A Famine Not of Bread

  Click here to listen to this sermon. “Jesus wept” (John 11:35). Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! “God so loved the world He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).   “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23). “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1). Each of these passages, often used in funeral services, speaks of God’s love and compassion. God loves the world. He loves you and me. He shows that love by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, into the world as one of us. Jesus lived the perfect life that you and I could not live. He loves His Father above all things and loves His neighbor as Himself. He demonstrates the depth of that love by laying do...

Click here to listen to this sermon. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Appearance. Style. Image. They’re everything in our world. In debates. At work. In school. Even in the church. Among Christians. Are you healthy, wealthy, and successful? Is your church growing rapidly? Well then, God must love you. That’s the popular thinking. But appearances can be deceiving. Take Lazarus, for example. A beggar. His body is riddled with oozing sores. Dogs lick the pus, and he’s too weak, too depressed, to stop them. He’s an outcast who rummages through the dumpster, looking for the scraps that have fallen from the table of the rich and elite. Does Lazarus look like he’s blessed? No, he looks like he’s a man to be pitied. He appears to not be blessed by God. In fact, maybe God doesn’t even like Lazarus too much. Otherwise, he’d be healthy, wealthy, and prosperous. That’s what the world would say in a culture where image is everything. Then there’s the ric...

"Jesus Wept" by James Tissot Click here to listen to this sermon. “I am the Resurrection and the Life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die” (John 11:25). A smart man. A thirsty woman. A blind man. A grieving sister. Four different people in four different situations. Four people changed by an encounter with Jesus. They lived in places and times far from ours, but we have much in common with them. We are smart, but not nearly as smart as we think. So, as He did with Nicodemus, Jesus teaches us. We are thirsty, longing for something that will satisfy us. And Jesus, as He did with the Samaritan woman, gives us Living Water. We have blind spots which keep us from fully seeing God, ourselves, and others. As He did with the man born blind, Jesus opens our eyes. This week’s text invites us to walk alongside a grieving sister. There are many causes of grief. One of them is broken relationships. We w...

"Jesus' Triumphal Procession into Jerusalem" by James Tissot Click here to listen to this sermon. “Isaiah said these things because he saw His glory and spoke of Him. Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in [Jesus], but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God” (John 12:41-43). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! The news spread quickly that Jesus was in Bethany, and large numbers of people headed there to see Him. With the influx of pilgrims in Jerusalem getting ready for the Passover, it wasn’t long before a great crowd had gathered. No doubt, their curiosity was doubly piqued, since they would also be able to see Lazarus, whom Jesus had recently raised from the dead. Realizing they were losing the battle for public opinion, the chief priests decided to kill Jesus. ...

"The Resurrection of Lazarus" by James I. Tissot Click here to listen to this sermon. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Each of you here today has a special connection to Jerry and/or his family. That’s why you’re here. You’ve loved him, liked him, lived with him. You’ve worked with him in his role as City Finance Officer; he has been your neighbor or friend or family. For over forty years, I had the privilege of calling Jerry my friend, one of my best friends. The first time I met Jerry was at South Dakota Agriculture Youth Institute in Brookings. We were assigned as roommates. The first thing Jerry said to me was “I need to tell you that I’m a diabetic so that if you walk in here and see me with a syringe you don’t think I’m a junkie.” A couple of years later, we were roommates as we attended the ag program at Mitchell Vo-tech. When I was foolish enough to binge drink tequila the night of my twentieth birthday, Jerry was one o...