Our Greatest Needs
Lent 2023
5th Sunday in Lent - Divine Service
March 26, 2023 • Pastor Greg Stenzel • 2 Kings 4:17–37, Romans 8:11–19, John 11:17–27, John 11:38–45
LIFE FOR THE DEAD The author and poet George Eliot once wrote, “Our dead are never dead to us until we have forgotten them.” The Roman philosopher Cicero said much the same. He wrote, “The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living.” What second-rate comfort! But that is the best the unbelieving world can offer—the sappy sentiment that our dead loved ones somehow “live on” in our memories. It is a sad way to attempt to cope as you walk through the cemetery. Jesus provides a better solution to death. He promises life. One day Jesus will give your faithful dead back to you—to love, laugh, hug, and dance. Body and soul, living and walking in the new heaven and the new earth. How do we know Jesus can and will keep that promise? Because the Son of God descended into the darkness of death himself and emerged on Easter Sunday as the first fruit of the resurrection of all God’s people. In the creed, we confess, “I believe in the resurrection of the body.” Yet again, Jesus satisfies our greatest needs.
3rd Sunday in Lent Divine Service
March 12, 2023 • Pastor Greg Stenzel • Exodus 17:1–7, Romans 5:1–8, John 4:5–26
A person can survive between one and two months without food. But a person can survive only two to three days without water. Water is one of our greatest needs. Research shows slight dehydration adversely affects mood, memory, and motor coordination. Become seriously dehydrated, and life ends quickly. This helps us understand what Scripture means when it says, “My soul thirsts for God” (Psalm 42:2). If one is separated from God, he is adversely affected. If he remains separated from God, he will die an agonizing eternal death. Not all admit it, yet it remains valid for all. Everyone has a deep spiritual thirst. In our hearts of hearts, we all long for everlasting life. Unbelievers try to satisfy that deep thirst with worldly things, a strategy doomed for failure. Believers look to the One who has promised, “Whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst.” Jesus meets our greatest needs. He alone possesses the water that satisfies those who are spiritually parched. He alone grants eternal life.
2nd Sunday in Lent Divine Service
March 5, 2023 • Pastor Greg Stenzel • Genesis 12:1–8, Romans 4:1–5, Romans 4:13–17, John 3:1–17
Second Sunday in Lent When assessing the seriousness of the need, one factor is how widespread that need is. A homeless individual needs food. During a famine, an entire nation needs food. It is substantially easier to meet the former's needs than the latter! The more widespread a need, the greater the need. When Jesus said, “No one can enter the kingdom of God,” he declared that the need for salvation is universal. He rightly condemned humanity as a whole. There is no one on the face of the earth who can make the case that they deserve God’s blessing. Yet, ages ago, God declared that all nations would be blessed. God declared his love for the world and promised he would save the world. God’s gift of salvation is meant for all people. Some interpret this to mean that all people will be saved in the end. This is not true. The gift of salvation is meant for the world; however, it is received by faith. “Whoever believes in him...” the Gospel says. However, the good news is that faith is also God’s gift, imparted through that gospel.
1st Sunday in Lent Divine Service
February 26, 2023 • Pastor Greg Stenzel • Matthew 4:1–11, Genesis 3:1–15, Romans 5:12–19, Psalm 46
This is the First Sunday in Lent. We gather under the theme: "Our Greatest Needs", with this Sunday focusing upon A Champion for the Defeated. God so loved His children, so he made a promise: I will send forth my champion, my Son. What you could not do, he will do in your place. Because man could not live perfectly and serve God faithfully, the Son of God would one day become man to do it in our place.