A Famine Not of Bread

Click here to listen to this sermon. “ And [Jesus] told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart ” ( Luke 18:1 ). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! I lift up my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from? I have absolutely no idea. My help supposedly comes from the Lord, but I haven’t seen it yet! It seems the one who made heaven and earth doesn’t have anything left to give me. Is He asleep or on vacation? Is He angry with me? Perhaps I’ve offended Him in some way. Or maybe He just doesn’t care. I know. That’s not the way that Psalm 121 goes, but sometimes it seems that way; doesn’t it? Sometimes it feels like God isn’t paying attention. You’ve had those days, haven’t you? When it looks like God doesn’t care… that He must be angry with you… that He is screening His calls. What do you do when God is slow to answer your prayers? What do you do when God gives you the silent treatment? Most popular boo...

"The Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican" by James I. Tissot Click here to listen to this sermon. “[Jesus] also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt” (Luke 18:9). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! “The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector” is one of the simplest of Jesus’ parables. Two men go to the temple to pray. One brings before the Lord his own good works. The other has nothing to bring but a cry for mercy. Only one goes home justified. But this parable is perhaps so familiar that its edge is dull and it has lost the shock of God’s grace and the surprise of the Gospel. Our minds think of the characters differently than those to whom Jesus first spoke it. So, I’d like to change it just a little to see if we can’t recover some of its original bite. Instead of having the two guys go to the temple, let’s have them come to your house to pi...

Click here to listen to this sermon. “And [Jesus] told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart” (Luke 18:1). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? I have absolutely no idea. My help supposedly comes from the Lord, but I haven’t seen it yet! It seems the one who made heaven and earth doesn’t have anything left to give me. Is He asleep or on vacation? Is He angry with me? Perhaps I’ve offended Him in some way. Or maybe He just doesn’t care. I know. That’s not the way that Psalm 121 goes, but sometimes it seems that way; doesn’t it? Sometimes it feels like God isn’t paying attention. You’ve had those days, haven’t you? When it looks like God doesn’t care. That He must be angry with you. That He is screening His calls. What do you do when God is slow to answer your prayers? What do you do when God gives you the silent treatment? Most of the popul...

Click here to listen to this sermon. “But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:13-14). Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! A couple of years ago, a friend of mine was on the news. Perhaps you saw the story. It was about the man in Rapid City who wanted to get his smile back. A succession of financial setbacks had prevented him from fixing his teeth. Finally, he decided to set up an account on the internet to ask people to help. “The hardest thing I've ever had to do is to do this, you know, to swallow my pride and ask for help," he said on Keloland News. In a short period of time, he raised about $3,000. That’s not to say everyone was happy wi...