Emmanuel Lutheran Church (LCMS)

06/02/2026

🎂 Happy birthday to our church members born in June 🎉

Lance Peters 1st
Donna Smidt 2nd
Ryli Racobs 4th
Vicky Jones 4th
Tawna Gross 4th
Courtney Bostwick 5th
Faye Rohrbeck 8th
Angelina Huegerich 10th
Tom Reaman 11th
Jaxon Carroll 12th
Jerry Kruse 13th
LuAnn Norris 15th
K’Lee Naberhaus 15th
Makaylon Graff 15th
Mike Frank 16th
Jason Huisenga 16th
Emilee Barnhart 17th
Kristen Norris 19th
Wayne Lietz 24th
Elizabeth Kerkhoff 25th
Kristen Drost 25th
Kalee Jenkins 28th
Mark Auen 30th
Paula Addison 30th

06/01/2026

Vacation Bible School is right around the corner!!

You can register by sending Emmanuel a message on Facebook, call the church office 712-657-3324 or drop a line at [email protected].

Please give us your name/child's name, phone number, grade the child will be entering (up to 5th grade) and any food allergies.

06/01/2026

Trinity Sunday (A)
Athanasian Creed
May 31, 2025

Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The Athanasian Creed, the big beefy one we’re going to work through today, was probably written in France during the 5th century. While it’s named after the early Church leader Athanasius, he didn’t write it. Rather its name is a tribute to Athanasius’s faithfulness in the face of heresies, otherwise known as false teachings about God, Jesus, and the Holy Trinity. The Athanasian Creed, like the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds, is drawn from the Bible and used by the Church to clearly state what we believe and confess.

Creeds are essential because there have been those who’ve tried to explain the unexplainable, and the Holy Trinity is a prime example. The Trinity has been described as an apple with its skin, fruit, and seeds or as an egg with a shell, yolk, and egg white. Both of these, and all other attempts to describe the Trinity, aren’t just unhelpful, they’re wrong. The Trinity as its taught in the Bible is far beyond our human comprehension. To avoid any errors or false teachings our only option is to accept what the Bible says and save trying to understand it until we get to heaven and can ask God in person.

It’s curious that for a fundamental doctrine, the word Trinity doesn’t appear in the Bible. That doesn’t mean it’s not there. References to the Triune God are found in both the Old and New Testaments. Unless you’d like an extra-long sermon, we don’t have time to look at all the references, so here are a couple to ponder. In Genesis 1, God said “Let us make man in our image.” While in Deuteronomy 6 Moses says, “The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” Jesus says, “I and the Father are one.” In Matthew 28, Jesus tells the disciples to baptize “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” The Bible also ascribes the same attributes to all three persons: eternal, holy, all knowing, all powerful, and ever present. They’re separate persons, but only one God. It doesn’t make sense, but it’s true.

Verses 1 and 2 : Whoever desires to be saved must, above all, hold the catholic faith. Whoever does not keep it whole and undefiled will without doubt perish eternally.



The authors of the Creed don’t beat around the bush. The first verses declare that unless you believe in the Holy Trinity as taught in the Bible, you’re not a Christian. The Triune God is an essential truth of the Scriptures and it doesn’t leave room for any other religion. It’s cut and dried. If you reject the Triune God, you reject salvation and choose damnation. Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses believe the Son of God was created. Islam and Judaism reject the Trinity and Christ’s divinity. Hindus and Buddhist have a multitude of gods. None of these accept the doctrine of the Trinity, and based on the teachings of the Bible, they are lost. As Jesus says, “No one comes to the Father except through me.” All roads don’t lead to heaven!

Now, what if you don’t understand the doctrine of the Trinity, what then? Are you damned because the concept of one God and three persons goes over your head? Absolutely not! The Creed doesn’t require every Christian to fully understand the complexities and implications of Trinitarian doctrine. We confess we believe many deep and profound things, not because we can fit them all together, but simply, "Because the Bible tells us so."

