A Famine Not of Bread

"Peter and John Healing the Crippled Man Click here to listen to this sermon. “Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets long ago” (Acts 3:19-21). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! We need to set the stage a bit before discussing our text. Shortly after Pentecost, Peter and John are heading up to the temple for afternoon prayer. A man who has been lame from birth is being carried to the Beautiful Gate of the temple court, a prime location for begging alms. Seeing Peter and John, he asks them for alms. “Look at us,” Peter directs. So the man fixes his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. And so, he does—just not what he was expecting. But somethi...

Click here to listen to this sermon. Grace and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! Our text, Acts 2:1-21, is the start of something big, and it happens on the Day of Pentecost. Pentecost is the Greek name for the Old Testament Feast of Weeks that God required the Israelites to celebrate each year seven weeks after the Passover—thus it was called the Feast of Weeks because it took place a “week of weeks” after the Paschal Feast. That means the feast was celebrated on the fiftieth day—that’s the “Pente” in Pentecost.                        The feast of Pentecost was a day of rest when all the men of Israel were to appear before the Lord and offer appropriate sacrifices. Each farmer was to come into the temple courts, bringing a basket with his first sheaf of the year’s wheat harvest. At his turn, the farmer would step forward and say the liturgy o...

            The text for today is Acts 2:1-21, which has already been read.   Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Moses’ patience was at its breaking point.   God had delivered His people from the bondage of Egypt and was on the verge of bringing them into the Promised Land.   But it didn’t take long and the grumbling had started.   It seemed like nothing was good enough for them and Moses was taking the brunt of their criticism.   They wanted meat to eat and were tired of following Moses.   Frustrated, Moses cried out to the Lord.   His murmuring and weeping resembled Israel ’s, but it was different in an important way.   Moses turned to the Lord in his feelings of insufficiency and frustration, so his complaint did not degenerate into rebellion. The Lord came to the aid of His weak and distraught servant: He provided a steady supply of me...

            The text for this evening is Acts 1:9-11: “ And when [Jesus] had said these things, as they were looking on, He was lifted up, and a cloud took Him out of their sight.   A nd while they were gazing into heaven as He went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven?   This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven.”   Here ends the text. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Well.   It came and went.   Did you miss it?   The great worldwide earthquakes and the May 21 st rapture of all believers promised by Harold Camping foreshadowing the October 21 st end of the world?   I’ve wondered: What do you suppose Mr. Camping and his followers did on May 22 nd ?   I can just picture them cloistered in their own l...