St. Paul Lutheran Church Harlingen, Texas

#HeavenlyHope

“But the most amazing thing is that one day, you will see the lamb of God face to face. And my mom cannot give me that satisfaction. My dad cannot give me that satisfaction, but Jesus can. And I probably will forget that I have a mother or dad during that time. Just... You and me. But the promise is that all the saints will gather around his throne for the banquet and the feast that has no end. And you are invited to that. You're part of that. And I look forward to see you there. I look forward to joy, to the joy of eternal salvation with all of you.”

#JesusHasDoneEnough

“I have not done enough, but I know the one. I know the one who has done enough. And his name is Jesus and Jesus has done enough. I have been made right with God, not by my works, but by Jesus' work who lived a life of perfect love in my place, who bore my sins upon the cross. And that when he said on that cross, it is finished, Tetelestai in the Greek. He meant it. He didn't mean it was just finished for him. He meant it was finished for you. He meant it was finished for your kids and for your grandkids. He meant it was finished, get this, even for the guy you didn't vote for. Incredible. It's finished, Jesus said. Because your works and my works could not pay it.”

#JesusIsEnough

“Have I done enough? The answer is for all of us, I have not done enough. I fall short of the glory of God. I fall short of the law. It accuses me, it condemns me. I have not done enough, but I know the one. I know the one who has done enough. And his name is Jesus. And Jesus has done enough. I have been made right with God, not by my works, but by Jesus' work who lived a life of perfect love in my place, who bore my sins upon the cross.”

#JesusTransformsTheWorld

“And let me tell you this with all the respect. No one will make America or the whole world better or the best. No one. Only Jesus Christ can. And guess what? He's not gonna just gonna make America. He's gonna make the whole world better one day. And that's what I rest on, on the one who died for me, who give all he had, who went and put his skin and bones with his words, with his actions to love me and to say, I love you. How much? This much.”

#ChristOverRules

“Because until they know the one who has called them, they will not know how to walk the talk. The Pharisees have the commandments. You can have the commandments. You can have all your script. But if you don't have the king, which is Jesus, you got nothing. All you have is a rock with a bunch of things in there to do.”

#JesusIsOurPeace

“The kingdom of God, listen to this, is Jesus himself. Tell them that the kingdom of God is near them because he was going to be there. He is our kingdom. He is our peace. The kingdom of God stands in front of them in flesh and blood, person, and wherever he goes, peace goes with him. You don't bring peace because you have money, you don't be peace because you're healthy, you don't bring peace because of your back, your accomplishments, you have peace that surpasses all understanding. That is Jesus Christ.”

#ForgivenessInChrist

“He draws near with us with his word, exposing what we would rather hide. He names our sin, not to hide it, but so that we might confess it, so that he might bring forgiveness, life, and salvation. He brings us to the end of our excuses so that we can receive what we really need, his forgiveness. Because the good news is Jesus has come for sinners just like us.”

#JesusLovesYou

“And Jesus willingly went to the cross for you. For you with the broken past. For you with the aging and broken body. For you with the absentee dad. For you with the bad back and the bad credit score and the bad grade and and the bad break. Jesus's forgiving love is where we find that power of God's great grace for us. Because he doesn't wrap himself up and keep himself safe. He gives himself for us.”

#FaithInAction

“So let me return to those little seeds in this little packet. What has God placed in your hands? Where is the gift ready to be put to work? What neighbor could receive help? What ministry could receive support? What opportunity to serve has been waiting while fear has kept you still. Start this week, make a plan and take one concrete step. Let something God has entrusted to you become a blessing to someone else. Doing that with the confidence in the one who has already given you himself. Your father who knows your needs, your savior who has secured your future, and his spirit who is at work through his word, forming you into a servant who reflects the father's generosity.”

#Christology

“There's two terms in theology that that you want to learn, Christology from above and the Christology from below. The Christology from below says that God is God because he has given me this. The crystallurgy from above says that God is God because he is God. The question to you is this, is God God because he provides, or is God God because he's God? Which one is it?”

