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The Shepherd’s Voice – Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Tomah, WI

The Shepherd’s Voice – Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Tomah, WI

著者： Good Shepherd Lutheran Church - Tomah WI
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Welcome to The Shepherd’s Voice, the podcast ministry of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church (LCMS) in Tomah, Wisconsin. Each episode shares Christ-centered preaching, Bible teaching, and encouragement for your walk of faith. Rooted in the historic Lutheran confession, we proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ crucified and risen for the forgiveness of sins.

Whether you’re a lifelong Lutheran, exploring the Christian faith, or seeking hope in daily life, The Shepherd’s Voice offers clear Law and Gospel preaching, devotionals, and reflections grounded in God’s Word.

Join us as we lift high the cross of Christ and connect listeners to the Shepherd who knows His sheep by name.

Copyright 2025 All rights reserved. キリスト教 スピリチュアリティ 聖職・福音主義
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  • The Twentieth Sunday after Trinity | St. Matthew 22:1-14 | There's No Hiding Who You Are

    The Twentieth Sunday after Trinity | St. Matthew 22:1-14 | There's No Hiding Who You Are
    2026/10/19
    The Twentieth Sunday after Trinity October 18, 2026 St. Matthew 22:1-14 Weddings are joyous celebrations that bring together friends, family, and sometimes a community. However, while weddings tend to focus on the bride and groom, today’s parable tells the story of two types of wedding guests: those invited but who don’t come, and those who do come but don’t attend the feast properly. For those invited but who don’t come to the feast, it’s a total rejection of the invitation. Their conduct isn’t just rude to the servants who delivered the invitation; it’s vicious. Jesus said, “They paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them.” Today we get angry when people don’t respond to a simple dinner invitation, but these invited guests didn’t just fail to respond at first; some responded to the messengers with violence. At first, it may not be clear, but hidden within the parable is the story of Israel being invited to the feast and rejecting the Lord’s invitation. The sad unfolding of the story of God’s people is that they not only give no attention to His Word and invitation to come to the wedding He is preparing, but they reject the messengers God has sent to call them into His presence; they kill the servants of the Lord, and they will also kill His Son, Jesus Christ, by crucifying Him on the cross. The rejection of Israel still occurs today among God’s people; we see it not only in churches that have no respect for the Holy Scriptures, but even in churches such as Good Shepherd, when the sheep don’t like the words of God or when those words don’t align with how we desire to conduct our lives, so we are inclined to become angry and frustrated with the messengers God sends among us. But today, let’s focus on the latter part of the parable: a guest arrives at the wedding feast without the appropriate attire—the wedding garment. At that time, wedding guests were expected to dress a certain way, wearing celebratory wedding garments, and if someone didn’t have the appropriate garments, the host would provide them. Now, remember that a parable is often a story with a deeper meaning. Today, Jesus’ words tell the story of someone who doesn’t appear to be what or who they seem. Life is full of people, places, and things that aren’t what they seem, each with its own hidden reality. For instance, we all know that some people wear masks to hide who they truly are, like a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Some places aren’t as their names describe; Greenland isn’t green, and Iceland isn’t full of ice. Or even more simply, a firefly isn’t a fly; it’s a beetle. A shooting star isn’t a star but a meteorite; shortbread isn’t bread but a thick cookie. A lead pencil isn’t even lead; it’s graphite. The philosopher Phaedrus wrote, “Things are not always what they seem; the first appearance deceives many; the intelligence of a few perceives what has been carefully hidden.” And this raises the question: are things what they always appear to be, especially in the Church? Or, more specifically, are people who they appear to be when they gather in the sanctuary of God’s church? Or do you and others conceal who you truly are? Reflecting on when the Lord sent Samuel to anoint scrawny David king over Israel, God said to Samuel in the Old Testament, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature… For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7) Honestly, this can be hard to hear; God knows your heart. God knows why you enter this sanctuary, whether to receive companionship or belonging, which can be a healthy second or third-order effect of the Church, or because “it’s just what you do?” You were raised to come to church, and over time the church has become more a place to gather and maintain membership, like a club or civic organization. However, entering this sanctuary is more than mere membership; it’s entering the ongoing wedding feast of Christ and His Church in true faith. And for this, today’s parable also helps us begin to understand what is known as the visible versus the invisible church on earth. Here’s what we mean by this… Everyone physically present in the sanctuary is a member of the visible church gathered around God’s Word and His sacraments; we know this because we can see one another with our eyes. But the parable also reveals that some who gather in the Lord’s sanctuary may not be true members of Christ Jesus’ church, the invisible church, because they don’t wear the appropriate clothing of faith. Instead, they come into this sanctuary merely because of tradition, the gift of earthly relationships they have formed, or, sadly, in some situations, for status within a community....
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    12 分
  • The Nineteenth Sunday After Trinity | St. Matthew 9:1-8 | Be Courageous

