I think generally, we’re a thankful people here at Eastside. We spent the first part of our service speaking words of thanksgiving as we’ve quoted various different words of Scripture. We’ve sung hymns of thanksgiving. In a few minutes, we’ll approach the throne of God’s grace and thank him again for specific blessings. I’ve even heard people who are so thankful, that they say, “Thanks for nothing!” Can you believe that?
You can understand why they feel this way, can’t you? Can’t you identify with the fears and misgivings of the people of Corinth?
Through Christ our sin is forgiven and we are counted as holy in God’s eyes. Though we are sinners, we are counted as saints! And that’s how God wants us to live.
“You are all a bunch of sheep!” That phrase has been tossed around quite a bit over the last year. And it’s not a compliment. Usually, it’s in reference to people who blindly follow someone or something. However, that picture of being a sheep is much different for the Christian.
Toys littered the ground, bundled bags of trash lined the hallway leading to the door, the whole place smelled like a diaper…
Where do I fit in? Isn’t that a question that everyone asks? Whenever you start anything new: a new job, a new school, a new team, a new town, one of the first things you do is try to figure out where you fit in.
Everything has changed since January 9, 2007. Do you know what happened on that day? A man walked out onto a stage wearing jeans and a black turtleneck and everything changed.
Imagine if you will, a household with two teenage sons. It’s a fall Saturday and the boys are vegging out in front of the TV playing their Xbox. They plan on there all afternoon. But their plan seems to hit a snag when dad walks in.
Praise God that he doesn’t pay us by contract. Thank the Lord that he has chosen to be generous. It’s all grace, and grace is not fair.
This might have been one of the hardest sermons I’ve ever had to write. Not hard in the sense that I didn’t know what I was going to write. But hard in the sense knowing how much I was going to have to leave out.
Eastside Evangelical Lutheran Church and School
2310 Independence Lane
Madison, WI 53704
