A Famine Not of Bread

Click here to listen to this sermon. “I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.  And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.  I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind. . .” (Ecclesiastes 1:12-14). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Have you ever stepped back from your work, your possessions, your life—and asked, “What’s the point?” If you have, you are not alone. Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, asked that question in Ecclesiastes. He had it all—power, riches, knowledge, pleasure—and still declared, “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.” That’s life “under the sun”—life apart from God. But thanks be to God, there is another way: life under the Son —Jesus Christ, the Redeemer who brings purpose, peace, and promise even in a world t...

Click here to listen to this sermon. “ If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” (Luke 11:13). Grace and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! A few years ago, I painted my twin two-year-old granddaughters’ fingernails. My wife, Aimee, couldn’t believe it. “You never did that for your girls,” she said. “That’s right,” I answered. “They never asked me. Madyn and Briyr did.” “Papa, will you paint fingernails,’ they asked, emphasizing their request by wiggling their little fingers. So, I told them, “Yes, I will, as soon as I finish feeding Boden.” They squealed in glee and then asked me a couple of more times as they were waiting for me to get to it. But it did get me to wonder: Why didn’t my girls ask me to paint their fingernails? I suspect it was because they thought I would say no. I might have said no on so many other occasions, they just assum...

Click here to listen to this sermon. “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness” ( Galatians 6:1). Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ ! It’s a question asked by at least one of my children in the last few years, and by untold multitudes over the last two millennia: “If Christians can treat other Christians this way, why do I want to be a Christian?” A serious question… a serious problem… for if the actions of us, who call ourselves Christians, lead others to fall away from the faith, are we not guilty of causing these little ones to sin? Would we not be better off cast into the sea with a millstone necklace? So why do we do it? More to the point, what do we do about it if it happens, when we sin against a fellow Christian or when a fellow Christian sins against us? St. Paul says: “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a...

Click here to listen to this sermon. “Behold, the Word of the Lord came to [Elijah], and He said to him, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ He said, ‘I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, thrown down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away’” (1 Kings 19:9b-10). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! The words can be some of the most intimidating words: “What are you doing?” Then add the word, here, as in “What are you doing here ?” and it just ramps up the tension. “What are you doing here? You said you would be home right after work!” “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at church?” “What are you doing here? I told you to stay out of my room!” Then think how much worse it would be if it were the voice of the Lord you hear. “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Elijah should know better. He has expe...

Click here to listen to this sermon. I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for Me;      I was ready to be found by those who did not seek Me. I said, “Here am I, here am I,”      to a nation that was not called by my name. I spread out my hands all the day      to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good,      following their own devices; a people who provoke Me      to My face continually, sacrificing in gardens      and making offerings on bricks; who sit in tombs,      and spend the night in secret places; who eat pig’s flesh,      and broth of tainted meat is in their vessels; who say, “Keep to Yourself,      do not come near me, for I am too holy for You” (Isaiah 65:1-5a). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! In the two chapt...