#BelongToJesus

“And in a moment, he's gonna place his body and blood in your mouth to assure you your sins are forgiven. So that when you look at your home, your paycheck or the keys in your hand and ask, whose is it? Where guilt may accuse you, where tomorrow may frighten you, where death itself draws near, remember the answer to the greater question. Who am I? I belong to Jesus. And because your future is safe in his hands, you're free. Free to be generous with what he's placed in yours. Because all that we have belongs to him and by his grace, so do we. And in Jesus, we have more than enough.”

#FaithOverFear

“Jesus paid for your sins with his blood. He rose to give you life and in your baptism he placed he placed his name on you. You belong to him. You belong to Jesus. And because your future is safe in his hands, you're free. Free to be generous in what he's placed in yours. Because all that you and I have belongs to him. And by his grace, so do we. Because in Jesus, in Jesus, we are more than enough.”

#ChristIsEnough

“That doesn't mean that every follower of Jesus will have a large bank account. This isn't the prosperity gospel Paul speaking, that lie. No, he's promising something far better. That in Christ, we possess the treasure that no money can buy and death can never take away. And when that grace takes all of our heart to changes, how we look at what's in our hands, that we don't have to live and cling to it as though it's our salvation and our lives and our future depends on it. We're instead free to receive God's gifts with thanksgiving, to use them wisely, to be generous Because in Jesus, we've already got more than enough.”

#RichInChrist

“He is the eternal son of God, the one through whom all things were made. He is the Lord of heaven and earth. He is rich. Everything belongs to him. Yet for our sake he became poor, taking on our flesh, entering this world of hunger, a greed, of grief, rejection and need. No place to lay his head, stripped and mocked and crucified. He became poor because he loved us. He took upon himself our sin and guilt and the debt we can never repay. And by his poverty, his suffering, his death, and his resurrection, made us rich. Rich in forgiveness, rich in peace with God and with one another, rich in the promise of eternal life, in inheritance that cannot perish, spoil, or fade.”

#GraceAlone

“Good worker, good worker. You are a honest worker. But you know what your wages are? If you have sinned, what is the wages of sin? The wages of sin is dead. So which pay, wage do you want? Do you want justice? I'm sure that can arrange that. But what you don't want is your justice and your thought. You what you want is grace. We want grace because that's what we need. That's not what we deserve, it's what we need.”

#GraceNotFairness

“It's not a threat Jesus is making to make us anxious. It's a promise that in God's kingdom, it is not earned by the length of our labor, the size of our sacrifice, how he compared anyone else. Our place is secured by the generosity of the master. A generous master who treats us better than fairly, but who treats us with grace that we don't deserve. In Christ, he's given us what belongs to his son, forgiveness and life and salvation.”

#GraceOverWorks

“It's not a threat Jesus is making to make us anxious. It's a promise that in God's kingdom, it is not earned by the length of our labor, the size of our sacrifice, how he compared anyone else. Our place is secured by the generosity of the master. A generous master who treats us better than fairly, but who treats us with grace that we don't deserve. In Christ, he's given us what belongs to his son, forgiveness and life and salvation. And while grace may at times offend our score keeping, for sinners like you and like me, It is our only hope, and it is than enough.”

#GiveWhatYouReceived

“And I'm not saying to ignore or to not do what is right. All I'm saying is to give to people what they don't deserve, just that you have received what you don't deserve. Jesus took the punishment for you. He took your sin. He he took those moments that you went like, oops, my bad. He took what belongs to you, and he gives us what belongs to him, his forgiveness, his righteousness, his life, his salvation. Jesus is asking us to go do for others what we have received from him.”

#ForgivenInChrist

“That mercy has been conveyed to you in the water, the word of your baptism. It was proclaimed over you in the word of absolution. Today, it was placed into your mouth with Christ's body and blood through bread and wine. You're not merely told forgiveness is an idea, you are forgiven. Your debt is paid and released because Jesus has paid it in full. And having received that payment in full, that forgiveness begins to change us. And it changes us not by denying the pain, not by making reconciliation and automatic or safe in every situation. But rather that forgiveness is that decision to release vengeance into God's hand. Refusing to demand another sinner pay the debt that Christ has already paid for.”

#ForgivenessAtTheCross

“Because at the foot of the cross, there's no room for pride and score keeping or revenge. There's only a savior who bears our debt, speaks pardon over sinners, and sends us out as people of the same mercy we have received. In Christ, you are free. So release the debt and trust judgment to God. Speak that truth in love and let that forgiveness that has flowed from the wounds of Jesus flow through your forgiven heart to others as well.”

