A Famine Not of Bread

Click here to listen to this sermon. So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! At the dawn of the Reformation, the church in Germany was led by Joachim, an elector from Brandenburg, and his brother, Albert, who was bishop of Halberstadt and archbishop of both Magdeburg and Mainz. To get these jobs, these men contributed millions of dollars to the church in Rome. But because neither brother had this much money, they borrowed it from a family of bankers. Loans must be paid back, of course, and Pope Leo allowed Albert to raise money to pay this loan by selling indulgences. Half of the money they received from selling indulgences went to pay their debt to the bankers, and the rest went to Rome to help pay for the building of the Basilica of St. Peter. With Pope Leo’s approval,...

Click here to listen to this sermon. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! St. Paul writes in Romans 11:1-5: “ I ask, then, has God rejected His people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how He appeals to God against Israel? “Lord, they have killed Your prophets, they have demolished Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” But what is God’s reply to him? “I have kept for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. ” “A remnant chosen by grace.” Whenever I hear the word “remnant” a slight shiver still goes up the back of my neck, though it’s been over fifty years. With its wonderful assortment of candy and toys, the Ben Franklin store in Flandreau was usually a great place for a...

Click here to listen to this sermon. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Near the end of his life St. Paul wrote at least two letters to one of his understudies—a man named Timothy. The second is a farewell letter in which the apostle warns the young pastor of false teachers and exhorts his charge to carry on his preaching of the Gospel even as he has begun. In the last section, chapter 4, verses 6-18, Paul begs Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, for he knows his time on earth is short. This will be the basis for my sermon this afternoon: “ For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved His appearing. “Do your best to come to me so...

Photo credit Suzanne Jaton Click here to listen to this sermon. “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity… [But] e veryone to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God. For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart” (Ecclesiastes 5:10, 19-20). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! The day of my Dad’s farm auction, his landlady also sold the land he had been renting from her family for over 35 years. When my Dad asked her if she was happy with price the land brought, she said it had brought more money than she would have ever hoped for. She only had one regret about selling the farm that had been in her family for three generations: “I just wish you could’ve gotten some of the benefit,” she told my Dad. “That’s okay,” he ...

Click here to listen to this sermon? Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! And as [Jesus] was setting out on His journey, a man ran up and knelt before Him and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone” (Mark 10:17-18). This interaction between Jesus and the man reminds me of a line from The Princess Bride . Throughout the movie, the evil Vizzini constantly states that things are “Inconceivable!” Eventually ,  an exasperated Inigo Montoya looks at him and says: “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” There are several words the man in our Gospel seems to misunderstand. The first is “good.” “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus replies, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.” In essence, “You keep using that word, ‘good.’ I do not think it means what you t...

Click here to listen to this sermon. “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea” (Mark 9:42). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! There are certain things that you observe around you that let you know you’re in an election season. Campaign signs, mailers, televised debates, and endless commercials. And whether it’s a candidate or a proposition or school bond issue, one way they attempt to influence the voter is by making an appeal on behalf of the children. Candidates are pictured with children around them. Initiatives are promoted through children smiling and waving, perhaps even speaking words of their own scripted endorsement so that you, too, will support it. Either the person or the idea is presented as good because it is good for the children. And what kind of monster doesn’t want to do what is good for ...