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  • Sermon: Holding It Together When Everything Is Falling Apart

    Sermon: Holding It Together When Everything Is Falling Apart
    2025/11/15
    Title: Holding It Together When Everything is Falling Apart | Preacher: Rev. Dr. Christopher D. Jackson | Text: 2 Thessalonians 2:1–8, 13–17 | Liturgical Date: Pentecost 22, Proper 27 C | Calendar Date: November 9, 2025 | Location: Saint Peter’s Lutheran Church in Door County Saint Peter’s Lutheran Church in Door County serves Fish Creek and other areas in Northeast Wisconsin. The following transcript was produced with the assistance of AI. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. This Veteran’s Day weekend, of course, we are very thankful for the service of our veterans and our armed forces, and above all, we thank the Lord for the freedom of religion that is secured by their work as Christians. That is the greatest freedom that we enjoy. We praise and thank the Lord for this freedom of religion here at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church and the way that has been secured by armed forces. Now, I myself am also a veteran and I enjoyed my time in the service. Something I really enjoyed about my time in the service was singing cadences. You know, those songs that soldiers or marines or airmen or sailors will sing when they’re marching or when they’re running. Those are cadences. Now, I’m not gonna sing any for you today. I like singing and that’s probably why I like cadences. But most of these are not pulpit appropriate. But let me tell you about a couple themes that, or one very big theme that came up. Military Cadences and Facing the Worst In those cadences, and that’s all the terrible things that you could expect in the military. There was one person that you’d end up hearing about quite a bit, a person named Jodi. Oh, we couldn’t stand Jodi. You know who Jodi is? Jodi is the guy back home who steals your girl when you’re away training in the military. Oh, we couldn’t stand Jodi. We’d sing about Jodi. We’d sing about other terrible things. We’d sing about the terrible food, the terrible living conditions, the terrible leadership we had. We’d even sing about dying and bullets whizzing by your head, and that was a deliberate thing, by the way. That was a deliberate part of the training. You see what that was teaching you? Is that even when these things happen, even when Jodi is stealing your girl back home, even when the food is terrible and the living conditions are rough, and when bullets are whizzing by your head, and even if you face the threat of death, you keep on marching, you keep on working to fulfill your mission. And St. Paul was indicating the same thing to the Thessalonians today in our epistle lesson, and that’s our theme for today: holding it together when everything is falling apart. And the falling apart that St. Paul is referring to in our lesson today is the ultimate and final falling apart. When the whole world seems to be falling apart and the Thessalonians, it appears, seemed to think that the return of Christ was right around the corner and they could see things falling apart around them. Expect the Worst: Apostasy and the Antichrist And it seemed as if this was causing no small number of their congregation distress, and maybe some of them were falling away from the faith and losing heart and confidence. And Paul helps to build ’em up in the faith, but he does so through, in the first instance, something that might seem counterintuitive. He tells the Thessalonians, well, expect the worst. Yeah, things might be bad and they are probably gonna get worse. He tells the Thessalonians, you might think to yourself, my goodness, why would he be telling the Thessalonians to expect the worst? Well, first of all, let’s take a look at how he tells the Thessalonians that they can expect the worst. He says, look, before the coming of the Lord, let no one deceive you for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called God or object of worship, so he takes a seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. What is Paul talking about there? He’s talking about two themes that we see consistently in prophecies of the end times, whether these are prophecies that Christ himself uttered or what he himself is here discussing or what we might find in the Book of Revelation. And the two themes are this: apostasy and the arising of the antichrist. Now apostasy, that’s what he calls rebellion here in a somewhat different term. What is apostasy or the rebellion that he is talking about here? Apostasy is when those who claim to be Christian turn their backs on the Christian faith and fall away from the faith and oppose the faith even. And Paul is saying, look. You might think that it’s bad now, but guess what? The time is coming when huge numbers of those who you considered your Christian brothers and sisters will turn away from the faith. And not only this, but many of them, he says, will be led astray ...
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    22 分
  • Sermon: Uniquely Blessed to Uniquely Serve

    Sermon: Uniquely Blessed to Uniquely Serve
    2025/10/13

    A reflection on God’s calling in every life—how His light sanctifies our work, prayer, and purpose across all ages and vocations.

    The post Sermon: Uniquely Blessed to Uniquely Serve first appeared on Saint Peter's Lutheran Church.
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    25 分
  • Sermon: 3 Biblical Patterns of Women’s Service

    Sermon: 3 Biblical Patterns of Women’s Service
    2025/10/07

    Explore three New Testament patterns of women's service: material support, gospel messengers, and examples of faith.

