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Saints Peter and Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church UAC, 768 Piedmont Highway, Unit A, Piedmont, SC (2026)

06/15/2026

Divine Service (parts edited out) for the Second Sunday after Trinity Sunday, Sunday, June 14th, 2026 at Saints Peter and Paul Ev. Lutheran Church, UAC of Piedmont, SC. An independent Lutheran parish affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America (ELDoNA).

Hymns: INSERT—“Light of Light, Enlighten Me”
ASBH 40—“The Mouth of Fools doth God Confess”
ASBH 33—“Look Down, O Lord, From Heav’n, Behold”
INSERT—“May God Be Praised Henceforth”
ASBH 50—“O Christ, Our True and Only Light”
Prelude: “Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein” Michael Gotthardt Fischer
Postlude: “O Jesu Christ, mein’s” Johann Sebastian Bach
Readings: Epistle—1 John 3:13-18
Gospel—St. Luke 14:16-24
Sermon Theme: “That My House May Be Filled”

06/14/2026

That My House May Be Filled

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My dear friends, our Lord + Jesus had been invited to the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to sit down to eat with them. It was a Sabbath. They had already shown they had only invited Him to catch Him in some violation of the Law. They had shown that they did not care about Him at all. This whole meal was a ruse to brink an accusation against Him. Consider the events that led up to our reading for today from the Evangelist St. Luke. As He sat down to eat bread, there appeared a man with dropsy. We will hear more about this later in the Trinity season. He was only there as a plant. The Pharisees gathered—men who are supposed to be well-versed in the Word of the Lord God—did not actually care about this man with dropsy. They expected the Lord to heal him, but only so they could say He violated the Sabbath day.

They further showed their disdain for the Lord + Jesus when they all struggled amongst themselves to attain to the chief seats at this meal. They did not care about the Lord + Jesus, they only cared about themselves. They did not care about the poor man with dropsy, but only cared about bringing a charge against the Lord. Both of these events brought about a response from our Lord + Jesus. He corrected their hardness of hearts. He corrected their lack of compassion. He corrected their conceit. Now, He corrects their rejection of Him. For one of them while sitting down at meat remarks how glorious it will be to sit down to eat bread in the Kingdom of Heaven.

They had the very Bread of Heaven sitting down to eat bread with them, and they failed to see Him for Who He was. They were still focused on earthly things. The man’s declaration was not about sitting down in Heaven with the Lord God at an eternal heavenly banquet. It was a statement about how good it would be to have meals like this current one in the future. His comment about sitting down to eat bread was a response to the Lord’s rebuke that the hearts of these Pharisees was in the wrong place. Instead of propping up themselves by inviting the people whose status in life was of the right pedigree, they should invite the lame, the blind, the maim, and the poor; those who could not return the favor. The man’s response is not “Well and good!” His response is the equivalent of “Bless your heart.” This is what prompts our Lord’s parable for today.

A certain man gave a great Supper. That certain man is our heavenly Father. He has planned to give us an eternal feast in Heaven. It will be an eternal victory feast for the work of our Lord + Jesus in redeeming mankind from sin and death. All things were now ready, and so He sent forth His servant. He sent forth His One and Only Beloved Son to bring to the feast all those who had been invited. Those people bidden to the feast included these Pharisees with whom He had sat to down eat. They should have been overjoyed that they were able to sit down to eat with the Son of God in the flesh. They should have been thrilled to eat meat with the Lord God in our flesh Himself.

They should have listened to His preaching. They should have rejoiced that He healed those with various ailments, like the man with dropsy at the beginning of this chapter of St. Luke. The Lord + Jesus had come to invite them to the eternal wedding feast in Heaven, but they could not be bothered by such things, for they only cared about earthly things. They cared about the best seats at this meal. They cared about not losing their positions of power. A position that the Lord + Jesus threatened to take away by His mere presence. They had no care for the blind, and maim, and lame, and poor. They wanted nothing to do with them. They wanted nothing to do with our Lord + Jesus. They only invited Him to their meal, so that they could watch Him, and have cause to bring an accusation against Him.

