In this sermon preached at St. Thomas Evangelical Lutheran Church (UAC) in Magnolia, Texas, Pastor Stanley Lacey proclaims Christ crucified through the lens of 1 Corinthians 13 and Luke 18.

The familiar words, “Love is patient, love suffers long,” are often heard at weddings and admired for their beauty. But in this sermon, we are confronted with something deeper: our blindness. We easily hear the sounds of love but misunderstand its substance. We mistake emotion for love. We confuse personal preference with righteousness. We justify ourselves while quietly condemning others.

The disciples heard Jesus plainly when He foretold His suffering, death, and resurrection—yet they were blind to what it meant. In the same way, we can hear the words of Scripture and remain blind to our pride, self-love, resentment, and indifference.

But Christ is not blind. He set His face like flint toward Jerusalem. He did not hesitate. He bore all things, endured all things, and did not keep a record of wrongs. He marched toward suffering and death with you in His heart. He endured wrath, shame, and the cross to take away your sin and your blindness.

This sermon proclaims the true love of Christ—perfect, sacrificial, and given freely in the Gospel and the Means of Grace.

If you are in Magnolia, The Woodlands, or Montgomery County and are looking for a church centered on Christ crucified, the Divine Service, and historic Lutheran doctrine, we invite you to join us.

Divine ServiceSundays at 9:00 AM
Klein Memorial Funeral Home
14711 FM 1488
Magnolia, Texas

www.stthomastx.church

In this special episode, Pastor Stanley Lacey of St. Thomas Evangelical Lutheran Church (UAC) in Magnolia, Texas joins Mason Moon of Odyssey (Odyssey Lessons) for a wide-ranging conversation on the foundations of the Lutheran faith.

Together they discuss the history of Lutheranism, justification by faith alone, the authority of Holy Scripture, the distinction between Law and Gospel, Holy Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and the practice of Confession and Absolution. The goal of the conversation is clarity and charity—explaining what confessional Lutheran theology actually teaches and how it seeks to remain faithful to the Scriptures and the Gospel recovered during the Reformation.

We are grateful to Mason Moon and Odyssey for hosting this thoughtful and Christ-centered interview. You can learn more about Mason’s work at Odyssey on YouTube and at their website.

If you live in Magnolia, Montgomery County, The Woodlands, or the surrounding Northwest Houston area and are exploring Lutheran theology or looking for a church home rooted in the Bible as the inspired and inerrant Word of God, the proclamation of Christ crucified for our sins and raised from the dead for our justification as the central message of God's written Word, and the traditions in worship and teaching faithful to the Bible as they have been handed down by the saints for thousands of years before us, we invite you to visit St. Thomas Evangelical Lutheran Church in Magnolia, Texas.

Christ delivers what He won on the cross here and now through His Word and Sacraments. May this conversation strengthen you in His grace and truth.

For more information, check out the St. Thomas homepage.

In this pre-Lent sermon, Pastor Stanley Lacey reflects on the Church’s historic emphasis on exile during Septuagesima and Sexagesima. Drawing from Ephesians and Hebrews, the parable of the sower, and Christ’s teaching on grace and discipline, this sermon explores what it means to live as citizens of a Kingdom not of this world. Christians are warned not to place their hope in earthly success, comfort, or security, but to cling to God’s Word, which alone creates and preserves faith. Through the Means of Grace, Christ sustains His people on their pilgrimage to the better country He has prepared for them.

For more information, check out www.stthomastx.church.

In this sermon preached at St. Thomas Evangelical Lutheran Church in Magnolia, Texas, Pastor Stanley Lacey reflects on the Transfiguration of Our Lord and why Jesus revealed His divine glory to Peter, James, and John. Drawing from the Gospels, the witness of the apostles, and the Church’s confession, this sermon shows how Christ’s radiant glory prepares His disciples for the scandal of the cross, their own weakness and failure, and the hope of resurrection.

Recorded in Montgomery County, Texas, this sermon proclaims Jesus Christ as true God and true Man—“Light of Light, very God of very God”—who freely gives Himself into suffering and death for the salvation of the world. Through the apostolic witness preserved in Holy Scripture, Christians today are given the same light to walk through affliction, death, and into the glory of the Kingdom that is to come.