    The post Sermon: 3 Biblical Patterns of Women’s Service first appeared on Saint Peter's Lutheran Church.
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    17 分
  • Sermon: Office of the Holy Ministry

    Sermon: Office of the Holy Ministry
    2025/09/29

    Sermon on the Office of the Holy Ministry, emphasizing its vital role in delivering the Gospel and forgiveness through Christ's authority.

    The post Sermon: Office of the Holy Ministry first appeared on Saint Peter's Lutheran Church.
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    23 分
  • Sermon: Three Reasons to Repent Today

    Sermon: Three Reasons to Repent Today
    2025/08/28
    Saint Peter’s Lutheran Church in Door County 316 W Main St, Forestville, WI 54213(920) 856-6420https://doorcounty.church Text: Isaiah 66:18–23Liturgical Date: Pentecost 11, Proper 16 CCalendar Date: August 24, 2025Location: Saint Peter’s Lutheran Church in Door CountyPreacher: Rev. Dr. Christopher D. Jackson TRANSCRIPT The following transcript was written with the assistance of AI. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Today, we’re taking up the theme: Three Reasons to Repent Today. The Case for Procrastination There’s a certain t-shirt that you can see sometimes in the tourist shops at vacation places. You might see someone wearing it out on the street. I love the t-shirt. It’s a slogan t-shirt, and it says something to this nature: “Procrastinators of the world unite… Tomorrow.” I love that t-shirt because I think procrastination is really underrated. Now, certainly, there are some things that you gotta take care of today, you gotta take care of immediately. We’ll be talking about one of those things, but a lot of times, procrastination solves a huge amount of my problems. Dads, you know this, right? When a kid comes to you and says, “Oh, my elbow hurts,” or “Oh, I feel sick, please take me to the hospital,” what do you say? “Just sleep on it. Wait until tomorrow, wait a couple days, and if you still feel bad in a couple days, then we’ll take you to the doctor.” About 99 times out of a hundred, guess what? That solves the problem. Procrastinators of the world unite—tomorrow. I’m holding my hand up for it and saying that it’s a good thing. However, there are things that you ought to take care of today. If your kid comes to you and she’s got a broken arm, you take her to the hospital immediately, right? Well, I’m here to tell you that there are wounds that we all have, which are much more serious than a broken bone. That’s the brokenness of our hearts, our hardness towards God and our hardness towards our neighbor, the brokenness of our souls. We ought not procrastinate about this. Procrastination is oftentimes a good thing, but not when it comes to our sins. So, our theme, as we said, is Three Reasons to Repent Today. Reason One: The End Is Near The first reason for repentance is because the end is near, and the day of judgment is drawing nigh. Many believe they have time. Back in 313 AD, one of the most powerful men the world has ever seen, a man named Constantine the Great, was the emperor of the Roman Empire. He declared in 313 that Christianity was now legal. You didn’t have to be a Christian in secret, but rather, it was legitimate and licit to be a Christian in the Roman Empire. Not only this, but he did a great deal to promote the cause of Christianity. In a few minutes, we’re going to recite the Nicene Creed. We would not have the Nicene Creed if not for Constantine the Great. He convened councils and was influential in those councils that helped to formulate the Nicene Creed. Not only that, but he also helped to build churches all across the Roman Empire. Interestingly enough, his mother was his right-hand woman in building many of these churches. She was right at the center of this church-building effort. All across the Roman Empire, Helena, a wonderful woman in many ways. Constantine was also responsible for helping to distribute the scriptures across the Roman Empire, and we have physical evidence of this to this day. One of the oldest bound copies of the entire Christian Bible is a document called Codex Sinaiticus. Why is it called that? That’s Latin—Codex more or less means books, Sinaiticus means at or from Sinai. So, it was a book, a Bible, that was found at a monastery at Mount Sinai. Many people theorize that this is a copy of a whole set of Bibles that Constantine commissioned to be sent out across the Roman Empire. He was a great promoter of the Christian faith, and yet, there is a peculiar aspect of his life. He wasn’t baptized until 24 years later, 24 years after he decreed that Christianity was now legal. He was only baptized in 337, on his deathbed, and there was all kinds of confusion as to why he did that. There were things that he didn’t exactly have right. But one of those reasons, the key one that we’re going to talk about today, is that Constantine thought he had time. He thought he had time that God had never promised. Throughout history, and even today, many people have delayed repentance, believing that they have time. “I know that I need to address my drinking problem, but let’s leave that for another day.” “I know that I should either marry or get my own living accommodations rather than continuing to live with this man or this woman that I’m not married to. We will worry about that some other time.” “I know that I need to check my anger and my wrath against my family, but it’s the only way I can seem to get through. So, I’m gonna keep on with this way, ...
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    18 分
  • Sermon: Three Myths About Faith

