A Famine Not of Bread

Click here to listen to this sermon. "Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised (Proverbs 3:30). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! A long time ago, about 2,500 years, in fact, there was a woman named Esther, known for her great beauty and wit. The ESV says, “The young woman had a beautiful figure and was lovely to look at” (Esther 2:6). This beauty set her in the running to be the next queen of Persia even though she was not of noble birth. Esther was an orphan, an exile who had been captured from her homeland of Judah and brought to the kingdom of Persia. Esther’s charm captivated Hegai, the man who had charge of King Xerxes’ harem, leading him to advance Esther to the front of the line. Coached by Hegai, Esther “won grace and favor in [Xerxes’] sight” more than all the other young women. The king gave a great feast in Esther’s honor and made her queen. Esther was much more than just a pret...

Click here to listen to this sermon. And [Jesus] said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person” (Mark 7:20-23). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray is a thought provoking tale that plays on the difference between what is on the inside of a man versus what is seen on the outside. An artist named Basil Hallward meets a young man named Dorian Gray. Impressed by Gray’s beautiful physical appearance, Hallward paints a picture of him. A friend of Basil’s named Lord Henry Wotton promotes a worldview that beauty and sensual desire are the most important things in life. Falling under the influence of this philosophy, Dorian wrestles with the harsh reality t...