A Famine Not of Bread

Click here to listen to this sermon. “Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord. I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ How long shall there be lies in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, who think to make My people forget My name by their dreams that they tell one another, even as their fathers forgot my name for Baal? Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let him who has My Word speak My Word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? declares the Lord. Is not My Word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?” (Jeremiah 23:23-29). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! The prophet Jeremiah lived in an era not t...

Click here to listen to this sermon. “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer” (Psalm 19:14). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! You don’t have to look very far to know if there’s a God or not. Our psalmist begins: “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork.” Part of it is common sense: where there’s creation, there’s a creator. This pulpit didn’t spontaneously appear or construct: someone with a talent for woodworking put it together. Likewise, the heavens aren’t a random occurrence: where creation, there creator. Someone had to be around to make it. So at the very least, the heavens testify that there’s a god out there somewhere. So the heavens declare the glory of God, proclaiming vastness, beauty, power, and order. If nothing else, creation screams intelligent design and a creator, making it rather foolish to say there is ...

Lazarus and the Rich Man   Jacopo Bassano   · 1550 Click here to listen to this sermon. “Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ And [the rich man] said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’” (Luke 16:29–31). Grace and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! Are you listening? That’s a question many are asking voters as Election Day approaches. Are you listening? Are you paying attention? Do you know what the candidates really stand for? Do you know which candidates are closest in line with your values? Are you informed enough to vote? To help us listen, the airwaves are flooded with political ads and sound bites in the news. Ironically, it seems the more we hear about the candidates the more we don’t listen because they annoy us. Still, I sup...

Click here to listen to this sermon. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. “ For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. “ For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes out from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it” ( Isaiah 55:6-11) . “Seek the Lord while He may be found; ...

Click here to listen to this sermon. Or here. “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” (Luke 1:28). Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! She’s a little girl—perhaps fourteen, maybe fifteen, years old. Still young by our standards, though old enough to get married in her time. She’s betrothed to Joseph. The vows are made, and soon they will be fully man and wife. Mary is wise and devout, a maiden who’s kept herself pure in her wait for marriage. But other than that, she has very few qualification for her upcoming assignment. Well, that and her family connections: She’s a descendant of King David, although many generations have passed since one of her ancestors actually sat on the throne. Now, she and her family live in a little hick town, far from where anything ever happens. Nazareth isn’t exactly Jerusalem, you know. In Jerusalem, you have the king’s palace and frequent visits from Roman commanders. You have the temple—the House of ...

Click here to listen to this sermon. Mp3 files are available upon request. “W e ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with Him on the holy mountain. And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts” ( 2 Peter 1:18-19). Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!   How many times have you had to make an important decision and wished that God would speak to you and tell you what to do? How many times have you wished that God would give you some sort of sign about what you should do? How many times has He? I can think of at least a couple of occasions where I thought God was speaking to me, but as things turned out, it was not His voice at all. But on this day on the Mount of Transfiguration, it was most definitely the voice of God the Father. He says, “This is My beloved Son,...