always, to be with him.

In the midst of a hope famine, we have the bread of life, Jesus Christ. But we can't go from being starving for Jesus to being gluttonous for Jesus. We need to spread the bread. And we do that by acting like Joseph. Instead of seeking retribution against his brothers in Genesis 42-43, he sought reconciliation. Instead of dividing the relationship, he was moved by compassion and worked to bring it back together. We're starving. But, we're not starving for Jesus. We're starving for reconciliation.

Everything seems to have been stripped away from Joseph. He's abandoned, sold into slavery, and seemingly all alone. But, the words of Genesis 39 repeatedly remind us that "The LORD was with Joseph." And why was God with Joseph? To bless him. So that through him all peoples would be blessed. The same goes for you.

We are introduced in this section to Joseph, the son of Jacob. Even though nothing in this story goes according to the plans of the people, God's ultimate plan is carried out.

In Genesis 31, Jacob flees a conflict with his uncle Laban. As he flees, he also fears a greater conflict that awaits him with his brother Esau. Between his fleeing and his fearing, he has an encounter with God and Jacob leaves that encounter with God both broken and blessed.

As Jacob flees his hometown at his mother Rebekah's direction, he finally makes it north to Laban (his uncle). There at a well, Jacob meets Rachel whom he quickly falls in love with. Jacob, who has a history of deceiving others, will soon find out that deception runs in the family as he tries to marry Rachel. Deceit. It's all around us. And we, too, are deceivers. There is only one who will never deceive you.

Jacob leaves home at his mother's direction. In his wake is a broken family and a stolen birthright. What lies ahead? He doesn't know. Yet, we find out in Genesis 28, that despite his failures, God is still faithful. This was the first sermon preached by Pastor Kevin Bender at Saints Peter and Paul.

It sure seems in Genesis 27, that Isaac is "the forgotten father." Neither of his sons or his wife seem to care much about him, they just care about what he has to give them.

In Genesis 26, God reaffirms the promise that he had made to Abraham. It is Isaac's inheritance to carry on this promise that through their family all people will be blessed.

In Acts 1:8, Jesus spoke his final words, "You will be my witnesses..." Later in Acts 2:32, Peter spoke on the day of Pentecost, "This Jesus, God raised up, and of that we are all witnesses!" The disciples were eyewitnesses of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The truth of the resurrection was so real that they were willing to hold onto it and proclaim it even to the point of their own deaths. This sermon reminds us that we, too, have seen, heard, and received this eyewitness testimony.

In order to have the new life of Jesus planted in us, we need to pull out the weeds of our sin. Please excuse some of the glitches in this video. We had a few technical issues during our live feed on this day.