#FatherKnowsWhatToDo

“When you're scared, your father knows what to do. When you've wandered, he knows what to do. When sin has wounded you or you wounded someone else, he knows what to do. When you're weak and grieving and lonely, When you're confused and carrying a burden, no one can see. Your father knows what to do. He sent his son. Jesus came to seek you when you were lost, to bear your sins on his own body, to rise again so that death would never have the final word and so that you would be brought home to the father. And even now this morning, he continues to call you his own.”

#CrossMeansLove

“But I do know this, I do know what the cross tells me. The cross tells me that suffering does not mean God does not love you. The cross tells me that suffering does not mean Christ has abandoned you or he's indifferent to your pain or that that evil will have the last word. We may not know what God is doing in the moment, but we know his heart toward us because we've seen that heart opened on the cross. Because the hands that hold your life now were the hands that were pierced for that life as well.”

#ThreeWitnesses

“Jesus did it. Sometimes he took John and Peter, and only all those three and Jesus, they saw that Jesus transfigurated. Not the 12, not the 5,000, but the three saw the trinity there. And saw Moses and who? Elijah. Only three. And you say, pastor, we're only seven. That's a lot. How many people does God need to show you who he is? You. That's all it takes. Because he came for you.”

#BrokenButChosen

“If Jesus built his church only with people who always understood him, never doubted, never spoke foolishly, never became afraid, never failed under pressure, he would have no stones, myself included, on which to build. But the builder isn't embarrassed by broken stones. He forgives them. He restores them. He gives them a place in his church and that includes you.”

#BreadNotCrumbs

“``And then he he not only say, but he demonstrated his love on the cross. And and today, you don't get the little crumbs off the table. You get the real bread and Because you are no longer strangers. You are family to him. You are his children. He gives himself, not whatever is in the table, not dead fish, not kind of ground grain, but his own body and blood. He promised to be present. We don't change that. That's nothing. It's still bread and wine, but he promised to be with us as we do this. That's a beautiful promise. Because when we eat, we do are reminded that even if he's silent, he's providing for us. He's providing to everyone.”

#FaithInJesusMercy

“``Maybe that's something we have to learn from this came a night woman this morning as well. That faith isn't confidence that I am worthy, but that faith is rather a confidence that Jesus is merciful. That it's not about about me and my worthiness. It is about Jesus and his abundance. It is about Jesus and his grace. It is about Jesus who has more than enough grace for the brokenness in our life. More than enough mercy for all the sin that is in me. A Jesus who says, I get a place at his table, not because of anything I've done, but because of everything he has done.”

#JesusNeverWavers

“``Friends, Peter's hope was never that he could walk on water. His hope was that Jesus could walk on water and that Jesus' word was enough. Your hope too and my hope is not that our faith never wavers. Your hope and my hope is that Jesus never wavers. He came walking over all the chaos this world could throw at him. He stretches out his hands and went to the cross and walked out of the tomb to give you a foretaste of what's coming for you. He claimed you in holy baptism. He feeds you at his table with his own body and blood, and he speaks over every storm, every classroom, every hospital room, nursing room, an anxious heart with his words. Have courage. It is I. Don't be afraid because the one who holds you is always stronger than the waves beneath you.”

#HonorAuthoritiesByGrace

“``But as forgiven sinners, here's our challenge. How can we, even though we know we shouldn't badmouth our leaders, how can we obey this commandment and honor all those whom god has put in authority over us? Only in the very same way we're able to keep any of god's righteous commandments. We can never, by our own power and strength, obey this commandment or any of them. For with these sinful hearts, we fail. We fail again and again to keep this commandment or any of his commandments. My dear friends, it is only under the power of the holy spirit that we can honor those who that god has put an authority over us, especially those we disagree with.”

#HeldByGrace

“``Yes. I have failed. Yes. There are times I haven't trusted god. Yes. I have sinned by what I have done and what I haven't done. Yes. My faith has been weak, and I have failed. But here's the good news. That's not the complete story. The rest of the story is Christ Jesus has saved me. I was baptized. I belong to him, and he is holding on to me, declaring me to be his beloved son, his chosen daughter in whom in whom he is well pleased. So that when the winds blow and they will, when the waves rise and they will, When our faith feels weak and sometimes it does, our salvation doesn't rest on how tightly you are holding on to Jesus, but it rests on the one who is holding you and he doesn't let go.”

