A Famine Not of Bread

Click here to listen to this sermon. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! They had been attending worship faithfully for two months. Actively participating in two weekly Bible studies, they seemed to drink in everything, asking the most insightful questions. They were the kind of prospective members that a pastor dreams about. “We think we’d like to join your church,” they said. “But before we do, we want to know just what you believe and teach. Do you have a book or something more in-depth that we could read?” I sent them home with one of my favorites, “Spirituality of the Cross,” by Gene Edward Veith. Two days later they returned. “Pastor, we’ve read the book you sent with us, and we just can’t agree with some of it. We can’t, in good conscience, join, because we would like to become involved in teaching. We know that we would always have some level of conflict with what you’re teaching.” Though I disagree with their conclusion, I could apprecia...

Click here to listen to this sermon. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Let this be the Law for Ash Wednesday: “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Those are simple words, but powerful ones. They’re surprisingly difficult for me to say while putting ashes on your foreheads. I can’t help but think of the scores of men, women, and children whose bodies I have committed to the ground with similar words. These words were first spoken to Adam to describe the curse and the consequences of sin, the first announcement of death. God made them holy to live forever with Him, but they defied His Word and threw their holiness away. As a result, the Lord said to Adam, “You are dust, and to dust you shall return.” It didn’t happen all at once that day, but Adam eventually crumbled away. You are dust, and to dust you shall return. That’s why hair falls out and skin gets waxy. It’s why arteries clog and valves leak, why eyesight fails and can...