Verses 3-26

And the catholic faith is this, that we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the substance. For the Father is one person, the Son is another, and the Holy Spirit is another. But the Godhead of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit is one: the glory equal, the majesty coeternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit: the Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, the Holy Spirit uncreated; the Father infinite, the Son infinite, the Holy Spirit infinite; the Father eternal, the Son eternal, the Holy Spirit eternal. And yet there are not three Eternals, but one Eternal, just as there are not three Uncreated or three Infinites, but one Uncreated and one Infinite. In the same way, the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, the Holy Spirit almighty; and yet there are not three Almighties, but one Almighty. So the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God; and yet there are not three Gods, but one God. So the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, the Holy Spirit is Lord; and yet there are not three Lords, but one Lord. Just as we are compelled by the Christian truth to acknowledge each distinct person as God and Lord, so also are we prohibited by the catholic religion to say that there are three Gods or Lords. The Father is not made nor created nor begotten by anyone. The Son is neither made nor created, but begotten of the Father alone. The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son, neither made nor created nor begotten, but proceeding. Thus, there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits. And in this Trinity none is before or after another; none is greater or less than another, but the whole three persons are coeternal with each other and coequal, so that in all things, as has been stated above, the Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity is to be worshiped. Therefore, whoever desires to be saved must think thus about the Trinity.

In verse four we said that we don’t confuse the persons or divide the substance, and I’m sure you completely understand that, right? No? Okay, let’s look at this way. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are God. They are equally eternal, powerful, and majestic. They share the same thoughts and they’re undivided in their plans. The Father cannot cease being God, and neither can the Son and the Spirit. However, there are also three distinct persons. This means that the Father isn’t the Son and the Holy Spirit isn’t the Father. Each exists individually but they also exist as one God. If you follow all this, great. If you don’t, that’s okay too. We’re trying to explain the unexplainable. One writer lamented: “The Father is incomprehensible, the Son is incomprehensible, the whole thing is incomprehensible!”

It’s important that we talk about a couple of terms that popped up. The first is the creed’s claim that the Son was begotten of the Father. In Hebrews 1:5 we hear, “For to which of the angels did God ever say, ‘you are my Son, today I have begotten you’”? Since to beget is to bear children, does this mean the Father bore the Son or the Son is created in some way? Not in the slightest. It’s explanation is quite simple. The Father is affirming that the Son has always been and always will be the His Son.

The other term used in relation to the Holy Spirit is that He proceeds from the Father and from the Son. Jesus says, “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness about me” (John 15:26). The word proceeds here means “sent”. What is Jesus going to do? He’s going to have the Father send the Spirit; which He does on Pentecost. One problem with reading the Creeds is that sometimes the words that are used aren’t words we normally use. The authors of the Creed knew what begotten and proceeds meant, we don’t. But now…you do.

Verses 27-34

But it is also necessary for everlasting salvation that one faithfully believe the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, it is the right faith that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is at the same time both God and man. He is God, begotten from the substance of the Father before all ages; and He is man, born from the substance of His mother in this age: perfect God and perfect man, composed of a rational soul and human flesh; equal to the Father with respect to His divinity, less than the Father with respect to His humanity. Although He is God and man, He is not two, but one Christ: one, however, not by the conversion of the divinity into flesh, but by the assumption of the humanity into God; one altogether, not by confusion of substance, but by unity of person.

To be considered a Christian and be saved, you must not only believe that God is Triune, but you must also believe that Jesus is true God and true man. In His divine nature, He knew what people were thinking, healed the sick, and raised the dead. He had to be true God because only by being God could He be sinless and to save us He had to be sinless and perfectly holy. To rise from the dead, He had to be God as well.

Some believe that after Jesus was born, the Son of God took possession of His body. That’s not how it works. It wasn’t that a man became God, but God became man. As true man, He was in service to His Father. In His human nature, he became hungry, tired, and experienced the incredible spiritual and physical pain of the cross. Jesus had to be true man so He could suffer and die and in our place.

This is another case where we’re left hanging because we can’t explain how Jesus can be both true God and true Man. He wasn’t half and half and He wasn’t mixed up like chocolate milk. He still has His two natures, human and divine, but the human nature has all the abilities of the divine nature. He’s invisible, He can appear when and where He appears, His body is everywhere all the time. It’s confusing, I know. But when you accept what God says in the Bible, you’ll be okay, even if you don’t understand the mechanics of the whole thing.

