The Twin Steeples Podcast

Sermon - June 15, 2025

This recording is a condensed version of the sermon preached at Immanuel Ev. Lutheran Church on June 15, 2025. You can watch the full recording on our YouTube Channel.

Luke 3:21-23

When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. 22 And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, "You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased." 23 Now Jesus Himself began His ministry at about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph.

Theme: The Trinity at Work for Salvation

1. The Spirit Identifies the Christ

2. The Father Proclaims Him Sufficient

3. Jesus Fulfills All Righteousness

Hymn 245 - God Loved the World So that He Gave

This weekend we celebrate the festival of the Holy Trinity. This festival serves as the central point in the church year as we study the nature of the true God, and worship Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Our hymn study this weekend is on TLH hymn 245 which is based primarily on John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." This passage is sometimes called "The Gospel in a nutshell" because it so concisely summaries what the Gospel is and what it does. This hymn could be given a similar moniker. It to simply summarizes the Gospel, God's love for the sinner, and the comfort and strength that we receive from God's precious Means of Grace.

This hymn describes several important doctrines in a simple, but clear way. It speaks of both universal and personal justification in the opening verse. God "loved the world" and "the lost to save" describes universal justification. But the benefits are personally received by faith: "whoever would in Him believe" (v.1).

It also points to Christ as the Savior and details both His incarnation "was made flesh" and His death as the means by which salvation was accomplished (v.2).

The third verse rejects any idea of double predestination because God "would not have the sinner die," and the importance of the work of the Means of Grace "in the word" and also declaring that God "grants the highest good" in Baptism (v.4).

Verse five speaks of the comfort that is received from God's grace through Word and Sacrament that enables us to face sickness, oppression and even death with confidence because of Jesus' work for us. God "has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works" Paul writes to Timothy (2 Timothy 1:9).

Finally, we find all three persons of the Godhead described in these verses, from God the Father, to Jesus (God the Son), to the Holy Spirit. These three persons are praised in the final verse, which is known as a "doxology." How fitting that we give our Triune God praise for electing us to salvation, redeeming us through Christ's blood, and for bringing us to faith by the Holy Spirit. 

Join us in our worship this weekend as we acknowledge the one true God, and as we praise Father, Son and Holy Spirit for the work of our salvation! 

June 11, 2025

• Devotion
  • Ecclesiastes 4:1-6

 

• Announcements
  
  • No Podcast Next Week
  • Delegates' Conference
  • Mission Festival
  • Voters' Meeting
  • Ambassadors
  • Book Club
  • Midweek Bible Study
  • Church Council
  • Men's Breakfast
  • Ladies Bible Study
  • Third Sunday Communion
  • Pastoral Conference
  • Christian Family Weekend
  • Outdoor Service
  • VBS Registration

 

• Prayer List 
  • Pastor John Hein
  • Pastor Tim Wheaton
  • Jim Lien
  • Ethan Kranz
  • Mark Stelter
  • Bev Menton
  • Rick Mariner
  • Pastoral Conference
  • Mission in Nigeria

 

• Hymn: TLH 402 “O God, Forsake Me Not” 

Hymn 769 - Lift High the Cross

This weekend we celebrate Pentecost, which is the fulfillment of the Savior's promise to send the Holy Spirit who would enable the followers of Jesus to serve as His witnesses. How fitting then, that we also incorporate Mission Festival. 

The hymns this weekend will all have themes related to our Christian mission as evangelists and witnesses of Jesus. One of those will be the English hymn, Lift High the Cross (WS 769). This is a very simple hymn, appropriate for teaching our children, but which also communicates the simplicity of the message of Christianity and the work that the Lord has given to His church on earth. 

While the name "Jesus" is never used in this hymn, He is described in various ways, as our "Captain," our "King victorious," the "Christ," the "Son of God," and "the Crucified." The hymn point to the cross as the summary and symbol of the Christian faith, and the means by which God accomplished mankind's salvation through Jesus. This is the banner that communicates what joins us together as Christians and what we motivates us as soldiers of Christ.

There is also a theme of "victory" and "triumph" in this hymn. The cross is the symbol of Christ's victory over sin and death for sinners, just as the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:57: "But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

Join us in our study of this hymn and its writer, and as we learn more about the Scriptural foundation and meaning of our hymns so that our use of them would be more beneficial as we gather in worship and use this hymn of praise.

May the LORD bless your witness of Him as the Savior of all the world this weekend, and always!

June 4, 2025

• Devotion
  • Ecclesiastes 3:16-22

 

• Announcements
  
  • Mission Festival this Weekend
  • Sunday Service at 9:00am
  • Ladies' Auxiliary
  • Evening Ambassadors
  • Ascension Day Service
  • Congregational Meeting
  • Midweek Bible Study starts Thursday
  • Men's Breakfast
  • Ladies Bible Study
  • Delegates' Conference
  • ERC Meeting
  • Voter's Meeting
  • Pastoral Conference
  • Christian Family Weekend

 

• Prayer List 
  • Pastor John Hein
  • Pastor Tim Wheaton
  • Jim Lien
  • Ethan Kranz
  • Mark Stelter
  • Minnesota Delegates
  • CLC Missionaries
  • Mission in Philippines

 

• Common Christian Q &A:
  • How do we know the books of the Bible are God’s Word if they were put together and selected by man? 

 

• Hymn: TLH 608 “Let Thoughtless Thousands Choose the Road”