A Famine Not of Bread

Click to listen to this sermon. [Jesus] unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19).   Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Most of you probably remember the Smothers Brothers. (For those of you too young to know who I’m talking about, you can check them out on YouTube https://youtu.be/PfgrREmy68A .) Their trademark comedy bit was singing folk songs, with Tommy on guitar and Dick on bass. Usually, these songs would devolve into an argument between the two brothers. Seeing he was losing the argument, an exasperated Tommy would retort, “Mom always liked you best.” When our kids were younger, each of them at least one time thought they were ...

To listen to this sermon click here. Or here. “ So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in Him, ‘If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free’” ( John 8:31-32). Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Our text, like many other passages of Scripture, is often misused and taken out of context. The words “the truth will set you free” are isolated, so that any learning that might help us to find “truth” (whatever that may be) is praised. We see the words on libraries and as secular college mottoes. We hear them on the lips of our post-modern intellectual leaders and politicians. But we don’t hear Whose Word reveals the truth that sets us free. We don’t hear Who is the Truth that sets us free. And we don’t hear what it means to be really, truly free. And unfortunately this is not limited to the outside world. This goes on in many a church body that calls itself Christian—even amon...

Click here to listen to this sermon. An mp3 file is available upon request. The text for today is John 8:31-32: “ So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in Him, ‘If you abide in My Word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’” Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Our text, like many other passages of Scripture, is often misused and taken out of context.   The words “the truth will set you free” are isolated, so that any learning that might help us to find “truth” (whatever that may be) is praised.   We see the words on libraries and as secular college mottoes.   We hear them on the lips of our post-modern intellectual and political leaders.   But we don’t hear Whose Word reveals the truth that sets us free.   We don’t hear Who is the Truth that sets us free.    And we don’t hear what it means to be really, truly free. And unfortunately this redefinin...

Painting of Martin Luther by Lucas Cranach. The text for this observation of Reformation Day is John 8:31-32: “ So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in Him, ‘If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’” Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our text, like many other passages of Scripture, is often misused and taken out of context.   The words “the truth will set you free” are isolated, so that any learning that might help us to find “truth” (whatever that may be) is praised.   We see the words on libraries and as secular college mottoes.   We hear them on the lips of our post-modern intellectual and political leaders.   But we don’t hear Whose Word reveals the truth that sets us free.   We don’t hear Who is the Truth that sets us free.   We don’t hear about Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And unfortunately this i...