May 2012 Sermons

admin — Mon, 07 May 2012 15:25:53 +0000

Cantate
It is the plight of the fallen flesh to ask the wrong questions about God. Sinners can not know God aright. So the disciples sorrow when they should be asking Christ where He is going. Their response shows themselves, not Christ, to be the center of their concerns. So it is with every sinner. But what Jesus does, He does for them. What He does, He does for you. He unveils before them the Mystery of the Holy Trinity. He teaches of the work of the Spirit. The Spirit of God works in setting apart the Holy Church, and thereby condemning the world, and every sinner with it. But the Holy Church, that which is Christ’s, follows Christ, both while on earth, and into heaven.

Download (right-click, save as):5-6-2012 John 16:4b-15
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April 2012 Sermons

admin — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 20:06:13 +0000

Sorry about the lack of listing the Gospel readings. I’m playing catch-up. We’ll return to our regular format next week.
Palmarium
The sign is clear: the long awaited Christ is here. But He rides into a City of Peace that will know violence, not to palace but to scourge, not to throne but to cross. Behold the King that comes! He comes meek and lowly, in humility, to stand alone before God and man accused of blasphemy against God and transgression against man. They will vest Him as King, to mock Him, to strike Him, as they hail Him as King of the Jews. Behold the King that comes!

Download (right-click, save as):4-1-2012
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Easter Vigil

Download (right-click, save as):4-8-2012 Vigil
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Resurrection Service

Download (right-click, save as):4-8-2012 Resurrection
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Quasimodogeniti
“Do not be unbelieving, but believing”, says the Lord. They are Words for you. You have the report of the Disciples, those who He made Apostles by His sending of them. You have the Holy Absolution He breathed onto them, the forgiveness of sins worked by the creative breath of God. With Thomas you see by faith the nail prints and the spear thrust, visible on the hands and side of the risen and living Lord. All these testify to you that you be not unbelieving, but believing, that you turn from your sinful ways and to Christ your crucified and risen Lord, that you be those your Lord calls “blessed”, those who have not seen and yet have believed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you have life in His Name.

Download (right-click, save as):4-15-2012
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Misericordia Domini Rev. Gary Schultz

Download (right-click, save as):4-22-2012
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Jubulate
Our Lord prophecies His death and resurrection. They will not see Him while He is in the tomb. Nor will they see Him in the tomb when it is opened, for He is risen. Then they will truly see Him as they could not see Him before. The cause of their weeping and grief will elicit rejoicing from the world. Still, their sorrow will precede their joy, which will come in a little while. So too do we live in the little while that precedes our Lord’s return. The fallen world enjoys the present time, finding consolation in things seen. Sinners have no hope in the time to come. But soon, in a little while, this time will end. As the woman who labors, so also Christ. The tomb was for Him a womb of sorts – from which He brought forth everlasting life. So too you, for being born in the womb of the Church, the Baptismal Font, God forgets your former sins, declaring you a new creature, born from above, enduring the grief of this little while until the joy of your resurrection.

Download (right-click, save as):4-29-2012
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March Sermons 2012

admin — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 14:40:37 +0000

Reminiscere – Second Sunday in Lent

They honored God with their lips, but their hearts were far from Him. Not unwashed hands, but the evil things that proceeded from their hearts defiled them. Consider what it is that has defiled you, the things that have come out of your heart. Repent, for as our Lord found unbelief in Israel and left them for Phoenicia, so does God give the impenitent sinner over to his sins. But among sinners does the Christ work. There among pagans does His Word create faith. Faith endures testing, the trials and tribulations of this world. Faith clings to Christ. Faith prays “Lord, help me!” And faith always receives its reward: to eat from the Master’s Table.
Download (right-click, save as):3-4-2012 Matthew 15:21-28
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Oculi, Third Sunday in Lent

You were the possession of a strong man. Every sinner is. His power is the lie. And you were powerless to escape. You had become a happy slave, glad to remain in his control. But a Stronger Man than he came upon him, and overcame him. The Stronger Man overcame him not in power and might, but in humility and meekness. The Stronger Man wields the Sword of Truth, which strips away the armor of the tempter. And the Stronger Man, the Victor, takes your soul as the spoils of the battle. You are sundered by Him from slavery to the devil, and delivered over into forgiveness, life and faith. Blessed are you who hear the Word of God and keep it.