    Sermon: Three Myths About Faith
    2025/08/13
    Text: Hebrews 11:1-16 | Liturgical Date: Pentecost 9, Proper 14 C | Calendar Date: August 10., 2025 | Location: Saint Peter’s Lutheran Church in Door County | Preacher: Rev. Dr. Christopher D. Jackson Saint Peter’s Lutheran Church in Door County316 W. Main St.Forestville, WI 54213920-856-6420https://doorcounty.church I had the great privilege this last week of going to Fort Benning in western Georgia, right on the border of Alabama. My son, Thomas, graduated from Airborne School on Friday. Airborne School is where you learn how to deploy from an airplane via parachute to defend the nation. Twenty-one years ago, believe it or not, your pastor was a lean, mean fighting machine. My weapon was the word of God as a chaplain candidate. I went through Airborne School as well and graduated 21 years ago. It was a great honor to earn the paratrooper wings and to pin those on Thomas on Friday. However, Mary and I witnessed probably one of the more terrible things I’ve seen in my life. On Thursday night, as they were making some of their final jumps and the sun was setting, I was looking off to the right when Mary said, “Chris, what’s going on over there?” A Sobering Incident I looked over and saw a terrible sight. One of the paratroopers’ parachute and cord got tangled with another paratrooper’s gear. His own parachute had no air in it whatsoever; it was just flopping, doing nothing for him. The other paratrooper’s parachute was compromised, so it wasn’t as full as it should have been. They were coming down at a very fast rate of descent. The paratrooper who was lower, dangling from the other’s gear, was swinging back and forth. As soon as they hit the ground, medics rushed to them, and eventually, a full ambulance arrived. I’m not sure what happened to those two paratroopers. We certainly pray that the Lord blesses them. But here’s the thing: that could have been me 21 years ago, or it could have been Thomas just a couple of days ago. It could have been the son of a kind Korean Presbyterian family we met there on the field, fellow parents of another West Point cadet. They were very reserved people, but in their few words, they made sure we knew they were Christians and that their son was a Christian. The first words out of their son’s mouth after his first jump, when he hit the ground, were, “Thank you, Jesus.” Faith in the Face of Danger I can tell you that 21 years ago, as I was going up into the plane and taking off, I was reciting the Apostles’ Creed and the Lord’s Prayer. I was doing my best to keep the faith, should the very worst happen. If the worst had happened—if that had been the young Korean Presbyterian cadet, or Thomas, or me 21 years ago, dangling beneath another paratrooper, coming down at about 25 or 30 miles an hour—would that have meant I had less faith or didn’t believe in God enough? Three Myths About Christian Faith This brings us to the first point of what we’re discussing today: three myths about Christian faith. Some believe faith is optimism, but faith is not necessarily worldly optimism; rather, it is confidence in the goodness of God. Others believe faith is power over God, whereas we will compare it to saying, “God, thy will be done.” Finally, some believe faith is a work that merits salvation, but instead, faith receives the work of salvation that Christ earned for us on the cross. Faith Is Not Worldly Optimism Some believe faith is bold optimism—that things will work out, things will go well, and it’ll be all right in the end, at least in this world. As Christians, we believe it will be truly well in the end of ends when Christ Jesus returns in power, might, and glory. But until then, we have no guarantees. I once read an account of a Lutheran woman in labor who uttered an oral prayer. Her nurse said, “That’s right, honey, you just have to believe.” The nurse, while meaning well, conveyed that faith is mere optimism. The plain fact is that, from a worldly perspective, God has made no promises about how things will go for us. It could have been me or Thomas dangling from another’s gear. We could face any kind of fate in this world. One of my favorite passages that conveys this is Romans chapter 8, verses 31 and following: “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” Confidence in God’s Sovereignty Listen to this, brothers and sisters: “Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?” That sounds bad enough, right? But then Paul adds ...
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    20 分
  • Sermon: On Guard Against Covetousness

    Sermon: On Guard Against Covetousness
    2025/08/04

    Sermon on covetousness: Jesus warns against jealousy, misuse of wealth, and clinging to sins. Learn to steward God’s gifts and rejoice in others’ blessings.

