A Famine Not of Bread

Click here to listen to this sermon. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! “ Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, His body, and is Himself its Savior. Now as the Church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.” So begins the famous passage in Ephesians about the blessed estate of marriage. Wives are to submit to their husbands in everything. This, of course, has led to all sorts of reactions—from snickers to cries of derision—as the world accuses Christians of seeking to subjugate women to a lesser role in life. It’s a strange accusation, even without exploring the Scriptures further. An unbiased look at world history would show that Christianity has done more to elevate the status of women in society than any other factor. Consider the plight of women in Hindu India who may be disfigured or killed for falling in love w...

"Christ Sending Out the Seventy Disciples, Two by Two" by James Tissot Click here to listen to this sermon. The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name!” And [Jesus] said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:18-20). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! On Monday, we celebrate Independence Day, the birthday of our nation. It is good and right that we give thanks to God for this nation and ask that He would continue to “bless our native land.” We also do well to remember that freedom is bought with a price. Millions of men and women have served with courage, selflessness, and sacrifice so that we might enj...

Click here to listen to this sermon. "Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, ‘Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb’” ( Revelation 21:9). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! As I read our text, I was reminded of the wedding announcements we used to read in our local paper. For those of you who don’t have such memories, here is an example from the Mitchell Daily Republic about 40 years ago: “[The bride] wore a gown of white satin and mandel rose galloon lace. The gown was styled with an empire waist and the bodice and bishop sleeves were of lace. The sleeves were caught in a satin cuff. Lace edged the rounded neckline. The gown featured a full-length detachable train of satin and lace… Her veil was attached to a cap trimmed with lace, satin appliques, and scalloped lace edging. She carried red roses, cushion mums, and baby’s breath tied with red and white...

  "The Protestations of St. Peter" by James Tissot Click here to listen to this sermon. [Jesus said:] And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! It may be the case, that as Jesus meets with His disciples near Caesarea Philippi, He is geographically farther away from Jerusalem than at any other time in His earthly ministry. The town was about twenty-five miles north of the Sea of Galilee, at the base of Mount Hermon. That’s around 100 miles from Jerusalem, a long trip in the day when just about every land journey was completed on foot. Whether or not Matthew intends the geographical perspective of distance and separation to highlight how far apart the religious establishment in Jerusalem is from Jesus, the comparison is certainly applicable. It is also true that the religious leaders of Jerusalem would hav...

Macklin Bible "The Angel Freeing the Apostles" Click here to listen to this sermon. “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). I wrote this sermon back in the last week of February, so it could be recorded for the Main Street Living television program. If you want to compare, you can go to mainstreetliving.com This was before most of us knew much of anything about COVID-19, social distancing, stay-at-home orders, or essential and non-essential businesses and workers, so it is not particularly directed at our specific situation, although I think now because of current events it might be easier for each of us to imagine a scenario where this comes into play. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! A couple of months ago, a fellow LCMS pastor, the Rev. Christopher Thoma, was invited to give the invocation at the Michigan State Senate. But as he negotiated the words of the prayer with a staff member, he was told that he could not ...