Mark 4:1-20. The Parable of the Sower 4 Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. 2 And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: 3 “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. 6 And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8 And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” 9 And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” The Purpose of the Parables 10 And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. 11 And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, 12 so that “‘they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.’” 13 And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? 14 The sower sows the word. 15 And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. 16 And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. 17 And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.[a] 18 And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, 19 but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 20 But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”
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Trinity Lutheran Church, School and Child Care have been "Making Known the Love of Christ" in Sheboygan, Wisconsin and throughout the world since 1853 as a congregation gathering around God's Word and Sacraments to receive forgiveness and life everlasting. Trinity is located in downtown Sheboygan, only one block from the Mead Public Library and the Weill Center for the Performing Arts. We invite you to visit us in person! Trinity Lutheran Sheboygan is a proud member of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Visit their website: https://www.lcms.org/​​​​ Music for this production was obtained through a licensing agreement with One License, LLC. The copyright permission to reprint, podcast, and record hymns and songs is acquired through ID Number: 730195-A #LCMS #Lutheran #DivineService

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Trinity Lutheran Church, School and Child Care have been "Making Known the Love of Christ" in Sheboygan, Wisconsin and throughout the world since 1853 as a congregation gathering around God's Word and Sacraments to receive forgiveness and life everlasting. Trinity is located in downtown Sheboygan, only one block from the Mead Public Library and the Weill Center for the Performing Arts. We invite you to visit us in person! Trinity Lutheran Sheboygan is a proud member of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Visit their website: https://www.lcms.org/​​​​ Music for this production was obtained through a licensing agreement with One License, LLC. The copyright permission to reprint, podcast, and record hymns and songs is acquired through ID Number: 730195-A #LCMS #Lutheran #DivineService

In the holy gospel for today Jesus receives John's baptism in the Jordan, He is tempted by Satan in the wilderness and then He preaches His inaugural sermon. Loads of great stuff! In the Jordan River baptism, Jesus, even though He is not a sinner and never sinned, is the Isaiah 53 Suffering Servant who has come to take the sin of the world in his body in order to carry it to the cross and atone for it. No wonder the Father is well pleased with His Son! In addition, because the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand, the Lord Jesus would repent and faith us through His preaching. Repentance and faith! It's the biblical way to live in and from your baptism, this First Sunday in Lent and for the rest of your lives. ----- Trinity Lutheran Church, School and Child Care have been "Making Known the Love of Christ" in Sheboygan, Wisconsin and throughout the world since 1853 as a congregation gathering around God's Word and Sacraments to receive forgiveness and life everlasting. Trinity is located in downtown Sheboygan, only one block from the Mead Public Library and the Weill Center for the Performing Arts. We invite you to visit us in person! Trinity Lutheran Sheboygan is a proud member of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Visit their website: https://www.lcms.org/​​​​ Music for this production was obtained through a licensing agreement with One License, LLC. The copyright permission to reprint, podcast, and record hymns and songs is acquired through ID Number: 730195-A #advent #LCMS #Lutheran #DivineService

In faith and the fear of God, Abraham prepared to sacrifice his beloved son, Isaac. At the Word of the Lord, he “took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son.” And “when they came to the place of which God had told him,” Abraham bound Isaac “and laid him on the altar” (Gen. 22:6, 9). Then God stayed Abraham’s hand and provided “for himself the lamb for a burnt offering” (Gen. 22:8). That Lamb is God’s own beloved Son, Jesus, in whom “all the nations of the earth” are blessed (Gen. 22:18). As the Substitute for all the sons of men, Jesus is driven by the Spirit “into the wilderness” to be “tempted by Satan” (Mark 1:12–13) in order to endure and defeat all temptation. We are tempted by our own desire, which conceives and “gives birth to sin” (James 1:14–15). But this blessed Man, Christ Jesus, remained “steadfast under trial,” and He has received “the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him” (James 1:12). His faithfulness, His victory and His life are now given to us by His grace in the Gospel.
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Trinity Lutheran Church, School and Child Care have been "Making Known the Love of Christ" in Sheboygan, Wisconsin and throughout the world since 1853 as a congregation gathering around God's Word and Sacraments to receive forgiveness and life everlasting. Trinity is located in downtown Sheboygan, only one block from the Mead Public Library and the Weill Center for the Performing Arts. We invite you to visit us in person! Trinity Lutheran Sheboygan is a proud member of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Visit their website: https://www.lcms.org/​​​​ Music for this production was obtained through a licensing agreement with One License, LLC. The copyright permission to reprint, podcast, and record hymns and songs is acquired through ID Number: 730195-A #LCMS #Lutheran #DivineService