The Lord + Jesus had been sent to the people of Israel to bid them to come to the Supper of the heavenly Father, but they all with one consent began to make excuses. They rejected the invitation of the heavenly Father. They ignored His servant, the Lord + Jesus. They refused to heed the invitation. Indeed, they had already received the invitation. The time to come to the feast was at hand. The Lord + Jesus, the Messiah, the Anointed One of the Lord God, was here to invite them to an eternal banquet in heaven. And they made excuses.

Therefore, the heavenly Father, the certain man who arranged for this great supper, and had sent out His servant, our Lord + Jesus to invite them to the great supper, rescinds their invitation. Just like the Lord + Jesus had told the Pharisees to invite the blind, the lame, the maimed, and the poor to their feasts instead of their friends, the certain man in the parable also tells His servant to go an invite the poor, and the maimed, the lame, and the blind to His great supper.

This informs us, and should have informed the Pharisees, why our Lord + Jesus sat down to eat with sinners (which comes in the next chapter of St. Luke). Because that is how they viewed individuals with physical maladies. They only saw them as people who had committed some sin, which resulted in them being blind, and lame, and maimed, and poor. They were this way because they were sinners. They were cursed with these maladies, because the Lord God had withdrawn His blessings from them. At least this is their train of thought. What they heard the Lord + Jesus saying was that they were to sit down and eat with sinners. This is why the man’s response prior to this parable is the equivalent of “Bless your heart!” He did not actually think it would be a good thing to sit down at such a table in the kingdom of the Lord God with the poor, the maim, the lame, and the blind.

The Pharisees rejected these types of people, and they rejected the One Who gathered all these people to Himself. Our Lord + Jesus, because He had been rejected by the ones who had received the original invitation, now invites those who society had cast away. The Pharisees—the religious leaders—instead of giving comfort to these poor individuals, even if that care only contained a word of comfort, or an invitation to a meal, refused to do even this small task. They cared only about themselves and their positions of power. But our Lord + Jesus gathers them to Himself. He sits down to eat with such has these. He will sit down to eat with such as these in the kingdom of God. He will sit down to eat with poor, miserable sinners such as we are at the eternal heavenly banquet.

The great supper has room for everyone. The original invitation was rejected by those invited. Our Lord + Jesus gathered to Himself all the poor, the blind, the maimed, and the lame, but there was still room at the feast. So then, He is sent into the highways and hedges to call all to the heavenly feast. It was the Apostles, at the command of the Lord + Jesus, who went into all the world to proclaim the good news of the redemption from sin and death found only in our Lord + Jesus. They invited the whole world to come to the great supper of our heavenly Father. We have been invited to sit down to eat with our Lord + Jesus. We have been invited to come and be with our Lord + Jesus and hear His preaching, and eat the meal of His Body and Blood in bread and wine. We have been invited to receive from Him the forgiveness of our sins—the healing of our souls. Indeed, the whole world has been invited to come to His great supper.

The whole world continues to make excuses. They are no different than those who received the original invitation. My dear friends, let us not be like the unbelieving Jews, and the unbelieving world. Our Lord + Jesus has come to invite us to sit down to eat with Him. Indeed, He has come to invite us to feed upon His very Body and Blood given in bread and wine. He has invited us to eat His Flesh and drink His Blood for the remission of all our sins. Let us come to this great supper which He has prepared for us, for this meal is a foretaste of the great supper we will enjoy in heaven if we continue to cling to Him in faith. For we are the spiritually poor, and lame, and maimed, and blind. We have been cursed by sin and shame. But our Lord + Jesus has paid the penalty of our transgressions upon the tree of the holy cross. He has opened up for us the gates of eternal life. Let us with glad hearts enter into the eternal great supper and sit down to eat with our Lord, and all the saints who have gone before us. In the Name of our Lord + Jesus, the Christ. Amen.

06/09/2026

God Is No Respecter of Persons

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My dear friends in Christ, our Lord God is no respecter of persons. There is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, young nor old, rich nor poor, famous nor infamous, all are alike in the eyes of the Lord God. We are all alike in the eyes of the Lord God. Our Lord God does not value the things that this world values. This world values those who are rich, or famous, or in positions of power. On the other hand, the world scorns those who are poor, those who are nameless, and those who are in lowly, meanly positions. We had examples of this in this past Sunday’s Gospel reading from the Evangelist St. Luke. The rich man was clothed in fine linen and purple garments, the attire of princes and kings. And he fared sumptuously every day. Everyone praised him and desired to be him. At his funeral, he was probably lauded as a good and great man, as the world is wont to do with those whom they praise in this world.

