Pastor Chris Brademeyer’s Podcast

Real thankfulness is never vague or abstract. The Samaritan leper does not come back simply to express a general attitude of gratitude. He returns because he has received something real from Jesus. He saw his skin restored, the disease destroyed, and that his life was given back.

True thankfulness always has an object. More specifically, it clings to someon...

   “And now, O Lord, for what do I wait?” For what do you wait? Are you even waiting for anything? I pray that you are all waiting for what is described in our readings for today: the new heavens and the new earth and our return to Zion – the kingdom of heaven. God has not revealed much to us about what our eternal life with Him will be like, but we do get a glimpse of its joys. Consider the po...

When our Lord teaches about the Last Day, He does not speak to terrify His people but to prepare them and to comfort them. Despite what is often portrayed in popular culture, the Last Day, Judgement Day, Armageddon, this day is not a cause for alarm or terror. No, for us Christians it is to be a day of great joy. Here in Matthew twenty-five, Jesus gives us a picture of that Day. For those who have rejected Christ it comes as a thre...

There are some passages of Scripture that seem strange to us at first glance. That is to say, the sayings or events are difficult to unpack without some insight into the historical context. This passage from Matthew 24 can seem like one of those. Jesus speaks of abominations, desolations, fleeing to mountains, and vultures gathering around a corpse. And yet these words were not only meant for p...

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...