Pastor Chris Brademeyer’s Podcast

The King and the Messenger - Exaudi 2026

After His resurrection and before Pentecost, Jesus prepared His disciples for something important. He knew that He would shortly ascend to the right hand of the Father. In doing this, He took up openly and publicly the reign and authority that already belonged to Him as the crucified and risen Lord. Christ is King. This is not a title that merely has meaning in some symbolic or poetic sense, but truly. All authority in heaven and on earth belongs to Him, the crucified King of kings. 
But kings seldom rule from the front lines so to speak. Usually they rule through messengers. Throughout history, kings have used emissaries, heralds, and ambassadors to make known their wills. A king sends these officers to his people, bearing his authority and carrying his message. When the herald of the king relays this message faithfully, the people do not merely hear the messenger; they hear the king himself through the messenger. To reject the herald is to reject the ruler who sent him.

Ascended to Reign - Ascension Day 2026

Forty days after His resurrection, Jesus ascended into heaven. Dear Christians, saints of the Lord, the Ascension is not Jesus leaving His Church behind. It is not Christ withdrawing from the world. Rather, the Ascension is Christ taking His throne. The crucified and risen Lord is now enthroned as King of kings and Lord of lords at the right hand of God. Ascension Day is a feast of victory and comfort. Jesus reigns. This is not a future reality alone; it is not a metaphor or mystical idea that sounds nice but has no reality behind it. Jesus truly reigns even now. The Jesus Christ, true God and true man, rules over all things for the good of His Church.
The disciples themselves struggled at first to understand this. In our reading from Acts, they ask, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” They were still thinking in earthly categories. They expected visible political power, national restoration, and worldly glory. But Jesus directed them to something greater. His kingdom is not limited to one nation or earthly throne. His reign extends over heaven and earth.

Dead Faith? - Rogate 2026

Faith without works is dead. This is true. After all, the Holy Spirit caused St. James to write these very words. More than this, it is also somewhat obvious. Actions are physical confessions of what one holds dear. What we treasure and trust will shape what we do and how we live. For example, someone who claims to be a Vikings fan but who refuses to watch the games, buy the gear, and hope against all reason that this year will somehow be different isn’t really much of a fan. Why? Because faith directs action.
No matter how we slice it, there is an intimate unity between what we believe and what we do. The ancient Christians summarized this with the phrase lex orandi, lex credendi, that is, the law of prayer is the law of belief. In other words, what one truly believes inevitably expresses itself outwardly. Indeed, we rightly recognize hypocrisy when someone’s words and actions contradict one another. We expect unity between confession and conduct in others, and rightly so. Therefore, we should also desire such unity in ourselves.
But this raises an important question: what is the foundation of the Christian life? Is Christianity ultimately about behavior? Is the Christian faith merely moral improvement? Is St. James teaching that salvation depends upon your ability to produce enough good works? No. Not at all. St. James is not saying that works create faith. He is teaching that living faith produces works.

Let Not Man Separate - The Wedding of Kyle Saville and Alyx Schmitz

Dearly beloved in Christ, and especially Kyle and Alyx, today is a day of great joy. God has gathered us together to witness and rejoice in the union that He Himself has instituted and blessed. Marriage is not merely a human arrangement, nor simply a legal contract or emotional partnership. Marriage is God’s design. It is His gift to mankind from the very beginning.
Our Lord Jesus says in Matthew 19: “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?” 
Notice that Jesus points back to the fabric of creation itself. Before sin entered the world, before suffering and death, before all the brokenness we now experience, God established marriage. It belongs to Him. He created it. He defines it. And because He designed it, He also knows its purpose.

Be Not Deceived - Cantate 2026

St. James give us a sharp and necessary warning: “Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.” James assumes something about our condition here in this world. That is to say, he not only assumes that we will have the possibility of deception, but that it is likely. You, dear Christian, can be misled. Deception comes from the father of lies, the devil and all his demons. It comes from the world, which seeks to lead astray. Worst of all, we deceive ourselves. 
This deception is not directed to any and all knowledge, ultimately speaking. No, focuses on misleading about Christ, how we live as Christians, and how we relate to the Word of God. These eternal things are so important that they go beyond the sum total of all this universe. So James speaks to us plainly: do not be deceived. He wants us to be able to identify deception and to correct it by the very Word of God.