#JesusPaidItAll

“``And in that cross, he just didn't hear. I'm gonna fight for you. He says, I'll open my hand for you. He carry our sin. Not our actions only, but he carry you. He redeem you. He bore your unbelief, my unbelief. He bore our selfishness, our hearts that are troubled. He took it all on the cross. And when he say on the cross there, when he said, saying your sin has been paid for. It is finished. He didn't say, I did my part. You now you do your part. He was saying, I paid for you.”

#ProclaimHisName

“``We are not to misuse my name, but we are to use it. How are we to use god's name properly? You know, the Jewish people of Jesus today had the idea that if you never use God's name, okay, then you'll never misuse it and break the second commandment. What a foolish idea. Of course, god wants us to use his name. In fact, he loves for his children whom he loves so dearly to call upon his name. He wants us to call upon his name in prayer. He wants us to proclaim his name far and wide.”

#YahwehSaves

“``Just think for a minute what that means. Literally, it means that God was, is, and always will be. He and he alone is the eternally existent one. You know, you and I are very temporary. We're here today, gone tomorrow. Right? When you get a little older like me, you'll understand how short a time we have on this earth. But the name we know God best by is Jesus, or in Hebrew, Yahshua. And what Jesus means literally means is Yahweh saves. saves. What an appropriate name for god. For in Jesus, our god, Yahweh is saving us by going to that hell cross in Jerusalem and suffering the hell we deserve.”

#ValueBeyondTemporary

“``If your treasure is health, sickness will frighten you, young adults and young people and older people. If your treasure is beauty, just wait until you get older. That that tattoo that has a happy face turns into a sad face. If your treasure is approval, then criticism will crush you and control you. If your treasure is your own goodness, every sin will leave you wondering if God will still love you.”

#ChooseYourHarvest

“``What is choking your life right now? What doubts? What fears? What is distracting you from the harvest that is coming ahead? You're literally looking at the harvest, or you're looking at your own harvest. Jesus, what are you trying to do in us? May our ears not only hear, but be pleased and do your will. For the young people who are here, Consider what you're doing right now. Are you really satisfied what you do? What if tomorrow you cannot move from your bed? You cannot get up? Today, tomorrow, and after Christ promised to be with you throughout eternity.”

#PlantedByGrace

“``And the farmer in all the parables, Jesus, tells us parables, but on this one, he takes the time brings the people to his to the to the house and explains to them what it means. And the farmer here is the son of man. Who is the son of man? It refers to Jesus. That's the farmer. He has planted something in your life by grace. Listen. It's by grace. It's by grace you've been planted. How many of you decided before you were created, I'm gonna be born in this couple? Nobody none of us. It was by grace. By grace that we are here, we were planted by grace, and by grace, it continues to provide for us everything we need.”

#JesusSaviorNotInfluencer

“``See, while while the influencers are trying to get people to follow them and to like them for their own agenda, Jesus wants to get your attention to give you eternal life. While we we hear the bells to ring the sound good in here, Jesus is sounding the trumpet many people follow him. Two thousand years later, people still follow him in many languages. Jesus is not an influencer. He's a savior. He's a redeemer. He's the king of kings. He's the lord of lords. He's the I am who I am. And you know why he's who he is? Because we need him.”

#SowEverywhere

“``Now when you see this story that Jesus tells, it's incredible that this farmer is throwing seeds into rocks, into weeds. A modern day farmer would say, you're wasting seed. But that's exactly the point. The parable is not about an unskilled farmer who needs to spend some more time in FFA. It's about the generosity of a sower and a power of a seed to do something even in the harshest of conditions. That God scatters his word everywhere and every place and no places nobody expects it to grow. And even there, it can take root.”

