Pastor Chris Brademeyer’s Podcast

Walking in the Light

The Apostle John gives us a simple, though profound teaching in our reading tonight: "This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all."[2] God is light. It’s not just that He gives light, or that He lives in light, He is light. Perfect purity. Perfect truth. Perfect holiness. In God, there is no hidden agenda, no shadowy motives, and no secret sins swept under the rug.
But when we hear this, our first instinct often is to step back. Because we know, if we are honest, that we have plenty of shadows in our lives. Sins, mistakes, things that are shameful. The list is long and cuts deeply into the very core of our being. And light like the Light that is God, light that exposes everything, can be uncomfortable as it illumines those things we seek to keep secret and hidden in shadow.
Find out more in this sermon on confession and absolution!

Who is Your Father?

The boundaries between Christ and Satan are rather defined. Jesus’s own words reveal this basic truth. In our Gospel reading from John today, Jesus is engaged in a conversation with those Jews who had believed in Him[2] and things get heated. In this passage, Jesus isn’t just defending His identity—He’s revealing a deep spiritual reality: that there are only two kingdoms. And these kingdoms are neither political kingdoms, nor economic systems, rather they are spiritual kingdoms. These are the kingdom of the Devil, and the Kingdom of Christ. Every single person belongs to one or the other. It doesn’t matter much if a person has an awareness of this; to be absent from Christ’s Kingdom is to be in the Devil’s.
This is a challenging passage, not because it’s hard to understand, but because it’s so clear. Jesus draws a hard line and says, "You are either with Me or you are not." As I mentioned a few weeks ago when Jesus says similarly to this in Luke, we humans love the idea of shades of gray in spiritual matters, in truth, and in morals. Gray makes us feel like we are in control, gray gives us the illusion of autonomy, that we are in charge of our fates. Gray deludes us into thinking that we have a handle on reality and all the facets of it wish to manipulate to our own ends. But Jesus, God Himself, does not tolerate such thinking. And here, He notes quite simply that we are either children of our Father in heaven or children of the Devil.

Baptism, Our Adoption

Today we reflect on the profound gift of baptism, which unites us with Christ and marks the beginning of our life in Him. Our readings from 1 Peter 3:18-22 and Matthew 28:16-20 highlight the significance of baptism, not just as a ritual, but as the saving act of God and the very foundation of our Christian identity. Furthermore, the wisdom of the Large and Small Catechisms deepens our understanding of baptism’s role in shaping our faith and daily walk with Christ.
Baptism is something many of us experience in infancy, but its impact is lifelong. It is not just a one-time event, but a daily reality that calls us into a life of faith, repentance, and renewal. Throughout this sermon, we will explore how baptism connects us to Christ’s death and resurrection, how it is central to the mission of the Church, and how it transforms our daily living.

Bread

Bread is a staple of life. In the Bible, bread represents daily provision, sustenance, and even God's miraculous care for His people. One of the most amazing miracles that our Lord Jesus performed was the feeding of the five thousand. This miracle was not just about satisfying hunger but was a sign pointing to something much greater—Jesus Himself as the Bread of Life.
This truth challenges us to examine our own selves: Are we seeking Jesus merely for the benefits or material blessings we want Him to provide, or do we long for Him above all else? Today, we will explore the significance of Jesus’ miracle, what it reveals about Him, and how He alone satisfies the deepest needs of our souls.
 

The Funeral of Irma Marek

We have gathered here today to lay to rest our dear sister in Christ Irma. We come with sadness, because death is always painful. It takes from us people we love. We feel the loss deeply, and it is right to grieve. Even Jesus wept at the tomb of His friend, Lazarus.
But as we grieve, we also come to be reminded of the hope that we have in Christ. Death is not the final word. Today is not just a time to remember Irma, but to reflect on the promises of Jesus. Jesus says in John that He is the resurrection and the life. This is the foundation of our hope today: that those who belong to Christ have eternal life in Him.
 

