"The Immanuel Gospel"

Pastor Kory's Page - December 2025

We recently began a new Church Year. Our congregation follows a 3-Year Lectionary, which refers to an organized plan of Scripture readings which flow through the life of Christ each year. Year A of the Lectionary especially focuses on the Gospel of Matthew. In light of that, I’m also choosing to focus on Matthew’s Gospel this year and during other upcoming seasons of the Church Year such as Epiphany and Lent.

The Gospel of Matthew begins with a detailed family genealogy of Jesus. Surprisingly, though, Matthew goes to some lengths to point out to the reader that Jesus’ family tree is filled with many rotten branches! You can read Matthew’s account of Jesus’ genealogy for yourself in Matthew 1:1-17. Jesus’ own lineage demonstrates how He lives up to the name that is bestowed upon Him in Matthew’s Christmas story: “She [Mary] will bear a son, and you [Joseph] shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). Jesus had a relatively common name for a Jewish boy: Yeshua. However, in His case, this name pointed to His identity and mission. He is the Lord God Himself come into our world not to condemn it, “but in order that the world might be saved through Him” (John 3:17). 

In addition to our Lord’s personal name, Jesus, Matthew uniquely highlights another name from the Old Testament and applies it to Jesus. Matthew continues, “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord has spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call His name Immanuel’ (which means God with us)” (Matthew 1:22-23). Here, Matthew is quoting Isaiah 7:14, part of a prophecy which was originally delivered to Israel’s wicked king Ahaz. Matthew dusts off this 700-year-old passage and appropriately shows how it is fulfilled in the Person of Jesus. He alone is truly God With Us. 

In one of my favorite aspects of Matthew’s Gospel, he chooses to conclude the entire book with Jesus’ promise which corresponds to His name given in 1:22-23. We often call these closing words the Great Commission: “Jesus came and said to [the disciples], ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’” As Jesus taught His disciples between His resurrection and ascension, He promised that He would always be our Immanuel, God With Us! What a comfort it is to know that your Immanuel is with you, not just around Advent and Christmas when we remember Jesus’ birth and these special names, but all through the year and all through your life – Jesus Christ abides with you, just as He has promised.

In the coming year as we continue to look closer at Matthew’s Gospel, we’ll see how Matthew has a close relationship with the Old Testament. (He refers to it more than any other New Testament writer.) Matthew also features large swaths of Jesus’ teaching. Bible scholars note five extended “discourses” in this Gospel, most notably the Sermon on the Mount in chapters 5-7. Matthew’s Gospel also proclaims the fact that God’s kingdom or “reign” has come down to us in the Person and work of Jesus. I look forward to considering this and much more as we hear Matthew’s words in the coming weeks and months!

In closing, I just want to point out a theme for this year (which is printed at the top of your weekly bulletin): “Called to Discipleship.” Just as our Lord called Saint Matthew and many others to follow Him, He continues to call us as His baptized people to do the same each day. 

The Lord bless you this Christmas and through the New Year as you follow Him faithfully!

In Christ,

                        Pastor Kory Janneke

Pastor Kory's Page - November 2025

We are nearing the end of the Church Year. The Scripture readings on the last Sundays of the Church Year come from some of Jesus’ final teachings in the days before He suffered and died on the cross.

This Sunday we’ll hear from Luke’s Gospel in which Jesus prophesied of both the destruction of Jerusalem and Herod’s magnificent temple and the destruction of this entire present creation on the Last Day. 

Passages about the end of the world may seem like a “downer” to us as we read the Bible. However, there’s much for us to learn and apply to our life in Christ from these end times messages in Scripture. St. Peter addresses the coming Day of the Lord in 2 Peter 3:18: But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

Earlier in that chapter, Peter describes the end of the world, saying, But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed (2 Peter 3:10).

As we look at the material world around us, we need to remember that nothing here lasts forever. Our possessions, our property, and even the church buildings in which God’s people gather will all perish on the Last Day. Peter calls us to live now with the end in view. He goes on to say, Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God (2 Peter 3:11-12a).

This present world isn’t our forever home. We are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells (2 Peter 3:13). We are looking for the life of the world to come, God’s new creation in which He’ll make all things new! 

