A Famine Not of Bread

Click here to listen to this sermon. “By faith [Abraham] went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God” (Hebrews 11:15-16). Grace and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! I enjoy camping, but I prefer staying in a cabin or lodge. Two or three days in a tent… that’s about enough “roughing it” for me before my sense of adventure is satisfied. The threshold for my wife is much lower. But Abraham lived in a tent for 100 years, from the age of 75 when God called him out of Ur of the Chaldeans to the day he died at the age of 175 in the land of Canaan. Though God promised Abraham and his descendants an inheritance that would stretch from the Nile River to the Euphrates, Abraham lived as a pilgrim and stranger in Canaan. He died with the only plot of ground in his name being the cave of ...

Click here to listen to this sermon. “Oh that You would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at Your presence—as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil—to make Your name known to Your adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at Your presence! When You did awesome things that we did not look for, You came down, the mountains quaked at Your presence” (Isaiah 64:1-3). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! With the First Sunday of Advent, we begin a new Church Year. At the same time, we prepare for the celebration of the Festival of the Holy Nativity—the birth of Christ on that first Christmas Day. In our Gospel, we heard the account of our Lord’s triumphal entrance into Jerusalem. This is how the Church begins each year. We stand between our Lord’s first coming and wait for His second coming at the end of time. We wait and live by faith, not by sight. Our faith is nourished and made certain as we r...

Click here to listen to this sermon. “By faith [Abraham] went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God” (Hebrews 11:15-16). Grace and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! Next weekend, my family and I will go camping near the Missouri River. We’re going to bring our tents, sleeping bags, fishing rods, coolers, camp stoves, lanterns, and all the things that it takes to “rough it in the great outdoors.” Hopefully the weather will be as nice as we’ve had this week. But just in case, we have a backup plan. Logan and Samantha have a big 5 th wheel camper with air conditioning and shower parked in their back yard, all hooked up and ready to go. Two or three days in a tent… that’s about enough for me before my sense of adventure is satisfied. The threshold for my wife is much l...