Pastor Sullivan's Blog

In the Name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. Last Sunday Christ taught us about the grace of God. He calls us to enter His vineyard out of sheer grace and undeserved mercy. He promises us forgiveness of sins, life, and eternal salvation to all who believe, solely for Christ’s sake and not on account of any work, merit, or worthiness on our part. But He also warned us against receiving God’s grace in vain so that we grow to despise it and imagine that we really are worthy of the vineyard and the denarius. Christ teaches us about His kingdom while warning us against rejecting it. Today Christ teaches us   in a similar way about the power of His Word by comparing it to seed that is sown into the ground. He not only teaches us about His Word and its effects in our hearts, He warns us to careful how we hear His Word so that we don’t ignore it and let it be taken from us, and with it, our salvation. “ A sower went out to sow his seed ” and the “ the se...

In the Name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. Moses tells us in Genesis 2:7, “ the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. ” God created man from the soil of the earth and to remind him of his ancestry, God called him ‘Adam,’ which in Hebrew means ‘earth.’ The Lord God created man out of soil to signify that as man was cultivate and seed the soil of the earth, so God would cultivate and seed the heart of man, which had been brought forth from the earth. As the ground beneath our feet was created to accept seed and bear fruit, so God created the hearts of men to accept the seed of the divine word and bear spiritual fruit. God implanted the seed of His Word into Adam. That seed took root in Adam’s heart, but was soon torn away from him by the wiles of the devil. The devil tempted our first parents to be like God, to turn away from faith in their Creator and turn towards...

Order of Holy Communion - Pg. 15 Hymn # 296 Speak O Lord, Thy Servant Heareth Hymn # 261 Lord Keep Us Steadfast in Thy Word Hymn #  49 Almighty God Thy Word is Cast   Introit A-WAKE! - || Why do | You | sleep, | O - | Lord? *             Arise! Do not cast us | off - | for- - | ev- | er. - || Why do | You | hide | Your - | face, *             And forget | our | af- - | flic- | tion? || For our soul is bowed | down | to | the - | dust; *             Arise for our help | and - | re- - | deem | us. (Psalm 44:23-24a, 25a, 26a) || We have heard with | our | ears, | O - | God, *             Our fathers have told us, the deeds You | did - | in - | their | days. || You drove out the na- | tions | with | Your - | hand, *             But them You planted, because | you - | fa- - | vored | them. || You have saved us from | ...