Have you ever asked a question like “What is God’s will for my life?” I hope that you ask this question regularly in some form. Oftentimes, though, when people are wondering about God’s will, it’s in regard to some specific crossroads in their life: should I live here or there? Should I stick with my job or seek another? Does God want me to spend the rest of my life with this potential husband or wife, or not?

Life situations like these are certainly times for seeking the Lord in prayer. However, God doesn’t necessarily hit us over the head to show us exactly how to make all of our life decisions. Instead, He gives us godly wisdom through Scripture and through trustworthy believers around us to help us choose. 

Christians in their teens and twenties may ask “What is God’s will for my life?” as they make decisions about their educational and professional development, career choices, and relationships. Again, there won’t always be a specific Bible verse to tell you precisely where to go to school or whom to marry, but God’s Word does have plenty to say to us about His will for our lives. 

No matter where you live, what you do for work, or what age you are, Jesus makes God’s will quite clear for our lives: “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise Him up at the last day” (John 6:40). St. Paul also writes in 1 Timothy 2:3b-4, “God our Savior, … desires all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.” You can know with certainty, then, that above all else, the Lord wants you to believe in Jesus, receive His gift of salvation, and walk in the truth of His Word. So, as we make more specific decisions in our lives, God’s will that we would live and believe in Jesus must take precedence. If those decisions might negatively affect our faith in our Savior, then we should re-examine them and seek out fellow believers for support.

As believers in Jesus, we also uphold God’s Law, which certainly shows our sins but also teaches us God’s will for faithful Christian living. Jesus famously summarized God’s Law by saying, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40) While Jesus briefly summarized God’s Commandments with these verses, it is no small thing to love God and love your neighbor in this way! Only Jesus fully accomplishes this, but as we live in Him and by His strength, we are called to live in Christlike love.

The Ten Commandments also summarize God’s Law and His will for our lives but in a much more comprehensive way. As we examine our daily lives, our direction, and the condition of our hearts, God’s Ten Commandments continue both to accuse us and to direct our steps and our attitudes. The explanations and various questions and answers on the Ten Commandments in Luther’s Small Catechism are a tremendously valuable resource for examining our hearts and lives and for learning and applying God’s will.

One of my personal favorite passages on this topic is 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, in which Paul writes to us, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”  These verses (and the surrounding passage) provide such a “short and sweet” summary of a Christian approach to life. Rejoice in Christ your Savior. Be constant in prayer. Return thanks to the Lord, both when it’s easy to do so and hard as well. This is also a passage that applies to every believer in Christ. Whether you are a young adult celebrating your graduation, in midlife juggling a host of responsibilities, or in your retirement years, the joy of the Lord is your strength. His ear is graciously open to your prayers. And His gift of salvation, along with all His daily blessings, call for thanksgiving. “This is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” The Lord bless you as you walk in it!

Peace in Christ,

            Pastor Kory Janneke

Is it just me or do you have trouble keeping the main things the main things? With all the responsibilities that we have to carry and all the distractions that surround us, we don’t always know what to say “yes” or “no” to. Do we even have a clear sense of what the “main things” are in our faith and life?

As we journey through this Holy Week, our Lord shows us again what the “main things” truly are! A member of St. Matthew recently shared a poem/prayer with me which is so appropriate as we consider the significance of this week and especially as we prepare our hearts for the services this Maundy Thursday and Good Friday:

As from daily toils we gather in the evening’s sweet repose,

List’ning to the Passion story, Lord, Thy saving grace disclose.

Hush the world’s loud din within us, draw, oh draw, our hearts to Thee.

Grant repentance, faith, and help us Thy redeeming love to see!

This week, if we’re paying attention, the Lord will again disclose the good news of His saving grace to us, and we’ll see and hear and even taste our Redeemer’s great love.

On Thursday, April 2nd, we observe “Maundy” or “Holy Thursday.” (I’ll share more about those names for the day in my sermon.) This was Jesus’ last night before His suffering on the cross. He shared one more Passover with His friends. He left us with one act of love that exemplified His life as our Servant-Savior (see John chapter 13). He also instituted one meal for His church to eat and to drink in remembrance of Him. 

Our 6:30pm service this Maundy Thursday will especially focus on the meaning of the Supper Jesus instituted on the night when He was betrayed. The Lord’s Supper deserves our attention and our faithful preparation. After all, this meal has been a “main thing” for Christians since the earliest days of the church.

We gather again at 6:30pm on Good Friday, April 3rd. Good Friday is a day of remembrance and thanksgiving to our Lord for His costly sacrifice upon the cross. Jesus’ death for us is the heart of our faith and our proclamation of the Gospel. As St. Paul said so straightforwardly, “we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor. 1:23-24). The church has no other message than “Christ crucified” because there is no other way of salvation!

Good Friday brings us back to the “main thing” of Christ’s cross. His suffering for us on the cross reveals the true nature of our guilt, showing us what we deserve as sinners before God. Yet at the same time, Good Friday also reveals just how gracious our God is – that He would give His only Son to save a wretch like me!

Christ’s cross is such good news for us, though, not just because He died but also because He is risen! This Easter Sunday, April 5th (and throughout the Easter season) we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord. Join us either at 8:00 or 10:30am as we hear the angel’s announcement at Christ’s empty tomb, “He is not here, for He has risen, as He said” (Matt. 28:6).

