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On All Saints Sunday and Commitment Sunday, this sermon reflects on the way Jesus sees people differently than we often do. Where the disciples may have seen a desperate, overwhelming crowd, Jesus saw beloved people and spoke blessing over them. In the Beatitudes, Jesus names suffering honestly and creates a new reality of hope: where you are today is not where you will be tomorrow, and the burden you carry does not have to be carried alone. The Church is called to become that kind of communitya body shaped by grace, healing, reconciliation, and love. On All Saints Sunday, we remember those who carried this faith before us, and on Commitment Sunday, we commit ourselves to continuing that legacy. We are invited not only to give, but to let Jesus heal us, work in us, and work through us so that the blessing and love of Christ can reach the world.

On Reformation weekend, this sermon returns us to the heart of Lutheran faith: grace always comes first. From God feeding the Israelites in the wilderness to Jesus seeing Zacchaeus and welcoming him into relationship, Scripture tells a consistent story of a God whose generosity is abundant, undeserved, and life-giving. That grace changes us. Zacchaeus moves from greed and isolation toward generosity, repair, and restored communitynot because he is shamed into it, but because he has been truly seen and loved by Jesus. This message invites us to trust that there is enough, release what we are clutching too tightly, and become more generous with the resources God has entrusted to us so that our neighbors, too, may experience abundant life.

This week begins our stewardship season, Building Up in Love, with a focus on abundance. Drawing from Deuteronomy, Ephesians, and Jesus words in John 10, this sermon reframes stewardship not as anxiety about money, but as a response to Gods abundance and an invitation to participate in Gods kingdom work. Jesus says, I came that they may have life and have it abundantly, and this abundant life is not only a future promiseit is something Jesus offers here and now. 10.11.26 Abundance In a culture that constantly tells us we do not have enough, do not do enough, and are not enough, Jesus speaks a better word: we are beloved, and God provides. Gratitude becomes the first step into abundant life, shifting our focus from scarcity to trust. Through the simple practice of Give. Save. Live., we are invited to reorder our resources and our hearts around Gods kingdom priorities, discovering more joy, freedom, and trust in the abundant life only Jesus can give.

What good are extraordinary spiritual gifts if they are not rooted in love? As we conclude GIFTED: Discover. Discern. Deploy., we return to Paul's famous words in 1 Corinthians 13 and Jesus' image of the vine and branches in John 15. We discover that a fruitful life begins by abiding in Jesus, receiving Christ's love, and allowing that love to flow through the gifts we have been given. The sermon series may be ending, but the journey is just beginning: you are loved, you are chosen, and you are gifted by the Spirit. https://churchlinkfeeds.blob.core.windows.net/notes/46163/note-277386.html

How do we discover the gifts God has given usand how do those gifts grow? Looking at Peter's journey with Jesus and Paul's encouragement to Timothy to fan into flame the gift of God, Jill invites us to pay attention to our hearts, the people who know us well, and the opportunities God gives us to practice. Spiritual gifts do not develop in isolation. They grow through relationships, mentoring, courage, and community as we help one another discover and use what God has already placed within us. https://churchlinkfeeds.blob.core.windows.net/notes/46163/note-277385.html

Why does God give spiritual gifts? Ephesians tells us they are given to equip God's people for ministry and build up the Body of Christ. This week in GIFTED, we explore apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachersnot simply as church jobs, but as different ways God equips people for ministry. Then Jesus' parable of the lost sheep reminds us what those gifts are ultimately for: seeking, finding, caring for, and loving people who feel lost or alone. The Body of Christ needs every person and every gift. https://churchlinkfeeds.blob.core.windows.net/notes/46163/note-277384.html

Jesus did not build the first community of disciples by gathering people who all thought alike. Jesus intentionally called people with different backgrounds, perspectives, and gifts and united them around one mission. This week in GIFTED, we explore how comparison and competition can keep us from recognizing the gifts God has placed within ourselves and othersand how the Spirit invites us instead to Discover, Discern, and Deploy our gifts. You are not an afterthought to God. You are an essential part of the Body of Christ. https://churchlinkfeeds.blob.core.windows.net/notes/46163/note-277382.html

Wisdom. Healing. Prophecy. Faith. Discernment. The spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12 can sound like an impossible job descriptionbut we were never expected to possess every gift ourselves. Jill explores what these gifts looked like in Jesus' ministry, how they might appear in our lives today, and why the diversity of gifts is essential to the Body of Christ. The Spirit is still active, equipping God's people together to share God's love with the world. https://churchlinkfeeds.blob.core.windows.net/notes/46163/note-277381.html

What has God placed in your hands? In the opening message of GIFTED: Discover. Discern. Deploy., we explore four foundational questions: What is a spiritual gift? Who gives these gifts? Who receives them? And why does God give them? Scripture reminds us that there are no spectators or ungifted people in the Body of Christ. The Holy Spirit gives every follower of Jesus gifts to serve our neighbors, strengthen the church, and glorify God. The gift is already waiting. It's time to unwrap it, discover it, and put it to use.

In this weeks sermon, we reflect on Jesus question to the disciples: But who do you say that I am? On the road near Caesarea Philippi, Peter answers with bold faith: You are the Messiah, the Son of God. Jesus responds with a stunning promise: You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. But Peter was not chosen because he was perfect. He was chosen because he was faithful. Again and again, Peter makes mistakes, speaks too quickly, misunderstands Jesus, and even denies him. Yet Jesus never gives up on him. This sermon reminds us that faith is not certainty, perfection, or moral superiority. Faith is trust in a Savior. Faith is the willingness to learn, grow, be corrected, and keep following Jesus. Jesus builds the church on imperfect but faithful peoplepeople like Peter, and people like us. As we prepare for a new series on spiritual gifts, we are invited to trust that God is still working in us, shaping us into the body of Christ for the sake of the world.

God's grace has no borders, and the story of the Canaanite woman in Matthew 15 makes that beautifully clear. Despite every cultural, ethnic, and religious barrier stacked against her, this outsider approached Jesus with bold, persistent faith and received exactly what she came for. Psalm 67 reminds us that God blesses people not so they can hold onto that blessing, but so it can flow outward to the whole world. Like the Sea of Galilee, we are designed to be pipelines, not cisterns. When God seems silent, silence is never absence and delay is never disinterest. Even a crumb from God's table carries more power than anything the world can offer. The question is not whether God's grace can reach the outsider. The question is whether we are willing to carry it there.

We live in a world shaped by scarcity, where time, money, and energy always feel limited. But God operates by a completely different economy, one defined by abundance and grace. In Isaiah 55, God invites the thirsty and the penniless to come and be filled without cost. In Matthew 14, Jesus takes five loaves and two fish, blesses them, and feeds thousands with baskets of food left over. God does not need much to do something extraordinary. Whatever feels like 'not enough' in your life right now is exactly the kind of offering God loves to multiply.

In this weeks sermon, we continue through the Gospel of Matthew and explore several of Jesus parables about the kingdom of heaven: the mustard seed, the yeast hidden in flour, the treasure in the field, the pearl of great value, and the net cast into the sea. These short, surprising stories reveal that the kingdom of heaven is not simply a faraway place or a future hope. It is already breaking into the world wherever Jesus is at work. The kingdom of heaven often begins in small, hidden, unexpected places. It grows in surprising ways, brings healing and abundance, honors what the world overlooks, and transforms what seems barren into something full of life. Jesus invites us to develop eyes to see this kingdom here and nowand to reflect it in our own lives. The kingdom of heaven is always closer than we realize.