Verses 35-40

For as the rational soul and flesh is one man, so God and man is one Christ, who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead, ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father, God Almighty, from whence He will come to judge the living and the dead. At His coming all people will rise again with their bodies and give an account concerning their own deeds. And those who have done good will enter into eternal life, and those who have done evil into eternal fire. This is the catholic faith; whoever does not believe it faithfully and firmly cannot be saved.

Why do all the creeds have large portions that are focused on what Jesus did while here on earth? Because that’s what it’s all about! The Father created a perfect world, it was corrupted to its core, then Jesus comes along and fixes it! How? By suffering for our salvation! The authors of the Athanasian creed weren’t being mean when they said to be saved you must believe in the Trinity and the Son of God. They were stating a beautiful truth! They were saying that without Jesus you’re lost, but with Jesus you’re forgiven and have eternal life! The Athanasian Creed was written in the 400’s, but its words ring true even today. There were confused and lost people in the 5th century, and there are confused and lost people now. The creeds give us a framework for telling others about the forgiveness of their sins. They were created, they sin, and they’re offered salvation and eternal life in Jesus. They also give you the framework you need. You need forgiveness and in the creeds you’re stating loud and clear that what Jesus did for the world, He did for you. You can say “Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilate for me. Jesus descended into Hell for me. Jesus will one day come back for me.” Because He did!

In verses 38 and 39, the Athanasian Creed says that we must give an accounting of our deeds and those who’ve done good will enter eternal life, while those who’ve done evil will enter eternal hell. As Lutherans, these verses should make our ears perk up, because we know we’re saved by grace through faith and not by our works. So how can we confess that doing good gains eternal life and doing evil gains eternal hell. I’m not always good. I frequently do what I consider evil, and I know that God considers things I do as evil. Does this mean my situation is hopeless? Does this mean you’re hopeless? Not one bit!

To help you understand these verses listen to what Saint Paul says in Romans 5: “Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.” In other words, just as Adam made us all sinners by his unfaithfulness, we are declared righteous, forgiven, by Christ’s faithfulness. Paul says, “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.” God no longer looks at your sin; He looks at what Jesus has done for you. In the book of Revelation, we’re told that when Judgment Day arrives Christ will judge all people by what’s written in the books. The important thing here is that there are books. Christians have their names recorded in the Book of Life and judgment is based on what Jesus has done for us. God sees only good things. Those who die in unbelief, which is the ultimate wickedness, are judged by their works which are all considered wicked, even the good ones. There is no salvation without the work of Jesus.

The Athanasian Creed ends where it started: “This is the catholic faith; whoever does not believe it faithfully and firmly cannot be saved.” Catholic doesn’t mean Roman Catholic it means universal, and the universal Christian faith is built on the Triune God and the Son of God who became man to save us from our sins. In a day and age where religious opinions are a dime a dozen and when people are interpreting the Bible in ways that fit them, the Creeds are invaluable. What do we believe? Just look at the Creeds because our confessions only come from the Bible. And if we don’t understand what we believe and confess? That’s okay. Understanding how the Triune God works isn’t necessary to be saved. We just trust and believe that our God is Triune, the Son became man, and one day we’ll have all our answers.

Amen

Now the peace which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen

06/01/2026

We invite you to memorize Colossians 3:12 with us this week.

Memorizing Scripture is a valuable practice for Christians, even in a digital age. Join us each week as we hide God's Word in our hearts.

Learn more at lcms.org/memoryverse.

06/01/2026

for Monday, June 1 (A Prayer for Seekers)

You have said, “Seek my face.”
My heart says to you,
“Your face, Lord, do I seek.” - Psalm 27:8

Dear Heavenly Father:
For those who seek you, you fill us perpetually with yourself and Your goodness. When we don’t seek you, we suffer from lack of purpose and are soon limited in our satisfaction in this life. Turn our hearts to you that in our seeking, we find your presence already with us and always encouraging us with the good news and real effect of Jesus, our Savior! In Him, Amen!
🙏🏻 🙏🏼 🙏🏽 🙏🏾 🙏🏿

05/29/2026

What a beautiful time to celebrate our Triune God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. While we celebrate the doctrine of three persons in one God, we also admit...

05/26/2026

Pentecost (A)
Acts 2:1-21
May 24, 2026


Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The text that I have chosen for this morning’s sermon is the Pentecost reading from the book of Acts.