3P1S Episode 27 - Faithful Through the Summer: Why the Third Commandment Still Matters When the Lake Calls

The temperature is rising, the grass is growing green, and the ice is melting - summer is coming. With the summer months, though, church attendance often drops as busy North Dakotans try to squeeze many activities into the summer months before they have to hibernate again next fall. With this said, does church still matter over the summer or does summer vacation apply to the church as well? Join us in this episode titled, "Faithful Through the Summer; Why the Third Commandment Still Matters When the Lake Calls."

Christians in a Pagan Land - Jubilate 2026

Beloved in the Lord, St. Peter addresses Christians who are, in his words, “sojourners and exiles.” You live here, in this world, but you do not ultimately belong to it. Your citizenship is elsewhere. Your being is not determined by the shifting standards of culture, reputation, or public approval, but by Christ and His saving work. No matter what comes in this life, your ultimate status, identity, and place are guaranteed by Christ, your Savior. Even though this is the case, it is precisely because you live among neighbors, employers, authorities, and even adversaries that we must ask a central question: how then shall you live?
St. Peter gives us an answer that is not vague. It is concrete, demanding, and at times uncomfortable. He gives a twofold charge that defines the shape of the Christian life in this world. Our lives here are both inwardly at war and outwardly honorable.

Because He Lives - The Funeral of Carol Mathias

Dear friends in Christ, it is with heavy hearts that we gather to lay to rest our dear sister Carol. There are many things that can be said about her. Indeed, God gave her many vocations, that is, Christian duties, in this life. There is much to recall fondly, especially her over sixty years of marriage to Ernie. This godly union led to an increase in family, and many warmly recall her love for her family, her devotion to her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Besides all of this, there are those who are friends, other family, former colleagues, and those who shared interests with her. Indeed, there is much to give thanks to God about in a life like this.

The Sheep and the Shepherd - Misericordias Domini 2026

There is a deep and persistent longing in the human heart to be known, to be protected, and to be led. We feel it most clearly when life becomes unstable. That is, it becomes very apparent when plans unravel, when sickness comes, when guilt presses in, or when death draws near. In those moments, we are forced to reckon with something we often try to ignore: we are not as strong, as self-sufficient, or as secure as we would like to believe.
Scripture describes us in a way that cuts against our pride. It calls us sheep. Not lions. Not independent wanderers forging our own path. Sheep. Creatures that are prone to stray, easily frightened, and unable to defend themselves against real danger. Left alone, sheep do not thrive. They become lost and they perish.
But the Word of God does not stop there. In Ezekiel 34, the Lord speaks a powerful promise into that reality: “Behold, I, I Myself will search for My sheep and will seek them out.” This is not the promise of a distant God. This is the promise of a God who sees the condition of His people and resolves to act. In the Gospel of John, Jesus stands before the people and declares, “I am the Good Shepherd.”
This is not a gentle metaphor meant to comfort sentimentally. It is a claim of divine identity. The Lord who promised in Ezekiel to shepherd His people is now standing among them in the flesh.
But what makes Him the Good Shepherd is not merely that He guides. It is that He lays down His life. And this brings us to the heart of the Gospel: the Shepherd becomes the Lamb. The One who seeks the sheep becomes the sacrifice for them.

Faith that Overcomes the World - Quasimodo Geniti 2026

St. John makes a bold and striking claim. Christians do not merely cope with the world; we do not tolerate or endure it. We do not simply survive it. He says that those who are born of God overcome the world. This seems rather bold. When we look around us at this world and look within ourselves, we sometimes do not find much to justify the idea that we overcome anything, let alone the world.
The world often seems very strong, more than us. Sin still works around us. Death still claims those we love. The sinful self, the flesh, drags us down into weakness, fear, compromise, distraction, and shame.
So what does St. John mean? How can he speak so confidently about this? The Holy Spirit would teach us today that the world is not overcome by human strength, but by faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God.