    The Nineteenth Sunday After Trinity | St. Matthew 9:1-8 | Be Courageous
    2026/10/11
    The Nineteenth Sunday After Trinity October 11, 2026 Text: Matthew 9:1-8 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, Today’s Gospel is one of the most explicit texts you’ll hear about the forgiveness of sins. The Christian Church is centered and grounded in forgiveness, secured for you by Jesus Christ upon the cross. From the cross, forgiveness of sins proceeds through the Church’s liturgy, including absolution, the Gospel, the Sermon, and the Lord’s Supper, and then flows into your lives, paths, and conversations you encounter every day and every week. Yet this article of faith is one of the hardest for Christians to truly exercise in their lives. To forgive is often seen as a form of surrender; it’s the end of a battle and conflict, and it’s admitting a wrong, whether real or perceived. The old Adam residing in your hearts can’t afford this kind of humility before friends and foes. Thus, this hardness of heart paralyzes you and renders you immovable in your life and relationships. In today’s Gospel, the paralytic is said to have been brought to Jesus by his friends. Those are some good friends. They cared for this man and brother. They wanted him to be healed again, to walk with them, to converse, and to be part of who they are as a community. But as the friends bring the paralytic to Jesus, He says something odd, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.” A better way to translate this pronouncement from Jesus may be, “Be courageous, child; your sins are forgiven.” It’s a nuance, but the courage needed for life is to face sorrow, hardship, broken relationships, and the like with confidence in God, remaining hopeful and courageous through the good and the bad of each day. Jesus also says to you, as He did at the beginning of today’s service, “Be courageous, child, your sins are forgiven.” But like those gathered with the paralytic, that’s not what you genuinely want to hear. The friends brought the paralytic to Jesus for healing, and likewise, you want the challenges and tribulations of life removed from your path. The person you struggle within the church, remove them! The child who struggles, who bullies others, send them away. The cloud of sadness that follows untimely deaths—well, just don’t let this happen to me. Today, Jesus doesn’t treat the symptoms of paralysis in your life; he treats the cause – sin. You see, the paralytic was healed, but there’s no guarantee he wouldn’t lose his ability to walk again. There’s no promise he wouldn’t face danger or trial. So Jesus tells him to be courageous – to face the days of his life and take comfort in what is eternal – the forgiveness of sins. So, my friends, which is easier, “to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk’?” Sure, at first, you might say that forgiving sins is the easier path. But you can’t necessarily see forgiveness, can you? You may know what’s in your heart, but can you see your brother or sister’s heart? For the scribes gathered, they thought within their hearts that this Jesus was blaspheming God. Do you know why this whole interaction should scare you? Because Jesus likewise knows your thoughts and hearts and says, “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” He sees the paralysis of sin dwelling within you. At this moment, Jesus reveals His omniscience in today’s Gospel. He sees beyond your external actions and knows your secret thoughts and words. He knows the deep waters of your heart and the evil that lies within, just as He knew the hearts of the Scribes. Truthfully, we don’t want to face life’s darkness. We don’t want to confess what truly troubles us. We don’t want to reconcile with those brothers and sisters we genuinely loathe and despise. We don’t desire forgiveness; we simply want to be told, “Arise and walk.” We desire cures for the symptoms of life’s troubles, not the cause. Reconciliation makes us uncomfortable and forces us to speak with one another. To say, “I’m sorry and I forgive you.” Yeah, no, thank you. Let’s just devise ways to coexist, tolerate one another, and keep the banter going for good measure. Seriously, when was the last time you sat down with someone you disagreed with or had sinned against and walked through confession and absolution? When was the last time you spoke the tearfully freeing words to your greatest nemesis? We need to learn again how to say, I am sorry, and I forgive you – because it is life-giving, restoring, and eternal. The healing and forgiveness of God did not remain in heaven but entered this world through the incarnation, taking the form of a man, the Father’s only begotten Son. He bore the world’s sin on the cross, and now, in the font, you have been united with Christ in death and resurrection. In the font of ...
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    10 分
  • The Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity | St. Matthew 22:34-46 | The Law also Teaches You How to Live