If I were to give you a quiz about the Holy Spirit, how do you think you’d do? There’s a lot I could test you on, but how about one question. Please don’t raise your hands or blurt out your answer. Ready? True or False: The Holy Spirit isn’t real or a living being but a symbol of God’s power, purity and presence. What did you say? If you said true, don’t feel bad because sixty percent of Christians get this question wrong. The answer is false because the Holy Spirit isn’t a symbol! He’s the third person of the Holy Trinity and He’s as much God as the Father and the Son. He’s all-knowing, all-powerful, and all around. He also plays a pivotal role in the Church and the Christian. It’s not a stretch to say that if it wasn’t for the Holy Spirit’s arrival on Pentecost, there wouldn’t be a Church because there wouldn’t be any Christians. But there was a Pentecost and as we celebrate another one, it’s a great day to learn what the Holy Spirit does.

Soon after Jesus picked His twelve disciples, He told them: “When they [arrest you], do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” These twelve men who were really slow learners at times became bold witnesses for Jesus. Those who ran in fear boldly confronted their enemies with God’s truth. What explains the sudden transformation? They were filled with the Holy Spirit! Peter’s first sermon is a perfect illustration of what Jesus promised. The Holy Spirit arrived and immediately the disciples began to preach.

The term we use for the Holy Spirit’s work in both what the disciples preached and what they wrote is inspired. Nothing they said or wrote was something they made up. In his second epistle Peter says that the writings of Moses, the Psalms, and the predictions of the prophets came from God “as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” The Holy Spirit continued to inspire the disciples as they wrote their Gospels and Epistles. The Holy Spirit gave us the Bible, so you can be sure it’s free of errors and falsehoods and therefore utterly reliable.

This matters because you’ve been through hard times. You’ve been emotionally drained. You’ve been hurt, depressed and ashamed. And while the platitudes of others may help for a short time, you need more and that’s where the Bible comes in! You can trust everything God says. When you feel unloved, He says: “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is my steadfast love” (Ps 103:11). When you’re depressed or spiritually exhausted, He promises: “The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (Ps 34:18). When you don’t know what the future holds, He says: “For I know the plans I have for you, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jer 29:11). In every case, God is the one speaking. The authors of the Bible are writing only what God tells them to write. It’s not David or Jeremiah talking to you, it’s your Lord.

If I had an atheist up here and you wanted to convert him to Christianity, what would you? Berate Him? Show the archeological discoveries that prove Jesus was real? Beg and plead? Will any of these make him a Christian? Of course not! People can’t decide to believe in God because by nature people are spiritually dead. Without faith, God is an imaginary figure, a myth, or a lie. So how is a person brought to faith? Paul says, “We know, brothers loved by God, that He has chosen you, because our Gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction” (1 Thess 1:4-5). Only the Holy Spirit can give faith and life.

The first Pentecost must’ve been quite the experience: the sound of rushing wind, tongues of flame, the conversations in languages they had never leared, and people gathering to see what the fuss was all about. The Holy Spirit drew the crowd and then used Peter and the others to preach the Word of God. The Spirit used Peter’s sermon of Law, “You killed the Son of God”, and Gospel, “Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved” to lead three thousand people to believe and be baptized.

The Holy Spirit’s work now may be considered kind of boring when compared to the first Pentecost, but He’s just as powerful. He works in simpler ways: baptism when water is poured over a baby’s head. His Word when someone is stirred up by what she hears and comes to see the truth and beauty of Christ. He wants you to be saved. Don’t harden your heart against Him, call on Him and you will be saved!

As a believer Paul says you are a “temple of the Holy Spirit” (I Cor 6:19). When you were brought to faith God made His home in you. The Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit dwell in you, leading you and sustaining you in the faith. He stays with you when you struggle, He lifts you up when your faith wavers, and He leads you home when you get lost.

If only having the Holy Spirit made it easy! He brought us to faith and gave us spiritual life, but that doesn’t mean we won’t sin, does it? We know that’s not true! We forget He lives in us. We defile His temple by the choices we make. We have His Word, but we don’t listen to it. Some of our sins may even start the process of evicting Him from our hearts. When we ruin His temple with our sin, when we refuse to listen to His Word, all is not lost. Your Lord is never far from the repentant and brokenhearted. Confess your sins and pray with King David: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit” (Ps 51:10-12). And you know what will happen? The Lord will create a new spirit in you, He will draw you to Himself, and He will not take His Holy Spirit from you.