The Gift of Prayer

Dear friends in Christ, what a gift and privilege it is that we may pray! Prayer is not a burden, nor is it something we must do to earn God’s favor. Rather, prayer is a gift that our heavenly Father has given us, an open invitation to come before Him as dear children speak to their dear father.
Yet, if we are honest, we often struggle with prayer. We may neglect it in our daily lives, only remembering to pray when we are in crisis. Or, we may fall into the habit of thoughtless repetition, saying words without considering their meaning. Or perhaps, we hesitate to pray at all, feeling unworthy to come before God or that our concerns are beneath His interest or attention.
But in today’s lesson from Matthew, Jesus teaches us how to pray—not as a performance, not as a mindless ritual, but as true children of God. And as we learn from both Scripture and Luther’s summary of it in the Small Catechism, the Lord’s Prayer is the perfect model and guide for all our prayers.
Find out more in this sermon from St. John's Lutheran Church of Oakes, ND!

Christ, Born of Mary

Today, we celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation, the day our Lord was conceived in the womb of His mother, the blessed Virgin Mary. Mary was a young girl, likely no older than a teenager, and Joseph, her betrothed, was a faithful but otherwise ordinary man. Yet, despite their humble circumstances, God chose them for an extraordinary purpose: to bear and raise the Savior of the world.
This reminds us of a profound truth—God does not choose people based on outward status or worldly achievements. He looks at the heart. And in Mary and Joseph, we see simple yet steadfast faith, the kind of faith that trusts in the Lord’s promises even when they seem impossible.
But why did Christ come? Why did God Himself take on human flesh?
Find out more in this sermon for the Annunciation from St. John's Lutheran Church of Oakes, ND!

Warfare

Jesus speaks plainly: “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls.” If Satan were casting out Satan, then his kingdom would collapse. But Satan does not work against himself; rather, he masquerades as an angel of light, deceiving many into thinking they can be neutral, that they can straddle the line between good and evil. But there is no middle ground. You are either with Christ, or you are against Him. You either gather with Him, or you scatter.
This is a hard truth in a world that values moral ambiguity and personal preference above divine truth. People want to believe they can remain undecided about Christ while living as they please, that morals, at least considered in the abstract, have shades of gray rather than black and white. This is not to say that every moral decision is easy or clearcut, but that morality, as a general principle, is more black and white than not. In other words, there is objective, universal truth tot these things.
Jesus dispels this notion: there is no middle ground. One either belongs to the kingdom of God or the dominion of darkness.
Find out more in this sermon from St. John's Lutheran Church of Oakes, ND.

The Gospel

While all of the church year is designed for us to meditate on and receive the wisdom and benefits of the life and death of our Lord Jesus Christ, Lent is a particularly appropriate time to think about these things since it is a season that is meant to ready us for Holy Week and the great Pascal feast. And more to the point for tonight, these central truths are confessed in the Apostles’ Creed. In the Second Article of the Creed, we confess the central truth of our salvation—who Christ is and what He has done for us. This is not just doctrine to be memorized; it is the very foundation of our hope, our comfort, and our life. As Luther explains in the Large Catechism, this article teaches us about our Redeemer, who has delivered us from sin, death, and the devil’s power. Namely, the Catechism reflects three key aspects of this glorious truth: Christ’s identity, Christ’s work, and Christ’s victory.
Find out more in this sermon from St. John's Lutheran Church of Oakes, ND!

Stubborn Faith

This passage from Matthew is a gripping one. Jesus has a, for lack of a better word, confrontation with a Canaanite woman who is not of the house of Israel. Jesus says plainly that He has come to save Israel, not the Gentiles, but the woman refuses to back down. She would be happy, she says, to even get the crumbs. And her dogged refusal to look anywhere else than Jesus for help is commended as an example of great faith. The Canaanite woman is easy to sympathize with. She was, no doubt, desperate to see her daughter healed. And she, in her great need, came to Jesus. This was no fluke or accident; she did not come to know Jesus in by a dream or sudden spiritual awakening. The report of Christ was circulating the countryside; the Lord’s reputation was widely known at this point. And so she went to see if Jesus could do anything for her. This is the root of trust that makes faith. And this passage is a profound teaching on faith—what it is, where it comes from, and how it clings to Christ alone. Many misunderstand faith as something we muster up ourselves, but as we will see, faith is entirely a gift from God, sustained by His Word.
To hear more, listen to this sermon from St. John's Lutheran Church of Oakes, ND!