The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead has truly been the “main thing” in our Christian faith ever since the first Easter morning! Jesus’ resurrection demonstrates that His sacrifice was sufficient to take away our sins. His resurrection also opens the way to our new life and our pending resurrection on the day of Christ’s return.

Romans 6:4 connects these “main things” of Christ’s death and resurrection to your Baptism: “We were buried with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” Everything Christ accomplished by His sacrificial death on Good Friday and His victorious resurrection on Easter Sunday was for your benefit, and He’s poured out all those benefits for you in Holy Baptism. This means that your sinful nature has died with Christ. Your sins were buried with Him in His tomb. And you have been raised unto this new life of faith already now – just as you will be raised and restored to enjoy everlasting life in His presence.

As Christ’s people, we observe Holy Week that the Lord might help us to keep the main things the main things, remembering that Christ’s death and resurrection are the basis of our faith, the reason for our hope, and the motivation for our Christian love and service. With those main things in mind, may God grant you a blessed Holy Week!

Peace in Christ,

            Pastor Kory Janneke

Pastor Kory's Page for Sunday, February 15, 2026

“Lent” comes from an old Anglo-Saxon word meaning “spring season.” While it doesn’t look much like spring yet, soon enough, flowers will begin to blossom and tree buds will emerge. The Old Testament festival of Passover along with Jesus’ death and resurrection all took place in the springtime. Throughout church history, Christians have also set aside a springtime season of preparation and remembrance for Holy Week and Easter, the season we know as “Lent.”

For some people, Lent may conjure up ideas of dark and depressing hymns or of giving up one too many creature comforts – a season of “dos” and “don’ts.” I want to encourage you, though, to view Lent as a time of opportunity. Just as springtime is a season of new life, Lent is also a time of renewal in our life in Christ.

The words of the prophet Joel characterize this season: “‘Yet even now,’ declares the Lord, ‘return to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.’ Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and He relents over disaster.” (Joel 2:12-13) Just as the Lord called His Old Testament people to return to Him with repentant hearts, He still desires the same from us.

While the entire Christian life is meant to be lived in repentance before the Lord, the season of Lent is especially intended for repenting of our sins and leaving them at the cross of Christ. Lent is a great time to do just what Joel 2:13 says: returning to the Lord your God. He constantly invites you back to Him! Return to Him in regularly attending Divine Services and receiving the Lord’s Supper. Return to Him in confession and repentance. Return to Him through prayer and the reading and hearing of His Holy Word. And return to Him in thanksgiving, remembering all that Christ Jesus underwent for your salvation and forgiveness.

Ash Wednesday, which falls on Feb. 18 this year, begins the Lenten season. I encourage you to return to the Lord by attending our 6:30 PM Ash Wednesday service, which will begin with a traditional symbol of repentance: the imposition of ashes. For anyone who is unable to attend the evening service, I will also be available to offer the imposition of ashes before and after the 10:00 AM Bible study on Feb. 18 and again from 2:00-4:00 PM. Please contact me if you’d like to arrange a specific or different time. If you would also like to participate in individual Confession and Absolution, I will be available for that as well. Please avail yourself of these opportunities. 

Our Wednesday services this Lent will continue our focus on St. Matthew’s Gospel as we look closer at “Places of the Passion” (the city of Jerusalem, the village of Bethany, the Mount of Olives, the Garden of Gethsemane, the courtyard of the high priest, and Pilate’s judgment hall), destinations on Jesus’ journey to the cross for us. Please join us each week at 6:30 PM from Feb. 18 – March 25. Pre-service meals will also be offered, beginning on Weds, Feb. 25.

A Lutheran Hour Lenten devotional booklet is also available for you in the church entryway. Its theme is “Behold the King.” It offers devotional messages and reflection questions for you from Ash Wednesday through Easter.

Another devotional opportunity which you might consider would be to select one of the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John) and read through it over the Lenten season. Trace Jesus’ march to Calvary from heaven, to Bethlehem, to His eventual ministry, and His final days before His death for you on Good Friday and resurrection on Easter Sunday.

Fasting is another practice associated with the season of Lent. While this isn’t something that you must do in a certain amount or certain way, it’s another opportunity to offset this time of Lent, to practice the fruit of self-control, and to forego certain foods or distractions. Jesus Himself fasted at the beginning of His ministry (as we’ll see on Sun, Feb. 22nd), and He also assumed that His disciples would practice fasting, since He said, “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others” (Matthew 6:16). In this passage, Jesus makes the point that fasting is a good step to take in our devotion to the Lord but that it’s not meant to be something that we do for show. If you choose to fast this Lent (whether from certain foods or drinks, technologies, or habits), view it as an opportunity to set aside some unnecessary things in order to give more time and attention to your Lord and His great sacrifice for you.

Lent is an opportunity. In these days leading up to Ash Wednesday, I encourage you to prayerfully reflect on how this year’s Lenten season can be an opportunity for you to return to your Lord, grow in His Word, and experience repentance and renewal in your Christian faith.

Peace in Christ,

            Pastor Kory Janneke