A Famine Not of Bread

Click here to listen to this sermon. The text for today is from our Epistle, James 2:1: “My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.” Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! It sounds strange the first few times you hear it. We pray for individuals in the prayers of the church, and among them, we pray for Joseph and Timothy. Now, that doesn’t sound strange in itself until you realize we’re praying for Joseph, our President, and Timothy, our Governor. Suddenly, it sounds inappropriate, disrespectful, or like we’re trying to cozy up or imply that we’re on a first-name basis with people who probably don’t even know we exist. While there’s nothing wrong with praying for people using titles and last names, there’s a good reason for using only first names in prayer. It reminds us of an important truth: God shows no partiality with His Law and Gospel. Out there, He gives us all sorts of different stations and...

Click here to listen to this sermon. “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You” (Isaiah 26:3). Elaine, Randy, Rick, Shari, and other family and friends of Ronnie: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Perhaps you’re sensing a theme. Yes, it is peace. When we finish this service today, I would like you to take with you peace, the perfect peace of God. The hymn that we just sang, “When Peace Like a River,” counsels contentment at all times, even in the face of trials, suffering, and death! The hymn explains why: Jesus has borne the soul’s sin on the cross and will return to be with His own. The first stanza reminds the soul that God has taught it to say, “It is well” in all circumstances, using an image from Isaiah’s description of the Messiah’s blessing of Zion (Isaiah 66:12), with peace overflowing “like a river.” Shalom , translated as “peace” here, is more than just a lack of conflict; it is health, ...

  Click here to listen to this sermon.  I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for Me;      I was ready to be found by those who did not seek Me. I said, “Here am I, here am I,”      to a nation that was not called by My name. I spread out My hands all the day      to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good,      following their own devices; a people who provoke Me      to My face continually, sacrificing in gardens      and making offerings on bricks; who sit in tombs,      and spend the night in secret places; who eat pig’s flesh,      and broth of tainted meat is in their vessels; who say, “Keep to Yourself,      do not come near me, for I am too holy for You” (Isaiah 65:1-5a).  Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!...

And [Jesus] said, “There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ ...

"The Sermon on the Mount" by James Tissot Click here to listen to this sermon. The Beatitudes are some of the best-known passages of the Bible. We read them at least once each year for All Saints’ Day and every third year during Epiphany. There’s a good chance you’ve heard more sermons on the Beatitudes than any other text other than the Christmas narrative. So, I’m not going to go into detail about the individual beatitudes this year but will focus on the final beatitude. Jesus said: “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on My account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:11-12). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! On the Feast of All Saints, the Church remembers those saints who have gone before us. The term “saints” does not mean that they were necessarily more pious and righteous...