Download (right-click, save as):3-11-2012 Luke 11:14-28
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And for those of you who may be curious, you can listen to the entire Mass to discover the richness and orthodoxy of our practice.

Great sermon for the Forth Wednesday in Lent (I’m not biased. )

Laetare, Forth Sunday in Lent
It was all miraculously done for them. But the miracle of the feeding of the 5000 wasn’t about full bellies or baskets full of left-overs. It was a lesson about God and man, an illustration of how God works among His fallen creatures. More miraculous still is that hearing the account of the miracle, even while fasting from earthly bread, you are filled. For the God who gave Israel to eat in the desert filled His hands with the head of the steel spikes, that the Law be fulfilled, and His forgiveness and salvation be distributed to the multitudes, to you, and to all men.
Download (right-click, save as):3-18-2012 John 6:1-15
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Genesis Study Chapters 17 – 26

admin — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 17:28:23 +0000

Playing catch-up here!
Beginning on Page 43, Note 363, Chapter 17:23 through 18:8
Beginning on Page 44, Note 370, Chapter 18:9-33
Beginning on Page 45, Note 387, Chapter 19:1-9
Beginning on Page 46, Note 395, Chapter 19:4-29
Beginning on Page 47, Note 408, Chapter 19:30 through 20:6
Beginning on Page 48, Note 416, Chapter 20:1-18
The notes on the handouts stop being numbered at this point.
Page 49, Chapter 21:1-34
Page 49, Chapter 22:1-8
Page 50, Chapter 22:9-24
Page 50-52, Chapter 22:20 through 24:3
Page 51-53, Chapter 24:1-67
Page 54-55, Chapter 25:1-23
Page 56-57, Chapter 25:24 through 26:15
More coming soon. Some (future) sections will be missing due to my netbook malfunctioning.

February 2012 Sermons

admin — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 22:21:52 +0000

Septuagesima Sunday
It’s not “fair”, you think. Men should be paid according to their work. Those who worked longer should be paid more. We think God ought reward us according to our efforts. We have been quick to complain about the shortcomings of others. We have expected that God will grant us a greater reward because it seems to us that we have worked harder. But thanks be to God, it is not “fair”. What would be “fair” is that each of us be condemned on Judgment Day, for each of us has sinned. That would be “fair”. But in His great mercy, the Master of the Vineyard rewards us not according to what we have earned, but according to what Christ earned for us. He freely gives us the denarius of eternal salvation, bought with Christ’s shed blood. It isn’t “fair”. It is gracious. It is an act of boundless love.
Download: 2-5-2012 Matthew 20:1-16
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Sexagesima
The Word of God is precious. It is Holy. It is the Word, the Seed, that works, not the sower. The sower is but a servant of Christ, casting His Word over all types of men. Most will not bring forth fruit. But in His mercy, in His grace, still God sends sowers to cast His Seed, that by that Word men come to faith and be saved. His Seed is trodden down. His Seed can not find root in stony hearts and it withers. His Seed is choked out as sinful men are consumed with the cares of the world. But in you, dear Christian, that Word works. It brings forth fruit by God’s power, as He washes, feeds, nourishes and forgives you. For you that precious Seed brings forth eternal life.
Download: 2-12-2012 Luke 8:4-15
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Quinqasagesima
The blind man saw clearly. He calls our Lord “Son of David”, a sure confession that He is the Seed of the woman, the Messiah Promised of old, the Shoot from the stump of Jesse, the Child of the Virgin promised through the Prophet Isaiah, Immanuel, God with us. And this he did near Jericho, the gateway provided by God to Joshua and the Israelites to enter the Promised Land. But now the new and better Joshua drew near Jericho, the Savior that by His death and resurrection would provide a Way for lost and fallen men to be reconciled to God, Who would open the Way to heaven that He might lead the true people of God out of captivity and danger and in to their promised rest.

