Pastor Rojas+

Can a Person Really Forgive Your Sins? | Christ For YouJohn 20:19–31 | Easter 2Can a man really forgive sins? Can a pastor really say, “I forgive you all your sins”? Isn't that something only God can do? If Jesus won forgiveness on the cross nearly two thousand years ago, then how does that forgiveness get here to you now? And if it comes through the Word, why does that Word come through the mouth of a man?In this Easter 2 sermon, Pastor Rojas begins with Christ's full satisfaction for all sin and then asks the question every Christian must answer: how do you get that forgiveness? If you cannot go back to Golgotha, and if merely standing at the cross would not have saved even those who were there, then how does the forgiveness Jesus won there get delivered here, to you, now? This sermon shows that God does not tell sinners to go find forgiveness. He brings forgiveness to them through His Word.But if forgiveness comes through the Word, then how do you hear that Word? Through a voice, a mouth, a man. And that is where many object. This sermon answers the common offense people take at absolution and shows from Scripture that Christians really do forgive one another, and that Christ has also instituted a public office in which pastors forgive sins in His stead and by His command. Above all, John 20 shows that Jesus is not merely giving information about forgiveness. He breathes the Holy Spirit on His apostles and says, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them.” In other words, these words do not merely talk about forgiveness. They give it.This sermon shows why absolution is not arrogance, not Romanism, and not empty ceremony, but the living voice of the risen Christ for terrified sinners. If you have ever wondered how the forgiveness Christ won on the cross gets to you now, why a pastor can say, “I forgive you all your sins,” or why this matters so deeply for the guilty, the burdened, and the dying, this sermon is for you.Subscribe & Share:Spotify: Christ For YouPortuguês: Cristo Para VocêWebsite: ZionWG.orgLooking for a Lutheran Church near you?Support the preaching of God's Word.

Does You Need Faith To Celebrate Easter? | Christ For YouEaster SundayDid Jesus really rise from the dead? Can the resurrection actually stand up to scrutiny? Why does Christianity make such enormous public claims about a man who was crucified, buried, and then seen alive again? Why was the tomb empty? Why were the disciples suddenly changed? Why did James go from unbeliever to preacher? Why did Saul of Tarsus, Christianity's fiercest enemy, become its boldest preacher? And if Easter is true, then what does that mean for you? In this Easter Sunday sermon, Pastor Rojas proclaims that Christianity is not built on myth, private feelings, or blind faith, but on what God did in real history. The resurrection was public. The tomb was empty. The witnesses were many. The apostles preached Christ risen immediately, boldly, and in the very place where He had been killed. This sermon walks through the facts of Easter and shows why the resurrection of Jesus is not a religious opinion, but a reality written into history. But this sermon does not stop there. It goes on to answer the deeper question: why did this happen? Because sin is real. God's wrath against sin is real. And so Christ came with a real body, real blood, real pain, real tears, and real judgment for real sinners. He took your guilt, bore your condemnation, carried your curse, and rose so that you would never doubt what His cross accomplished. And then this sermon asks one final question: what happens now? Now you have peace with God. Now you have a new life to live. Now you have eternal life that death itself cannot steal. And because Jesus lives, those who died in Him live too. So Christians are allowed to be sad. But they are also really happy. Because Christ is risen, and we will see them again. Subscribe & Share:Spotify: Christ For YouPortuguês: Cristo Para VocêWebsite: ZionWG.orgLooking for a Lutheran Church near you?Support the preaching of God's Word.

What's Actually Happening Tonight? | Christ For YouEaster Vigil | John 20:1 and Matthew 28:1–7Why does this service feel so strange? Why does everything feel so mixed up, so out of order, so full of both grief and joy at the same time? Why do we sing “Alleluia, Christ is risen” while the church is still dark, the tomb still seems sealed, and death still looks so real? And if Christ has already won, why does life still feel so broken? Why do prayers seem unanswered, suffering seem pointless, and graves still open for the people we love?In this Easter Vigil sermon, Pastor Rojas explores the deep strangeness of this holy night and why that strangeness teaches Christians how to live. On the surface, everything around Jesus' death and burial looked like failure. The disciples fled. His enemies rejoiced. His body lay cold in the tomb. But underneath, the exact opposite was true. The angels rejoiced. The demons trembled. The Father was well pleased. And Christ was not defeated in death, but proclaiming His victory.Why does this night feel so different? Because it teaches you how to live by faith when your eyes give you the wrong story. This sermon is for those who look at their sin and wonder how they could possibly be forgiven. It is for those who look at the chaos of the world and think the devil is winning. It is for those who stand at graves, carry unanswered prayers, and wonder why everything still hurts if Christ has already changed everything. This sermon proclaims the answer with clarity and comfort: the victory is real before it is visible. Christ is risen. And because He is risen, your sins are forgiven, Satan is defeated, death is doomed, and what is now hidden will not stay hidden forever. Subscribe & Share:Spotify: Christ For YouPortuguês: Cristo Para VocêWebsite: ZionWG.orgLooking for a Lutheran Church near you?Support the preaching of God's Word

