A Famine Not of Bread

Click here to listen to this sermon. “ As you come to Him, a Living Stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:4-5). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Peter proceeds with a metaphor drawn from the Old Testament, this one being particularly significant to the apostle himself. God’s people come to a Living Stone and are built up as living stones in Him. Who better to deliver a picture of stones than the one who got his name changed by Jesus, from “Simon” to “Rocky”? When Jesus asked the disciples in Matthew 16, “Who do you say that I am?” it was Simon Peter who confessed, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heave...

Click here to listen to this sermon. [Jesus said:] “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me”   (John 14:1-6). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! You don’t have to live very long in South Dakota to learn how quickly the weather can turn. A day can start calm and bright, and then—almost without warning—clouds roll in, the wind picks up, and the sky goes that strange color that makes you pause and think, “This could be trouble.” And when that happens...

Click here to listen to this sermon. Peter said, “And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh” (Acts 2:17). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Today, we gather to celebrate a pivotal moment in the history of our faith—the Day of Pentecost. Make no mistake about it; it had all been for this. To pour out the Spirit, Jesus—first conceived by that same Spirit—had taken flesh from the holy Virgin. To pour out the Spirit, the obedient Son of God had lived a perfect life of love to God and neighbor, had suffered and died, had descended to hell, and had risen in victory on the third day. To pour out the Spirit, He had ascended into Heaven and was seated at the Father’s right hand. It was this day, fifty days after Easter, that Jesus kept His promise to pour out His Holy Spirit, and the Spirit came with a startling suddenness that was impossible to miss. Imagine the scene: the disciples, filled with antic...

Click here to listen to this sermon. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! “And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing” (Genesis 12:2). Most Christians are familiar with the term “blessed to be a blessing.” It refers to the fact that God has blessed us and desires we bless others as well. The actual reference is from the biblical story of God making a covenant with Abraham, telling the patriarch that He would bless Abraham and would bless the nations through Abraham and his offspring. We know this was faithfully accomplished through Jesus Christ, the world's Savior. According to the flesh, there will be those from every people, tribe, and tongue who will receive the eternal blessing of heaven through Jesus, a descendant of Abraham. “Blessed to be a blessing.” I think this phrase is undoubtedly fitting to describe Carol and her life. The Lord blessed Carol in many ways, and she ...