A Famine Not of Bread

Click here to listen to this sermon. "Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised (Proverbs 3:30). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! A long time ago, about 2,500 years, in fact, there was a woman named Esther, known for her great beauty and wit. The ESV says, “The young woman had a beautiful figure and was lovely to look at” (Esther 2:6). This beauty set her in the running to be the next queen of Persia even though she was not of noble birth. Esther was an orphan, an exile who had been captured from her homeland of Judah and brought to the kingdom of Persia. Esther’s charm captivated Hegai, the man who had charge of King Xerxes’ harem, leading him to advance Esther to the front of the line. Coached by Hegai, Esther “won grace and favor in [Xerxes’] sight” more than all the other young women. The king gave a great feast in Esther’s honor and made her queen. Esther was much more than just a pret...

Click here to listen to this sermon. “‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth.’” And she went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days. The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah” (1 Kings 17:14–16). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! The times are tough. King Ahab rules Israel, and he is considered to be the worst, wickedest king of all, which is something considering the notorious history of Israel’s kings. To compound his own evil, he has married Jezebel, princess of Sidon; and among other things, Queen Jezebel will be known in history as the one who particularly plagued Israel with the worship of false gods. She will also be remembered as one who “cut off the prophets of the Lord” (1 Kings 18:4), depriving the people of the Word of the Lo...

Click here to listen to this sermon. “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’” (Revelation 7:9-10). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! The Feast of All Saints is the most comprehensive of the days of commemoration within the Church year, encompassing the entire scope of that great cloud of witnesses with which we are surrounded (Hebrews 12:1). It holds before the eyes of faith that great multitude which no man can number: all the saints of God in Christ—from every nation, race, culture, and language—who have come out of the great tribulation … who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:9, 14). As such...

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 8:31–32). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! From the beginning of the Reformation, Lutherans have taken God’s Word seriously. After being excommunicated for heresy and threatened with death in 1521, Martin Luther appeared at the Diet of Worms, and refused to recant of his writings, stating, “I do not accept the authority of popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other—my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand. God help me. Amen.” [i] Fifty years later, a new generation of Lutheran pastors declared to the world: “By God’s grace, with intrepid hearts, we are willing to appear before the judgment seat of Christ with this Con...

Click here to listen to this sermon. “And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, ‘You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me’” (Mark 10:21). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! The story starts on a hopeful note. A breathless young man catches up to Jesus as our Savior sets out on His journey to Jerusalem for what would come to be known as Holy Week. He kneels before Jesus and asks: “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “Why do you call Me Good?” Jesus asks. “No one is good except God alone.” Does the man realize Jesus is God in human flesh? Possibly. Note the man’s posture as he comes before Jesus. He kneels—a sign of reverence and respect, but also desperation, as the two words that form the Greek indicate. In Mark 1:40, it is the leper who approaches Jesus like this. In Matthew 17:14, it is the father of a demon-possessed boy. This man i...