Where Is the Lamb? | Christ For YouJohn 8:56 and Genesis 22 | Good FridayHow could Abraham see Jesus' day two thousand years before Jesus was born? What did Jesus mean when He said, “Abraham rejoiced that he would see My day. He saw it and was glad”? What did Abraham see on Mount Moriah? Why does Isaac carry the wood? Why does he ask, “Where is the lamb?” And if a ram died in his place, why does that question still remain?In this Good Friday sermon, Pastor Rojas follows that question through Scripture until it is finally answered. Was Abraham only being tested, or was he being shown the day of Christ? Was he seeing the beloved son, the wood, the substitute, and the mountain where God would one day provide His own Lamb?Why did no angel stop the sacrifice on Good Friday? Why was there no substitute for Him? Because He was the substitute for you. This sermon shows that Jesus is the Lamb of God, the sacrifice God provided for Himself, the One who took your place, bore your sin, and opened heaven to you. If you have ever wondered what Abraham saw, where the lamb was, or what Good Friday was really about, this sermon is for you.Subscribe & Share:Spotify: Christ For YouPortuguês: Cristo Para VocêWebsite: ZionWG.orgLooking for a Lutheran Church near you?Support the preaching of God's Word.

Is It I? | Christ For YouMatthew 26:20–35, 69–75 | Maundy ThursdayCould someone who truly loves Jesus still fall? Could a man be sincere, bold, loyal, and still collapse when it matters most? Could Peter really go from, “Even if I must die with You,” to, “I do not know the man”? And could the same thing happen to you? When Jesus says, “One of you will betray Me,” the disciples do not ask, “Is it him?” They ask, “Is it I?” Why? Because deep down, they know they are capable of more weakness, fear, and failure than they want to admit. In this sermon for Maundy Thursday, Pastor Rojas explores Peter's fall, the danger of self-confidence, and the uncomfortable truth that sincerity is not the same thing as strength. Peter was not lying when he promised loyalty. He meant it. He loved Jesus. But he was wrong about himself. He trusted his own devotion, courage, and resolve, and when the pressure came, he collapsed. This sermon presses that same question onto the hearer: What if I am not nearly as strong as I think I am? What if the real danger is not that I think I might fall, but that I think I never could? But this sermon does not end in fear. It ends in the Gospel. Jesus knew exactly what His disciples would do. He knew Judas would betray Him. He knew Peter would deny Him. He knew the others would run. And still He stayed. Still He went to the cross. Still He suffered, bled, and died for weak men who would fail Him completely. And the same is true for you. Your hope is not that you are better than Judas or braver than Peter. Your hope is Christ alone. If you have ever wondered whether you could fall, whether your faith is weaker than you think, or whether Jesus remains faithful even when His people fail Him, this sermon is for you. Subscribe & Share:Spotify: Christ For YouPortuguês: Cristo Para VocêWebsite: ZionWG.orgLooking for a Lutheran Church near you?Support the preaching of God's Word.

Subscribe & Share:Apple Podcasts: Christ For YouSpotify: Listen on SpotifyWebsite: ZionWG.org/podcastStay Connected:Email: PastorRojas@ZionWG.orgWebsite: ZionWG.orgIf this recording strengthened your faith, share it with others and leave a review. Your support helps more people hear the faithful preaching of Christ crucified and risen for you.Support Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church

Who's Actually Right About Jesus? | Christ For YouMatthew 21:1–11 | Palm SundayHow do you know you have the real Jesus when so many voices claim to speak for Him? What do you do when the world, false teachers, politicians, skeptics, and even your own heart all say something different about Him? And if everyone has a version of Jesus, how can you know which one is true?In this sermon on Matthew 21:1–11, Pastor Rojas explores the chaos and noise surrounding Jesus as He enters Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. The crowds are not united. The city is stirred up. People keep asking, “Who is this?” Some call Him the Son of David. Others call Him a prophet. The Pharisees want Him silenced. And in the middle of all that confusion stands Jesus Himself. This sermon shows that the problem has not changed. The noise is still here. The crowds never went away.This sermon shows why the answer is not to guess, follow the loudest crowd, or build a Jesus that suits you. The answer is to listen to Christ Himself. Jesus does not leave vague hints about who He is. He speaks plainly. He proves His words by mighty works. And then, once He has shown who He is, He goes to the cross so that you may know exactly who is dying for you: not a mere man, not a failed Messiah, but the Son of God in the flesh, your King who comes to save sinners. If you want to know the real Jesus, you must look to His cross, His Word, and His resurrection. There, and only there, certainty is found.Subscribe & Share:Spotify: Christ For YouPortuguês: Cristo Para VocêWebsite: ZionWG.orgLooking for a Lutheran Church near you?Support the preaching of God's Word.

