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Justin Bieber, 19-year-old pop music star, was apparently so moved by a sermon preached by Pastor Carl Lentz at Hillsong NYC church on Sunday that the Canadian recording artist "broke down." "Love to my guy @carllentzNYC for the amazing sermon at church this morning. Love you man. I broke down today. Thank (you)," Bieber tweeted Sunday night, adding a smiley face. The award-winning recording artist also uploaded a photo of himself and Pastor Lentz to his Instagram account that same evening, writing, "Love you bro" as the caption. Bieber has long been open about his Christian faith, and previously referred...

“Philemon: The Gospel Transforms Relationships” (Philemon 1-21)Today I’m going to preach to you an entire book of the Bible. In fact, you already heard an entire book of the Bible as one of our readings today. Well, almost. You heard 21 out of the 25 verses that make up Paul’s Letter to Philemon. Philemon is one of those little one-chapter books that we have in the Bible. There are five of them: Obadiah in the Old Testament, and Philemon, 2 John, 3 John, and Jude in the New Testament. Now even though Philemon is a very short epistle, there’s a...

“The Great Reversal: The Humble Exalted” (Luke 14:1-14)Up is down, and down is up, in the kingdom of God. Or so it seems sometimes. Actually, the kingdom of God is all about turning things rightside-up. It’s just that rightside-up may look upside-down from our cockeyed perspective. From God’s perspective, though, the way things are in his kingdom is just right, the way things ought to be. Such is the case with our text for today, the teaching of Jesus that we find in Luke 14. Here Jesus makes one of his many paradoxical statements, which he seems to do all...

“Strive to Enter through the Narrow Door” (Luke 13:22-30)Do you ever wonder about who all will be saved? When people die, and when this world comes to an end, how many will make it into heaven? How many will end up in hell? And on what basis? “Pastor, what about people who did the best they could? What about people who never heard the gospel, like in Borneo or Papua New Guinea? Will they get in? If they don’t, how is that fair? What kind of a God would send anybody to hell? If that’s the God of the Bible,...

“The Miracle of Faith” (Genesis 15:1-6; Hebrews 11:1-16)Sometimes I think about the impossibility of faith. I mean, if you stop and think about all the things that are working against faith, it’s amazing that any of us have it. To believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ and all that that involves, to trust in the goodness and the promises of God, in spite of all that would cause us to not believe--it’s simply amazing. And so today we’re going to talk about “The Miracle of Faith.” Consider our Old Testament lesson for today, from Genesis 15. It relates a...

“Where Is Your Head At?” (Colossians 3:1-11)“Where Is Your Head At?” That, basically, is the question that comes out of today’s Epistle reading from Colossians 3. There St. Paul puts it like this: “Seek the things that are above,” and “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” On things above, or on things on earth? Where is your head at? Today God’s Word would direct us to set our minds on things above. Our text today will tell us where not to set our minds, where we ought to set them, and...

“The Lawyer and the Good Samaritan” (Luke 10:25-37)Our text today is one of the most familiar and well loved of Jesus’ many parables. It’s the story of the Good Samaritan. But really, we could call it the story of “The Lawyer and the Good Samaritan.” You see, there’s something that happens that prompts Jesus to tell the parable of the Good Samaritan. It’s a little exchange that Jesus has with a lawyer in the crowd: “And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, ‘Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ He said to...

“The One Gospel Produces One Church” (Galatians 6:1-10, 14-18)Today we wrap up our six-part series on St. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians. And our theme today, as we look at chapter 6, is this: “The One Gospel Produces the One Church.” First of all, though, let’s review where we have been in this series. Week one. Title: “No Other Gospel.” Key passage, Galatians 1:6-7: “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel--not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble...

“Free to Be Fruitful” (Galatians 5:1, 13-25)Freedom is a wonderful thing. This week on Thursday, the Fourth of July, our nation will celebrate the 237th anniversary of declaring our freedom from Great Britain. But as we saw in our nation just this past week, freedom can also be abused, as when that freedom is used as a license for immorality. So the question becomes: What are we using our freedom for? That’s the question St. Paul takes up in our Epistle for today from Galatians 5. What are we using our freedom for? Only, Paul here is talking about something...

Occasioned By the Death of Elizabeth Gill Preached June 4, 1738. To which is added, An Account of some of her Choice Experiences. By DR. JOHN GILL 1 THESSALONIANS 4:13, 14. But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died, and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him. I need not tell you what is the occasion of my reading these words to you at this time. This...

