A Famine Not of Bread

Click here to listen to this sermon. “We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own free will, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints—and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us” (2 Corinthians 8:1-5). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! There are two subjects that many pastors hesitate to deal with in a sermon—sex and money. Not so with the Apostle Paul. In his first letter, Paul warned the Corinthians: “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulter...

Click here to listen to this sermon. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Dr. John Kleinig begins his book, “Wonderfully Made,” by observing: The slogans on two sweatshirts worn by young women recently caught my attention. The first was ‘My body! My choice!’ The second was, ‘Your body may be a temple, but mine’s an amusement park.’ Both sum up how people now regard their bodies. Since it belongs to them and only to them, they may do as they please with it. Therefore, they use it for their own amusement in pursuit of physical pleasure or themselves apart from God and any higher purpose in life. [i]   From conception to birth, life, death, and resurrection, your bodies are of utmost importance. Through each stage, your bodies matter, as does how you live in them, what you do with them, and how you approach life and death. Today, with our text from 2 Corinthians 5:1-7, we’ll focus on the latter stages—life after death and the resurrection of the bod...

Click here to listen to this sermon. “Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. As we journey through the Pentecost season, the lessons for today resonate with our current spiritual state. Just like the early Christians after Pentecost, we, too, believe in the resurrection of Christ, even though we cannot see Him. Our faith is not based on what we see but on our trust in Jesus as our Savior. Our Old Testament lesson gives us one example: Job. At the start of the book, Job is a wealthy man with everything going for him. That is quickly stripped away as he loses his goods, home, family, and health. He’s surrounded by friends who say, “We know what we see, and we see clearly that your life has become a trainwreck. The evidence is irrefutable: clearly, you’ve done something to turn God against you. Your life is evidence that the Lord is out to get you.” In our Ol...

Click here to listen to this sermon. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Mark’s Gospel is full of short episodes with many significant events. This is especially true as it begins. In Mark, chapters 1 and 2, we read about how Jesus was baptized in the Jordan and then tempted in the desert. We then hear how He preached, healed, and cast out demons. We read about the great crowds that began following Him. We also learn about how He called the twelve disciples. Then, in Mark 3, Jesus returns home to Capernaum, but things have changed. Now, after all that He has been doing, crowds follow Him. Yet, the path was not without its thorns. In this segment of Mark, the conflict between Christ and His family, as well as the religious authorities, reaches a boiling point. His response is marked by some of the most direct warnings from the Son of Man during His earthly journey. It’s a moment that calls for introspection and understanding. After a long preaching jour...

"The Disciples Eat Wheat on the Sabbath" by James Tissot Click here to listen to this sermon. One Sabbath [Jesus] was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, His disciples began to pluck heads of grain. And the Pharisees were saying to Him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” And He said to them, “Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath” ( Mark 2:23–28). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Well, they finally got Him! This time, He’s going to pay for His law-breaking. He won’t weasel out of it with smooth ...