In Sermons: showing 46-60 of 72

Welcome Home!

Contributed by Jonathan Kruschel on Apr 25, 2019

This first person sermon hears the account of the prodigal son from the prodigal son himself. His story is our story - a story of God's amazing grace!

This morning I would like to speak to you as if I was that prodigal, wasteful and reckless son that we heard about in our gospel lesson. I come to you this morning to share my story, the same story that Jesus shared with a rather diverse group of people who had gathered around him from every walk ...read more

Scripture: Luke 15:1-3, Luke 15:11-32

Denomination: Lutheran

Get A Glimpse Of Jesus' Glory

Contributed by Jonathan Kruschel on Mar 28, 2019

On Transfiguration Jesus gave his disciples a glorious experience that would help them get through some pretty hard things until finally arriving at Easter Sunday morning. Jesus continues to show his glory to us today, a glory that helps us through the hard times of our lives.

Supper is still about an hour and a half away. Lunch seems like an eternity ago. Your stomach is calling, “Feed me!” What do you do? If you’re like me, you grab a snack. Something that will help hold you over until the next of the three major meals of the day. Maybe it’s a cookie or some ...read more

Scripture: Luke 9:28-36

Denomination: Lutheran

Our God Is "i Am" Series

Contributed by Jonathan Kruschel on Mar 28, 2019

Do you ever struggle to make sense of the things going in life? Why would God allow certain things to happen. The name "I AM" is one that helps us in the way we look at the things that we and others are going through in this life that might not make sense to us.

Do you ever struggle to understand why God would allow certain things to happen? You turn on the TV, read the latest headlines, look at the world around you, or what is personally going on in your own life, and we struggle to make sense of things. A natural disaster claims the lives of hundreds ...read more

Scripture: Exodus 13:1-8, Exodus 13:10-15

Denomination: Lutheran

Standing Firm In The Lord Series

Contributed by Jonathan Kruschel on Mar 28, 2019

Do you have good spiritual balance? Where we look can certainly affect our spiritual balance. Paul reminds us of where TO look and where NOT TO look to help us keep good spiritual balance.

Do you have good balance? I suppose that we could find out by testing your balance this morning. I could have all of you stand up. Then ask you to hold out your hands as I push against them one by one. Then ask you to stand on one foot and then to stand on the other foot without falling over. ...read more

Denomination: Lutheran

Facing Temptation Series

Contributed by Jonathan Kruschel on Mar 28, 2019

Struggling temptation is not uncommon to us nor was it uncommon to Jesus. See how Jesus' struggle against temptation helps us as we daily face temptation.

Do you ever feel like you’re wearing one of these (a target)? Maybe it’s that you feel like you’re being blamed for everything that is going wrong in other people’s lives, even when it’s not your fault. Maybe it’s more of the personal attacks that are being fired in your direction because of what ...read more

Scripture: Luke 4:1-13

Denomination: Lutheran

A Living Christian Faith

Contributed by Jonathan Kruschel on Mar 17, 2019

"I am... (fill in the blank)." What does it mean to be a Christian? More than church membership or checking a box. Christian faith is living, active and demonstrating.

Fill in the blank: I am . How would you complete that statement? I am…tired. I am…awesome. I am…excited. I am…a husband. I am…a parent. I am…a friend. You could probably complete that sentence in about a million different ways. But if you are going to make one of those claims, you ...read more

Scripture: Luke 6:43-49

Denomination: Lutheran

Blessed?

Contributed by Jonathan Kruschel on Feb 20, 2019

Where do you look to for evidence of God's blessing? Are you looking to the right places? Jesus tells us to look to some rather unusual places to find his blessing while also providing us with a list of warnings.

How are you doing this morning? There used to be a man who when he walked into church on Sunday mornings and I asked him how he was doing, he would respond with a single word. He would say, “Blessed!” Every week he said the same thing. How many of us would give that response today? Maybe all ...read more

Scripture: Luke 6:17-26

Denomination: Lutheran

Ready For Discipleship?

Contributed by Jonathan Kruschel on Feb 20, 2019

Are you ready to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus? Two examples: one from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament shows us what it takes to be disciple of the Lord Jesus. See how the Lord calls and equips his disciples.

I have this reoccurring nightmare that goes something like this. It’s Sunday morning. I’m at church. The service is just about ready to start. I realize that I forgot to write a sermon. Why? I’m not sure. The church service is starting and I’m frantically trying to figure out what I’m going ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 6:1-8

Denomination: Lutheran

Is Jesus What You Expected?

