A Famine Not of Bread

  Click here to listen to this sermon. And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah” ( Matthew 17:4). Grace and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ!   Lord, it is good to be here. It is good to be here at St. John’s/St. Paul’s/Zion Lutheran Church. It’s good to be here to worship with you. It’s good to be here to hear God’s Word with you… to sing God’s praises with you… to come to the Lord’s Table with you… to share a Sabbath rest with you. Rest is good. Rest is important. Rest is necessary for our physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. But rest is hard to come by, isn’t it? There is so much these days to keep us busy. If I projected a community calendar up on the wall here, we’d all see how busy we all are. There are meetings, community events and family activities. Add to all this busyness our children’s schedules: play dates, basketba...

Click here to listen to this sermon. “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest” (Exodus 33:14). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! As you’ll read in her obituary, Lorraine confessed publicly the faith into which she was baptized in the Rite of Confirmation at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Trosky on April 2, 1944. On that day, Lorraine promised that she would “continue steadfast in this confession and Church and to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it.” By the grace of God, Lorraine kept that promise; she fought the good fight of faith and has received the crown of eternal life. On the day of her confirmation, Lorraine received this verse, Exodus 33:14, a promise of God, that she wanted you to hear today: “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”   What an excellent text for the Christian life and death of one of God’s saints! As we should do with any and every Bible passage, we’ll first ...

Click here to listen to this sermon. “And [Jesus] said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest awhile” (Mark 6:31). Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Our text begins with the apostles returning to Jesus and telling Him all that they had done and taught during their recent two-by-two mission tour. But something important happens during this brief “vicarage.” We dare not pass over it or we’ll miss the full impact of this passage. John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, has just been executed thanks to birthday boy Herod and his hasty oath. John’s head is served on a platter, a gruesome party favor for Herodias and her daughter the dancer. John’s disciples claim his body and lay it in a tomb. The beheading of a prophet like John is big news. But Jesus isn’t surprised. That’s the way it goes with God’s prophets. How much more it is with Jesus, the Christ Himself! He is rejected by His hometown of Nazareth. He has bec...