Sermons by Rev. Sherman D. Stenson, Associate Pastor (Page 3)
Waiting With Prayer
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
On Sunday, we gathered here at St. Paul to observe the beginning of the season of Advent. With Advent, we begin a new Church year. God was present with us that day to dispense His gifts to us, as He always faithfully does—not just at the start of new Church…
Peace on the Mountain
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Our meditation this morning is based upon the Old Testament lesson, from the prophet Isaiah, chapter 2.
Time marches on, moving us forward into a new Church year, a new Advent season. Soon the secular year of 2013 will be behind us, too.
But Jesus shifts…
Remember to Thank God
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Tomorrow we celebrate Thanksgiving Day. It’s not—strictly speaking—a church holiday, but rather a day the United States sets aside, purportedly to remember to give thanks. Much of our culture now denies the existence of a creator and sustainer of life, and many more…
Blessed Are All the Saints
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Cursed are the presumptuous in spirit, for theirs is the delusion of self-righteousness.
Cursed are the cold-hearted, for they have no empathy.
Cursed are the aggressive, for they take what is not theirs by intimidation.
Cursed are those who hunger…
Return to the Word
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
From the Gospel lesson, from St. John, chapter 8:
34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you…
Patiently Wait and Trust in the Lord
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Remorseless evil against the weak and helpless is hard to fathom. Hearing various news stories every day of heinous acts both local and around the world, we are led to wonder, “What kind of monster could even think of such a thing, much less act upon it?”…
Eyes on Eternity
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
How should we view worldly wealth? Do you recognize the names Andrew Carnegie, J. D. Rockefeller, J. P. Morgan, Leland Stanford, and Cornelius Vanderbilt? These were the titans of steel, oil, finance, timber, and rail in the 19th century. They also left a legacy of…
Counting the Cost
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Count the cost first. That’s Jesus’ point in the Gospel lesson today. See whether or not you have what is needed to complete the task, to finish the mission. If you don’t, then don’t begin, lest someone ridicule you for falling short of your goal. And of…
The Right Kind of Foolishness
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Our text for this morning is the Gospel lesson, from Luke, Chapter 12. The concluding verses:
But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you, and things you have prepared for yourself, whose will they be?’ So is the…
A Marvelous Mystery
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Everyone loves a mystery, it seems, under the right conditions. It can be rather thrilling to be intrigued, left to figure things out, to wrestle with tidbits of evidence and attempt to form logical, well-reasoned conclusions.
We often don’t…
