Encouragement in the Ordinary

This sermon was originally preached at Bethany Lutheran Church in Austin, Texas on January 26, 2025.

This sermon was originally preached on 1.12.25 at Bethany Lutheran Church in Austin, Texas. Text: James 1:19-26

1 John 4:9–15In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. Music by John Slaten.Artwork by Tanya Celia. 

John 1:1–5In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Music by John Slaten.Artwork by Tanya Celia. 

Luke 1:67–79And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying,“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,for he has visited and redeemed his peopleand has raised up a horn of salvation for usin the house of his servant David,as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,that we should be saved from our enemiesand from the hand of all who hate us;to show the mercy promised to our fathersand to remember his holy covenant,the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant usthat we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,might serve him without fear,in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,to give knowledge of salvation to his peoplein the forgiveness of their sins,because of the tender mercy of our God,whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on highto give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,to guide our feet into the way of peace.” Music by John Slaten.Artwork by Tanya Celia.