    The post Sermon: On Guard Against Covetousness first appeared on Saint Peter's Lutheran Church.
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    17 分
  • Sermon: Blessing People on the Way to Heaven

    Sermon: Blessing People on the Way to Heaven
    2025/07/03
    Text: Luke 9:51-62Liturgical Date: Pentecost 3, Proper 8 CCalendar Date: June 29, 2025Location: Saint Peter’s Lutheran Church in Door County; 316 W Main St, Forestville, WI 54213; 920-856-6420Preacher: Rev. Dr. Christopher D. Jackson Saint Peter’s Lutheran Church in Door County serves Northeast Wisconsin communities like Sturgeon Bay. TRANSCRIPT Opening Prayer and Introduction In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Our gospel lesson today centers on the theme of blessing people on their way to heaven. About 23 or 24 years ago, I found myself with a couple of friends in a small West Texas diner at 5:00 a.m. It was a quintessential West Texas scene: ranchers and cowboys in Stetson hats and tight-fitting blue jeans gathered around the breakfast table. They looked like they had been awake long before dawn and still had a long day ahead. As we ate our breakfast, on our way back east from a backpacking trip in the Gila Mountains of southern New Mexico, one of the cowboys at a nearby table looked over and asked, “You boys from Australia?” It was clear we didn’t belong. We replied, “No, sir, we’re from Indiana.” Close enough. Our speech, haircuts, clothes, and car made it evident we weren’t West Texas boys. Jesus as a Stranger Jesus Christ, our Lord, was also a stranger in a strange land. He walked this earth for our sake, yet He was not of this world. His true home was heaven, making Him a sojourner here. Because of this, He could bless us in a way only an outsider could. As Christians, brothers and sisters in Christ, we share this calling. Our true citizenship is in the kingdom of God, and in this world, we too are strangers. Praise be to God, for through this, the Lord blesses others through us, just as He blessed the world through Christ Jesus. Turning Point in Jesus’ Ministry Today’s gospel marks a turning point in Jesus’ life and ministry. Commentators on the Gospel of Luke, from ancient times to today, note that Luke 9:51 draws a bright line in the narrative. Here, Jesus sets His face toward Jerusalem, initiating the journey that will lead to the cross, the tomb, the resurrection, and ultimately, His ascension, which is mentioned in this very verse. Jesus, a Galilean from the north, centered around the Sea of Galilee, turns His back on His homeland. You’ve heard the saying, “You can never go back home.” That’s what’s happening here. Jesus leaves the region of His early ministry in Galilee and heads south to Judea. The Journey Through Samaria To reach Judea, He must pass through Samaria, a region inhabited by Samaritans. The Samaritans and Jews differed significantly, particularly in their views on worship. Jews believed God was rightly worshiped only in Jerusalem, at the temple on Mount Zion, the center of their religious life, no matter where they lived. Samaritans, however, worshiped the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in their own land. When they saw Jesus’ face set toward Jerusalem, not their land, they rejected Him. He didn’t belong. Rejection in Jerusalem Jesus was a stranger not only in Samaria but also in Jerusalem. Though He was welcomed with fanfare upon entering the city, the cries of “Hosanna, save us!” soon turned to “Crucify Him!” Instead of being embraced, He was cast out and crucified outside the city gates—an ultimate act of rejection. Jesus didn’t belong in Galilee, Samaria, or even Jerusalem. His true home was heaven. Luke 9:51 notes that “the days drew near for Him to be taken up.” When a man approached and said, “Jesus, I will follow you wherever you go,” Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” He was a stranger on this earth. Salvation Through Christ Praise be to God for this. Because Jesus didn’t fit in, He brought what only someone from the heavenly kingdom could: salvation. This world is captive to sin, which, as Romans describes, is enmity against God—opposition to His will. Jesus, however, loved the Father with His whole heart, soul, strength, and mind. He trusted the Father even to the point of death, commending His spirit into His Father’s hands. The wages of sin is death, for turning away from the Giver of Life leads to destruction, chaos, and darkness. But Jesus, through His absolute love, faith, and service in His death, conquered death. It had no hold on Him. This world, consumed by sin, is marked by death and chaos, but the brilliant light of the empty tomb testifies that Christ has defeated these forces. Christ’s Ascension and Intercession Because Jesus was not at home in this world, He ascended to the right hand of the Father, where He belongs. As the writer of Hebrews says, we have a sympathetic High Priest who bears our prayers to the Father, interceding for us even when we falter. Reigning with all authority, Christ works all things for the good of those who love Him, as St. Paul assures...
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    28 分