{"id":396,"date":"2026-08-17T21:44:02","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T01:44:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gracelutheranjohnstown.org\/staging\/?page_id=396"},"modified":"2026-09-14T14:20:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T18:20:12","slug":"sunday-sermons","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/gracelutheranjohnstown.org\/staging\/index.php\/sunday-sermons\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunday Sermons"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Image retrieved from: https:\/\/encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com\/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQpgndK69DMPCgcY4qbcwWI_qkn6OS2Vvv8YoZGtootkXp4HESGsjHTi8Os&s=10<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Children’s sermon for 8\/16:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus says that it is not what goes into your mouth that harms you, but what comes out of your mouth that harms you. This means that if your heart is full of kindness, then kindness will come out from you, however, if your heart is full of anger and frustration, then anger and frustration will come out from you, and that will harm you and your friends. What comes out of your mouth matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sermon:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Johnny Cash had been one of the more spiritual writers of his day, and one of his songs was titled “Help me.”  This song speaks of a person down on their luck, begging for help from God. Pastors often do their best to try to walk alongside others because we all need a form of help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        In today\u2019s Bible reading, the Pharisees on the one hand are questioning Jesus, while on the other hand, the Canaanite woman is begging for help. Overall, this passage is about ritual purity; what did the Canaanite woman have that the Pharisees did not have? She had a large amount of humility; she had a willingness to let go of pride, as well as to let go of questioning whether or not she would be accepted. Therefore, she had thrown herself at Jesus\u2019 feet for He is the One who heals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Those who have the faith of a dog: love unconditionally, are eager to please and to stand by their Master\u2019s feet. This Bible lesson is directed towards those who are often seen as outcasts, as well as to those who are spiritually poor. It is not about purity, it is about our need for a greater power than ourselves and to confess it. Lord help me. We fall short everyday of our lives. We must strive to be humble servants to the world, filled with good infinite mercy, grace and love. His presence guides us if we lean on God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sermons on 8-23-26<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Children\u2019s Sermon:
If we are not united in one body of Christ, then the tower will become unstable and fall; it takes us all. We need all people to care for the good in the long run, or else it will come crashing down.

Sermon:
Who do you say that the Son of man is? Challenge yourself to strike up a conversation with someone who is not a family member, and discuss what people say Jesus is to them. Share and reach out through the word of God. What are some of the things that we say: He is life everlasting, He is with you always, nothing can stop God\u2019s work on this earth, Jesus was a good teacher, He was a moral example for us all, He was revolutionary, He cured the broken, and others respected His wisdom, while others rejected Him. His Disciples had given many answers; respectful answers, but they were incomplete. Who do you say that I am? We often forget where God is at within our lives. There are powerful words in today\u2019s Gospel reading, especially in verse 16. Jesus had died for us on the cross. According to Peter, Jesus had not merely been a teacher or a prophet, but he had come to restore us. Faith is more than collecting information from Jesus. It is the ability to respond to that truth. Everyday, a new soul is presented to us with new needs. Some of us may feel that our faith is incomplete, and we may have questions. It is not about what Jesus expects of us, but rather He invites us to follow him, meaning continuing to read scripture, and continuing our relationship with God. Church is built on the truth of who Jesus is. We are all of different ages, backgrounds, etc., but we are all united with the conversation that Jesus Christ is our Lord. We are not called to hide away from darkness, rather we are called to stand out. The people of God are meant to move forward. When Jesus asks, who do you say that I am? Do not answer only with your lips, but with life as well. Worship him with your whole heart. Share grace with everyone, especially those who need help in finding their way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sunday, September 13

Children\u2019s Sermon:
Let\u2019s talk about something important: forgiveness. As I\u2019m drawing here, does this look like a face? Well, yes, it is round. What do you do when you make a mistake? Yes, you use the pencil eraser to erase it, but it\u2019s not erasing very well, is it? Now, have you ever seen this before? Yes, it\u2019s called a white board. Now, we have the eyes already made with the magnets here, and now it\u2019s time to add the smile. This thing erases it, and it goes away. It\u2019s pretty cool because now it\u2019s gone. Now, is your face round or oval? I\u2019ve been trying and trying to clean it up, and make it as pretty as possible. We are going to read in our text today about how good forgiveness is. When we forgive someone around us, sometimes, our anger doesn\u2019t leave us completely, but when we are with God, we can completely clean what we had erased, rather than leave behind a faded line. This shows how gracious and wonderful our God is. Jesus sacrificed himself on the cross so we can always be free from sin.