Subscribe & Share:Apple Podcasts: Christ For YouSpotify: Listen on SpotifyWebsite: ZionWG.org/podcastStay Connected:Email: PastorRojas@ZionWG.orgWebsite: ZionWG.orgIf this recording strengthened your faith, share it with others and leave a review. Your support helps more people hear the faithful preaching of Christ crucified and risen for you.Support Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church

Subscribe & Share:Spotify: Christ For YouPortuguês: Cristo Para VocêWebsite: ZionWG.orgLooking for a Lutheran Church near you?Support the preaching of God's Word

How Should I Do With A Burdened Conscience? | Christ For YouHebrews 9:11–15What do you do when your conscience will not leave you alone? When the guilt is real, the memory is fresh, and no excuse seems strong enough? Why does remorse hurt so deeply? And why do all our usual ways of dealing with guilt fail to give peace?In this sermon on Hebrews 9:11–15, Pastor Rojas explores the difference between regret and remorse, the burden of a guilty conscience, and the false ways people try to deal with their sin apart from Christ. From distraction and excuse-making to self-punishment and despair, sinners are always trying to quiet the conscience without actually being cleansed. But Hebrews declares that the blood of goats and bulls could never perfect the conscience of the worshiper. Only Christ can.This sermon shows how Jesus, our great High Priest, entered the true holy place with His own blood and secured eternal redemption for us. It shows what “dead works” really are, why human effort cannot remove guilt before God, and how the blood of Christ purifies the conscience and gives real peace. If you have ever been burdened by what you have done, haunted by your past, or desperate for peace before God, this sermon is for you.Subscribe & Share:Spotify: Christ For YouPortuguês: Cristo Para VocêWebsite: ZionWG.orgLooking for a Lutheran Church near you?Support the preaching of God's Word.

Subscribe & Share:Spotify: Christ For YouPortuguês: Cristo Para VocêWebsite: ZionWG.orgLooking for a Lutheran Church near you?Support the preaching of God's Word

Support Zion Evangelical Lutheran ChurchSubscribe & Share:• Apple Podcasts: Christ For You• Spotify: Listen on Spotify• Website: ZionWG.org/podcastStay Connected:• Email: PastorRojas@ZionWG.org• Website: ZionWG.orgIf this recording strengthened your faith, share it with others and leave a review. Your support helps more people hear the faithful preaching of Christ crucified and risen for you.

Subscribe & Share:Apple Podcasts: Christ For YouSpotify: Listen on SpotifyWebsite: ZionWG.org/podcastStay Connected:Email: PastorRojas@ZionWG.orgWebsite: ZionWG.orgIf this recording strengthened your faith, share it with others and leave a review. Your support helps more people hear the faithful preaching of Christ crucified and risen for you.Support Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church

Why Did Jesus Tell Them to Sit? | Christ For YouText: John 6:1–15 | Lent 4 Why would Jesus tell a starving crowd to sit down when there was no food in sight? Why command thousands of hungry people to recline as if a feast were about to begin when all they could see were five loaves and two fish? And why does God so often speak first and only later show His people why His Word was true all along?In this sermon on the feeding of the five thousand, Pastor Rojas explores the strange command at the center of the miracle and shows how the Lord repeatedly teaches His people to trust His Word before they can see the answer. From Noah building the ark before the rain, to Israel eating the Passover before the exodus, to singers praising God before Jehoshaphat's battle, God calls His people to act on His promises before the victory is visible. And nowhere is that clearer than at the cross, where Jesus told His disciples not to let their hearts be troubled and that their sorrow would turn to joy—before they realized His death would save the world.This sermon shows how Christ trains His people to pray before they have a solution, to trust before they understand, and even to praise God while the problem is still there. Because when Jesus speaks, His Word comes first—and later we see that He was right all along.Subscribe & Share:Spotify: Christ For YouPortuguês: Cristo Para VocêWebsite: ZionWG.orgLooking for a Lutheran Church near you?Support the preaching of God's Word.

How Should We Remember Him? | Hebrews 13:7–8 | The Funeral of Pastor George E. Poulos, Jr. At the funeral of a faithful pastor, God tells His people exactly what to do: remember him. But how do Christians remember a pastor rightly? Not merely by recalling his personality, humor, or habits, but by remembering the Word of God he preached and by holding fast to the Christ he proclaimed.In this funeral sermon on Hebrews 13:7–8, Pastor Rojas reflects on the life, faith, and final confession of Pastor George Poulos, and calls mourners to the one thing George himself would want them to remember above all: Jesus Christ, crucified and risen for sinners. This is a sermon about grief, death, faith, resurrection, and the comfort that does not change, because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Why Doesn't God Do More? | Christ For YouText: Luke 11:14–28 | Oculi SundayWhy does it feel like God has not done enough? Has He not given enough proof? Enough help? Enough comfort? Enough answers? Jesus casts out a demon from a mute man, and still the crowd splits. Some believe. Some marvel. Some demand more. Some call the work of God the work of the devil. The problem was not a lack of evidence. The problem was unbelief.And that same problem still lives in us. We want God to prove Himself on our terms. We want “enough” to mean no pain, no waiting, no losses, and relief right now. But God's definition of “enough” is far greater: Christ crucified for sinners, the blood that covers every sin, the Word that creates faith, the Baptism that claims you, the absolution that frees you, and the body and blood of Jesus given for you. In this sermon, Pastor Rojas preaches on unbelief, the bondage of the sinful heart, Christ as the Stronger Man who invades Satan's kingdom, and why faith does not come by seeing more, but by hearing the Word of Christ.Subscribe & Share:Spotify: Christ For YouPortuguês: Cristo Para VocêWebsite: ZionWG.orgLooking for a Lutheran Church near you?Support the preaching of God's Word

