St. Paul's Howards Grove Podcast

SPL Worship "Live Like You'll Live Forever" | 11.17.24

Live Like You’ll Live Forever: free from fear of judgment. Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) affects many millions of adults. They struggle with everyday tasks like talking to people at work or school out of terror that they are constantly being evaluated. Even if you don’t have that disorder, perhaps you have experienced the uncomfortable feeling that others are looking for something to criticize about you. How do we overcome the fear of judgment? It begins by realizing that there is only one person whose opinion ultimately matters—the Judge. Where you spend eternity depends on Jesus’ judgment. This week we see why his judgment need not trigger any sort of anxiety. Judgment day is something we can joyfully anticipate. Our sermon today comes from Daniel 12.

Pentecost 25 | November 10, 2024

Live Like You’ll Live Forever: offering everything to the Lord. God had commanded his Old Testament people to tithe as part of their offerings to him. It can be easy for us to get caught up in percentages of how much of our money, our time, our energy we should give to the Lord. We only have a limited amount of those things, right? Don’t we need to guard some for ourselves? The same God who has given us an infinite amount of time in his Son has all the resources in the world at his disposal to provide for us. May we gladly offer all that we have and are to him who has freely given us everything in Christ! Our sermon today is from 1 Kings 17.

SPL Worship | “Live Like You’ll Live Forever” | 11.03.24

_Live Like You’ll Live Forever: knowing that life only gets better._ “It will get better.” We say that to someone who is having a bad day (or maybe a whole string of bad days). Perhaps tomorrow will be better. But perhaps it’s worse. In this life…there really are no guarantees that things will get better. That isn’t the case with the life that is to come. That life isn’t just going to be better…it’ll be perfect. Since the 7th century, Christians have marked a day to celebrate those who have died in faith and now realize the perfect joys of heaven. Today, we ask God to preserve us in our faith so that we might one day join the saints in that place where life is far more than better.

October 27th 2024 - St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran, Howards Grove, WI

Live Like You’ll Live Forever: confessing your faith with courage._ Living life according to God’s Word is going to make one appear odd in the eyes of the world, perhaps even evil. So why not just stay silent if that makes life easier? Why not keep our faith private? Answer: because we are going to live forever. Since we know we are going to live forever in the perfection of heaven…we don’t worry if being a witness for Christ brings hardship or even death. Luther knew that…thanks to Christ…he would live forever. So will we. Therefore, like Luther…let us live a life of courageous witness.

SPL Worship | The Need for Followership | 10.20.24

The Need for Followership: When the bathroom is all steamy after the morning shower, it can be impossible to see yourself in the mirror to get ready for the day – and then embarrassing to go about your day not knowing what you look like. It is even worse to go through life blind to God – it is deadly. Today’s worship is about seeing ourselves and our complete dependence on God clearly. Then we go about each day by Spirit-worked and gospel-powered faith looking to Jesus. The steam scatters and we follow him, “Seeing the Lord by Faith”. Our sermon comes from Mark 10.

SPL Worship | "The Need for Followership" | 10.13.24

_The Need for Followership: treasure him most._ People think that establishing priorities is about ranking things in order of importance. But it is more than that. Without proper priorities…one inevitably will pursue _that which is nice_ while downplaying _that which is needed_. Throughout Scripture believers are urged to prioritize. Jesus calls for prioritization when he says, _“Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness”_ (Matthew 6:33). Good news: followers of Christ treasure him most. Even better news: followers of Christ receive his forgiveness for all the times they haven’t.

St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran, Howards Grove, WI - Oct. 6th, 2024

The Need for Followership: Love can cause harm. Consider the wife whose husband wants little to do with church. When he wants her and the children to stay home Sunday morning, she complies without protest to the spiritual detriment of the whole family. Or consider the father who loves his child so much that he gives the child everything that child asks for. That father’s love is shaping that child to be a selfish, entitled adult.

In our families, we need to love rightly, in a way that leads to blessings for those we claim to love. In Jesus we see perfect, self-sacrificial love: he loves us as we are, yet he also loved us too much to leave us as we are. In love he gave his life up so that we might be holy and blameless. He also shapes the way we love. Today we see that followers of Christ know how to love their families. Our sermon today is from Mark 10.

Sep. 22nd 2024 - St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran, Howards Grove, WI

We need better leadership!” Have you ever said that? Jesus Christ is the leader of our congregation, our home, our lives. And his leadership is perfect in every way. Therefore, when things are amiss, what is needed is not better leadership...but better followership. In this series, we ask Christ to empower us with his Spirit so that we might better follow his lead.

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Sep. 22nd 2024 - St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran, Howards Grove, WI

Humility and pride are polar opposites. Pride exalts self at the expense of God and others. Humility exalts God and others at the expense of self. Pride is the essential vice, for it increases one’s hunger for all other sins. Humility increases one’s hunger for the forgiveness and healing found in Christ. The one who is proud demands to be served. The one who is humble is not content unless serving others. St. Augustine described it this way: “It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.” As we see all Christ did to serve us, our hearts melt. Within us grows a Christ-like obsession to serve others, without counting the cost, without any desire to be repaid. Those who are in positions of Christian leadership understand that their purpose is only achieved through service. For followers of Christ are humble servants. Our sermon comes from Mark 9.

Sep. 15th 2024 - St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran, Howards Grove, WI

The Need for Followership: armed against the devil. What is the worst war in human history? One might point to World War II…which has the highest death toll of at least 90 million people. Or the Three Kingdoms War…which not only resulted in over 40 million deaths but also lasted for most of the third century. There is no end to the sad list of nominations: the Thirty Years War…the Taiping Rebellion…the American Civil War…World War I. None of those is the correct answer. The worst war in human history has been raging since the first shot was fired in Eden. It is a war against “spiritual forces of evil” (Ephesians 6:12). It is a war for souls. The reality is that there are demonic forces that want to do more than kill you; they want to claim you for all eternity. The good news: Christ has already called you his own and equipped you for this war. Followers of Christ are armed for the battle against the devil.