Then there was Lazarus, the poor beggar who was literally thrown down at the gates of the rich man. Even those under whose care he was cast him away. He was full of sores, and hungered greatly, desiring to eat the crumbs that fell from the table of the rich man. Crumbs which our Lord + Jesus does not reveal in His parable whether they were received or not. Only the stray dogs had a care for him and came licked his wounds.

These two men show us how the world views people and our Lord God views people. For the world praises such men as the rich man, and they scorn such individuals as poor Lazarus. Not so for our Lord God who is no respecter of persons, Lazarus was carried by the angels into the awaiting arms of Father Abraham, and the rich man died and was buried, and endured the eternal anguish of the flames of Hades. The thing that sets them apart for our Lord God is faith. Lazarus despite his horrible life, clung in faith to the Lord God. He had Moses and the Prophets, and heard them, and believed the promises they declared about the Messiah. The rich man trusted in his money, status, and worldly possessions. He had no god but himself.

Contrast that with the individual from the reading for today, Cornelius. He was in a position of power. He was centurion, a leader of one hundred men. He was of the Italian Band; a military band we can be certain was a band of renown and fame. He could have easily been a worldly man like the rich man in our Lord’s parable, but he was not. St. Luke, the writer of the Book of Acts, tells us that he was “a devout man, one that feared God with his whole house.” He was not alone in his devotion to the Lord God. His whole household also feared God. This shows the influence that he had on those around him; the influence he had on his very own household. What he believed his whole household believed.

He believed in the Lord God, and because of that he did what he was taught to do. He gave much alms to the people, and he always prayed to the Lord God. And it was during one of the times when he was in prayer to the Lord God, at the ninth hour, the same hour incidentally that our Lord + Jesus gave up the ghost on the tree of the holy cross, that an angel of the Lord God appeared to him, and told him to call upon one Simon, surnamed Peter, who was staying in the house of Simon the Tanner in the seaside city of Joppa.

Cornelius believed on the Lord God, but he did not have the full story. He had not heard about the Lord + Jesus, about what He had done for mankind. Cornelius had not heard that the Lord + Jesus had come down out of heaven to take upon Himself our flesh, so that He might fulfill the Law perfectly in our stead, and that He might also offer Himself up on the tree of the holy cross for our sins, and the sins of the whole world. He was praying at the ninth hour, but he had not heard what our Lord + Jesus had done for him at the ninth hour upon the tree of the cross. His faith was incomplete. He needed to hear the holy Gospel from the lips of an Apostle, from St. Peter himself.

Lazarus had Moses and the Prophets, so too, I imagine, did Cornelius. But our Lord God, on account of the fact that Cornelius was a devout man, who trusted in Him, and proved that devotion through his alms and prayer, sent to Him the Apostle who would teach him and his whole household about the One Who the Moses and the Prophets declared and promised. Unfortunately, our pericope cut off before we heard that Gospel message from St. Peter. But we also have Moses and the Prophets. We have the preaching and the teaching of the Apostles, who proclaim through the holy Scriptures all the mighty acts and deeds of our Lord God. They declare to us that we have a Savior in the Lord + Jesus, the Christ, alone.

The Word of the Lord God teaches us that our Lord God is no respecter of persons. He values those who cling in faith to Him, and to the Son of God, our Lord + Jesus. In the Church there is neither Jew nor Greek. St. Peter points out the vision that he saw that showed him that the Lord God is no respecter of persons. He was told to go with the three men sent by Cornelius. Cornelius was told by the angel to send for St. Peter. A Greek was to send for a Jew. A Jew was to go to a Gentile, a Greek centurion. At St. Peter says, “Ye yourselves know how it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to join himself or come unto one of another nation.” Jews and Greeks did not mingle. They did not go to each other’s houses.