Sermon:
             Forgiveness, we think we do it, we think we try to do it, but really, how good do we do it? There are fewer things more difficult than offering forgiveness. Sometimes we say that we forgive, but often, we still have anger in our hearts. We replay the situation in our mind, and hold onto that hurt. In today’s readings from Jesus and Paul, they speak about how we should treat others. Paul writes about our convictions being different from others, and Jesus speaks about forgiveness. It is important to extend mercy rather than judgement. In the text, 7 times feels more than enough to forgive someone, but Jesus replies 77 times. However it\u2019s not about Jesus giving us a mathematical limitation, it’s about forgiveness ought to be flowing from our hearts,  and we have experienced this through mercy from God.
            Then Jesus tells a parable about a slave owing a debt more than could ever be paid back during a lifetime. The point of the matter is about erasing the debt completely, but then the slave goes to another slave that owes him money, and instead of showing mercy, he demands the money back, and when he can’t pay him back, he has him imprisoned. The first slave refuses to extend the forgiveness that had been given to him. The parable teaches that when you come before God with debts that could never be repaid, like holding onto anger, selfishness, using harsh words, when we\u2019re with our family and friends, but with God, he offers mercy completely. In order to truly understand the depth of God\u2019s mercy towards us, we need to extend ourselves, even if it means not forgetting what had happened. It means surrendering our desire to control the future through resentment and revenge. Entrust judgement to God. Open your hearts to healing for ourselves and for others.
             The early Christian community held different convictions and beliefs, such as in regards to food preparations, and traditions. Paul does not tell them to force everyone to think, walk and talk in the same way. Instead,  he says, who are you to pass judgement onto another? We often challenge or have the tendency to make ourselves the judge of everyone else. We might criticize another person for their worship style, traditions, clothing, political views, ways of life or for their interpretation of a scripture text. We turn against those that are different from us, and make them our enemies. Paul reminds us that we are not the final judge. Humility must accompany our convictions. Be careful before commenting about another person. We are a church, a community, where people need to feel welcomed, where truth can be shared without cruelty. Differences need to be handled with patience. Truths belong together as one, because God has forgiven us, so we must be willing to forgive others. God alone is judge, we need to be slow to condemn others.
We need to apologize for what we place on our neighbors. If a person disagrees with us, they are still someone that Christ had died for. Jesus does not respond to human sin with revenge, but with mercy instead. God provides hands to reach out, rather than to point condemningly. We are saved by the grace of God, who has already forgiven us.

Image retrieved from:
https:\/\/inspiration.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Forgiveness-1280-x-672-uai-1194×672.jpg<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Image retrieved from: https:\/\/encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com\/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQpgndK69DMPCgcY4qbcwWI_qkn6OS2Vvv8YoZGtootkXp4HESGsjHTi8Os&s=10 Children’s sermon for 8\/16: Jesus says that it is not what goes into your mouth that harms you, but what comes out of your mouth that harms you. This means that if your heart is full of kindness, then kindness will come out from you, however, if your heart is full … Continue reading “Sunday Sermons”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-396","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracelutheranjohnstown.org\/staging\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracelutheranjohnstown.org\/staging\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracelutheranjohnstown.org\/staging\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracelutheranjohnstown.org\/staging\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracelutheranjohnstown.org\/staging\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/gracelutheranjohnstown.org\/staging\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":408,"href":"https:\/\/gracelutheranjohnstown.org\/staging\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/396\/revisions\/408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracelutheranjohnstown.org\/staging\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}