Jesus told the disciples: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld” (John 20:23). The disciples are given the authority to forgive sins, and where do you hear the disciples forgive your sins? In the Bible. And it’s not the disciples who forgive you – it’s God. He says, “I will cleanse them from all the guilt of their sin against me, and I will forgive all the guilt of their sin and rebellion against me” (Jeremiah 33:8). Saint John says, “I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for His name’s sake” (1 John 2:12). Your sins are forgiven because Christ’s death and resurrection are given to you in your Baptism, the Bible, and the Lord’s Supper. You’re forgiven because God’s Word does what it says. When God says, “I will remember their sin no more” He means it. Go in peace, your sins are forgiven.

The Holy Spirit always comes to the individual, which is seen the Pentecost account where each individual is filled with the Spirit. The flame of the Holy Spirit blazed over each head, and each individual spoke by Him. The Holy Spirit also comes to individual men where they are together in a congregation. We have forgotten that we do not sit in church as individuals, each holding their own private devotion. If that was all that was necessary, we wouldn’t need churches. But as we heard last week, the disciples and other followers of Jesus gathered to pray and receive the Lord’s Supper. The early Christians realized that Christians can’t go it alone, we need other Christians. That’s why the absence of Christians from worship harms all Christians. The Church isn’t a social group or a club, the Church is the body of Jesus, tended to by the Holy Spirit, who sustains it and gives it growth.

The Church grows because the Holy Spirit continues to bring people to faith, and He’ll do so until Jesus returns. The Holy Spirit gave Peter and the disciples the words they needed and He gives them to you as well. We tell others about Christ’s love and forgiveness, and you don’t have to worry if you’re saying the right thing. Tell them about Jesus and let the Holy Spirit do the work. The Holy Spirit also rouses us to lead holy lives which display our faith, and through which people may be brought to faith.

If you’ve been watching mainstream news you may not know that the, our brothers and sisters in Christ are suffering greatly in the third world. Christians in Sudan and Nigeria are being slaughtered. Christian girls are being kidnapped given to Muslim men as underage wives or sold into sexual slavery. The American church grieves with the persecuted wherever they are. But do you know what’s happening? The Church is growing! The Church in Nigeria is the fastest growing Church in the world. Atheistic China has well over one hundred million Christians. Even in Iran the Church is growing by leaps and bounds. Wherever the Church is persecuted it grows. Perhaps that’s why the Church in America is stagnant and apathetic. Jesus says, “I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt 16:18). The Church will always stand because it is guarded and sustained by the Holy Spirit, and no earthly trouble will stop the Church which was bought with Jesus’ blood.

One of my books about the Holy Spirit is entitled The Half-Known God and the title might be accurate. Outside of Pentecost, we don’t talk much about the Holy Spirit, which is a shame. It’s the Holy Spirit who gave us the Bible, brought us to faith, and sustains Christ’s Church. It sounds like He’s pretty important to Christians. While we may not hear much about Him, we praise Him for the gifts He gives and for the preservation of the Church. We praise Him for our faith and for the promises given to those who die in the faith. May He continue to increase our faith, sustain it, and embolden us to tell others about Jesus. And when we struggle with our faith, when we’re tempted by sin and satan, He will guard and protect us. And how do you know? Paul tells us: “You were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:13-14).

Amen

Now the peace which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen

05/24/2026

See you at 9:00! God be with you!

Good morning! We're glad you've joined us and pray that you will be blessed by what you hear this morning.

05/22/2026

for Friday, May 22 (A Strength Through Faith Prayer)

I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself,
that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps. - Jeremiah 10:23

Dear Heavenly Father:
Hear my prayer for guidance today. You, O Lord, are the great director. You see troubled hearts and send help, just as You measured our hopelessness and sent Your Son. Steer me into situations that require my Godly best and result in blessings for those sharing the moment. Hear my prayer for guidance today. Amen!
🙏🏻 🙏🏼 🙏🏽 🙏🏾 🙏🏿

05/20/2026

Dear Lord Jesus, we continually recount, through praise and thanksgiving, Your wonderful deeds. Amen.