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More Than Enough ~ The Crumbs of Our Lord's Mercy

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Click here to listen to this sermon. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon” (Matthew 15:22). The worried mother comes with a problem and lays it at Jesus’ feet. She makes no claim of worthiness. She is a Gentile, a Canaanite woman with a demon-possessed daughter. What does she actually know? Is she simply mouthing words that she has heard others say, or is her plea coming from a heart that knows who Jesus is and what He can do for her and her daughter? She dares to approach Jesus and ask for His help because He is the Lord and Israel’s Messiah, the Son of David. The woman’s plea is not one of entitlement but of begging; not “I deserve,” but “Have mercy.” Mercy assumes need. Mercy assumes unworthiness. Mercy trusts the character of the giver. Mercy always implies that the recipient is undeserving. That certainly is our situation. And so we plead to God, “Give Your ...
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Precious Lord, Take May Hand

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Click here to listen to this sermon. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Everyone knows what it is like to become overwhelmed: the phone call that changes everything, the diagnosis we did not expect, the grief that will not lift, the responsibility that feels heavier than we can carry. In such moments, we do not need advice about trying harder, working smarter, or changing our attitude. We need someone strong enough to take hold of us. The author of the hymn we just sang, Thomas Andrew Dorsey (1899–1993), knew what it was like to be overwhelmed. Born in Georgia to a revivalist preacher and a church organist, he moved to Chicago at seventeen and found success as a blues pianist, arranger, bandleader, and recording artist. He also suffered a nervous breakdown and struggled for years between the secular and sacred worlds of music. Eventually, he brought them together in a new form of sacred song and became known as the “father of gospel music.” In August ...
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More Than Enough

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Click here to listen to this sermon. “And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over” (Matthew 14:20). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Every time I hear the story of the feeding of the five thousand, I’m reminded of my Grandma Moeller. No matter what hour of the day or how many people showed up unexpectedly, she could feed them and take care of them. No one ever left her table hungry. Perhaps you had a mother or grandmother like that. In the days before microwaves and pre-packaged foods, Grandma was a wizard at improvising and stretching a meal. Although she never would have been mistaken as a gourmet chef, she could turn a small beef roast and a few potatoes into more than enough for twelve. A loaf of Old Home bread, a brick of cheese, and a quart of ice cream made the most delicious “lunch” when people came visiting at night. How she was able to do that, I don’t know. It’s probably a l...
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The Hidden Treasure

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Click here to listen to this sermon. “[Jesus said:] “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field” (Matthew 13:44). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Hidden treasure. Who among us has not dreamed at least one time of finding hidden treasure? A map that leads us to the buccaneer’s buried booty. An old chest covered with dust in the attic of an abandoned farmhouse. The valuable antique discovered in the contents of a box purchased at an estate auction for a dollar. We’re captivated by stories of hidden treasure. Jesus tells a story of hidden treasure and He puts you and me right in the middle of it. “The Parable of the Hidden Treasure” is one of seven parables in Matthew 13. In each, Jesus describes an aspect of the kingdom of heaven. Jesus’ disciples asked, “Why do You speak… in parables?” Jesus explained, “To you has been given t...
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The Patience of the Sower

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 Click here to listen to this sermon. 27 And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn’”(Matthew 13:27-30). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! One of my favorite sports movies is Hoosiers . Gene Hackman plays a veteran basketball coach who takes over a small-town Indiana high school team in the 1950s. Right from the beginning, everyone thinks he’s doing everything wrong. During the first practices, he won’t even let the boys touch a basketball. In early-seaso...
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The Patience of the Sower: Circuit Pastors

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Click here to listen to this sermon.  Our text for today is our Gospel from Matthew 13, which was just read. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! One of my favorite sports movies is Hoosiers . Gene Hackman plays a veteran basketball coach who takes over a small-town Indiana high school team in the 1950s. From the start, everyone in town thinks he’s doing everything wrong. During the first practices, he won’t even let the boys touch a basketball. In early-season games, he requires them to make four passes before taking a shot—even when a good shot seems open. They lose games they should have won. The impatient townspeople question his judgment. Some even want him fired. But the coach knows something they don’t. He’s not trying merely to win the next game. He’s shaping the team into champions. His players and their fans cannot yet see what he sees. Eventually, everything comes together, and the tiny school wins the state championship. Sometime...
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