Gethsemane Lutheran Church Podcast

Podcast Description

Welcome to the podcast of my sermons preached at Gethsemane Lutheran Church! It's been my goal that all of these sermons first of all be Christocentric. That is, I hope and pray that Christ and his work is always at the center. The main focus of any good sermon is not what we do for God, but what he has done for us, namely suffered and died in our place to satisfy his own wrath and punishment against sin. Because of this sacrifice, we are forgiven, holy and innocent before God, and get the heaven that we do not deserve. When we lose this focus and center back on ourselves and what we do, we fall into either self-righteous thinking ("Hey, I'm pretty good. God should love me.") or despair ("I can never be good enough.") My second goal through all of my sermons is related to the first. That has been to maintain a clear distinction between Law (what we do) and Gospel (what God has done). What we do is sin. While we try to do good and at times do much good, we are not perfect. That's what God demands of us -- perfection. The Gospel, which literally means "good news," is the good news that Jesus did everything to accomplish our salvation. This sets us free from the demands of the law while at the same time making us thankful and eager to strive to keep the law out of gratitude for what he's done. We don't keep the law to earn God's favor, to prove our faith, or to be blessed by God. We are blessed by God and have his favor though Christ. Even our faith that believes these truths is a gift of God and not something we produce on our own. That's why we keep the law -- to thank him. These two goals, I believe are the marks of a truly Lutheran sermon. I'm confident that they can be found in most every sermon preached in the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (cf. www.wels.net) and hope and pray that they're always present in my own sermons. I eagerly welcome any questions or comments you may have on any of my sermons (and those can be sent to PastorGuenther@gmail.com), but especially let me know if I ever fail to keep either of those two goals. I'm glad you found us and hope and pray that your faith is strengthened through this podcast. May God keep your eyes fixed on Jesus and his sacrifice for you and by such a focus may he move you to a life of thanks to him in all you do. Your servant in Him,