Download: 2-19-2012 Luke 18:31-43
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Ash Wednesday
Download: 2-22-2012 Ash Wednesday
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Invocabit First Sunday in Lent
The first man, when tempted, fell. So too Israel in the desert. You have been much like them. The temptations of the desert of this life are great, and compounded by the devil’s attacks on the Christian. In your time of testing, has it also seemed to you that yielding to temptation is the expedient thing to do, the thing that will make you truly happy? Beware – the devil’s promises are lies. So was Adam cast out, and the bodies of the Israelites are scattered in the desert. But the Body of the true Israel is not dead. He withstood the temptation that Adam and the sons of Jacob could not. He prevailed by the Word of God. And He died. But His victory, His Divinity, is proven in His resurrection. He is the perfect Man. And by the same Word with which He overcame the devil and his temptation, He offers His victory to you, that you share in His eternal deliverance.

Download: 2-26-2012 Matthew 4:1-11
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January 2012 Sermons

admin — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 17:37:33 +0000

Merry 8th Day of Christmastide to you!

The Circumcision of Our Lord
On the eighth day was the Blood of the Messiah first shed. Those few drops of Infant Blood were signs of the Blood He would shed, not at the edge of a flint knife, but by the points of the nails and the spear. As was His Baptism, His Circumcision was unlike any before or after. For by His circumcision the Giver of the Law placed Himself under it, the Holy One, the Seed of Abraham by whom circumcision was given, needing no circumcision, submit to the Law in your place, that you might be circumcised not of flesh, but of heart, and that the Promise be made yours.
Download: January 1st, 2012 Luke 2:21
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The Holy Name of Jesus
Download: January 2nd, 2012 The Holy Name of Jesus
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Epiphany 1 wasn’t recorded due to illness.

Epiphany 2 – While Pr. Braden is teaching in Venezuela, Pr. Gary Schultz is preaching.

Download: January 15th, 2012 – John 2:1-11
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Epiphany 3 – Preached by Pr. Gary Schultz.

Download: January 22nd, 2012 – Matthew 8:1-13
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Transfiguration of Our Lord
After six days the God through Whom man was created was revealed as Man to Peter, James, and John. The One through whom all things were made Tabernacled in the fragile skin of His creation, the eternal bound to time, the Light veiled in Flesh, His Divine Nature now manifest to men in the greatest of His Epiphanies. What Moses and Elijah long to see they beheld, the Prophetic Word confirmed. Yet fallen men build tents to try to force God to be where they think best, working as they think right. We, like Peter, would place God where we think He fits in our lives, and then direct the rest of our lives as we see fit. But tents could not hold Him. He is the Only Begotten Son in Whom the Father is well pleased. By cross and tomb and Easter morn He fulfilled both Law and Prophet, pleasing the Father well, that in Him you too be made a son.
Download: January 22nd, 2012 – Matthew 8:1-13
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December 2011 Sermons

