Pastor Chris Brademeyer’s Podcast

Reasonable Faith in an Unreasonable World

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” These words from St. Paul come to us here on the last Sunday in Advent in an age of history in which the Christian Church is poised between promise and fulfillment, between longing and arrival. The cry of Rorate Coeli, “Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down righteousness,”[2]  is not sentimental or vague. It is a sober prayer spoken by people who know they need saving, who know that righteousness must come from outside themselves.
The world around us often treats Christianity as unreasonable. It is often said that our faith is too dogmatic, too demanding, too tied to ancient texts, too restrictive of personal freedom. Yet Holy Scripture insists otherwise. Christianity is not irrational, arbitrary, or detached from reality. It is reasonable precisely because it is grounded in who God is, what He has promised, and what He has done in Christ. As we wait for Christ’s coming, both His coming in glory and His nearness now, we learn what true Christian reasonableness looks like.
Find out more in this sermon from St. John's Lutheran Church of Oakes, ND!

A Sign Given

 God certainly knows how to give a sign. The problem illustrated before us today is not that God is unwilling to give signs, but that fallen man is unwilling to receive the sign God gives. This is a willful sort of ignorance that has been attested to by more than the observation of Christians. Even Plato, the ancient Greek philosopher saw that people prefer comfortable ideas to profound truth, famously illustrating this with a famous example of people in a cave. This truth is shown in simple, everyday things. The reluctance of communities, churches, and businesses to change even when the old and familiar isn’t working any more. The bad habits that seem to ensnare us despite our best efforts. The refusal of many to pick up a book or listen to someone that they disagree with lest they be challenged too much.
Find out more in this sermon from St. John's Lutheran Church of Oakes, ND!

Servants of Christ

“That we may obtain this faith, the Ministry of Teaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments was instituted.” So begins Article V of the Augsburg Confession. After confessing who God is, what sin is, and how we are justified by Christ alone, the Reformers knew the next question would arise immediately: If Christ has won forgiveness, life, and salvation for us, how does He give these gifts to us now? The answer is not left to guesswork or human invention. Christ Himself established a means by which His saving work is delivered with certainty. He sends you a pastor.
Find out more in this sermon from St. John's Lutheran Church of Oakes, ND!

Repentence is Good

Advent is a season of preparation. It is a season of expectation, of longing, of hope. But Scripture does not speak of preparation in vague spiritual terms, Advent preparation is concrete. It involves repentance. That is why John the Baptist stands so prominently in these Sundays before Christmas. John does not offer sentimentality. He does not point us toward nostalgia or warm feelings. He calls us to repent because the Lord is near.
Malachi foretold this: “Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me.” John is the messenger. Christ is the Lord who comes. And the way is prepared by repentance, a repentance that is not man-made or self-generated, but a repentance that is itself a gift of God.
Today we consider repentance not as something dreadful, but as something profoundly good, good for the soul, good for our relationships, good for our sanity, and good for our faith. And finally, we will see that repentance is never an end in itself. It aims at the Gospel. Repentance clears the rubble so Christ’s entrance and healing can be grabbed onto in Christian faith.
Find out more in this sermon for the Second Wednesday in Advent from St. John's Lutheran Church of Oakes, ND!

Steadfast in a Shaking World

Beloved in Christ, human history is characterized by movement. The world moves. Nations move. History moves. Culture moves. People move, often in anxious, restless directions. And the Scripture readings appointed for this Sunday show us the movement of God in history clearly. The prophet Malachi speaks of a day that burns like an oven, when the arrogant and the evildoer will be swept away like stubble, blown and burned, leaving nothing behind. Jesus in our reading from Luke describes signs in the sun and the moon and the stars, roaring seas, and people fainting with fear and foreboding. Everything is shaking. Everything is in motion.                     
And into that world of instability and unrest, the Word of God speaks a single command:Stand firm. Stand fast. Lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near. Today the Lord teaches His Church to stand firm when everything else moves. And He gives you everything you need to do just that.
Find out more in this sermon for the Second Sunday in Advent from St. John's Lutheran Church of Oakes, ND!