Our Lord God declares in this reading for today, that that was no longer to be the case. Titles of Jew or Greek, male or female, young or old, rich or poor, were no longer to take precedent in the Church. What mattered now was faith in the Lord God. What matters now is faith in our Lord + Jesus, the Christ. We are all equal according to faith in the Christ. There is no respect of persons other than for faith and unbelief.

The rich man from the parable this past Sunday lived a life of unbelief. As St. Augustine preached in his sermon on that text, he and his five brothers most likely mocked Moses and the Prophets, they probably ridiculed the resurrection of the dead. St. Augustine preaches that this was why the rich man mentions sending Lazarus back from the dead, because he and his brothers talked about it and mocked it. Whether or not St. Augustine is correct in his opinion about the rich man from the parable, we certainly know that this is the way of the world. The unbelieving world mocks and ridicules Christians and Christianity because of our belief in the resurrection of the dead.

This is because so many people, including Christians, are too tied to this world. They have no thought for the life of the world to come, and spend all their time, energy, and worry on the things of this life and world. This is how an unbelieving world treats eternal things. They only have thought for the life immediately in front of their face. They give no thought to what comes after this life. The unbelieving world only cares about riches, fame, and themselves.

This is what sets Cornelius, and his whole household, apart from the unbelieving world. This is what set Lazarus apart from the rich man. They gave thought to their eternal status before a jealous God, Who threatens to punish all those who transgress His Commandments. And here is where our Lord’s grace and mercy is truly shown to us; in the lives of these two men. Lazarus was a poor beggar, full of sores, and begging for crumbs of food, and hated by all. Cornelius was a man of authority and honor, regard in high esteem by his servants, underlings, and household. On the surface, two very different men. But in the Lord God’s eyes they were the same. There was no respect for what sort of persons they were in this life. The Lord God loved them both very much, because they clung in faith to Him.

Lazarus was taken by the angels into the loving arms of Father Abraham, into the arms of the heavenly Father. Cornelius was sent the Apostle St. Peter to preach into his ears all the good things that the Lord + Jesus, the Christ has done for mankind; all the good things that He had done for him and his whole household. Therefore, my dear friends in Christ, take comfort in the fact that no matter status we may find ourselves in in this life, whether we are Greeks or Jews, males or females, young persons or old, whether we are rich or poor, the Lord God loves us on account of our faith in Him, the faith He created in us by the work of the Holy Ghost. He has redeemed us from sin, death, and the power of the devil regardless of who we are, or who we are not. He does not consider our status in this life, but only considers our faith. Cling to Him in faith, and He will continue to preach into your ears that He has rescued you from sin and shame, and has promised to take you to Himself in heaven. May He grant this unto us all! In the Name of our Lord + Jesus, the Christ. Amen.

06/02/2026

Thou Shalt Meditate Thereon Day and Night

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My dear brothers in Christ and beloved friends, when the Lord God brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt, they did not have to do anything but believe His Word. He declared to them through His Prophet Moses that He would rescue them from the Egyptian slavery with mighty deeds and acts, with an out-stretched arm. He plagued the Egyptians, their enslavers, with ten plagues, each one showing His power and might. Each plague an indictment against and defeat of the gods of the Egyptians. The people of Israel did not need to do anything; the Lord God did it all for them. They received the benefits of His actions simply through believing His Word.

This is especially true of the last night of their enslavement when the Lord God told them to observe the Passover and He would deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians; from the hand of Pharaoh himself. They believed the Lord God’s Word and spread the blood of the lambs on the doorposts and lintels. And the Lord God killed the firstborn of the Egyptians, causing them to send the Israelites away.

The Lord God delivered them again at the Red Sea. The people of Israel did nothing to save themselves. The Lord God made a path—a wall of water on each side of them—so that they could pass through the Red Sea on dry ground. They believed His Word and were delivered once and for all from the Egyptians. They saw the Egyptians dead upon the shore; they saw the mighty acts of the Lord God and believed on Him.

