A Famine Not of Bread

Click here to listen to this sermon. “ Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). Grace and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! You know an argument is not going well for someone when he or she has to resort to name-calling. Experts call this argumentum ad hominem , a Latin phrase literally translated as “an argument to the man.” Argumentum ad hominem is a logical fallacy in which an argument is opposed by attacking the character, motive, or other attribute of the person making the argument rather than addressing the substance of the argument itself. An ad hominem attack is an attempt to undermine someone’s case without dealing with the actual issue at hand. Stung by the unveiled truth from Jesus’ lips, the Jews resort to name-calling: “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” To be fair, our text drops in on the middle of the conversation, and Jesus has just told His opponents that they are doing the...

Click here to listen to this sermon. Dear Boston and Hailey, You are standing here today to exchange your vows of love and loyalty to each other. What a miracle is taking place right before our eyes! According to God’s Word, the two of you are becoming one flesh—one in mind, body, and spirit. However, your oneness will be tested many times in the months and years ahead. You will face many challenging situations and issues in your marriage and family life. At those times, where will you turn? Where will you look for strength, guidance, and hope to carry on? Many couples look for wisdom and guidance for their marriage in all the wrong places, and the negative consequences speak for themselves. However, I pray that both of you will always turn to God’s inspired Word for wisdom and will turn to your Lord in prayer for His grace and guidance. These are the lifelines of love we discussed each time we met over the last few months. In the Bible, God provides us with an inspiring story of two p...

Click here to listen to this sermon. Peter said, “And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh” (Acts 2:17). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Today, we gather to celebrate a pivotal moment in the history of our faith—the Day of Pentecost. Make no mistake about it; it had all been for this. To pour out the Spirit, Jesus—first conceived by that same Spirit—had taken flesh from the holy Virgin. To pour out the Spirit, the obedient Son of God had lived a perfect life of love to God and neighbor, had suffered and died, had descended to hell, and had risen in victory on the third day. To pour out the Spirit, He had ascended into Heaven and was seated at the Father’s right hand. It was this day, fifty days after Easter, that Jesus kept His promise to pour out His Holy Spirit, and the Spirit came with a startling suddenness that was impossible to miss. Imagine the scene: the disciples, filled with antic...

Click here to listen to this sermon. Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life” (Revelation 22:1-2a). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Each of the last three weeks, our Epistle from Revelation has shown us a vision of the new Heaven and Earth. In chapter 21, we heard of “the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (v 1-2). Last week, John saw “the Bride, the wife of the Lamb” and went on to describe her beauty and radiance in detail (21:9 ff). Today, the depiction of the new Heaven and Earth is reminiscent of the Garden of Eden. To better understand this depiction, we go back to Genesis 2, “And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of t...