Each class walks through what makes Lutheran doctrine distinct from other Christian denominations, following the chapters of the book The Lutheran Difference. Designed for youth in confirmation instruction, this series also welcomes anyone who wants a clear, biblical, and Confessional understanding of what Lutherans believe and why.Subscribe & Share:Apple Podcasts: Christ For YouSpotify: Listen on SpotifyWebsite: ZionWG.org/podcastStay Connected:Email: PastorRojas@ZionWG.orgWebsite: ZionWG.orgIf this strengthened your faith, share it with others and leave a review. Your support helps more people hear the faithful preaching of Christ crucified and risen for you.

The First Communion Class is a teaching series for children ages 7 and up, walking through the basics of the Christian faith using Luther's Small Catechism. Each episode focuses on clear explanation, repetition, and memorization of God's Word to help children understand and prepare to receive the Lord's Supper with faith and reverence.Subscribe & Share:• Apple Podcasts: Christ For You• Spotify: Listen on Spotify• Website: ZionWG.org/podcastStay Connected:• Email: PastorRojas@ZionWG.org• Website: ZionWG.orgIf this strengthened your faith, share it with others and leave a review. Your support helps more people hear the faithful preaching of Christ crucified and risen for you.

Subscribe & Share:Apple Podcasts: Christ For YouSpotify: Listen on SpotifyWebsite: ZionWG.org/podcastStay Connected:Email: PastorRojas@ZionWG.orgWebsite: ZionWG.orgIf this recording strengthened your faith, share it with others and leave a review. Your support helps more people hear the faithful preaching of Christ crucified and risen for you.Support Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church

Subscribe & Share:Spotify: Christ For YouPortuguês: Cristo Para VocêWebsite: ZionWG.orgLooking for a Lutheran Church near you?Support the preaching of God's Word

At What Point Should I Just Stop Praying? | Christ For YouText: Matthew 15:21–28 | Lent 2 (Historic One-Year Lectionary)What do you do when nothing changes, when your prayers go unanswered? When God feels silent, do you assume silence means “no”? Do you quit hoping and call it “being reasonable”?This Gospel puts you in the middle: a Canaanite woman cries for mercy, and Jesus does not answer her a word. The Law exposes us. We don't just want answers, we want control. We want God on our timeline, and when He delays, we start translating delay into indifference.But faith refuses to turn silence into a verdict. She comes closer, kneels, and prays, “Lord, help me.” She confesses she deserves nothing and still clings to Christ: “Even the dogs eat the crumbs.” Even “unanswered” prayers are still heard by God. His silence is not His absence.Then the Gospel: look to Jesus in Gethsemane. The Father does not remove the cup. The answer is the cross, for you. Jesus bears the forsakenness you deserve so you can pray “Our Father” with confidence. All God's promises find their “Yes” in Him (2 Corinthians 1:20). So stay at Jesus' feet, and keep praying.Subscribe & Share:Spotify: Christ For YouPortuguês: Cristo Para VocêWebsite: ZionWG.orgLooking for a Lutheran Church near you?Support the preaching of God's Word

Each class walks through what makes Lutheran doctrine distinct from other Christian denominations, following the chapters of the book The Lutheran Difference. Designed for youth in confirmation instruction, this series also welcomes anyone who wants a clear, biblical, and Confessional understanding of what Lutherans believe and why.Subscribe & Share:Apple Podcasts: Christ For YouSpotify: Listen on SpotifyWebsite: ZionWG.org/podcastStay Connected:Email: PastorRojas@ZionWG.orgWebsite: ZionWG.orgIf this strengthened your faith, share it with others and leave a review. Your support helps more people hear the faithful preaching of Christ crucified and risen for you.

Subscribe & Share:Spotify: Christ For YouPortuguês: Cristo Para VocêWebsite: ZionWG.orgLooking for a Lutheran Church near you?Support the preaching of God's Word

Support Zion Evangelical Lutheran ChurchSubscribe & Share:• Apple Podcasts: Christ For You• Spotify: Listen on Spotify• Website: ZionWG.org/podcastStay Connected:• Email: PastorRojas@ZionWG.org• Website: ZionWG.orgIf this recording strengthened your faith, share it with others and leave a review. Your support helps more people hear the faithful preaching of Christ crucified and risen for you.