But as we live in the present day, and to recall Peter’s question, what sort of people ought we to be? The Lord calls us to live faithful, God-pleasing lives, and to look forward eagerly to the final coming of our Savior Jesus. We are to live out our mission as His people, to proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9). 

Scripture encourages us as we await the end. Jesus says in Luke 21:28, Now when these things [signs of the end] begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near. In other words, don’t spend these latter days living in fear and dread. Trust the Lord and look forward to His appearing!

St. Paul also encourages us, both as we remember Jesus’ resurrection and look forward to ourresurrection on the Last Day. He says in 1 Corinthians 15:58, Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. In other words, it’s because of our hope of the resurrection – both Christ’s and ours – that we dedicate ourselves to faithful and fruitful living here and now.

Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, raise your heads and be encouraged in Christ! Keep abounding in the Lord’s work. Your labors for Christ’s kingdom are making a difference and do not go unnoticed. Keep living for eternity today as you await your Savior’s return on the Last Day!

In Christ,

     Pastor Kory Janneke

Pastor Kory’s Page for Sun, Nov. 2, 2005

What is a Christian saint? Are the saints limited just to Jesus’ disciples, or to Christians from long ago, or only to deceased Christians? Do you need to make extraordinary sacrifices, like leaving home and serving as an overseas missionary, to become a saint? 

Biblically speaking, a saint is a “holy one” of God. The Greek term for saint, hagios, occurs more than 40 times in the New Testament, especially in St. Paul’s Epistles and the book of Revelation. It occurs as a general greeting at the beginning of several letters, such as in Philippians 1:1, “To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons.” In this instance, “saints” refers to all the Christians in the city of Philippi. They didn’t have to be “super Christians” or already be deceased to receive the title of “saint.” In Romans 1:7, Paul also writes, “To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” This passage likewise describes all the believers in Rome as saints. Additionally, it is God’s love and God’s call which make us His saints, His holy people – not our personal decision or devotion.

This means that ALL who believe and are baptized in the Christian faith can rightly be described as saints in Christ! This also means that you are just as much of a saint as the faithful men and women whom we read about in the Bible and in the records of the early church. You are already a saint now in this life even as you look forward to experiencing the fullness of the resurrection life which Christ has won for you by His death and resurrection!

As we think specifically, though, about prominent saints through the history of the church, how should we remember them? The early Lutherans wrote in the Augsburg Confession, “Our churches teach that the history of saints may be set before us so that we may follow the example of their faith and good works, according to our calling. … But the Scriptures to not teach that we are to call on the saints or to ask the saints for help.” (AC 21) In other words, it’s important for the saints in any age to learn church history and find inspiration from the lives of faithful men and women who have gone before us. 

However, praying to the saints is both unbiblical and unnecessary. The Augsburg Confession continues, “Scripture sets before us the one Christ as the Mediator, Atoning Sacrifice, High Priest, and Intercessor [1 Timothy 2:5-6]. He is to be prayed to. He has promised that He will hear our prayer [John 14:13]. This is the worship that He approves above all other worship, that He be called upon in all afflictions. ‘If anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father’ (1 John 2:1).” As saints in Christ, we have full access to God’s throne of grace through Jesus. Like the saints from ages past, we turn to Jesus Himself with all our needs, sins, and intercessions. We can and should remember the saints, but we need not pray to them.

The first pages of the Lutheran Service Book hymnal (xi-xiii) include a list of traditional Christian feast days, festivals, and the commemorations of other saints. These remembrances span from the Old Testament patriarchs to figures in the Lutheran Reformation and even in nineteenth century American Lutheranism. An introduction in the hymnal says, “In every case, the purpose of our remembrance is not that we honor these saints for their own sake, but as examples of those in whom the saving work of Jesus Christ has been made manifest to the glory of His holy name and to the praise of His grace and mercy” (LSB p. xii).

If you’d like to learn more about these saints through the centuries, I recommend a book called Celebrating the Saints by William Weedon. Pastor Weedon includes a short devotional message related to each saint whom Lutherans commemorate in the church year.

Lastly, I invite all of you saints in Christ to join us on Sun, Nov. 2 as we observe “All Saints Day” and remember saints both known to us and known only to the Lord, those who surround us today and those who have already joined the great cloud of witnesses (Heb. 12:1).

            Grace & Peace,

                        Pastor Kory Janneke