St. Peter Lutheran Church, Arlington Heights, Illinois
Weekly Sermons from St. Peter Lutheran Church in Arlington Heights, Illinois
Episodes
April 29, 2024
Admittedly, we usually hear today’s words when we gather around a freshly dug graveside. The pastor speaks: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies.” (v25) However, these words are not meant for the dead but for the living. We need the story of Lazarus to bring hope to our weary lives, to experience the transformation that we long for most. In our text, Jesus finally arrives in Beth...
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April 22, 2024
The lingering Jesus didn’t just cut it close; He didn’t make it in time. In the extra days that Mary and Martha waited for Jesus, their brother Lazarus died. Their deepest fear and concern had become reality. We know what it’s like to sit with life’s losses too: a divorce, diagnosis, church split, job loss, death of a family member, shattered dream, memory of past abuse. With Jesus, however, even the greatest losses in life become ...
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April 15, 2024
Today’s portion of Lazarus’ story comes with a surprising twist. Mary and Martha send word to Jesus that their brother is quite ill. In their word to Jesus the sisters even remind Jesus that Lazarus is “the one You love.” Clearly, the sisters hope, even assume that Jesus will come. Jesus, however, doesn’t go into rapid response mode, drop what He’s doing, and come to the rescue; rather, He stays right where He is for two more days....
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April 8, 2024
We begin a new 8-week series digging into the story of Lazarus in John 11-12. These verses speak to longings and breakthroughs, unmet expectations and disillusionment with God, the highest goal of God’s glory and clinging to hope in hard times. These are all facets of transformation. In today’s portion, Lazarus needs just that. The beloved brother of Mary and Martha is ill. We do not know what kind of sickness befell Lazarus, only ...
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March 31, 2024
From prominence to ash heap, Job needed a strong hand guiding him and a tender heart loving him. Like Job, we are not insulated from life’s tragedies, but neither are we intimidated by them. In the middle of the broken pieces, Job cries out, “I know that my Redeemer lives!” These words mean that we have someone to walk with us through life’s long, dark, winding halls. Granted, there are many things surrounding our hardships that we...
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March 25, 2024
For thirty-five chapters in the book of Job, Job cries out; his three friends speculate; and God … He remains silent. The LORD doesn’t speak a single word. In Job 38:1, however, the hidden God becomes the revealed God and what He reveals is powerful. “Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm.” Job does not receive an explanation from God as to the why, when, or what of his suffering; rather, he/we receive a revelation of God – w...
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March 18, 2024
Just as we take many individual ingredients when we bake – which by themselves taste nasty – and combine them together to create savory cookies or cinnamon rolls, God is the master at working hardships for good. Job puts it this way: “When He has tested me, I will come forth as gold” (Job 23:10). God desires righteous character, mature Christian faith, and lives marked by depth and compassion. To this end, God takes strange and dis...
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March 11, 2024
We are given only one detail in our text from Job 14:1–17; one small part of a much larger story. But this one part, this one detail, – though it seems odd at first glance – is beautiful and it is enough. In the midst of life’s pieces, Job says, “There is hope for a tree.” (v7) A tree can overcome many hardships, including being cut down and left for dead; it only takes one small sprout. Job continues: “If it is cut down, it will s...
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March 4, 2024
Life in this fallen world comes with its fair share of laments: Why did this happen? Where is God in all of this? Will this ever end? Bible characters like Rebekah, Moses, Gideon, and Job have their own laments too, some of which can make us feel uncomfortable. After seven silent days and nights, Job breaks his silence in our text today with several laments (3:11, 12, 23, 25-26); he puts it all out on the table. In this section of ...
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February 26, 2024
When Satan goes to work on Job, his life is marked by extraordinary loss. Job loses his wealth, livestock, servants, all of his children, and even his own health. When it rains, it pours! Like Job, we have three choices when hardships befall us. Trials can destroy us, define us, or develop us. Job fell to the ground in worship and declared, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Suffering dev...
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February 20, 2024
In today’s text, we learn valuable insights from the life of Job on how to fly blind. Though a “blameless and upright man who feared God and shunned evil,” Job had no idea what Satan was scheming against him in God’s court; in other words, Job was flying blind. Job’s ensuing suffering, affliction, and loss would prove to be unwarranted, unexpected, and upending, yet the sovereign LORD was with Job and would work through Job’s hards...
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February 12, 2024
After the death and resurrection of Jesus, Saul of Tarsus was one of the most widely known names around Palestine; however, on the way to Damascus to round up and persecute more Christian men and women, Jesus broke into Saul’s life with the purpose of carrying His name to the Gentiles (Acts 9). Two other times in Acts (22 & 26), Paul shares his Damascus Road story as a testimony to the true gospel of Jesus Christ (cf. Gal 1:11ff). ...
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February 6, 2024
Near the end of Jesus’ dialogue with a Samaritan woman at a well in midday, she leaves her water jar (perhaps because at this point she’s more concerned with living water than natural water), returns to her town, and invites people come see a prophet who is perhaps the Christ (v29). Many townsfolk believe in Jesus because of the woman’s testimony (v39), and they ask Jesus to lodge in their village. Jesus stays with them for two day...
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January 29, 2024
As Jesus continues His ministry of teaching and healing, He travels way north to Tyre, Sidon, and the Decapolis. A man is brought to Him who is deaf and mute; they beg Jesus to lay His hand on him. Jesus takes the man aside privately, opens his ears, and releases his tongue. Although Jesus charges them to be silent, the healed man and witnesses go forth and continue to proclaim what Jesus had done for the deaf and mute man. Once a...
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January 22, 2024
On the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee, a man with a legion of demons (a Roman legion had 6,000 soldiers) confronts Jesus. Jesus casts the demons into a herd of nearby pigs who then rush down the bank and drown. Understandably, the freed man longs to be with Jesus as a disciple, but Jesus commissions him to return home and declare how much God has done for him. The man does just that; he goes and preaches throughout the whole ci...
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January 14, 2024
Envious rulers under King Darius of Persia frame blameless Daniel for breaking a king’s decree which could not be revoked. In accordance with the decree, Darius reluctantly has Daniel cast and sealed in the den of lions, hoping that Daniel’s God would deliver him. Darius returns first thing in the morning and calls to Daniel if the living God has been able to deliver him. Daniel affirms that his God sent His angel to close the lion...
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January 8, 2024
Psalm 66 is a thanksgiving song for God’s many works on behalf of His people as a whole, as well as an invitation from one individual within the faith community to come and hear what God has done for him personally! The unknown author cried out to God in prayer from an undisclosed distress, and God gave full attention to his prayer. As a result, this worshiper wants to give witness to God’s continuing and intimate care. We learn fr...
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December 27, 2023
Do you believe that Christmas joy is real? And do you believe that such Christmas joy is not just for other people but also for you? The holidays are not always holly, jolly, and bright, but real people face real hardships, uncertainties, and doubts. How can Paul say in a blanket way: “Rejoice evermore?” Paul knew the angelic announcement in the Bethlehem skies: “I bring you good news of great joy for all the people!” Jesus came to...
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December 18, 2023
ave you ever been stuck on standby for a flight? Will I have a seat or not? Will I get to the conference, loved one, or resort on time? Oh to have the confirmation and guarantee! In today’s text, Paul assures us that we actually do! Our departure in Christ (and all loved ones in Him) has already been confirmed through our belief in Jesus’ death and resurrection. Moreover, our return with Christ is booked too when He comes back to j...
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