Sermon: How Do We Tell Our Kids?

Sermon preached by Pastor Julius Buelow at Mt. Olive Lutheran Church in Lincoln, NE on September 7, 2025 for Trinity 12. More info at mtolivelincoln.org

Theme: How Do We Tell Our Kids?

Text: Psalm 78

Psalm 78:1–11, 57–61, 65–72

1Give ear, O my people,to my instruction.
Turn your ear to the words of my mouth.
2I will open my mouth to share a lesson.
I will speak about puzzling problems from long ago,
3things we have heard and known,
things our fathers have told us.

4We will not hide themfrom their descendants.
We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord,
his power, and the wonders that he has done.
5He set up testimony for Jacob.
In Israel he established the law.
He commanded our fathers to make it known to their children.
6Then the next generation would know it,
even the children not yet born.
They would rise up and tell their children.
7Then they would put their confidence in God,
and they would not forget the deeds of God,
but they would keep his commands.
8Then they would not be like their fathers,
a stubborn, rebellious generation,
a generation that did not keep their hearts steadfast,
whose spirits were not faithful to God.

9The tribe of Ephraim,equipped and armed with bows,
deserted on the day of battle.
10They did not keep God's covenant,
and they refused to walk in his law.
11They forgot his deeds, the wonders he had shown to them.

57Yes, they turnedaside and were treacherous like their fathers.
They were as undependable as a crooked bow.
58Then they angered him with their high places,
and they made him jealous with their idols.

59God heard, and heshowed his anger.
He completely rejected Israel.
60So he abandoned his dwelling in Shiloh,
the tent where he dwelled among people.
61So he sent the symbol of his strength away into captivity.
He gave his splendor into the hand of the foe.

65Then the Lord awokelike someone who has been sleeping,
like a warrior overcome by wine.
66Then he drove back his foes.
He gave them everlasting shame.

67Then he rejected thetent of Joseph,
and he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.
68But he chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion, which he loved.
69Then he built up his sanctuary like the heights,
like the world that he established for all time.

70Then he chose Davidhis servant
and took him from the sheep pens.
71He brought him from following the mother sheep
to shepherd his people Jacob
and his possession Israel.
72So he shepherded them with a sincere heart,
and with skillful hands he led them.