    The Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity | St. Matthew 22:34-46 | The Law also Teaches You How to Live
    2026/10/04
    The Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity October 4, 2026 St. Matthew 22:34-46 Before this morning’s Gospel reading, the Sadducees debated with Jesus about the resurrection. However, Jesus silenced their inquiry, and now the Pharisees have arrived to ask Jesus a question: “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” The text says these scholars ask this question to test Jesus, but it’s more than that; they desire to entrap Him. They want to take Jesus down. They want to silence Him. So these legal minds ask Jesus a question on the only topic they “think” they know: the Law of God, the commandments. But for a moment, let’s take a step back and ask: what is a commandment? In the most simplistic manner, a commandment is a word from God or God’s word. And what is the purpose of these words? These words, these commandments, reveal God’s will for man. What man is to do. They provide order for the Christian life. However, we are all like children, turning to one another and saying, “You can’t tell me what to do.” We’ve all said this at some point in our lives. Sometimes we say this not with our words, but with our silence, with a deaf ear, and with the actions we continue to do even after being told they are against God’s will and His commandments. For instance, you encourage a child to come to the Divine Service, to hear God’s Word, receive His forgiveness, and be made ready for eternal life, but they just turn over in bed, pull the blanket over their heads, sleep in, and wait for you to return home in the early afternoon. It’s a silent act by a child raised in the Christian faith who fails to keep the Third Commandment. Or there’s the child of an aging parent who knows they need to call their mother or father, visit them, take them to a doctor’s appointment, spend time with them, love them, and cherish them, but instead they silence their parent’s call when it comes in and avoid their mother and father. It’s a silent action of avoidance that fails to keep the Fourth Commandment. There’s the couple who lives together without being married. Maybe a pastor told them to get hitched; maybe they haven’t, but they grew up in the church. They know God’s plan for marriage; they know that the union and fellowship of a man and a woman in one home is a foundational gift from God, not only for the family but also for society, and that it must not be abused or neglected. However, their failure to marry and their continued cohabitation brush aside the joys of marriage. It’s a silent action by a man and a woman that fails to keep the Sixth Commandment. But where does a person learn to break God’s Law in these ways? At home, silent actions and examples are often shown to one another. The child learns most from what is done, not from what is said. So ask yourself this question. What do the day-to-day actions in your home teach others about the faith that is within you? In other words, what silent aspects of life are confessing your faith, or lack thereof… For instance, when someone comes to your home, do you invite them in? Do you expect them to remove their shoes, or do they keep them on? Do husband and wife serve one another, or is one expected to serve the other? Are the toys scattered throughout the home, or do the parents get down on the ground to help teach the child how to put their toys away? When the family sits down for a meal, do they quiet their voices, fold their hands, bow their heads, and pray, or do the conversations continue as if God hadn’t provided the food before them? As the day comes to its close, does a parent or grandparent tuck in their little ones, sing a hymn, teach them to pray, and entrust their lives to God’s care? Or is the child simply sent off to bed and reminded to turn off the lights? Within all of these situations I just brought up, we see unspoken commandments of a home, a way order is being instilled into the hearts and minds of those dwelling together, especially children. And reflect on this. If the removal of shoes or the picking up of toys is as important in your home as it is in many, how much more important is the keeping of God’s Word, His Commandments, the way He orders your life, the way He wants you to walk throughout this life, so that you might inherit eternal life? Just reflect on the words of the Old Testament reading from Deuteronomy, And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good? (Deuteronomy 10:12-13) In order to walk in the ways of the Lord, Moses says that one must have a godly fear, that is, a sense of amazement and respect for God and His Word. This happens only when you know God...
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    15 分
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