While We Wait

As I mentioned on Sunday, Advent is the season characterized by waiting. But this is not the kind of waiting we do at the checkout line. It is a holy waiting, a hopeful waiting, the waiting of a people who know Who is coming and what He brings with Him. James tells us, “Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord.” And Matthew tells us of John the Baptist, the voice crying in the wilderness, preparing the way of the Lord through repentance.
Both of these readings ask a simple but profound question: How should God’s people wait? Not with servile fear. Not with boredom. Not with distraction or apathy. But with trust, patience, and repentance. And this is what we learn in Advent: that the waiting of faith is not empty. It is expectant. It is active. It is shaped by the Lord who has come, who still comes, and who will come again.
Find out more in this sermon from St. John's Lutheran Church of Oakes, ND!

3P1S Episode 22: The Law for You Too; Exploring the Practive of Self-Examination

Episode 22: The Law isn’t just for the unconverted or the guy next to you in the pew. It’s for you, the Christian, too. But why? Why is the Law still preached to those who are in Christ. Isn’t the Gospel enough? The answer is simple: the old Adam hasn’t been reformed—he has to be drowned daily. And for that, you need the Law to expose the sin that still clings, so that you can be driven again and again to Jesus. Now, we’re not talking about rummaging around in your feelings. That is not maturity. Instead, mature Christians learn to use the Law rightly - as a mirror to see the truth. But keep in mind, they don’t examine themselves to condemn themselves, but to confess what is wrong—and let Christ deal with it. In this episode, we cover the topic of Self-Examination and Repentance.

Wake Up

Advent is a season characterized by waiting, but not all waiting is the same. We are not talking about regular, boring waiting in every day life like waiting for a doctor’s appointment or waiting in line at the grocery store. Advent is marked by an expectant kind of waiting like a family waiting for the knock at the door when a loved one returns home for the holidays. It is the waiting of longing, the waiting of hope, the waiting that says, “The Lord is coming. Any moment now.”
Our readings today all teach us something simple, but needful: Wake up! Your King is at the door! That is to say, Advent is marked by three waitings. One was fulfilled with the birth of our Lord Jesus over two thousand years ago when Jesus came in the flesh. The second is fulfilled today when Jesus comes to us for forgiveness and salvation through the Word and the Sacraments. The third will be fulfilled when Jesus comes again in glory to judge the living and the dead, that is, when He arrives again at the end of time.
Find out more in this sermon for the First Sunday in Advent from St. John's Lutheran Church of Oakes, ND!

Recognize the Giver

Real thankfulness is never vague or abstract. The Samaritan leper does not come back simply to express a general attitude of gratitude. He returns because he has received something real from Jesus. He saw his skin restored, the disease destroyed, and that his life was given back.
True thankfulness always has an object. More specifically, it clings to someone specific. One cannot be, in the most basic sense, thankful in general. No, thankfulness requires an acknowledgement of both the gift and the one who gives that gift. In the same way, Christian thankfulness is not simply “having a good attitude” or “being positive.” It is recognizing concrete gifts from the hand of God and returning to the Giver with appropriate thanksgiving.
Thankfulness is specific and concrete. You are thankful for something such as a blessing received or a  gift given. And so the Samaritan returned, fell at Jesus’s feet, and gave thanks because he knows exactly what Christ has done for him.
Find out more in this sermon for Thanksgiving Day from St. John's Lutheran Church of Oakes, ND!

The Last

   “And now, O Lord, for what do I wait?” For what do you wait? Are you even waiting for anything? I pray that you are all waiting for what is described in our readings for today: the new heavens and the new earth and our return to Zion – the kingdom of heaven. God has not revealed much to us about what our eternal life with Him will be like, but we do get a glimpse of its joys. Consider the poetic imagery from the prophet Isaiah, as he describes the creation of new heavens and a new earth. In this new creation, there will be gladness and joy. There will no longer be the sound of weeping or cries of distress. Death and injustice will be no more. You will enjoy the fruits of your own labor. The wolf and the lamb shall graze together. None shall hurt or destroy in God’s holy mountain. All things will be perfect, peaceful, just, and right. We really ought to meditate on such joys of eternal life more often, and they should be the thing which we wait for, which we expect and look forward to.
But on this last day of the church year before the beginning of Advent, the season which focuses on the coming of our Lord Jesus, there is another immensely important thing that we should remember and contemplate: before the new heavens and the new earth comes judgment. The time of judgment will be swift, and it will be without warning. So now, hear this warning of your Lord: “Watch.” Dear Christian, you must be prepared, lest, like a thief in the night, the bridegroom comes and you are put out into the outer darkness for lack of faith.
Find out more in this sermon from St. John's Lutheran Church of Oakes, ND!