A Famine Not of Bread

Click here to listen to this sermon. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! They had been attending worship faithfully for two months. Actively participating in two weekly Bible studies, they seemed to drink in everything, asking the most insightful questions. They were the kind of prospective members that a pastor dreams about. “We think we’d like to join your church,” they said. “But before we do, we want to know just what you believe and teach. Do you have a book or something more in-depth that we could read?” I sent them home with one of my favorites, “Spirituality of the Cross,” by Gene Edward Veith. Two days later they returned. “Pastor, we’ve read the book you sent with us, and we just can’t agree with some of it. We can’t, in good conscience, join, because we would like to become involved in teaching. We know that we would always have some level of conflict with what you’re teaching.” Though I disagree with their conclusion, I could apprecia...

Click here to listen to this sermon. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Let this be the Law for Ash Wednesday: “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Those are simple words, but powerful ones. They’re surprisingly difficult for me to say while putting ashes on your foreheads. I can’t help but think of the scores of men, women, and children whose bodies I have committed to the ground with similar words. These words were first spoken to Adam to describe the curse and the consequences of sin, the first announcement of death. God made them holy to live forever with Him, but they defied His Word and threw their holiness away. As a result, the Lord said to Adam, “You are dust, and to dust you shall return.” It didn’t happen all at once that day, but Adam eventually crumbled away. You are dust, and to dust you shall return. That’s why hair falls out and skin gets waxy. It’s why arteries clog and valves leak, why eyesight fails and can...

Click here to listen to this sermon. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Context is crucial for understanding any text, especially when it comes to interpreting the Bible. This includes the historical context, the circumstances of the world in which it was written; and the immediate context, the verses preceding and following the passage. This is especially true with our Gospel, where Luke carefully links his account to the previous exchange between Jesus and His disciples: “Now about eight days after these sayings [Jesus] took with Him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray” (Luke 9:28-36).   What are the sayings? Well, Peter’s great confession of faith, Jesus’ prediction of His suffering and death and resurrection, and Jesus’ description of the demands that discipleship would place on those ready to follow Him. All “these sayings” really focus on one question: “Who is this Jesus?” The crowds suggest Jesus is John the ...

Click here to listen to this sermon. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! By repeated and persistent habit, the people of Judah had made sin, faithlessness, and rebellion a way of life. The pieces of evidence were everywhere. Their children gave ample testimony to their idolatry. Everywhere, in every suitable location, even in the temple (2 Kings 23:7), they had set up shrines to Baal and his consort Asherah. She was the mother of the gods. They worshiped her by raising up sacred wooden poles near her shrines and offering themselves to the temple prostitutes. Through these widespread practices, they had turned their hearts from the Lord. Because of that sin, through their own fault, the Lord would surrender them and His temple and all its treasures to the looming enemy. Into this dire situation, the Lord had called Jeremiah to preach and to call the people to repentance, starting with their wayward kings. Jeremiah’s main opponent was Zedekiah, the last ...

Click here to listen to this sermon. 1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of His robe filled the temple. 2 Above Him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered is face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!” 4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of Him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” 8 And I heard the voice of the...

Click here to listen to this sermon. 1     In You, O Lord , do I take refuge;                 let me never be put to shame! 2      In Your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;                 incline Your ear to me, and save me! 3      Be to me a rock of refuge,                 to which I may continually come;        You have given the command to save me,                 for You are my rock and my fortress.   4      Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,                 from the ...