A Famine Not of Bread

  Click here to listen to this sermon. “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1 Corinthians 15:19–26). Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Many of you may remember Ron Popeil, an American inventor and marketer of various products, including the Popeil Pocket Fisherman...

Click here to listen to this sermon. “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at His coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1 Corinthians 15:20–26). Randy, Rhonda, other family members and friends of Veva: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! This weekend we observed the 100 th anniversary of the end of World War I. The “war to end all wars,” it was optimistically, if not naively dubbed. At first idealistic, the term has become quite ironic. In the 100 year...

Click here to listen to this sermon. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! I must admit right up front: I’ve only known Alvin for about six months. So I never had the opportunity to meet him in the active years of his life. I never had the chance to get to know the man who was your Dad, Grandpa, Great-Grandpa, or friend. I don’t have any personal memories to share with you. While I’m sorry that I never had that chance, in some ways I consider it an advantage as I speak to you today, because although it’s helpful to be able to personalize the message, a funeral sermon (as all sermons) should be focused on Christ and not the Christian. It should tell us what Jesus has done to seek and save lost sinners like Alvin and you and me. Realizing our time together was limited, we focused on matters that are eternal. And I was very fortunate to have time to visit with Alvin about his Christian faith. When He was no longer able to come to church I had the p...

Click here to listen to this sermon. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Oh, but how do you know that He is truly risen? How do you know this is true? And, if it were not true, would it really matter whether or not Christ actually rose from the dead? There are those—even some who call themselves Christians—who dismiss the resurrection as myth. Others insist that Jesus’ resurrection was merely a spiritual resurrection. And still others are undecided, but say it really doesn’t matter because Christianity is all about being nice and doing good, and Jesus certainly was a good example and moral teacher. (But how good or moral could Jesus have been if He lied about or faked His own resurrection?) St. Paul certainly thinks the bodily resurrection of Jesus is important. He includes it as one of four clauses that summarize the Gospel: “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also receiv...