On Mount Sinai, the Lord God gave the people of Israel His Ten Commandments—His ten words. With these words the Lord God declared that He would be the God of the people of Israel. He would be their God, and they would be His people. If they meditated on His Word day and night, they would remain to be His people. He would continue to be their God. He led them through the wilderness for forty years. A whole generation went the way of all things, even the Prophet Moses, and Aaron the high priest. Now, as the people of Israel gathered themselves before the Jordan River, Joshua the son of Nun, stood as their leader and guide. The Lord God promised the people of Israel, through Joshua, that He would give them the land that stood before them for their heritage. They did not need to anything, for the Lord God would fight for them. As He led them through the Red Sea forty years earlier on dry ground. Now they would cross the Jordan River on dry ground.

They were reminded once more of the Lord’s Law, of His ten words. They were to meditate thereon day and night. If they clung in faith to the Lord God and His Word, He would remain their God, and they would remain His people. For forty years the Lord God had been teaching them to trust in Him. They learned that everything comes from the Lord God. They were given water from the rock. They were given quail without number. And every day they were given to eat the bread of heaven—the heavenly manna, the food of the angels. The Lord God preserved and sustained them throughout their forty years in the wilderness.

But that forty years was not without rebellion and distrust of the Lord God. For they were a hard-hearted and evil generation. There was the rebellion of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. They sought to take for themselves an authority which did not belong to them; an authority which the Lord God did not give to them. Korah sought to have the priesthood, and Dathan and Abiram sought to be rulers over Israel in place of Moses. The Lord God established that the priesthood belonged to Aaron, and his sons, by causing his staff to bud with almonds.

They had refused to go into the land of Canaan and take possession of it after sending twelve spies to spy out the land. Only Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun believed that the Lord God would give them the land before them. The people feared the sons of Anak, the sons of giants, and would not go up into Canaan and take possession of it. The Lord declared that that generation would not receive the inheritance, but their children would. They would wander for forty years in the wilderness until that generation had gone the way of all things.

After forty years, though, the people of Israel, the children of that rebellious generation, learned to cling in faith to the Lord God. They learned to trust in His Word. They believed Him to be their only God. And He gave them the Promised Land of Canaan for their possession. He fought for them and gave them this land by His own will and might. They only needed to believe Him and His Word, and the Promised Land would be theirs.

Our diocese has been existence for half of that time, for twenty years. What was true for the Israelites is true for this diocese. The Lord God will continue to be our Lord and God if we continue to cling in faith to His Word; if we continue to cling in faith to the works and merits of the Lord + Jesus, the Christ. We have remained faithful these twenty years. We have meditated upon the Word of the Lord God for twenty years, and remained faithful to what He has commanded and promised to us.

As it was for the Israelites in their forty years of wandering in the wilderness, our twenty years have not been without struggle and hardship. Our twenty years have not been without rebellion. We have had our own Korah and Dathan and Abiram seeking an authority which did not belong to them. We have had pastors come and go; we have had congregations which were served by our pastors come and go. But one thing has remained consistent, and that is our unwavering faith in our Lord God.

He has brought us through these twenty years by His mighty works and deeds. He has sustained us by His Word. We have clung in faith to His Word. We have meditated upon His Word day and night. It has not departed from our mouths. We continue to preach the pure Gospel of our Lord + Jesus, the Christ. We continue to administer the Sacraments according to the Lord’s institution. And our Lord God has continued to be with us withersoever we have gone.

My dear brothers in Christ and dearly beloved friends, if we continue to remain steadfast to His Word, if we continue to meditate upon His Word day and night, the Lord God will continue to be with us withersoever we go. Therefore, be strong and of good courage; be not affrighted, neither be thou dismayed, for our Lord God has promised to be with us and fight for and lead us if we remain steadfastly faithful to Him. He has sustained us thus far these past twenty years, and He will sustain us by His Word for the next twenty years and beyond. Only continue to be thou faithful to His Word as He has taught us, for even if we may bear daily the maniple of tears and sorrow, He has promised that by our continued faith in Him, we will be made worthy to receive the crown of everlasting life. May He preserve us in this faith, and bless our diocese in His great grace and mercy. In the Name of our Lord + Jesus, the Christ. Amen.

06/01/2026

Divine Service (parts edited out) for the Feast of the Holy Trinity, Sunday, May 31st, 2026 at Saints Peter and Paul Ev. Lutheran Church, UAC of Piedmont, SC. An independent Lutheran parish affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America (ELDoNA).

