Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany of Our Lord, Sunday, February 2, 2020
Arizona Lutheran Academy Sunday Worship
Thanks to Pastor Brad Bode, ALA Campus Pastor, for the sermon this day.
Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany of Our Lord, Sunday, February 2, 2020
Let us focus on God’s Word, which forces us to think about our own attitudes and behaviors. What’s the object of your attention, your time, your loves, or your life? What is it that matters to you? Does everything revolve around what you want and what you like? What about when it comes to you and God? Is it all about you?..
Really, it is all about Jesus. There was nothing so great about you that made God love you. It was his grace.
So it is not about you and me at all:, it is all about Jesus.
Amen
Pastor Ron Koehler
Third Sunday after the Epiphany of Our Lord, Sunday, January 26, 2020
Go to the Bible to find Jesus’ light.
Darkness is commonly associated with not-so-great things; darkness is also associated to a life without Christ and no one can live ini complete darkness.
But for the person who rejects God’s Word or refuses to believe in Jesus the Light himself, they live in the complete darkness of sin.
Joyfully live in Jesus’ light
Jesus is the Light of the world; he shines upon those lost in sin’s darkness and enlightens us with his forgiveness..
Amen
Pastor Tim Patoka
Second Sunday after the Epiphany of Our Lord, Sunday, January 19, 2020
The essence of the job that John the Baptist did, as unique as it was, comes down to this: he pointed at Jesus and said, “Look! The Lamb of God!” John wanted everyone to know what he knew!
We have that same message: Jesus is the one individual to whom every promise and every prophesy of God had pointed; the one about whom all of the Scriptures testify.
Let us point to Jesus for our own sake and for the sake of others and say, “Look the Lamb of God, who takes away your sin and mine, who takes away the sin of the world.”
Amen
Pastor Nathan Kassulke
First Sunday after the Epiphany of Our Lord, Sunday, January 12, 2020
Jesus is The Anointed One
When we begin important things, we put a lot of thought into its beginning because it sets the tone for what is to follow.
Jesus’ baptism was the public start to his work on earth.
This is also when God presented Jesus as the Anointed One. No one else has this honor or can offer us the forgiveness he won for us on the cross.
His peace is for all people
God did not restrict his good news of peace to only certain groups of people.
He has opened it to all people of every nation so that whoever practices saving faith may have it in full measure.
Amen
Pastor Tim Patoka
Epiphany of Our Lord, Sunday, January 5, 2020
A star once led Wise Men to worship a newborn baby king.
The light of that star brought them to worship the light of the world.
Jesus is our light. He is our forgiveness; he is our salvation.
In the weeks to come, join us in hearing his Word, in praying in his name, and singing his praises as we come to worship him
Amen
Pastor Nate Kassulke
New Year’s Eve, December 31, 2019
PRAISE GOD FOR THE YEAR NOW PAST AND TRUST HIM FOR THE YEAR TO COME
The Lord made promises to be with those people long ago—even when things were difficult. He promised to be their Savior from sin and death and hell. He had not abandoned them in the past and he would continue to be there for them and with them in the future.
So trust God for the year to come. He has stuck with you despite your sin; he had blessed you in countless ways and has given you the GREATEST GIFT of faith in His Son Jesus.
He fights for you, defends you, blesses you, forgives you, and saves you.
That will not end in 2020.
Let that good news move you to sing praises to God and proclaim his name.
Amen
Pastor Ron Koehler
First Sunday after Christmas, December 29, 2019
Whether it was fulfilling the prophecy about coming from Egypt or being called a Nazarene or anything else, all the Old Testament prophecies about Jesus come to a head when we see Jesus nailed to a cross and under an inscription that again calls him a Nazarene.
It’s there he gave up his life to pay the price for our sins so that he could finally be our Savior who promises us freedom from guilt and sins.
And as the Old Testament prophesied elsewhere, Jesus rose from the dead, reclaimed full use of his divine powers as God, rules as our King forever and ever, and renews our deliverance from our sins by fulfilling his promise to forgive those who come to him in repentance.
Jesus has and will continue to fulfill everything that is written about him and for that, he is rightfully more famous and glorious than any other person in history.
It is for all this we give thanks to God for taking care of our Savior and, in so doing, assuring us of our salvation.
Amen
Pastor Tim Patoka
Christmas Day Service, December 25, 2019
The darkness of our world is at times all too apparent with wars, violence around the world, strife in our own families, and in my own heart, too.
To that darkness, the light of God incarnate (made flesh), the light of God-made-man came. He came to bring light and life. He came because of God’s great love in order to fix sin and dispel the darkness.
The God of the universe came to live under his own law. He was born as a baby and had to grow and learn and mature. He came to live and to die because that was the way to break the hold darkness had on us and on the world.
We have seen his glory. Let us live in the light of his Christmas love, now and forever.
Amen
Pastor Nathan Kassulke
Christmas Eve, December 24, 2019
John’s well-known verses from Chapter 3 allow us to look at God’s Christmas truths in a newly familiar way.
Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem is proof that God loves the world, including you.
It is because of God’s love for this sinful world that he sent his only-begotten Son in order to save us from our sins and to give us the promise of eternal life..
Amen.