Subscribe & Share:Apple Podcasts: Christ For YouSpotify: Listen on SpotifyWebsite: ZionWG.org/podcastStay Connected:Email: PastorRojas@ZionWG.orgWebsite: ZionWG.orgIf this recording strengthened your faith, share it with others and leave a review. Your support helps more people hear the faithful preaching of Christ crucified and risen for you.Support Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church

Subscribe & Share:Spotify: Christ For YouPortuguês: Cristo Para VocêWebsite: ZionWG.orgLooking for a Lutheran Church near you?Support the preaching of God's Word

Subscribe & Share:Apple Podcasts: Christ For YouSpotify: Listen on SpotifyWebsite: ZionWG.org/podcastStay Connected:Email: PastorRojas@ZionWG.orgWebsite: ZionWG.orgIf this recording strengthened your faith, share it with others and leave a review. Your support helps more people hear the faithful preaching of Christ crucified and risen for you.Support Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church

Why Is This Happening To Me? | Christ For YouText: Genesis 3:19; 1 Corinthians 4:7 | Ash WednesdayWhen life hurts, do you put God on trial? When life goes well, do you take the credit? Have you prayed, “God, why is this happening to me?” like an accusation? Like you deserve better? Like God owes you answers?Ash Wednesday cuts you off. What do the ashes say about you? What do they silence? What do they expose? Are you dust? Mortal? A sinner? Then what is left to do but repent?Scripture presses harder: “What do you have that you did not receive?” Did you give yourself breath? Keep your heart beating? Hold your life together for one second? If you want “credit,” will you take it for what is truly yours: sin and the death it brought? And if suffering is not always tied to one specific sin, do you still see its root in the fall and the curse?Then the Gospel: Jesus takes what you earned, guilt, shame, curse, death, and bears it on the cross. Why was He forsaken? For you. What do you get instead? Forgiveness. Peace with God. Life. So where will you take your “why” now? Will you go looking for explanations, or will you go to Christ who gives Himself to sinners?Subscribe & Share:Spotify: Christ For YouPortuguês: Cristo Para VocêWebsite: ZionWG.orgLooking for a Lutheran Church near you?Support the preaching of God's Word

How Do You Know If Your Faith Is Real? | Christ For YouText: Luke 18:31–43 | Quinquagesima (The Healing of the Blind Beggar)Most people say they believe. They know the words. They know the stories. They know the Lutheran slogans. But what if you can be close to Jesus and still miss Him, like the disciples did? What is true, saving faith? What makes faith faith? And how do you know you actually have it?Jesus answers on the road to Jerusalem. He tells the Twelve, with terrifying clarity, that He will suffer, be killed, and rise again, and they cannot “put it together.” They expect glory, not a cross. But a blind beggar sees what they don't. He hears the promise, confesses Jesus as the Son of David, and cries out for mercy. That is saving faith: the heart's confidence in God's mercy for Christ's sake, clinging to the crucified and risen Savior “for you.”And the comfort is stronger than the doubt: Jesus still stops. He still hears the cry for mercy. He still gives what He promises through His Word, forgiveness, and His gifts. If you want to know whether your faith is real, don't stare inward. Look to Christ where He has promised to be for you.Subscribe & Share:Spotify: Christ For YouPortuguês: Cristo Para VocêWebsite: ZionWG.orgLooking for a Lutheran Church near you? Support the preaching of God's Word

Can We Lose Our Salvation? | Christ For YouText: Luke 8:4–15 | The Parable of the Sower (Sexagesima & The Baptism of Gloria Kerstein) Can a baptized Christian fall away?If faith can be lost, how does it happen?If Christ saves by His Word, what keeps you from drifting?And when you feel yourself slipping, where do you go?Jesus answers with the Parable of the Sower. The seed is the Word of God, and the soils are hearers. Some lose the Word because the devil snatches it. Some believe for a while, then testing scorches what never sank deep. Some slowly suffocate as life, comfort, and a crowded calendar choke the Word out without a fight. The warning is real: salvation isn't something you keep in your pocket while you live as if Christ doesn't matter.But the comfort is stronger: the Sower does not stop sowing. Christ keeps His people by giving what He promises, again and again, through preaching, forgiveness, and His gifts. This sermon was preached at the Baptism of Gloria Eve Kerstein, where God put His Name on her and gave her salvation. And the Church's task is simple: keep bringing her, and you, back to the Word that saves and sustains.Subscribe & Share:Spotify: Christ For YouPortuguês: Cristo Para VocêWebsite: ZionWG.orgLooking for a Lutheran Church near you? Support the preaching of God's Word

