A Famine Not of Bread

Click here to listen to this sermon. Now when the king lived in his house and the Lord had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.” And Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you.” But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, “Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord: Would you build Me a house to dwell in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for My dwelling. In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd My people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?” ‘Now, therefore, thus you shall say to My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from follo...

Click here to listen to this sermon. Denny, Ron, Deb, and Randy, members of St. John’s congregation, family and friends of our departed brother in Christ, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Most anyone who attended worship services at St. John’s Lutheran Church over the last decades probably knew Clarence. Ever since moving back to Trosky, Clarence was our head usher and greeter. He welcomed everyone when they came to church and checked out any visitors. You might say Clarence was the doorkeeper of our congregation. Clarence was baptized into Christ at St. John Lutheran Church in Villard, MN on July 9, 1929. He confessed his Christian faith publicly in the Rite of Confirmation here at St. John’s on April 2, 1944. His confirmation memory verse was Matthew 10:32, “Whosoever shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father which is in heaven.” Clarence married Lois here at St. John’s on July 7, 1951. Though moving around severa...

"Jesus Casting Out the Moneychangers" by Carl Bloch Click here to listen to this sermon. The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the Temple He found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the Temple, with the sheep and oxen. And He poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And He told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make My Father’s house a house of trade.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house will consume Me.”       So the Jews said to Him, “What sign do You show us for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But He was speaking about the Temple of His body. When the...

  Click here to listen to this sermon. "King David at Prayer" by Rembrandt

Click here to listen to this sermon. “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2 Corinthians 5:1). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Like the psalmist, I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!” That is, to say, I was glad to hear that the visitation yesterday and our service today would be here at St. John’s. It is good and right that we should be at this house of the Lord. Every time that I would visit him, he would ask: “How are things going at the church? How was attendance last Sunday? Was Jeff there? Bryan? Got many kids in Sunday School?” It’s easy to understand why this house of the Lord would be important to Paul. This was the place in which he was baptized, confirmed, and married, Paul’s children were baptized and confirmed here at St. John’s. Paul served as a Sunday School teacher, church off...