admin — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 00:51:44 +0000

Second Sunday in Advent
“There will be signs…” says the Lord. The signs are already all around us. Perversity and sin are not only allowed, they are the law of the land. Secularists and pagans attack the only true faith at every turn. Riots across the globe mark what Jesus calls “distress of nations.” When these signs appear, Christ has promised “look up, and lift up your heads…” His final Advent is one of judgment. And Malachi prophesied of the horrors of that Day. But for the Christian, it is a blessed Day to which we look in hope, for the same Christ has promised of that Day “… your redemption draws near.” That Day is the answer to our prayer “Thy Kingdom come.” But the coming Lord does not impoverish His Church until that Day. He blesses you richly as He comes to you in His Mysteries. This He does to prepare you for that Day, that the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Download: Luke 21:25-33
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Third Sunday in Advent
Each day was good. But the sixth day was very good. The pinnacle of God’s creation was man. When they were created, male and female, the creation was complete. It was very good because the man bore the image and likeness of the God who created him. But it is not so any longer. The corruption of the creation is pervasive. Men die, even those we love. And the death they die is a death common to all men, for all sin. But note the Words of our Lord. Note the signs of His Advent that He demonstrates to John: the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel preached to them. It is the beginning of the new creation. And that new creation has begun in you also, by the same Christ, with the restoration of God’s image. Soon the Coming One comes, and the heavens and the earth will pass away, and the new creation will be finished for all eternity.
Download: 12-11-2011 Matthew 11:2-10
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4th Sunday in Advent
God promised a Prophet like Moses, that His voice again be heard. But as John stood in the Jordan waters, he said “I am not the Christ.” He baptized by God’s command, but the One who was coming after Him was preferred before him. John was a voice, but not the Promised Voice. Moses led Israel to cross the Jordan and enter the Promised Land, John called Israel out of the Promised Land and back to the Jordan to confess their sinfulness. But John could not cure their sinfulness. He could only preach the One who would, the One Whose baptism would work forgiveness and give the Holy Spirit, the Prophet raised up from among their brethren nailed to the tree. The One born in Bethlehem would be the Wisdom of God, the Lord, the Root of Jesse, the Key of David, the Rising Sun, the King of the Nations, Emmanuel.
Download: December 18th, 2001 John 1:19-28
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Christmass (10am service)
The Word became Flesh. The Eternal bound Himself to time, the Uncreated humbled Himself to be born. The brightness of God’s Glory and the express image of His Person lay cradled in the Virgin’s arms. Heavenly Holiness Incarnate, the Light of men, pierced the darkness of this fallen world. But darkness cannot accommodate light. So His own received Him not. The Flesh that the Word took on would be torn. But as many as receive Him are declared children of God. In Bethlehem has the Arm of the Lord been revealed, in Him all the ends of the earth shall see the Salvation of our God.
Download: December 25th, 2011 John 1:1-17
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November Sermons

admin — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 23:45:33 +0000

Third Last Sunday of the Church Year
The several distructions of Jerusalem, and the repeated enslavement of the Israelite people, were shadows of the times in which we live. The great tribulation has begun, but it grows slowly. The peril is real, the enemy is vigilant. But we flee not to mountain, but to the God who appeared to His people on the mountain 0 we flee not to His Law, but to His saving Gospel, where we receive the sure Promise of salvation in the face of ever-worsening horrors of this world. No matter how bad it gets, He is faithful. Marked as His elect, we stand confident of our eternal deliverance by the One who suffered even greater horrors, and died and rose for us.

11-6-2011 Matthew 24:15-28

Surprise! I recorded a Wednesday Chapel-Mass Sermon with my Android. The sound quality is not so great, I apologize.

Wednesday 11-9-2011

Second Last Sunday of the Church Year
There are sheep, and there are goats. They are very different. For a while, the sheep and goats are mixed, seemingly one flock. But do not be deceived – they are not one flock. They are two flocks. One will be sent to everlasting condemnation. The other will be given eternal life. The difference between the two flocks is their belief in the Shepherd. The sheep believe. They receive eternal life. That eternal life is not a reward for good works. It is the just reward for righteousness that is not the sheeps’, but freely given to them. From that righteousness flow works pleasing to the Shepherd. But true sheep are not aware even of their own good works. Such works are the fruit of faith, the automatic response of the believer to the love of God. These are the true sheep of the Shepherd, the true Flock, the blessed of the Father.

11-13-2011 Matthew 25:31-46

Last Sunday of the Church Year (Totenfest)
“The door was shut.” They are terrible words. No one else could enter. So it was at Eden. The flaming sword and cherubim were placed at Eden’s door that no one else could enter. But that closing ushered in the time of God’s grace. Even the condemnation of the serpent included a Promise. Now is the time in which the door to heaven is still open. Now is the time that saving faith is still poured out through Word and Sacrament into the lamps of the faithful. Soon, however, the Bridegroom will return, and the door to the wedding will be closed. So too will the gates of hell. Those dark gates keep the tormented in. There is fire aplenty inside for those who could not light their lamps. But the door to heaven keeps the unworthy out. There those found with lamps full dwell for eternity, safe, at peace, in everlasting joy.
11-20-2011 Matthew 25:1-13

