Bethany Lutheran Church

Dante calls wrath a “love of justice perverted to revenge and spite.” Once words are spoken in anger, once actions are taken in wrath  … it is hard to walk back from. It isn’t about reconciliation and restoration but dominance and revenge. The wrath of the religious elite killed Jesus. Yet even in his arrest Jesus tells Peter to put his sword back and categorically shows that wrath is not the way of God. The peacemaker, the meek un...

Sloth moves us away from everything that matters and turns us toward simple distractions. It isn’t just about being lazy it is about where we put our time. Sports instead of faith. Entertainment instead of family. It is a disconnect.   Dante calls sloth a failure to love God with all of our heart, soul, and mind. We are made to overflow with life and have hope. We are called to hunger and thirst for the things of God and not be dis...

Early Christians objected to lust not because is produces ecstasy but because the ecstasy produced is a substitute for something real. Lust turns us from the hope of long-lasting bliss to animals who procreate and die. Lust can become an all-consuming cloud with unrealistic expectations and fantasies. Those who are supremely fortunate are the ones whose hearts are clean, who have beautiful innocence, because they are the ones that ...

The Bible is one of the most sophisticated pieces of literature and faith and it can be simple and complex but obviously people can read the same thing and come to very different conclusions. This is really a study to learn how to let the Bible read you more and avoid bringing some of your own presuppositions to the text. This is a study about the overarching themes and literary tricks that point us to deeper truths and lead us to ...

Envy invites me to look at those around me and see what they have and then look at my own life and consider it worthless compared to theirs. It rejects the good life God has given me and obsesses over what God gives someone else. A path away from envy is the phrase “me too”. When we connect with others and openly mourn together what he have lost. When we share what we have lost and where we hurt and when we are open with each other...

Pride is the natural love for myself magnified into a disdain for others. Augustine called pride the foundation of sin, for “pride made the soul desert Go, to whom it should cling as the source of life, and to imagine itself instead as the source of its own life.” Jesus words come to us not as an invitation to become poor but in a way to acknowledge that we are poor in spirit. To be able to see this is the opposite of prideful.

To repent of a sin is one thing.. to no longer struggle is something completely different. The beatitudes offer us a way out and show us a new way to live. As we explore the various sins we will explore them in light of what Christ calls us into. (Big picture focus on sanctification not individual beatitudes) 

Matthew 4:12-17 (ESV)
Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. And leaving Na...

Pride is the natural love for myself magnified into a disdain for others. Augustine called pride the foundation of sin, for “pride made the soul desert Go, to whom it should cling as the source of life, and to imagine itself instead as the source of its own life.” Jesus words come to us not as an invitation to become poor but in a way to acknowledge that we are poor in spirit. To be able to see this is the opposite of prideful.

There will always be challenges and struggles when it comes to faith but there is a hope for stability in the storms of life and doubts that creep in. Faith sets us on solid ground even if we don’t always trust the ground we might be standing on. Our prayer is the prayer of Paul in Ephesians and our faith is one spoken of in John as we seek the way, the truth, and the life. 

John 14:1-7 (ESV)
“Let not your hearts be t...

Sometimes people want to deny what the faith is really all about and in the process, it becomes actually more complicated and more demanding. It has been and always will be about the cross and what was accomplished there. 

John 10:11-8 (ESV)
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves ...

Faith can be tricky. There is doubt and uncertainly but the Holy Spirit working through God’s word gives us faith to believe and to live.

2 Timothy 3:14-17 (ESV)
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus....

There is nothing new under the sun. Many of the things contrary to scripture that are taught and twisted are not new “heresies” and are just ways we all try to get God off our back or to try to fix things for God. This is of course the issue it is seeking truth apart from the creator of truth. Truth sometimes is hard to hear but we can rejoice knowing what is real.

Matthew 7:13-23 (ESV)
“Enter by the narrow gate. For ...

So many things come at us in our day to day lives that draw our attention away from faith. It is natural to reflect and think are the roots of my faith deep enough to carry me through? What helps and hinders us from growing deeper roots in the faith? What is it that we need to know and trust at the end of the day?

Ephesians 3:14-19 (ESV)
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heave...

“You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood become a matter of life and death to you.” C.S. Lewis We kick off this sermon series with guest Alisa Childers. Who experienced a crisis of faith but found her way back as God was patient and loving with her. We all experience challenges in our faith life and together as God’s people we seek the truth.

Mark 9:14-24 (ESV)
And when they ca...

We continue to explore some of the Psalms words for us as we enter into this new year. Days and years go by fast and each new year comes and goes it is worth pausing and asking what are we doing? In the frailty and brevity of life we look to the Lord and why he calls us to number our days.

Psalm 90:1-12 (ESV)
Lord, you have been our dwelling place
    in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth...

It's time for New Year's resolutions. Lose some weight, declutter the house, and maybe even read your bible more! We are going to look at Psalm 1 and see how maybe God actually wants us to stop being so active in the coming year and simply be.

Psalm 1:1-6 (ESV)
Blessed is the man
    who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
    nor sits in the seat of scoffers;...

Titus 2:11-14 (ESV)
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own posse...

Luke 2:4-20 (ESV)
And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because th...