In this Epiphany sermon preached at St. Thomas Evangelical Lutheran Church in Magnolia, Texas (Montgomery County), we reflect on John 2:1–11 and the wedding at Cana.

“This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.”

At Cana, our Lord reveals two great mysteries celebrated during Epiphany: He is true God and true Man, and He has come to bring salvation not only to Israel but to all nations.

When the wine runs out, it signifies more than a social embarrassment. It points to the weakness of the Old Covenant, which could not free sinners because of our fallen flesh. Christ, the divine Bridegroom, fills the purification jars with the best wine—foreshadowing the New Covenant in His blood. His true “hour” would come when He stretched out His arms on the cross, poured out His blood for the forgiveness of sins, and gathered His Bride from every nation.

This sermon also applies Christ’s revelation at Cana to Christian vocation, marriage, and the ordering of authority as taught in Ephesians 5–6. Whatever He says to you, do it—trusting that your Lord gives nothing but the best, whether blessing or adversity, for your good and for your salvation.

For more information, visit www.stthomastx.church.

This episode comes from St. Thomas Evangelical Lutheran Church in Magnolia, Texas, serving families throughout Montgomery County with faithful Lutheran teaching rooted in Scripture and the Confessions.

In this sermon, we examine the unchanging nature of God’s Law and how it relates differently to believers and unbelievers. St. Paul teaches—and the Formula of Concord confesses—that the Law remains one and the same for all people. The difference is not in the Law itself, but in the person who hears it.

Those who are not regenerate obey the Law under compulsion and threat, as slaves. Those who are regenerate in Christ, however, live in the Law freely as sons, not under condemnation but according to the Law of Christ, led by the Holy Spirit. This teaching clarifies the relationship between Law and Gospel, regeneration, and Christian freedom, showing how faith in Christ transforms obedience from constraint into willing service.

The episode concludes with prayer, asking that God’s Word would bear proper fruit among us through Baptism, faith, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

For more information, go to www.stthomastx.church!

Who is really in control of life—us, or God?

In this sermon preached at St. Thomas Evangelical Lutheran Church in Magnolia, Texas, on the Feast of the Slaughter of the Holy Innocents, we hear how earthly rulers like Pharaoh and King Herod sought to take God’s place, with devastating consequences. The murdered children of Bethlehem stand as martyrs, bearing witness to the truth that we are not kings over our lives—God alone is.

This message also addresses modern attempts to control life through abortion, contraception, and in vitro fertilization, speaking truthfully and pastorally about suffering, infertility, repentance, and forgiveness. Above all, it proclaims Christ Jesus, the true King, who was preserved from Herod’s rage so that He might suffer and die at the right time for our salvation.

Listen for a clear confession of Christ’s lordship, comfort for troubled consciences, and the assurance that God’s good and gracious will cannot be frustrated—even by our sins.

For more information, check out www.stthomastx.church!

What kind of peace does Christmas bring to Magnolia and Montgomery County?

Not the peace of silence, distraction, or pretending that everything is fine—but the peace that remains when Satan accuses, when the world terrifies, and when affliction presses in.

In this Christmas sermon from St. Thomas Evangelical Lutheran Church in Magnolia, Texas, we hear how God answers real guilt and real fear, not by ignoring sin, but by taking it upon Himself. The eternal Son of God is born of the Virgin Mary, taking on real human flesh and blood to bridge the chasm between God and fallen humanity.

Jesus Christ silences Satan’s accusations by His incarnation, suffering, death, and resurrection. Exalted in His humanity at the right hand of the Father, He rules all things for the good of His Church. He sympathizes with our weakness, knows our suffering, and intercedes for us as our Brother and High Priest.

Peace is made for you in the Child of the manger—the God-man who governs heaven and earth and gives forgiveness, life, and salvation to sinners. This is the true peace of Christmas proclaimed at St. Thomas in Magnolia.

For more information, go to www.stthomastx.church!