Why Isn't God Fair? | Christ For YouText: Matthew 20:1–16 | The Workers in the Vineyard (Septuagesima)“Why isn't God fair?” It's one of the most common complaints people make about Christianity — and sometimes the quiet question Christians carry when life hurts. Jesus answers it with a story about workers in a vineyard, a grumbling crew, and a master who refuses to run His kingdom like a payroll office. The early workers want wages. The master gives gifts. And that difference changes everything.This sermon exposes the dangerous assumption that God owes us for our faithfulness, our suffering, or our years in the Church. That's Law. But then comes the Gospel: God does not deal with you on the basis of fairness, but mercy. Your standing with Him was settled not by your hours in the vineyard, but by Christ's work on the cross. The “unfairness” of God is the very thing that saves you.Here is the comfort: when you compare your life to others and wonder why theirs seems easier, Jesus points you away from the scoreboard and back to His generosity. At the end of the day, the wage is the same — forgiveness, resurrection, eternal life — not because you earned it, but because Christ did. What unbelief calls unfair, faith calls grace.Subscribe & Share:Apple Podcasts: Christ For YouSpotify: Christ For YouPortuguês: Cristo Para VocêWebsite: ZionWG.org

Subscribe & Share:• Apple Podcasts: Christ For You• Spotify: Listen on Spotify• Website: ZionWG.org/podcastStay Connected:• Email: PastorRojas@ZionWG.org• Website: ZionWG.orgIf this recording strengthened your faith, share it with others and leave a review. Your support helps more people hear the faithful preaching of Christ crucified and risen for you.Support Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church

Is Christianity A Man-Made Religion? | Galatians 1:11-24 | The Conversion of St. Paul

Who Do You Think Jesus Is? | Christ For YouText: Mark 8:27–38 | The Confession of St. PeterIn a world that chants “Caesar is lord,” Jesus asks the question you can't dodge: “Who do you say that I am?” Plenty of people will praise Jesus as a teacher, a prophet, a miracle-worker, as long as He stays safe and bloodless. But Jesus refuses that version of Him. Peter confesses the truth: “You are the Christ.” And then Jesus tells you what that confession really means: not glory without suffering, but a cross, first for Him, then for you.This sermon drives it home: you can't separate Jesus from His cross, because only the crucified Christ saves sinners. And that's also where the comfort is: your peace isn't your grip on Jesus, it's His grip on you. When the world rejects you, when confession costs you, when death gets close, Christ's wounds still say, “Paid,” and His resurrection still says, “You will rise.”Subscribe & Share:Apple Podcasts: Christ For YouSpotify: Christ For YouPortuguês: Cristo Para VocêWebsite: ZionWG.org

What Do You Do When You Don't Understand The Bible? | Christ For YouText: Luke 2:41–52 | Epiphany 1Some parts of the Bible make immediate sense. Others won't leave you alone because you can't make sense of them. And life does the same thing: you pray, you try to do what's right, and you still end up asking, “What is God doing?”In Luke 2, even Mary and Joseph don't understand Jesus. But Mary doesn't quit. She treasures His words. This sermon draws the line between honest confusion that wants to be taught and stubborn rejection that refuses to listen. It also exposes the popular lie: “Jesus loves me, so it doesn't matter what the Bible says.” Jesus' love is not permission to ignore Jesus' Word. It's the reason you keep listening.If you feel stuck, if Scripture confuses you, if you don't understand why your life is going the way it is, this sermon is for you. You may not understand all things, but Jesus does. He knows your weakness and your sin better than you do. He kept the Law for you, shed His blood for you, and He treasures you in His heart. So you treasure His Word and cling to His promise that even what you can't explain, He will still work for your good.Subscribe & Share:Apple Podcasts: Christ For YouSpotify: Christ For YouPortuguês: Cristo Para VocêWebsite: ZionWG.org

Can You Die in Peace? | Christ For YouText: Luke 2:22–40 | Christmas 1 & The Baptism of Luke PirinoSimeon holds a forty-day-old baby and says something outrageous: “Now I can die in peace.” Why? Because salvation isn't an idea or a feeling. Salvation has a face. Salvation is a Person. And Simeon is holding Him.On Christmas 1, we see what Christmas really means: God puts salvation into a baby, small enough to be held and strong enough to hold you forever. And in Holy Baptism, that same Savior comes to you personally, by name, with forgiveness, the Holy Spirit, and a future that ends in life.If you fear death, if your conscience accuses you, if you find yourself doing spiritual math, this sermon is for you. You don't depart in peace because you got your life together. You depart in peace because Christ got you.Subscribe & Share:Apple Podcasts: Christ For YouSpotify: Christ For YouPortuguês: Cristo Para VocêWebsite: ZionWG.org