#FaithOverEfficiency

“``Now before we look at the fourth type of soil, we have to really think about this farmer because in in the midst of all of this, we got we gotta wonder, why does the farmer farm in this way? Why even bother? If the ground looks bad, if the soil doesn't look like it's going to produce, why would you still plant the seed? It doesn't make sense for agriculture. If you ask any of our farmers here, they're not going to do that. But what doesn't make sense for farming makes perfect sense for God and his word. And his word goes forth not because it's efficient, but because it's effective. A radical way that he sows his seed and shares that word wherever, anywhere with whoever that word goes forth and that word accomplishes the purpose for which God intended. We may look at it and think that's not a very good strategy. God says, you don't understand. It's not a strategy. It's about the power of the word.”

#ForgivenAndFree

“``Today, Paul teaches us not to be ashamed of the struggle. And next week, he'll teach us also not to be ashamed of the of the verdict. Because the same Christian who cries, wretched man that I am, is also the Christian who hears God declare, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. The struggle is real, sinner and saint. But Christ's forgiveness is even more real. So that while the battle continues, the verdict has already been rendered. You are forgiven. You are free. In Christ, you are his.”

#PutJesusFirst

“``In in fact, we want others to make us a priority before Jesus. Listen to what I'm saying. And Jesus said, No. No. No. Be careful. Don't don't don't put the roof in the wrong house. Listen to me. Because things might sound good. It might be the right number, but it might be the wrong address. Each day we return return to him through his word to repent, to say, Lord, I need to see clearly the path that you have laid before me. This is your god. This is your savior. He carried the cross for you.”

#CrossPaidItAll

“``At the cross, Christ took upon himself everything the law demanded, every accusation, every condemnation, every curse, every failure, every sin upon Jesus. And the law had a case against you. It was a perfect case. It was an airtight case. But Christ Jesus stepped in, and he says, I'm gonna take it. I'm gonna bear the sentence. I'm gonna pay the debt, and he did. The law's condemnation was exhausted at Calvary, not because it was ignored or set aside, but because it was fulfilled. Not because justice disappeared, but but justice was satisfied in the death of Jesus Christ and in his resurrection vindicated you and me.”

#CalvaryPaidDebt

“``And the law had a case against you. It was a perfect case. It was an airtight case. But Christ Jesus stepped in, and he says, I'm gonna take it. I'm gonna bear the sentence. I'm gonna pay the debt, and he did. The law's condemnation was exhausted at Calvary, not because it was ignored or set aside, but because it was fulfilled, not because justice disappeared, but but justice was satisfied in the death of Jesus Christ and in his resurrection vindicated you and me.”

#LovedChildOfGod

“He's not asking you for interest. He's only asking you, listen to me, my son, my daughter. It's the holy spirit that wants to tell you today, I still love you. I hope that as you go from this place, you know that our heavenly father will never fail us, will never forsake us, and he is with us always. While our early fathers would try to get their attention and to tell us, well, good job, my boy, my boy. Your heavenly father says, well done. I am pleased with you. So I'll go from this place that you are a loved child of god.”

#BaptizedByGrace

“``The wages of sin is death. Yes, Paul says, but death is not the final answer for those in Christ Jesus. Because Jesus took that loss upon himself so that he might give you the gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus, your lord. That's your victory given to you by grace through faith. So that when you leave here today and you walk back into your neighborhood, back into your workplace, back into your family, you can remember who you are. When fear tells you, stay quiet, you can say, but I am baptized.”

#HopeInChrist

“We live under the shadow of two men, Adam and Christ. One stretched his hand toward forbidden fruit and brought death into the world. The other stretched out his hands on the cross and brought life to the world. So let's live in that life because the gift is not like the trespass. The gift is greater, it is stronger, it is sufficient, it is yours. And that is why we are not ashamed because our hope is not in ourselves. Our hope is in Christ. What Christ has done for us while we were still helpless, ungodly, and sinners. And that's the hope the world needs to.”

#YouGetWhatYouDeserve

“``This morning, I I want you to think about this phrase that we often hear in this world. It goes something like this. You get what you deserve. Right? You get what you deserve or maybe said another way, that you they got what is coming to them. Right? You you the idea is is this phrase or this way of thinking in this world where the things that we do equal the outcome we receive.”

#ComeToTheTable

“So today, stop climbing. Stop trying to prove yourself. Stop trying to earn what can only be received. Stop building towers and come to his table. He's ready to feed you once again. His body, his blood given and shed for you. A savior who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification because your hope is not built on what you've done nor what you can do.”