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Trinity Lutheran Church, School and Child Care have been "Making Known the Love of Christ" in Sheboygan, Wisconsin and throughout the world since 1853 as a congregation gathering around God's Word and Sacraments to receive forgiveness and life everlasting. Trinity is located in downtown Sheboygan, only one block from the Mead Public Library and the Weill Center for the Performing Arts. We invite you to visit us in person! Trinity Lutheran Sheboygan is a proud member of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Visit their website: https://www.lcms.org/​​​​ Music for this production was obtained through a licensing agreement with One License, LLC. The copyright permission to reprint, podcast, and record hymns and songs is acquired through ID Number: 730195-A #LCMS #Lutheran #DivineService

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Trinity Lutheran Church, School and Child Care have been "Making Known the Love of Christ" in Sheboygan, Wisconsin and throughout the world since 1853 as a congregation gathering around God's Word and Sacraments to receive forgiveness and life everlasting. Trinity is located in downtown Sheboygan, only one block from the Mead Public Library and the Weill Center for the Performing Arts. We invite you to visit us in person! Trinity Lutheran Sheboygan is a proud member of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Visit their website: https://www.lcms.org/​​​​ Music for this production was obtained through a licensing agreement with One License, LLC. The copyright permission to reprint, podcast, and record hymns and songs is acquired through ID Number: 730195-A #LCMS #Lutheran #DivineService

In the Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus’ appearance changes. He shines with unborrowed light as He becomes utterly and totally transparent regarding His divinity. Jesus is God of God and Light of Light. Moses and Elijah appear with Him on this mountain peak and affirm that He is the Christ who fulfills the law, that He is the One spoken of by the prophets. And God the Father removes any doubt whatsoever when He says, “This is my beloved Son, listen to him.”
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Trinity Lutheran Church, School and Child Care have been "Making Known the Love of Christ" in Sheboygan, Wisconsin and throughout the world since 1853 as a congregation gathering around God's Word and Sacraments to receive forgiveness and life everlasting. Trinity is located in downtown Sheboygan, only one block from the Mead Public Library and the Weill Center for the Performing Arts. We invite you to visit us in person! Trinity Lutheran Sheboygan is a proud member of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Visit their website: https://www.lcms.org/​​​​ Music for this production was obtained through a licensing agreement with One License, LLC. The copyright permission to reprint, podcast, and record hymns and songs is acquired through ID Number: 730195-A #advent #LCMS #Lutheran #DivineService

In the Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus’ appearance changes. He shines with unborrowed light as He becomes utterly and totally transparent regarding His divinity. Jesus is God of God and Light of Light. Moses and Elijah appear with Him on this mountain peak and affirm that He is the Christ who fulfills the law, that He is the One spoken of by the prophets. And God the Father removes any doubt whatsoever when He says, “This is my beloved Son, listen to him.”
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Trinity Lutheran Church, School and Child Care have been "Making Known the Love of Christ" in Sheboygan, Wisconsin and throughout the world since 1853 as a congregation gathering around God's Word and Sacraments to receive forgiveness and life everlasting. Trinity is located in downtown Sheboygan, only one block from the Mead Public Library and the Weill Center for the Performing Arts. We invite you to visit us in person! Trinity Lutheran Sheboygan is a proud member of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Visit their website: https://www.lcms.org/​​​​ Music for this production was obtained through a licensing agreement with One License, LLC. The copyright permission to reprint, podcast, and record hymns and songs is acquired through ID Number: 730195-A #advent #LCMS #Lutheran #DivineService

The transfiguration displays the glory of the Christ. Often, however, the participation of the saints in His glory gets overlooked in this episode of the Gospel. Their participation in Jesus’ glory has important ramifications for all Christians. For although all glory properly belongs to God alone, He also promises to glorify those who believe. The believers’ reward, for whom faith in Christ is accounted as righteousness, includes beholding the glory of God and seeing His face.
 
In this way, the faithful will also be glorified. Just as God allows the holy angels to partake in His glory (Luke 2:9; 9:26), so He allows the saints to partake in the same glory. Jesus gives to His disciples the glory that the Father gives Him (John 17:22; 1 Peter 5:1). Just as Jesus’ lowly body under which His divinity was concealed on earth was glorified on the mount of transfiguration, so our lowly bodies on the day of resurrection will be made like His glorious body (Phil. 3:21) Indeed, Christians may look forward with joyful anticipation to the promise of such glory as was manifested in Moses and Elijah at the transfiguration.
 