“Sons and Heirs” (Galatians 3:23 – 4:7)In our six-part sermon series on St. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians, we have already talked about our changed situation as Christians. For example, last week we heard how we are “Justified by Faith, Crucified with Christ, Redeemed from the Curse.” Now today St. Paul takes us further into understanding our changed status. He says that now, through faith in God’s promise and our baptism into Christ, now we are “Sons and Heirs.” Sons and heirs. That is quite different from what we were before. Before, we were slaves and outsiders, not sons and...

“Justified by Faith, Crucified with Christ, Redeemed from the Curse” (Galatians 2:15-21; 3:10-14)Today we continue with the third in our six-part sermon series on St. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians. We began by looking at Paul’s opening assertion that there is “No Other Gospel” than the one he preached to them, yet the Galatians lately have been falling for a different gospel, which is really no gospel at all. Then last week we found out more about “The Gospel Paul Preached,” that it comes from God, not from man, that it is a gospel of grace, and that this gospel...

“The Gospel Paul Preached” (Galatians 1:11-24)Today is the second of six straight weeks in which the Epistle reading comes from St. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians. And we’re doing a six-part sermon series on Galatians to go along with that. By the way, last Sunday I encouraged you to read through Galatians at least once a week over the course of this series. If you haven’t done that yet, I hope you will. I think you’ll get a lot out of it. Last week, to start our series, we began under the heading, “No Other Gospel.” Paul opens his letter...

“No Other Gospel” (Galatians 1:1-12)Today is the first of six straight weeks in which the Epistle reading comes from St. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians. And so that is what I intend to use as the basis for a sermon series over these weeks, namely, Galatians. I think you will find this series helpful, because as we make our way through Galatians, we will gain great insight into some very important topics, for example: the exclusive nature of the gospel of Christ, that it alone saves; the proper distinction of Law and Gospel; the central doctrine of the Christian faith,...

“Let Not Your Hearts Be Troubled” (John 14:1-6, 27)Let not your hearts be troubled. That is my message to you today--to you, the friends and family members; to you, the fellow members of Redeemer; and especially to you, Robert--to all of you who mourn the death of our dear sister, Edith. Let not your hearts be troubled. What? How can you say that, Pastor? A death has occurred! Edith has been taken from us! We’ll miss her. We’ll miss her pleasant company and conversation. We already miss her. And you’re telling us, “Let not your hearts be troubled”? And another...

“We Are Baptized for This Moment” (Acts 2:14a, 22-47)Today is Holy Trinity Sunday, the day in the church year when we most give attention to the great biblical doctrine of the Holy Trinity, the truth that the one true God is the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. For example, on this day we confess the Athanasian Creed--like the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene, a trinitarian creed and one we believe, teach, and confess all year round, but we speak the Athanasian Creed aloud on this day, since it goes into the most depth and detail on the doctrine...

“Parthians and Medes at Pentecost” (Acts 2:1-21)One of the ironic things about the readings for the Day of Pentecost is when the lector--that is, the person reading the lessons--when the lector comes to Acts 2, verse 9, and has to read the following list of persons and places: “Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians.” Now that is a mouthful! It is like the tower of Babel come to...

“Jesus Prays for Us” (John 17:20-26)Did you know you are mentioned in the Gospel reading for today? You are. Jesus is talking about you--in fact, he is praying for you--in the passage known as his “High Priestly Prayer” in John 17. In the first part of that chapter, Jesus has been praying for his disciples, the ones he would be sending out soon as his apostles. You know, Peter, James, John, Andrew, Matthew--those guys. But then at verse 20 of John 17, Jesus shifts his prayer to include others, as well. He says: “I do not ask for these only,...

“Hands of Blessing” (Luke 24:44-53)“Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.” This is our text. “Lifting up his hands he blessed them.” On this Ascension Day, I invite you to consider with me those hands of Jesus. The hands with which he blesses us, as he ascends into heaven. For these hands of Jesus are “Hands of Blessing.” As I was thinking about the lessons for tonight’s Ascension service, it was those hands that caught my...

“In Jesus, Peace; In the World, Tribulation” (John 16:23-33)Hear again the words of Jesus at the end of John 16, verse 33: “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” This is our text. “In Jesus, Peace; In the World, Tribulation.” This is what our Lord says his followers can expect. It was that way for his disciples back then. It is that way for his disciples still now. On the one hand, peace; on the other hand, tribulation....