A Famine Not of Bread

Click here to listen to this sermon. “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed 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 to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! As we observe Reformation Day, we remember how the Lutheran tradition was born from a deep commitment to God’s Word. This commitment, rooted in the courage of Martin Luther and generations of believers, continues to shape our faith and life today. After being excommunicated for heresy and threatened with death in 1521, Martin Luther appeared at the Diet of Worms, and refused to recant of his writings, stating, “I do not accept the authority of popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other—my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand. God help me. Amen.” [i] Fifty years later...

  Click here to listen to this sermon. "The Circumcision of the Child Jesus" by Guido Reni

Click here to listen to this sermon. “Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord. I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ How long shall there be lies in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, who think to make My people forget My name by their dreams that they tell one another, even as their fathers forgot my name for Baal? Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let him who has My Word speak My Word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? declares the Lord. Is not My Word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?” (Jeremiah 23:23-29). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! The prophet Jeremiah lived in an era not t...

  "Moses" by James Tissot Click here to listen to this sermon. "Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the just decrees that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you. . . . “Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon Him? And what great nation is there, that has statutes and just decrees so righteous as all this law that I set before you today? “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have ...

Click here to listen to this sermon. When many of His disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying, who can listen to it?” But Jesus knowing in Himself that His disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before?” (John 6:60-62). Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! The Bible has two basic, primary doctrines—the teaching of the Law and the teaching of the Gospel. The Law is Lord God Almighty’s holy will. The Law demands what we do and not do, what we say and not say, and what we think and not think. The Law is directed to the activities of man. The Law always accuses our old sinful self. Even one violation of one commandment condemns to everlasting separation from God and Paradise, “for whoever keeps the whole Law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it” (James 2:10). Each of us has broken God’s Law. You know it. I ...

Click here to listen to this sermon. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! As one hears the Old Testament reading, you can clearly see a God who takes sin seriously. So seriously that it is a matter of life or death, good or evil, blessing or curse. Through His servant, Moses, the Lord God issues a warning and a promise to the people with whom He had chosen and established a covenant relationship based upon His grace: “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shal...