Pastor Chris Brademeyer’s Podcast

Faith is not a vague feeling, a general notion that everything will turn out all right. Faith is not a spiritual pep talk we give ourselves when life gets hard. Faith is confidence in a Person, specifically in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who has come into the world to destroy sin, death, and the devil.

Faith always has an object, and the proper object is Ch...

Our Lord Jesus, ascending a hill, a mount, sat down and began teaching His disciples. What followed is arguably the most famous of His speeches, the Sermon on the Mount. In particular, the section that has since come to be called the Beatitudes which we read today, are among the most familiar and yet most misunderstood passages in all of Scripture.

“Blessed a...

In this special episode of the Three Padres and a Shepherd Podcast, we step into the theological deep end and ask a bold question with special guest Rev. Harrison Goodman: Who is God’s Israel? Is the modern nation of Israel the fulfillment of God’s promises? Are Christians obligated to support the reinstatement of Old Testament sacrifices in Jerusalem? And how do we rightly understand God's ancient people - the Jewish people—especi...

Five hundred eight years ago, a monk with a troubled conscience took a hammer, a piece of paper, a deep conviction that the Word of God must not be silenced and nailed a list of  95 theses on the church door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. Martin Luther didn’t set out to start a movement or to divide the Church. He simply wanted clarity. He wanted the pure Gospel. He wanted the certainty that sinners are justified by f...

It was the last week of Jesus’ earthly ministry and the tension in Jerusalem was thick. The Pharisees and Sadducees were desperate to trap Him, that is, they wanted to catch Him saying something that would discredit Him before the people or give the authorities grounds to arrest Him.

They had already tried to politically entrap Him by asking “Is it right to...

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, family, and friends of Irene Meyer: there are moments in life when words seem small and our hearts are heavy. The death of a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, and friend brings such a moment. Even when we know death will come, it still feels like an intrusion, a reminder that this world is not as God intended it to be. And yet, into such moments, our Lord Jesus speaks the words we ...

There are few situations in which self-exaltation and self-aggrandizing are considered acceptable. Indeed, it is almost always seen as being in bad form. You know the type. The person who talks a little too much about himself, who always manages to turn the conversation back to his own accomplishments, who wants to make sure you know how important he is. Such people quickly prove themselves insu...

Every one of our funerals begin with the same words: “In Holy Baptism [Name] was clothed with the robe of Christ’s righteousness that covered all his sin. St. Paul says, ‘Do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live a new...

Every one of us has a relationship with money and possessions. Some of us have a lot, some of us have a little. Some are comfortable, others feel pressed on every side. But no matter our position, Scripture repeatedly reminds us: wealth is both a gift of God and a dangerous temptation. It can provide food for the hungry, or it can become a false god that rob...

When our Lord Jesus prayed on the night before His death that “they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you,”He was not speaking figuratively. This was not a clever metaphor or a mere turn of phrase. It is the will of our Lord Jesus that Christians, those who bear His name, should be one.

And what is meant by this unity? Nothing less than that they share in all things. That is, that they would have very things ...

The installation of a pastor is always a day of joy, but today’s occasion has a unique flavor. Here at the University of North Dakota, we are setting apart a servant of Christ to minister in one of the most challenging and most fruitful fields: the university campus. It is here that young men and women are being trained for their economic vocations, questions of life and meaning are raised with intensity, and future families will b...

Today is the Feast of the Commemoration of St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist. Today’s Gospel reading gives us a brief account of how our Lord Jesus called Matthew into His service. Jesus walks by the tax booth. He sees Matthew sitting there, doing his work. And He says two words: “Follow Me.” And Matthew gets up and follows Him. No hesitation. No negotiation. No résumé presented to prove worth...

The older I get, the more I find that the evil and suffering of this world weighs heavy on me. Friends get cancer. Drunk drivers cross lines and destroy families. Children are murdered attending at school, even while going to chapel services. Political figures are assassinated. Injury. Illness. Suffering. Turmoil. Death. This seems to be the constant state of the world and we always seem to be t...

When was the last time you were really frustrated by not being able to communicate? Maybe your phone broke and you couldn’t call when you needed to. Maybe you were in a noisy crowd and no one could hear you. Or maybe you’ve visited someone in the hospital who had lost their ability to speak; it’s painful for them, and it’s painful for those who love them.

I...

In episode 18, we are tackling the topic of expectations!  What can you expect from your church?  In a world shaped by consumer preferences, it’s easy to treat the Church like another service provider—judging it by comfort, programs, or entertainment. Yet the Church’s true purpose is to deliver Christ through the preaching of the Word and the administration of the Sacraments. Pastors are called to shepherd, not entertain, and me...

Today we remember St. Bartholomew, one of the Twelve Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is not the most famous of the Apostles. In fact, in the Gospels we only hear his name mentioned in the lists of the Twelve. Few of his words are recorded in Scripture. In fact, he does not stand out from the Twelve like Peter or John. But Church history tells us that Bartholomew carried the Gospel far and ...

The so-called Parable of the Unjust Steward, when viewed from man’s perspective, makes no sense whatsoever. A manager wastes his master’s possessions, and when this is discovered, the master tells him that he’s going to take the management away from him. The steward goes to work to pad his landing. There’s a twist right away. The master didn’t have him turn ...