A Famine Not of Bread

"The Pilgrims of Emmaus on the Road" by James Tissot" Click here to listen to this sermon. "And He said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself" (Luke 24:25–27). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! This story, recorded only by Luke, masterfully paints a picture of the atmosphere at the end of Passover. The empty tomb has not awakened any faith. It has only increased the weight of all the inconceivable things with which the disciples have had to wrestle. Two deeply disillusioned men are now walking home. All that they expected of the One whom they believed to be God's Messiah has come to nothing. They are shaken, upset, and without hope. Then a strang...

"Christ on the Cross" by Eugene Delacroix Click here to listen to this sermon. “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever! Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has redeemed from trouble and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south” (Psalm 107:1-3). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! The psalmist commends God’s goodness and His steadfast love as reason for giving thanks. However, there are three kinds of people who do not give thanks to the Lord because He is good. The first kind is those who do not believe in God, or if they do doubt His ability or inclination to do anything to redeem them from their trouble. Some look at events in the world, or circumstances of their life and doubt His goodness and love. The second kind is that of the despairing, those who certainly believe that God can and knows how to deliver them from thei...

"Crucifixion" by Titian Click here to listen to this sermon. “ You who fear the Lord, praise Him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify Him, and stand in awe of Him, all you offspring of Israel! For He has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and He has not hidden His face from Him, but has heard, when He cried to Him ” (Psalm 22:23-24). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Have you ever painted yourself into a corner? That’s how I feel tonight. My plan for our mid-week Lenten services was to use the appointed psalm for the week as the text for our sermon. Tonight’s psalm is the last part of the messianic psalm, Psalm 22, that provides many prophetic details of Christ’s suffering and death. But our appointed text is only verses 23-31, in which the psalmist calls all people to praise the Lord for His faithfulness: “You who fear the Lord, praise Him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify Him, and stand in awe of Him...