Thanksgiving
11-24-2011 Thanksgiving 2001

First Sunday in Advent
The Covenant established, it was sealed in Blood. Blood was sprinkled on the people, on the altar, and Book of the Covenant was read. The people vowed “All that the Lord has said we will do.” God was faithful to His Covenant. But the people were not faithful. They broke the Covenant. In mercy, God did not allow them to perish. He promised a New Testament, the writing of the Law of God in the hearts and minds of the redeemed through the indwelling of the Spirit and faith – that men remember God, but God forget the sins of men. So did the faithful rejoice at the Triumphal entry of the long awaited Christ, crying “Hosanna in the highest!” For the Son of David came to usher in the New Testament, the Testament in His Blood. And so does the same Christ come now, in faithfulness to that Testament, for the forgiveness of your sins.
Download: Matthew 21:1-9
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Reformation Day

admin — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 01:03:59 +0000

Sermon from Holy Mass for Reformation Day

Reformation Day Sermon 2011

I work tomorrow, so the sermon for All Saint’s Day will not be recorded. Holy Mass commemorating the Faithful Departed on Wednesday the 2nd will be in the Chapel (as are most Wednesday Masses), where there is no recording equipment. I hope to eventually be able to capture those sermons also.

October Sermons

admin — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 17:01:52 +0000

October 2 – First Sunday after Michaelmass – Lost due to a Zoom Recorder malfunction.

Second Sunday after Michaelmass
In grace, in mercy, the King invites men to His celebration, the wedding of His Son. The house of the wedding feast is the holy catholic and Apostolic Church. It is truly God’s House, where He feeds His guests. All those who would not come are evil, but not all those who are admitted are good. The servants job is to gather, not judge. They gathered everyone they found, both good and bad. It is a picture of the church militant. We live in God’s Kingdom of Grace, where sinful, fallen men are invited to hear the saving Word. Now is the time that the unworthy are made sons of the King by His marvelous Mysteries. Now is the time He clothes men in the vestments of holiness. And on the last day He will come, and see upon you Christ’s righteousness, and you will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

10-9-2011 Matthew 22:1-14

Third Sunday after Michaelmass
The nobleman did not believe in Jesus. But his son was dying. And rich as he was, all his wealth availed nothing. So the rich man was made a beggar. So it is with every fallen man, for all men die. Our wealth, although God given, avails nothing. From the One who had not where to lay His head did the rich man seek help. He pleaded with Jesus to come heal his son. The Lord’s Word was proven true. Without signs and wonders they would not believe. So it is in mercy that He gives him the sign he sought. And hearing, seeing, he believed. So are we beggars before God. All men die. But the Lord of whom the nobleman begged can speak the dead to life, even from afar. And that is what He does for you.

10-16-2011 John 4:46-54

Fourth Sunday after Michaelmass
Peter sought a law. He desired to know what was required of him before God. But forgiveness is not of the Law. The Law only and always accuses. The answer to his question, seventy times seven, a boundless number, is expressive of the boundlessness of God’s grace. It is the answer of a loving God to the vow of Lamech. For indeed “…vengeance is mine, saith the Lord”, but it is His grace that is beyond measure. That we not become like unto the unmerciful servant, our Lord teaches us to pray “forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us”. But it is not we who are the fount and source of forgiveness, rather it is Christ. He is the Servant punished unmercifully for our debt, and delivered over to the torturers, that in His resurrection we be spared death. Believing in Him you are filled with the fruits of righteousness, and are made a partaker of His grace.

10-23-2011 Matthew 18:21-35

Fifth Sunday after Michaelmass
The flattery they engage in is hypocritical. To the One that can read hearts, it is transparent. The image that norms them is the fallen image. The inscription that marks them is the curse “to dust you shall return.”. They do not know the truth, but they know they don’t like it. For the Truth stands before them, and in the delusion of their corruption, they attempt to plot against Him. So are they to be rendered the father of lies. And so it is with any sinful man that justifies his sins, that is foolish enough to try to deceive God. But Christ is the image of the invisible God, in whom we have redemption through His Blood, the forgiveness of sins. By that Blood is the image of God restored in men. The inscription that he places upon you is that of His Holy Triune Name. He creates clean hearts in those who believe, that they may know the Truth. Marked with His Name, reborn in His image, you are God’s, and so at the final accounting you are rendered unto Him.

10-30-2011 Matthew 22:15-22