Knight Rider '08 – It's Just Not Right

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So this morning as I drank my coffee while the kids were climbing all over me, I happened upon the Kenosha News article on the new Knight Rider movie that begins this Sunday. A two hour special, with all the hype would expect for a show on NBC.

Knight Rider?

You have got to be kidding me.

Now as someone born in 1970, I lived on Knight Rider when I was a kid. But even a twelve year old knew that it was the cheesiest show ever to be created. Come on, people. David Hasselhoff? Good grief.

Now I will not pretend to be the know-it-all with TV stars, but I’ve never even heard of Justin Bruening. Maybe I don’t watch enough daytime TV. And when one of the cast is named “hot chick,” well, that doesn’t leave much for character development, does it?

The only name (besides Hasselhoff) that I recognize in the cast is Val Kilmer, who is playing the voice of K.I.T.T. I didn’t realize that Kilmer’s star had fallen that far. He should have stuck to classics like Top Secret.

Now if they had done a remake of the A Team, this would be a whole different story…

-LL

Side By Side – Abraham and Jesus as Intercessors

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Todd A. Peperkorn, STM
Messiah Lutheran Church
Kenosha, Wisconsin
Wednesday of Invocabit
Genesis 18:16-33; Matthew 26:36-46
For an audio MP3 of this sermon, CLICK HERE

TITLE: “Side by Side”

In the name of the Father and of the † Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Our text for tonight is the Passion of our Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane, as well as Abraham interceding for Sodom.

It takes a pretty bold person to bargain with God, but that’s what Abraham does. God had seen the wickedness of Sodom. He knew their evil deeds. Their sins were many: greed, avarice, idolatry, adultery, and sodomy. You know a city is evil when they have a sin named after them. So in order to protect Abraham and the nation that was in his loins, God purposed to destroy the city of Sodom with fire and brimstone, so that nothing would be left, not one stone upon another.

But Abraham would not let go. What if there are fifty righteous in the city? What if there are forty-five, forty, twenty, or even ten? For the sake of ten I will not destroy it, said the Lord. Abraham, who knew he was but dust, was willing to risk all, even the wrath of God, for the sake of Lot and any others in the city who would repent and believe the Gospel. So He was bold to pray and intercede for those whom he may not have even known.

Abraham is a picture of our Lord this night. Just as Abraham interceded for Lot and any of the righteous in that wicked city, so too our Lord intercedes for us. He stands between you and God the Father, and is willing to risk all, even the cruel death on the cross, so that we might be saved. He knew the cost of His prayers for us. Even as He prayed let this cup pass from me, so too He prayed if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.

This is your God, dearly baptized. He prays for you with tears of blood, and is willing to stand before God and faithfully pray for you and for me. Abraham wasn’t bold; he knew that God is merciful, and so he counted everything as loss for the sake of the mercy of God.

Yes, this is your God, the God of Abraham, the God who stands with you in your darkest hours, who prays by your side when you are alone or in the midst of the congregation. This is your God who prays for you when you cannot pray for yourself. He knows your desires before you ask them. He knows what you need better than you know yourself. So we are bold to pray before our heavenly Father, because our heavenly Brother is at our side, interceding for us.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

God For Me – Invocabit 2008

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Todd A. Peperkorn, STM
Messiah Lutheran Church
Kenosha, Wisconsin
Invocabit Sunday (Lent 1)
February 10, 2008
Genesis 3:1-21, 2 Corinthians 6:1-10, Matthew 4:1-11
For an audio MP3 of this sermon, CLICK HERE

TITLE: “God For Me”

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text for today is from our Gospel lesson just read from St. Matthew chapter four.

Johann Gerhard once wrote that the entire life of Christ was one of fighting temptation, and that we, through Holy Baptism, enter into that same battle. ((The entire life of Christ was one of contesting against temptation…. Christians, as soon as they are welcomed and accepted as children of God through Baptism, also must be subjected to the devil’s temptations. Postilla 222)) Temptation has been the struggle of man since the Fall into sin. All the way back to the Garden, the struggles of the flesh in food, of twisting God’s Word for our own desires, and of worshipping the false god who promises the world but instead gives us hell, these have been our constant companions, the thorns that prick us and will not go away. Continue reading →