Hymns: INSERT—“Hallelujah! Let Praises Ring!”
INSERT—“We All Believe in One True God”
ASBH 83—“All Glory Be to God on High”
ASBH 57—“We All Believe in One True God”
INSERT—“Holy Ghost, Dispel Our Sadness”
INSERT—“I Bind unto Myself This Day”
Sequence Hymn: INSERT “Come, Holy Ghost, in Love”
Prelude: “Wir glauben all’” Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow
Postlude: “Allein Gott in der Höh’” Johann Pachelbel
Readings: Lesson—Ezekiel 18:30-32
Epistle—Romans 11:33-36
Gospel—St. John 3:1-15
Sermon Theme: “That Which Is Born of the Spirit Is Spirit”

05/31/2026

That Which Is Born of the Spirit Is Spirit

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My dear friends, our Lord + Jesus tells Nicodemus in the Gospel reading from the Apostle and Evangelist St. John that “that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” That which has been born of the flesh has been corrupted with sin. This body that we possess we have received from our first parents, Adam and Eve. They were deceived of serpent—the devil—in the Garden of Eden. Their sin has inhered in mankind since. Now, all those born of the flesh, that is, those born of Adam and Eve, are also corrupted with sin. There is nothing that we can do to this flesh that will change that. And because we have been cursed with sin, because of the sin of our first parents, we will all die. That is the curse placed upon mankind. Death is the consequences—the reward—of sin. We have been conceived and born in sin, so that it inheres in our flesh, but we also add daily to the corruption of the flesh our own sins in thoughts, words, and deeds.

This is why our Lord + Jesus also tells Nicodemus that we must be born anew; we must be born again. A new birth must take place. We have to be reborn. But we do not have to, as Nicodemus surmised, enter into our mother’s womb a second time. Being born again of flesh will do us no good, because the same problem in which we were conceived will still be present. Sin has so corrupted our human nature that being reborn in a different body will do us no good. Going back into our mother’s womb and being born again of the flesh will avail us nothing. No, my dear friends, our Lord + Jesus tells Nicodemus, and us, that we must be born of the Spirit. For, that which is born of the Spirit is spirit, that is, it is without sin. And because it is without sin, is no longer bears the curse of death.

The flesh of this body will die, but the spirit which has been created in us by the Holy Ghost—the Holy Spirit—will never die. It will live on forever and ever. Through faith in this promise, through faith in the works and merits of the Lord + Jesus, the Christ, we will live on eternally in heaven. This is such a wonderful thing that we cannot help but ask with Nicodemus, “How can these things be?” These things can not because of anything man can do, but only because of what our Lord God does for us. He re-creates us as a new creation in the waters of Holy Baptism. He drowns the old, fleshly Adam in the waters of Holy Baptism, and raises us again as a new creation which has been born of the Spirit. The flesh, and all its corruption, have been killed and buried in baptism. The Spirit which has been created in us lives on forever and ever.

This is why today, on the Feast of the Holy Trinity, we get a Gospel speaking about Holy Baptism, for we are made a new creation in the waters of Holy Baptism, because our Triune Lord God has placed His Name upon us. “His Name” is singular, one Name, but that Name holds three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. He places His Name upon us—His Triune Name—and we are granted peace. We have peace, because the sins with which we were born have been washed away, they have been covered over by the blood and righteousness of our Lord + Jesus, the Christ. This is why the Apostles called this baptism into the Triune Name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, being baptized into the Name of the Lord + Jesus. To be baptized in the Name of + Jesus is to be baptized in the Triune Name.

This, again, is the Lord’s work. It is His doing, and not mankind’s. Therefore, we can be sure that the promises that He declares are ours through Holy Baptism are truly granted to us. In our Holy Baptism we have the forgiveness of sins, and eternal life, and salvation from our spiritual enemies, because it is the Triune Lord God who is offering and giving these things to us through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. This is why each morning, and every evening, and throughout the day, as the Holy Spirit moves us, we can make the sign of the holy cross, and remember our Holy Baptism. We can remember with the Triune Name, and the sign of the holy cross, that our sins have been forgiven, and that we are a new creation born of the Spirit, and no longer only born of the flesh.

