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Rejoice in the Lord Always

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Click here to listen to this sermon. “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say rejoice” (Philippians 4:4). Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord wants you to rejoice so much that He commands you to have joy. But this is not a harsh demand to feel happy or else. This is one of those commands where the Lord gives what He’s commanding: let’s connect a few dots. Where does one get joy in the Lord? This is a fruit of the Spirit—which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). What comes before bearing fruit? You’re a live branch, joined to the vine of Christ by the forgiveness He’s won and the Spirit delivers. In other words, this joy is a result of being a forgiven child of God. So, you’re to rejoice in the Lord always—you’re always to find your joy in the Lord. And as a Christian, you have it. But remember we’re talking about joy of the soul, the joyful confidenc...
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Love Song of the Vineyard (Reprise)

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Click here to listen to this sermon. “ Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit ” (Matthew 21:33-34). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Are you familiar with the term “reprise” when it is applied to a song? A reprise returns to an earlier song, often with a change in style or music that lets us hear it in a new way —like “Let It Go” in Disney’s Frozen or “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” on the Beatles album of the same name. You might call our Gospel text a “reprise.” Jesus takes up the vineyard song God sang through Isaiah seven centuries earlier and gives it a new setting and a sharper ending. You just heard the original song in our Old Testament reading. The vineyard Isaiah san...
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Seek the Lord While He May Be Found

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Click here to listen to this sermon. “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:6-7). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Unless the Lord returns in your lifetime, a day will come when you can no longer gather here with your brothers and sisters in Christ—whether through personal choice, illness, incapacity, the closing of this congregation, circumstances beyond your control, or death. These possibilities remind us that the opportunity to receive the Lord’s gifts should never be presumed upon. Seek the Lord while He may be found, and call upon Him while He is near. Now, here’s the thing: most of these scenarios you don’t have much control over or say about. You can take the best care of yourself, but you can still get ill, become incapac...
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