A Famine Not of Bread

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 Outdated equipment is not replaced.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...

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 that surrounds us (Hebrews 12:1). It holds before our 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, it ...