Sadly, however, my dear friends, there are those who do not believe this. They believe that Holy Baptism is just the work of mankind. That they are doing the work, making the choice, and because of this the only view Holy Baptism as a symbolic act. They do not view it as a work of the Triune Lord God. This is heresy of the highest degree! It is calling the Triune Lord God a liar. It is calling our Lord + Jesus, Who declares today what Holy Baptism does, a liar. By their unbelief they blaspheme the Triune Lord God; they blaspheme our Lord + Jesus. They cannot bring themselves to believe what our Lord + Jesus says here because they see only water and they ask like Nicodemus, “How can these things be?” How can water do such great things.

It is not the water that does them, but the Word of the Lord God which is in and attached to the waters of Holy Baptism that does them. If our Triune Lord God created the heavens and the earth simply by His Word, can He not also re-create us a new creation by His Word alone? Can He not make us a new creation born of the Spirit by His Word? He most certainly can! It is no different from when He created us from the dust of the earth. When He created our flesh and blood, and breathed into us the breath of life with His very own Spirit.

If water can do no good thing, can the dirt from which we were created do anything? If water cannot make us a new creation born of the Spirit, how did dirt make us a creation in the first place? How was the clay separated into different parts? How were all different kinds of things, like bones, sinews, arteries, veins, and so on made from one kind of material (which itself was only earth?). It was the Lord’s doing. He created us from the dust of the earth, He made us a creation by His own power and might. He even formed woman from the rib of Adam, a rib made from the dust of earth, so that all of mankind comes from the earth, man and woman. Only the Lord God could create in such a way. Only the Lord God could create us from dirt and earth and give us life and a body. If the Lord God can do this with earth and clay and make us flesh and blood, can He not also re-create us with water and make us a new creation born of the Spirit? For, as in the beginning, earth was the subject matter, but the whole fabric of the human body was the work of him who molded it, so now too, though the element of water is the subject matter, the whole work is done by the Spirit of grace.

Therefore, my dear friends, we need not doubt, as some do, that what we receive through water and the Word gives us what our Triune Lord God has promised us. He created our flesh and blood from the dust of the earth, but we corrupted that flesh by our disobedience to the Law of the Lord God. Adam and Eve were commanded to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but did anyway, and now they, and all their children, including us, because the Law was written on our hearts at creation, know that we are the evil; that our flesh has been corrupted with sin.

We have also come to know that we cannot save ourselves by our own works and merits. This is not something we learned from the world, for the unbelieving world still clings to the hope that if they do enough good works, they will be granted eternal life in heaven. There are many people in this world who believe that only the very corrupt (corrupt according to their own worldview) are condemned to hell. So, my friends, we do not learn from the world, that we cannot save ourselves. This is taught by the Holy Ghost, through the pure preaching of the Word of the Lord God. The Word reveals to us just how corrupt our flesh is; how truly doomed we are on account of the sin inhering in our flesh.

It is for this reason that our Lord + Jesus descended out of heaven, so that like the serpent of Moses in the wilderness, He might be lifted up upon the tree of the holy cross to atone for the sins of the whole world. His perfect, sinless, and innocent sacrifice has redeemed us from sin and death. In the waters of Holy Baptism, we have been crucified and buried with the Christ. Now, just as He rose again from the dead, we too, rise again born a new creation. We are no longer born of the flesh, but we have been born of the Spirit. And because that which is spirit is born of the Spirit, we will be granted the promise of eternal life.

Therefore, my dear friends, as we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Trinity, as we celebrate the day in which the Name He placed upon us is extolled and explained in the Athanasian Creed and in the Propers of the Day, let us give Him thanks and praise, that He has made us a new creation. We are no longer born of the flesh, for the Old Adam, the old flesh, has been drowned and killed in the waters of Holy Baptism. We are now a new creation, born of the Holy Ghost, born of water and the Word of the Lord God. Let us remember often this great gift of our Triune Lord God by remembering the Name He placed upon us, and with the sign of the cross, give thanks that we have life and immortality through Him, because He has washed away all of our sins. Thanks be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. Amen. In the Name of our Lord + Jesus, the Christ. Amen.

Saints Peter and Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church UAC

06/15/2026

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