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. “For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith” (Romans 3:22b-25a). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Five people are on the roof of a tall, burning building. Their only way out is to jump across a 25-feet wide alley to a nearby building. One person jumps ten feet. Another jumps four, another 12, another eight. One real athlete even jumps 22 feet. But in the end, there is no difference. All fall short of their goal and die. That, my friends, is a picture of our spiritual life. By nature, we’re all trapped in the dangerous hold of sin, which threatens to take away our life and destroy our soul. None of us can make the great leap from sin to righteousness. Oh, by human standards some may look better tha...