What's The Most Christmassy Event? | Christ For YouText: Matthew 2:13-18 | Holy Innocents 2025Why would the Church make you hear about Herod's slaughter right in the middle of Christmas? Why put blood on the floor while the lights are still up and the hymns are still sweet? What if this “least Christmassy” text actually tells you what Christmas really is?Christmas does not happen in a safe world. It happens in this one. God moved in. The Son of God entered enemy territory in real flesh and blood, and the world greeted Him with a sword. And Herod is not just an “out there” problem. He exposes the crown we try to keep on our own heads.But this sermon does not leave you in the darkness. Jesus came to take the world's hatred into His own body, to atone for your sin, and to break death's teeth. Herod doesn't get to keep those children. The devil doesn't get to keep what he takes. The grave doesn't get the final word. As this year closes and a new one begins, you do not know what evils you will see, but you do know who reigns, and you do know where your future is.Subscribe & Share:Apple Podcasts: Christ For YouSpotify: Christ For YouPortuguês: Cristo Para VocêWebsite: ZionWG.orgContact: PastorRojas@ZionWG.org

Subscribe & Share:• Apple Podcasts: Christ For You• Spotify: Listen on Spotify• Website: ZionWG.org/podcastStay Connected:• Email: PastorRojas@ZionWG.org• Website: ZionWG.orgIf this recording strengthened your faith, share it with others and leave a review. Your support helps more people hear the faithful preaching of Christ crucified and risen for you.Support Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church

Subscribe & Share:• Apple Podcasts: Christ For You• Spotify: Listen on Spotify• Website: ZionWG.org/podcastStay Connected:• Email: PastorRojas@ZionWG.org• Website: ZionWG.orgIf this recording strengthened your faith, share it with others and leave a review. Your support helps more people hear the faithful preaching of Christ crucified and risen for you.Support Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church

What Do You Really Need This Christmas? | Christ For YouText: Luke 2:15-20| Christmas DayWhy does Christmas sometimes feel useless? Why can the day be beautiful, and yet nothing in your life actually changes? The pain is still there. The loneliness is still there. The guilt is still there. And church can start to feel like a strange little ritual that doesn't touch the real problems.But underneath that frustration sits a deeper lie: that your biggest problem is your situation. If the money came, if the marriage improved, if the grief lifted, then you'd finally be okay. Scripture says your biggest problem is not around you. It's in you: sin, a haunted conscience, and the death that follows.So God does not give you what you think you need. He gives you what you actually need. He gives you Himself. The Baby in the manger is the Man on the cross, and the Man on the cross is the Lord who forgives you day after day. Christmas is not God offering advice or upgrades. Christmas is God coming near, in real flesh and blood, to save you.If you feel empty, disappointed, or even numb this Christmas, this sermon is for you.Subscribe & Share:Apple Podcasts: Christ For YouSpotify: Christ For YouPortuguês: Cristo Para VocêWebsite: ZionWG.orgContact: PastorRojas@ZionWG.org

Why Does Christmas Hurt Sometimes? | Christ For YouText: Revelation 21:3-5 | Christmas EveWhy do we start Christmas so early? Why do the lights and music feel like a lifeline, especially when life has felt heavy? Under the nostalgia sits a real ache: we want to hold onto joy, rewind time, and get back what we can't get back.But Christmas is not a mood we manufacture. It's not a memory we chase. It's God stepping into our darkness in real flesh and blood. The eternal Son of God does not wait for you to get yourself together. He comes to you in a manger, and He comes to you even now with mercy that does not fade when the season ends.If you feel the joy of Christmas and also the grief underneath it, this sermon is for you.Subscribe & Share:Apple Podcasts: Christ For YouSpotify: Christ For YouPortuguês: Cristo Para VocêWebsite: ZionWG.orgContact: PastorRojas@ZionWG.org

How Can I Have Comfort When I Still Feel Guilty? | Christ For YouText: Isaiah 40:1–8 | Fourth Sunday in AdventAdvent says, “Get ready. The Lord is coming.” But what happens when you don't feel ready? What happens when your conscience starts shaking because you know you're guilty? And what do you do when guilt won't shut up and you start to fear that God is angry with you?In this sermon from Isaiah 40, God speaks to a trembling conscience with a verdict, not advice: “Comfort, comfort My people… her warfare is ended… her iniquity is pardoned.” This is not sentimental comfort. It's courtroom comfort. The war between God and sinners ends because God Himself comes near to pardon the guilty.Learn why comfort is not first a feeling but God's objective Word of forgiveness, why your conscience can lag behind the Gospel, and how God anchors your peace outside of you in what does not wither or fade: His enduring Word, delivered to you in Baptism and the Lord's Supper.Subscribe & Share:Apple Podcasts: Christ For YouSpotify: Christ For YouWebsite: ZionWG.orgContact:PastorRojas@ZionWG.org

