A Famine Not of Bread

Click here to listen to this sermon. [Jesus said,] “For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming ” (Matthew 24:37–42). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! The last three Sundays of Pentecost, the constant theme of our Gospel lesson was that you need to be prepared at all times, because Jesus is coming in glory to judge, and He’s coming at an unexpected time. And today, as Advent begins and we look forward to the coming of Jesus at Christmas, the message of our Gospe...

Click here to listen to this sermon. “The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers. And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that He might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. And He humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8:1-3). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Thanksgiving is a time for reflection and remembrance. A time for reflecting upon the bounteous blessings God has so freely bestowed upon us out of His lavish love and abundant mercy. A time for remembering the...

Click here to listen to this sermon. “They shall be Mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up My treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him” (Malachi 3:17-18). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Over twenty-five years ago, The Matrix trilogy offered the premise that the world we see and experience is not real, but computer-generated. This is a secret known only to the few humans who’ve been liberated. Only after being freed from the machine do they finally see how deceptive what they thought to be the “real world” truly is! In our text, the people of Israel had their own perception of the “real world.” They were still living in the glory days when their nation had been powerful, and God had blessed them with peace and prosperity. Sadly, they failed to r...

Click here to listen to this sermon. “As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good” (2 Thessalonians 3:13). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! You see it all the time: As the end draws near, there is a temptation, if not a tendency, to slack off. Businesses retire with their owners. Once the drive to build a business dissipates, advertising and promotion no longer are seen as investments in the future but as drains on the current balance sheet. The intangible value of a company’s reputation and customer base evaporates, and potential owners see little value left to purchase. Congregations decline as their long-term pastor nears retirement. First, little things go by the way, then secondary ministries drop off because there isn’t enough energy or enthusiasm left in the tank. You can see this happens with the last generation of a family farm, too. Building maintenance slips to the bare minimum. Outdated equipment is not replaced. Traili...

Click here to listen to this sermon. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! “There’s still more!” What wonderful words! You’re at a concert of your favorite performer. The music is beautiful. You’ve had an incredible evening. The musicians leave the stage as the crowd rises for a standing ovation. It seems that’s all there is. The crowd continues cheering for a few minutes: “More! More!” The band comes back for an encore. They play several more songs, including a couple of their best, which you’ve been waiting for. There’s still more! In our Gospel reading for today, Jesus is debating with a group of religious leaders known as the Sadducees. The heart of the controversy is between two points of view. Jesus, on one side, is saying, “There’s still more.” The Sadducees are on the other side, are saying, “That’s all there is.” What were they talking about? The resurrection from the dead. There came to [Jesus] some Sadducees, those who deny that there is...