#TowersFallFaithRemains

“"But every tower eventually crumbles. Every achievement fades. Every resume gets buried in the ground. Every accomplishment eventually runs into death Because the Tower Of Babel is really the story of humanity trying to save itself. And Paul in Romans four tells us why that never works. He writes, for the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world was not through the law, not through performance or climbing, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.”

#LivingTrinity

“The trinity is the living God revealing himself for our salvation, and I take great comfort in that. As much as I wanna know, as much as I wanna understand, I take even more comfort in what I do understand that this living God reveals himself to me for my salvation. Because if God was small enough for me to fully understand him, he wouldn't be big enough, I don't think, to be able to save me.”

#GodRemembersYou

“``God hasn't forgotten you. The creator of the universe thinks about you, knows you, remembers you, cares for you, loves you. And you know what? He even likes you as well. That means when we feel invisible to everyone in the world around us, the fact of the matter is you are not invisible to the creator of the universe. You are always on his mind. The world may move on from your pain, but God has not moved on from you.”

#BringYourThirstToJesus

“``So my question for you this morning today, friends, is where do you feel? In what ways, rather, do you feel that you don't matter? Where are you thirsty? Bring that to Jesus. Not because you're strong enough or worthy enough, but because because he invites you. If anyone thirsts, he says, and that includes you, and that includes me. And that thirst is not just so that we are satisfied in Christ, but so that we're filled with his spirit, sent to thirsty people.”

#ThirstForGod

“See, our ultimate thirst isn't just for that purpose. It's a thirst for God himself, for his forgiveness, his life, and his salvation, a thing that Jesus alone can satisfy. We might in our search for purpose and meaning, we try to fill it with success or accomplishment or our performance, and and all those things fall short. They can be good things, but they're not God things. They never fill us the way that Christ Jesus alone can.”

#AscendedKingReigns

“Evangelists witnessing can can feel intimidating at times, and it is. Church, the world can feel unstable and chaotic, and it is. But ascension means Jesus reigns over it all, and he does. He reigns over it all. Jesus reigns over nations, over death, over fear, over cancer, over grief, over your future, over your career, over your failures, over your doubts. Ascension means Christ reigns not someday, but right now, today.”

#ScarredSavior

“For you, the one ruling history is not a distant tyrant disconnected from the world he has redeemed. The one ruling history still bears scars in his hands. The one seated at the father's right hand is the same Jesus who touched the lepers, who forgave and restored Peter, who wept at Lazarus' tomb, who carried the cross, who died for sinners. The hands ruling heaven are real nail pierced hands.”

#JesusForYou

“``It's simple and it's pure. It's Jesus for you. Jesus crucified for you. Jesus risen for you. Jesus forgiving you and giving you life. It's the simple truth. You don't save yourself. You don't fix yourself. You don't build your way to God. Like an infant being fed by his loving mother, Christ has done everything for you.”

#chosenByMercy

“You're chosen, not because you earned it, but because God is merciful. You're a royal priesthood. You have access to the father through Christ Jesus. You're a holy nation. That means you're set apart, not because you're perfect and got your life in order, but because you're covered by the grace and the mercy of Jesus. That makes you God's possession too. And as God's possession, he is absolutely, completely, and utterly thrilled to have you as his own.”

#IAmTheWay

“Not fix it, not manage it, not achieve it your way or get it your way. This is not Burger King, but trust in me. Thomas asked the question we will ask. Lord, how do we know the way? Give me steps. Give me a plan on how to know it because we are clear. Right? We are perfectionist. Give me clarity so I can I got it? Okay. You you die on the cross. I got this. Right? And Jesus responds by saying, I am the way and the truth and the life. We wanna apply a path Jesus gives us a person. That's not what we expect.”

#JesusIsTheWay

“``Not fix it, not manage it, not achieve it your way or get it your way. This is not Burger King, but trust in me. Thomas asked the question we will ask. Lord, how do we know the way? Give me steps. Give me a plan on how to know it because we are clear. Right? We are perfectionist. Give me clarity so I can I got it? Okay. You you die on the cross. I got this. Right? And Jesus responds by saying, I am the way and the truth and the life. We wanna apply a path Jesus gives us a person. That's not what we expect.”