Pastor Tim Patoka
Stories of the Promise Series December 22, 2019
Among other promises made by God to King Ahaz was this one—-this difficult one to grasp—-that the virgin would have a baby.
Christians believe that and it makes all the different in their lives and their eternal lives because that baby was the world’s Savior.
This promise made and fulfilled is the actual story of Christmas, of God sending the Savior into the world.
And remember: he is not just your Savior, he is the world’s Savior
We pray that the Holy Spirit would fill us so that we are eager to share that saving news.
Amen.
Pastor Ron Koehler
Advent with Isaiah: Midweek Advent Service 3, December 18, 2019
Jesse was a plain and ordinary man who lived in Bethlehem. So he was as surprised as anyone when Samuel, the prophet of God came to him—to anoint the next king of Israel who turned out to be David.
King David was highly regarded as perhaps the best king that Israel ever had.
It was many years later when a different prophet, the prophet Isaiah, mentioned this same Jesse in the eleventh chapter of the Book of Isaiah when he says the stump from Jesse will bear friend and the Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—-the Spirit of wisdom and understanding.
This is the Messiah who is described.In the coming of the Messiah, who is Jesus Christ, we find the coming of righteousness. In him, we have a glorious resting place, an eternal home ini iheaven.
May our Advent with Isaiah draw us closer to him and may it truly prepare our hearts for our celebration of Christmas and for our Savior’s return as judge.
In Christ Jesus we have righteousness. Repent and believe the good news..
Pastor Nate Kassulke
Stories of the Promise Series, December 15, 2019
There may be times when we ask, “Why me?” There may be times when the challenges seem to pile up, when the difficulties are almost overwhelming. There may be times when it seems like the joys of Christmas will never get here.
For all those times, let’s take to heart the lesson of Job. Bad things may happen, but we can know that h=the Lord is in charge. our gracious and loving Father is taking care of us.
Let us trust him fully.
Let us persevere.
Let us worship and praise our God.
“The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. May the name of the Lord be blessed.”Come, let us walk in the light of the LORD.
Pastor Nate Kassulke
Advent with Isaiah Series, December 11, 2019
There might be a universal wish at Christmastime---world peace.
Or you might want peace in your community, or your home, or even personal peace. It never seems to come, yet the Lord speaks quite clearly about giving us peace.
The promise that the Lord gave to Isaiah is about the coming Messiah.
He is the peace that God was offering to give to them and to us: eternal peace with God.
Share that good news with the world.
As we prepare for Christ’s first coming on Christmas we also prepare for Christ’s second coming where we will have peace that will last forever.
Come, let us walk in the light of the LORD.
Pastor Ryan Heiman
Stories of the Promise Series, December 8, 2019
The Three Steps to Repentence
First, repentance is to genuinely confess your sins.
Second, repentance is to trust in God’s promise of forgiveness.
Third, repentance is to live a life free from the sins we just repented of!
In summary, repentance is a change of heart concerning sin.
Pastor Tim Patoka
Advent With Isaiah Series, December 4, 2019
We are blessed to live after Christ’s First coming. We can see how God fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies about our Savior.
Yet we still live in a sinful world that is full of distractions and forces that want us on another path.
So how do we remain on this holy highway? We come to God and his Word.
Continue to make time in your ever-changing schedules for your Lord and listen to what he tells you in his Word and take it to heart so that you strengthen your faith in these wonderful blessings.
Pastor Tim Patoka
First Sunday in Advent, December 1, 2019
Noah was a man who worked and walked in the light, but he lived in a world darkened by sin.
The lost around him were deaf to his preaching and blind to the signs.
The coming of God’s judgment was as unexpected as it was terrifying for them.
But in the middle of all that judgment, God came in unexpected grace to rescue Noah and his family.
Pastor Nathan Kassulke
Thanksgiving Eve Service, November 27, 2019
Tonight we gather as a Christian family, to enjoy spiritual delicacies and a soul-sustaining feast of Thanksgiving provided by our God:
The Appetizer: God’s Love and his Plans for Us (Jeremiah 29:11-13)
The First Course: The Blessings of this Life (Matthew 6:25-34)
The Main Course: God’s Spiritual Blessings in Christ
The Side Dishes: God’s Unique Blessings Upon Us (Philippians 4:11-13)
The Dessert: The Joys of Heaven (Revelation 23:1-5)
Pastor Ron Koehler
Welcome Home Series, Christ The King Sunday, November 24, 2019
As we look at the verses in Luke 23 with the eyes of faith, we see why Jesus is called Christ the King, for it is on the cross where Christ shows us his glory.
As he did with the believing criminal, so will he also welcome us to his glorious kingdom and our glorious home.
Pastor Tim Patoka
Welcome Home Series, Saints Triumphant Sunday, November 17, 2019
We have seen God fullfil his promise to rescue his people:
He sent his beloved Son Jesus into our world to pay the price for our rebellion and wickedness
Christ died on the cross as he faced the punishment that our wickedness had earned.
Christ suffered the consequences of the whole world’s sinfulness.
Christ brought to all who believe in him the sort of peace that God promised through Isaiah, the peace that has undone all of the damage and the difficulty that sinners faced before.
We thank God that his Church is eternal and that through faith we have an eternal and everlasting family.
Cherish this until your Savior says to you, “Welcome home to heaven.”
Pastor Nathan Kassulke