A Famine Not of Bread

 Click here to listen to this sermon. 27 And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn’”(Matthew 13:27-30). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! One of my favorite sports movies is Hoosiers . Gene Hackman plays a veteran basketball coach who takes over a small-town Indiana high school team in the 1950s. Right from the beginning, everyone thinks he’s doing everything wrong. During the first practices, he won’t even let the boys touch a basketball. In early-seaso...

Click here to listen to this sermon. The text for today is our Gospel lesson, Luke 15:11-32, which has already been read. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The traditional title for this parable, “The Prodigal Son,” is found in 16 th -century English Bibles and goes back to the Latin Vulgate. The ESV translation calls it “The Parable of the Prodigal Son.” Yet the central figure in this parable is not the son but the father. It is the father who reaches out with love to both of his wayward sons, just as Christ reaches out to each of us and calls us to repentance and faith. So today, we will hear this story from the father’s viewpoint under the theme “Letters from a Loving Father.” The first letter goes like this: My dear son, I pray that you will return to me soon so that I may share these words with you in person. But if I should pass on before your return, there are a few things I must be sure you know, so I am writing you this letter. I w...

Click here to listen to this sermon. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Mark’s Gospel is full of short episodes with many significant events. This is especially true as it begins. In Mark, chapters 1 and 2, we read about how Jesus was baptized in the Jordan and then tempted in the desert. We then hear how He preached, healed, and cast out demons. We read about the great crowds that began following Him. We also learn about how He called the twelve disciples. Then, in Mark 3, Jesus returns home to Capernaum, but things have changed. Now, after all that He has been doing, crowds follow Him. Yet, the path was not without its thorns. In this segment of Mark, the conflict between Christ and His family, as well as the religious authorities, reaches a boiling point. His response is marked by some of the most direct warnings from the Son of Man during His earthly journey. It’s a moment that calls for introspection and understanding. After a long preaching jour...

"The Wedding Feast" by Eugene Burnand Click here to listen to this sermon. Our text for today is our Gospel, Matthew 22:1-14. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! In Come In, We Are Closed , Tyrel Bramwell tells the following story. The waitress led me to my seat. As I sat down, I noticed the man at the next booth looking at me. We acknowledged each other with a couple of quick nods. After some small talk, he invited me to join him for some coffee. He said his friends call him Shep, a nickname that goes back to his days as a pastor. “I’m glad that I bumped into you, Shep,” I said. “Since you were a pastor, do you mind if I ask you a church question?” “Not at all.” “All right, so, what do you know about churches that don’t let some people take Communion?” “Did you have a bad experience with closed Communion?” he asked. “It that what it’s called?” “It is.” “I wouldn’t call it bad . It’s just not very inviting, you know? I ass...