Advertise on podcast: Ascension Lutheran Church

Speaker: Rev. Mark Mueller Scripture Focus: Genesis 12:1-9 & Genesis 15:1-6 Service Summary: Today, we see God choose an aged couple, Abraham and Sarah, from whom He would raise up a new nation through a child of promise. We will watch God call on Abraham to offer his beloved son as an offering, through which He will teach us many important things about the coming sacrifice of His own beloved Son, Jesus Christ, on the cross.

Speaker: Rev. Mark Mueller Scripture Focus: Genesis 3:1-21 Service Summary: Today, we ask how God’s beautiful, perfect creation came to be the shattered, messy world we are living in today. We will see the tragic moment when everything fell apart—when humanity was barred from the tree of life and how God stepped forward with a plan, giving His very first promise to send His Son to restore His fallen creatures and the world in which we live.

Speaker: Rev. Mark Mueller Scripture Focus: Acts 2:14a, Acts 2:22-36, John 8:48–59, Proverbs 8:1–4, & Proverbs 8:22-31 Service Summary: Holy Trinity, a time we commemorate and celebrate, is different than any other recognized time in the Church Year. Unlike Christmas, Easter, or last week’s Pentecost, where we rejoice in and reflect upon an action of God for our salvation, Holy Trinity is a time to rejoice in and reflect upon a doctrine. We gather around our shared confession of God as we know Him to be in the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Even in the mystery of things we cannot fully understand or comprehend by our own reason, we trust God’s revelation through His Word made known to us of who He is and what He has done, that apart from Him there is no other.

Speaker: Rev. Raleigh Sims Scripture Focus: Acts 1:12-26, John 17:20–26, & Revelation 21:1-20 Service Summary: All the Church does is based on our oneness with our Lord. In today’s Gospel, part of His High Priestly Prayer and the night in which He was betrayed, Jesus prays that we would be one, even as He and the Father are one. There is no other, for Jesus says He is “the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” (Revelation 22:13). Our oneness will be evident, as He prays, when “the love with which You have loved Me may be in them, and I in them” (John 17:26). But the Gospel is not limited to the present Church, for our Lord prays “also for those who will believe in Me through their word” (John 17:20). We pray that many join us as we rejoice with the psalmist: “Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!” (Psalm 133:1).

Speaker: Rev. Mark Mueller Scripture Focus: Acts 1:12-26, Revelation 21:1-20, & John 17:20–26 Service Summary: All the Church does is based on our oneness with our Lord. In today’s Gospel, part of His High Priestly Prayer and the night in which He was betrayed, Jesus prays that we would be one, even as He and the Father are one. There is no other, for Jesus says He is “the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” (Revelation 22:13). Our oneness will be evident, as He prays, when “the love with which You have loved Me may be in them, and I in them” (John 17:26). But the Gospel is not limited to the present Church, for our Lord prays “also for those who will believe in Me through their word” (John 17:20). We pray that many join us as we rejoice with the psalmist: “Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!” (Psalm 133:1).

Speaker: Rev. Mark Mueller Scripture Focus: Acts 1:1–11, Ephesians 1:15–23, & Luke 24:44–53 Service Summary: We gather in celebration of our ascended Savior, Jesus Christ, acknowledging that we are to be witnesses of the Gospel!

Speaker: Rev. Mark Mueller Scripture Focus: Acts 16:9–15, Revelation 21:9–14, Revelation 21:21-27, & John 16:23–33 Service Summary: The disciples thought they knew what Jesus was saying, but it was before Easter, and they could not understand. They would, “in that day,” that is, after Jesus’ victory and the Spirit’s gift of faith. Now we with them know that He has overcome the world, all opposition, and even death itself. John’s vision in Revelation depicts a perfect Jerusalem, clear and beautiful, with the Lamb as its lamp. Anticipating such nearness of God, in this our day we can pray, asking for whatever we need, confident of our Father’s hearing. In the Reading from Acts, Paul has to tell everyone about his Easter joy, and the Lord opens Lydia’s heart. She is baptized and opens her home for Paul and Luke to use to tell others. With the clarity of our Spirit-given Easter joy, we know, pray, and tell!

Speaker: Rev. Mark Mueller Scripture Focus: Acts 11:1–18, Revelation 21:1–7, & John 13:31–35 Service Summary: Now we know the end of the story. In John’s vision in the Epistle, heaven will be like an eternal wedding feast. All of us in the Church have been made presentable by Christ, the Bridegroom. Unlike the disciples, who in today’s Gospel still had to experience their Lord’s absence from Good Friday through Easter morning, we can be confident that no one can take our joy from us. Now we know that because He has paid the price on the cross, the Bridegroom will freely make all things new. In place of torrents of tears will be the spring of the water of life. When we receive His body and blood in the Sacrament, it is a foretaste of the feast to come, and we cannot wait to enjoy the rest of the eternal celebration!

Speaker: Rev. Mark Mueller Scripture Focus: Acts 20:17–35, Revelation 7:9–17, & John 10:22–30 Service Summary: It is Good Shepherd Sunday, and the familiar twenty-third Psalm is echoed throughout our worship. Our Lord went through the valley of the shadow of death in our place, leading from death to eternal life. There is work to do before we get to eternity, for following our Shepherd entails confessing our faith even when death’s shadow falls on us. It means vigilance against wolves attacking amid Christ’s flock, as Paul warns in the First Reading. But in his vision, John tells us that Christ is now the victorious Lamb on His eternal throne. We can be confident that what we believe by faith we shall know by experience in the unending joy of the Father’s house.

Speaker: Rev. Mark Mueller Scripture Focus: Acts 9:1–22, Revelation 5: 8–14, & John 21:1–19 Service Summary: In light of Christ’s eternal victory, we should expect change in our daily living. For example, although they were called to be fishers of men, in today’s Gospel, the disciples learned that they needed to listen to their Lord even when fishing for fish. Change for Peter would mean moving from regretting his past (where he denied his Lord) to feeding Christ’s flock. And for Saul (Paul), Christ’s eternal, living presence would mean changing from catching Christians to proclaiming Christ before Gentiles and kings. The heavenly host in the Reading from Revelation sing their eternal songs of praise to the Lamb on the throne. How might our risen Lord’s eternal victory over sin and evil change us so that we echo their praises already here in time?

Speaker: Rev. Greg Walton Service Summary: The installation of Rev. Mark A. Mueller as Senior Pastor of Ascension Lutheran Church.

Speaker: Rev. Murray Brindle Scripture Focus: Acts 5:12–20, Acts 5:21-32, Revelation 1:4–18, & John 20:19–31 Service Summary: Thomas had missed out. He wasn’t there with the other disciples when the risen Jesus appeared that first Easter night to show them His hands and side. Thomas was absent when Jesus breathed on them with His Spirit and sent them out to proclaim His forgiveness. It’s no wonder then that when Thomas heard about this encounter, he wanted to see Jesus for himself. “Unless I see, . . . I will never believe,” he said (John 20:25). One week after Christ’s resurrection, Thomas had his opportunity. He saw. He touched. He believed. He confessed: “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28). Today is your opportunity—don’t miss out! Our risen Jesus is here with His Spirit and in His body and blood. We see. We touch. We believe. We confess. As we gather in His presence for worship today, may He fill us with great joy as we continue to celebrate His resurrection victory and confess Him as our Lord and God!