Is Christianity a New Religion? | Christ For YouText: Luke 2:36–38 | Midweek Advent 3Did Christians make Christmas up? Is it only a New Testament idea? Did the Church turn Jesus into a legend and force the Old Testament to fit Him? Is Christianity a new religion? Modern skepticism says the Incarnation is a later invention. Scripture says something very different.In this sermon, you learn of Anna. Forgotten by history, overlooked in the Nativity, yet standing right in the center of God's plan. Anna waited for redemption her entire life—not because she imagined it, but because Scripture promised it. She didn't twist the Bible to fit Jesus. She recognized Jesus because the Bible had prepared her for Him.Anna's witness dismantles the myth that Christmas was constructed by Christians. Before creeds, councils, or theologians ever existed, she saw God in the flesh and told everyone who would listen. Christmas wasn't invented. It was fulfilled.Learn how the Incarnation anchors your faith in reality, how fulfilled prophecy gives you confidence in every promise of God, and how the Christ Anna met is the same Christ who meets you now, in flesh and blood, for your salvation.Subscribe & Share:Apple Podcasts: Christ For YouSpotify: Christ For YouWebsite: ZionWG.orgContact:PastorRojas@ZionWG.org

Subscribe & Share:• Apple Podcasts: Christ For You• Spotify: Listen on Spotify• Website: ZionWG.org/podcastStay Connected:• Email: PastorRojas@ZionWG.org• Website: ZionWG.orgIf this recording strengthened your faith, share it with others and leave a review. Your support helps more people hear the faithful preaching of Christ crucified and risen for you.Support Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church

What Happens When I Start to Doubt? | Christ For YouText: Matthew 11:2–11 | Third Sunday in Advent (Gaudete)What do you do when faith feels weak and God feels distant?What happens when prayers go unanswered and nothing in your life seems to change? Does doubt mean something is wrong with your faith—or is something else happening?From a prison cell, John the Baptist asks Jesus the unthinkable: “Are You the One, or should we look for another?” This sermon confronts the dangerous idea that real Christians never doubt and shows why even the strongest believers need to hear the Gospel again and again. Doubt is not cured by distance, memory, or willpower—it is answered by Christ's Word.When circumstances don't change, Jesus doesn't give explanations or fixes. He gives a promise. And that promise is enough.If even John the Baptist needed Christ preached into his doubt, what does that say about you?Subscribe & Share:Apple Podcasts: Christ For YouSpotify: Christ For YouWebsite: ZionWG.orgContact:PastorRojas@ZionWG.org

Luke 1:67-79 | Midweek Advent

Support Zion Evangelical Lutheran ChurchSubscribe & Share:• Apple Podcasts: Christ For You• Spotify: Listen on Spotify• Website: ZionWG.org/podcastStay Connected:• Email: PastorRojas@ZionWG.org• Website: ZionWG.orgIf this recording strengthened your faith, share it with others and leave a review. Your support helps more people hear the faithful preaching of Christ crucified and risen for you.

Subscribe & Share:• Apple Podcasts: Christ For You• Spotify: Listen on Spotify• Website: ZionWG.org/podcastStay Connected:• Email: PastorRojas@ZionWG.org• Website: ZionWG.orgIf this recording strengthened your faith, share it with others and leave a review. Your support helps more people hear the faithful preaching of Christ crucified and risen for you.Support Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church

What Changes When You Know the End? | Christ For YouText: Luke 21:25–36 | Second Sunday in AdventWhy does Jesus tell you exactly how the world will end?Why describe the heavens shaking, nations collapsing, and people fainting—only to tell His disciples, “Lift up your heads”?This sermon presses into the mystery: knowing the end changes everything. When the world panics, believers look up. When creation collapses, Redemption arrives. The Judge who terrifies the nations is the same Savior who died for you.If you have nothing to fear on the worst day in human history, what do you have to fear on any other day?Subscribe & Share:Apple Podcasts: Christ For YouSpotify: Christ For YouWebsite: ZionWG.orgContact:PastorRojas@ZionWG.org

Each class walks through what makes Lutheran doctrine distinct from other Christian denominations, following the chapters of the book The Lutheran Difference. Designed for youth in confirmation instruction, this series also welcomes anyone who wants a clear, biblical, and Confessional understanding of what Lutherans believe and why.Subscribe & Share:Apple Podcasts: Christ For YouSpotify: Listen on SpotifyWebsite: ZionWG.org/podcastStay Connected:Email: PastorRojas@ZionWG.orgWebsite: ZionWG.orgIf this strengthened your faith, share it with others and leave a review. Your support helps more people hear the faithful preaching of Christ crucified and risen for you.

The First Communion Class is a teaching series for children ages 7 and up, walking through the basics of the Christian faith using Luther's Small Catechism. Each episode focuses on clear explanation, repetition, and memorization of God's Word to help children understand and prepare to receive the Lord's Supper with faith and reverence.Subscribe & Share:• Apple Podcasts: Christ For You• Spotify: Listen on Spotify• Website: ZionWG.org/podcastStay Connected:• Email: PastorRojas@ZionWG.org• Website: ZionWG.orgIf this strengthened your faith, share it with others and leave a review. Your support helps more people hear the faithful preaching of Christ crucified and risen for you.