And in hope of the fulfillment of this promise, Christians find great consolation and strength to endure the trials of this world: ‘For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison’ (2 Cor. 4:17). At the transfiguration, the Father identifies Jesus as His Son. As adopted sons, we also have cause to rejoice since, like the adopted sons Moses and Elijah, we will live with Him in His glory. ‘ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs — heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us’ (Rom. 8:16–18).” - The Rev. Dr. Edward Naumann
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Trinity Lutheran Church, School and Child Care have been "Making Known the Love of Christ" in Sheboygan, Wisconsin and throughout the world since 1853 as a congregation gathering around God's Word and Sacraments to receive forgiveness and life everlasting. Trinity is located in downtown Sheboygan, only one block from the Mead Public Library and the Weill Center for the Performing Arts. We invite you to visit us in person! Trinity Lutheran Sheboygan is a proud member of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Visit their website: https://www.lcms.org/​​​​ Music for this production was obtained through a licensing agreement with One License, LLC. The copyright permission to reprint, podcast, and record hymns and songs is acquired through ID Number: 730195-A #LCMS #Lutheran #DivineService

After Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law and many other people he said, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” Notice what Jesus does not say, that I came to heal and cast out demons. He says only that I may preach. The miracles and exorcisms get all the attention. Those are the stories we like, and that’s what we want still today.
 
Healing from our problems and providing for all of our daily needs. We pray for those things all the time, right? And it’s not wrong to pray for those things. Those are good prayers. He wants us, like those people in Capernaum that day, to come to Him with our sicknesses and demons. But He came to do something even greater than heal us of our sickness and diseases. He came to preach the Word, forgive our sins, conquer death and give us eternal life.
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Trinity Lutheran Church, School and Child Care have been "Making Known the Love of Christ" in Sheboygan, Wisconsin and throughout the world since 1853 as a congregation gathering around God's Word and Sacraments to receive forgiveness and life everlasting. Trinity is located in downtown Sheboygan, only one block from the Mead Public Library and the Weill Center for the Performing Arts. We invite you to visit us in person! Trinity Lutheran Sheboygan is a proud member of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Visit their website: https://www.lcms.org/​​​​ Music for this production was obtained through a licensing agreement with One License, LLC. The copyright permission to reprint, podcast, and record hymns and songs is acquired through ID Number: 730195-A #advent #LCMS #Lutheran #DivineService

After Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law and many other people he said, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” Notice what Jesus does not say, that I came to heal and cast out demons. He says only that I may preach. The miracles and exorcisms get all the attention. Those are the stories we like, and that’s what we want still today.
 
Healing from our problems and providing for all of our daily needs. We pray for those things all the time, right? And it’s not wrong to pray for those things. Those are good prayers. He wants us, like those people in Capernaum that day, to come to Him with our sicknesses and demons. But He came to do something even greater than heal us of our sickness and diseases. He came to preach the Word, forgive our sins, conquer death and give us eternal life.
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Trinity Lutheran Church, School and Child Care have been "Making Known the Love of Christ" in Sheboygan, Wisconsin and throughout the world since 1853 as a congregation gathering around God's Word and Sacraments to receive forgiveness and life everlasting. Trinity is located in downtown Sheboygan, only one block from the Mead Public Library and the Weill Center for the Performing Arts. We invite you to visit us in person! Trinity Lutheran Sheboygan is a proud member of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Visit their website: https://www.lcms.org/​​​​ Music for this production was obtained through a licensing agreement with One License, LLC. The copyright permission to reprint, podcast, and record hymns and songs is acquired through ID Number: 730195-A #advent #LCMS #Lutheran #DivineService

God has created all things by the greatness of His might and with the breath of His voice. The Lord is the everlasting God the Creator of the ends of the earth. (Isaiah 40:21-31) He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. Paul was compelled to preach the Gospel so that by all possible means he might save as many as possible. (Corinthians 9:16-27)
Jesus has come to heal the broken-hearted and to bind up the wounded. He is God’s answer to our prayer that we may be given the soundness of mind and body to serve Him with our strength. Jesus, however, is more than a worker of great miracles. He must preach the Good News in many places so that more people might come to faith. (Mark 1:29-39)
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Trinity Lutheran Church, School and Child Care have been "Making Known the Love of Christ" in Sheboygan, Wisconsin and throughout the world since 1853 as a congregation gathering around God's Word and Sacraments to receive forgiveness and life everlasting. Trinity is located in downtown Sheboygan, only one block from the Mead Public Library and the Weill Center for the Performing Arts. We invite you to visit us in person! Trinity Lutheran Sheboygan is a proud member of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Visit their website: https://www.lcms.org/​​​​ Music for this production was obtained through a licensing agreement with One License, LLC. The copyright permission to reprint, podcast, and record hymns and songs is acquired through ID Number: 730195-A #LCMS #Lutheran #DivineService