Contributed by Jonathan Kruschel on Feb 20, 2019

Jesus' sermon in his hometown synagogue might not have gone as you would expect. But Jesus shows us that his Word is sometimes welcomed, other times rejected, but ALWAYS powerful.

Expectations. “Do you really think that we’re going to get all that snow that they say we’re supposed to get?” “Have you heard about the frigid temperatures that are predicted?” “Do you think that they’ll cancel school?” The expectations, the anticipation and the excitement was hard to escape. ...read more

Scripture: Luke 4:20-32

Denomination: Lutheran

Jesus' First Miracle Series

Contributed by Jonathan Kruschel on Feb 20, 2019

“This just doesn’t seem to make much sense.” How many times do you think the people there for Jesus' first miracle asked that question? This event in the life of Jesus confirms exactly who Jesus was and how God works – amazing solutions that we would have never expected.

Just this past week, one of my daughters was looking through the scrapbooks that my wife has assembled throughout the years of various events in their lives. One of the things you’ll find for each of them is the famous “First day of school” picture. Those pictures are kind of fun to look at and ...read more

Scripture: John 2:1-11

Denomination: Lutheran

Jerusalem Alone Series

Contributed by Jonathan Kruschel on Jan 8, 2019

The story of a 12 year-old boy left behind in Jerusalem by his parents? Sound familiar? Almost sounds like a Christmas classic movie! Not exactly. This is the story of the Son of God, knowing who he was and why he was here.

As I read through the account from Luke 2 which you heard this morning of how Jesus was left behind by his parents in Jerusalem, I couldn’t help but think of what has become classic Christmas movie, “Home Alone.” If you’re not familiar with the movie, it’s about a boy around the age of 10-12 ...read more

Scripture: Luke 2:41-52

Denomination: Lutheran

"christ Is Coming!" The Call Continues! Series

Contributed by Jonathan Kruschel on Jan 3, 2019

How is the first coming of Christ at Christmas connected to the coming of Christ at the end of time? See the connections and how the same preparation makes us ready to celebrate and anticipate the coming of Christ.

When you look at that picture of a mountain range, can you tell me which mountain is closest or where one begins and the other ends? It’s kind of hard to tell from a distance, isn’t it? Only when you get closer, into the mountain range itself will you be able to tell which comes first and where ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 4:4-7

Denomination: Lutheran

"christ Is Coming!" The Call Of John The Baptist Series

Contributed by Jonathan Kruschel on Jan 3, 2019

Is your Christmas preparation festive or frantic? What if you could narrow down preparation for Christmas to one, single thing? What is it? John the Baptist reminded the people of his day and us of the one thing necessary to be ready for Christ's coming!

“Deck the halls with boughs of holly. Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la. 'Tis the season to be jolly. Fa-la-la-la-la…” Hold on! Tis the season to be JOLLY? You might slightly disagree with that when you look at your December calendar or attempt to do some shopping. It seems more like, ‘tis the ...read more

Scripture: Luke 3:1-6

Denomination: Lutheran

"christ Is Coming!" The Call Of The Old Testament Prophets Series

Contributed by Jonathan Kruschel on Jan 3, 2019

The countdown to Christmas is on! At least in most houses. It might have begun in November or possibly even earlier. But the countdown to Christmas actually began thousands of years ago when God first made the promise to send the Savior Jesus.

Has the countdown begun at your house? “What countdown?” you might ask. But don’t pretend like you don’t know what I’m talking about. The countdown to Christmas, of course! Now that countdown might be driven by different things. Some of you might be counting down the days to Christmas because ...read more

Scripture: Jeremiah 33:14-16

Denomination: Lutheran

First Trip To The Temple Series

Contributed by Jonathan Kruschel on Jan 3, 2019

Scrapbooks record significant events in a person's life. This series shows us many firsts in Jesus' life and their significance to us. Jesus' first of many trips to the temple of Jerusalem shows us the saving work of Jesus - yes, even as a baby!

As we come to the close of another year and the embark on the year 2019, it’s only natural for people to take look back at what the last 12 months have all entailed. And maybe you’re thinking, “2018 – what a year it has been!” I certainly feel that way. One year ago, I hade not personally met ...read more

Scripture: Luke 2:22-40

Denomination: Lutheran