St. Michael and All Angels 2024

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Demons are real. One-third of the spirits, or angels, rebelled along with Lucifer, the “light-bearer.” The light-bearer turned to the darkness. Some of these demons in the course of time gained a very strong influence over certain nations and governments. By mastering the rulers, they control the governments. In antiquity, they developed rituals to worship the demons, which we call idolatry. In the modern Western world, the worship of demons takes a different form. The demons have turned mankind to celebrate in our own destruction. And that demonic influence is at work in the government and primary cultural institutions of our nation....

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Eleventh Sunday after Trinity 2023

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What a mess! This congregation is divided. The congregation is divided about which pastor is better. There’s a deeply judgmental spirit. Some even boast about their sin!

This congregation has serious problems with sexual immorality. Some people give nothing, while others give begrudgingly. Some of the women don’t dress modestly.

In this congregation the Lord’s Supper is a serious problem. There are factions. How can Christians eat the same supper when there are divisions? People are rude, they don’t bear with one another, they keep a record of wrongs. There are many words spoken, but few are said to build others up….

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Blessed Are the Losers

Immanuel Evangelical-Lutheran Church
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“The Be Happy Attitudes,” they’ve been called. The opening sayings of the Sermon on the Mount, today’s Gospel, are usually referred to as the Beatitudes. It’s from the repeating word Blessed, which in Latin is Beati. Beati pauperes spiritu. “Blessed are the spiritual paupers.” I doubt that’s what people mean when they say they’re spiritual but not religious.

Robert Schuller popularized the idea that blessed is really an attitude. In his book The Be Happy Attitudes, Schuller writes, “Blessed literally means ‘happy.’ So … you can be happy if you will discover the eight positive attitudes given to us by Jesus in the Beatitudes.”

I want you to be happy. But blessedness is something far deeper than happiness. Blessedness transcends happiness. Blessedness helps us survive all the unhappy things. Blessedness is not an attitude. It’s a condition, a state, a status…

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