Editor’s Note: In the Winter 2012 Concordia Journal, this homiletical help was published in a brief outline form. As indicated there, below is the full manuscript for the sermon outlined by the author in the Journal. Please consult the print edition should you wish to view the outline. by Glenn Nielsen Incredible Things Goal: that ..
I like crossword puzzles. I do a couple (or more) each day. That doesn’t mean I’ve mastered them. Usually I don’t get far on Thursday’s NY Times crossword in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Recently I came across a clue and answer that made me stop and think about academics, theology and preaching…
By Glenn A. Nielsen A Victory Parade—on a Donkey? Goal: That the hearers more firmly believe that Jesus is victorious over our greatest enemies. (The following is one approach that focuses Jesus’s victory over his/our enemies by way of riding into Jerusalem on a donkey.) Perhaps you’ve seen the old movie clips about the welcome ..
Last February I changed the confession of sins that was to be used in the worship services. I regularly assist at Grace Lutheran Chapel in Bellefontaine Neighbors (a north suburb of St. Louis), and that weekend the three services were to use Creative Worship from the Synod. Since the congregation is vacant, I was the ..
As the Director of Vicarage and Deaconess Internships, I keep track of how many congregations apply for a vicar and how many students are available for vicarage assignment. A three ring binder sits on a bookshelf and I can go back to 1990 – the year I began in this position. The number of congregations ..
By Glenn Nielsen The approach for this sermon is a textual structure that uses key phrases in the text in the order in which they appear. What follows are brief comments about the key phrases with possible illustrations, applications, stories, and visual aids that could be used. The goal of this sermon is that the hearers ..
By Glenn A. Nielsen, Good Hopes that Die; The Better Hope that Lives Hope is good. In a book by John Ortberg (If You Want to Walk on the Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat, [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001], 159), he cites medical research that studied men after they had had their first ..
By Glenn A. Nielsen, That’s Core, That’s Basic Sometimes it’s good just to go back to the basics, just to hear once again the core of what we believe, just to listen to what brings peace, hope and joy to our hearts. Romans 5 does just that. The Apostle Paul is assuring us of the basic, ..