Pastor Chris Brademeyer’s Podcast

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.

Why Are You Weeping? - Easter Sunday 2026

Mary Magdalene came to the tomb while it was still dark. This is not only a description of the time of day, it is also an accurate assessment of the world as she knew it. The sun was not yet up, the night was still there, but more than that, it was dark in her mind and heart. Jesus was dead.
The One who had cast out her demons, the One who had spoken with authority unlike the scribes, the One who had healed the sick, forgiven sinners, and called the dead from their graves had been laid in one. She saw the Lord crucified. She had seen His suffering. She saw Him give up His spirit. She saw the spear pierce His side. She saw Him buried.

Behold the Man - Good Friday 2026

We do not gather today to admire a noble martyr. We are not here merely to remember an example of courage under suffering. We are not here simply to reflect upon injustice, cruelty, or the tragedy of human violence. No, we are here because our sin required this. This truth, as difficult as it is to confess, is the great offense behind Good Friday and, indeed, the Christian religion. But it is also the source of our greatest comfort.
The offense is this: your sin is so serious before God, so damnable, so deserving of wrath and judgment, that nothing less than the suffering and death of the Son of God could atone for it.
And the comfort is this: that suffering and death have now been offered for your salvation, forgiveness, and life. Good Friday is not sentimental nor is it mild. Good Friday is where God shows us what sin really is and what its cost is. Sinners do not like that. By nature, we always want to minimize our guilt. We want to call sin a weakness, a mistake, a lapse in judgment, a rough patch, a personal struggle. We want to excuse it, explain it, manage it, or compare it favorably to the sins of others.

Body Given, Blood Shed - Holy (Maundy) Thursday 2026

Tonight is a night of gifts. That may not be the first thing we think of when we think of Maundy Thursday. Usually our minds go to the Upper Room, to Judas slipping away into the darkness, to Peter’s coming denial, to the agony in Gethsemane. Everything is moving rapidly toward the cross.
But here, before Good Friday arrives in full, before the nails and the spear and the cry of dereliction, our Lord Jesus Christ gives gifts to His people. More to the point, He takes time to give them on the night when He was betrayed.
He gives them not to worthy men, not to disciples who had proven themselves especially courageous or faithful, but to weak men, sinful men, frightened men. He gives them to men who are about to fail Him. He even gives them to weak men such as us.
Tonight, we hear of the gift that is His incarnation and death, the gift that is His Supper, and the gift that is His Church. All of it comes from Christ. All of it is given in His gracious love. All of it is for sinners.

Betrayed by a Kiss - Holy Wednesday 2026

Loyalty is celebrated among us, and rightly so. It is easy to see its virtues. Loyalty inspires confidence. Loyalty is the proper reward for good leadership. Loyalty deserves every praise we can muster for it.
The opposite, betrayal, is horrific. It is cowardly, the product of a weak constitution. It is demeaning; it repays good with evil. It shocks because it is so undeserved. No doubt, we have all experienced its icy grip. Whether it was a playground scuffle that led to the betrayal of a friend, a stolen romantic interest, or being taken advantage of in business by someone thought of as a friend, the stab of pain in the bowels is unmistakable.
Worse, the more goodness we find in someone, the more horrible the betrayal. A good man who is left behind to die in war by a cowardly soldier is a tragedy. Turning the very Son of God over to cruel men who seek His ruin is indescribable in its wickedness.

A Grain of Wheat - Holy Monday 2026

Jesus knew what was going to happen to Him during the week called “holy.” He had learned from His childhood that He was and is the suffering servant from the prophecy according to Isaiah. He knew that He would be lifted up, that is, crucified, between two criminals, and in this way He would be glorified. His hour of glory would see Him with His knees bent at less than a 90-degree angle, His arms stretched, not broken, and pierced with nails to hold them out. He would hang there, on that cross, in nakedness, in shame, having been beaten to a pulp, His flesh having been made raw by the cat of nine tails, whips, and a gruesome crown of thorns.
Is this glory? Per Jesus’ own words, yes. By worldly standards, no. One source is Truth, and one is deceived. The world tries to sell you a bill of goods wherein suffering is inglorious, wherein the avoidance or the fleeting from pain and sorrow is true glory. But what about Jesus’ Words? “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” 

Behold, You King King Comes to You - Palm Sunday, 2026

Palm Sunday is certainly a day of joy, but it is a serious joy. There are palm branches, singing, and shouts of “Hosanna to the Son of David!” But Palm Sunday is not simply a cheerful introduction to Easter decorations and springtime religion. It is the beginning of the Passion. It is the public presentation of Christ as King, and at the same time, it is His deliberate march toward the cross. Teachers of Scripture, exegetes, call this event the triumphal entry. And this shift in tone in the Gospel record from the teaching and healing ministry of Jesus to His setting of His face to Jerusalem for His death is why the triumphal entry matters so much. On Palm Sunday, Jesus shows us what kind of King He is, what kind of salvation He brings, and how He saves His people.
Zechariah prophesied this blessed event 550 years before it happened. “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey.” That one verse gives us the heart of Palm Sunday.

Who is Your Father?

“Who is your father?” That is not a question we ask very often, at least not directly. We might ask about family, background, where someone comes from, but not in this sort of straight-forward manner. It even seems rude. But this is a question at the center of the conflict in our Gospel reading today.
Jesus is speaking to the Jews, to those who pride themselves on their lineage, and they insist: “Abraham is our father.” Their patrimony, that is their inheritance as being descendants of Abraham, was the basis of their identity. It was their confidence. It is the basis of their claim to righteousness before God. And Jesus did not let that stand. He pressed the issue and sharpened the question. In so doing, He exposed what truly makes someone a child of Abraham and what does not. Even more, He also presses the same question upon you: who is your father?