Weekly Sermons

For those who are interested, I have again started posting the weekly sermons at the  Bride of Christ ELC website.  The weekly sermon is posted here.

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Is this a Powerful Sermon?

      This morning I noticed the following at Against Death and For Life!:

This is an incredibly powerful sermon delivered by Pastor Matthew C. Harrison, president of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, on the subject of our society’s attitude toward life deemed not worthy of being lived. Powerful, powerful stuff here folks. You owe it to yourself to gather your family and watch this together.

      So I viewed it and listened carefully, twice. Then I reviewed several portions a few additional times.

      Is this truly a powerful sermon? Does Pr. Harrison hold to the preaching that his professed quia subscription to the Lutheran Confessions define as a truly powerful sermon? Is this a sermon that rightly distinguishes between the Law and the Gospel and applies each to the hearers so as to move them to be cut to their own hearts and turned to true faith in the Gospel?

      Having viewed it and listened carefully I do not find this to be what this sermon does. I do not hear Pr. Harrison holding me and the other hearers accountable for our own sinfulness. Rather, it sounds to me like a highschool pep rally to inspire school spirit and to pit one school and team against another. “Rah! Rah! Rah! Go Team!! Yes! Our team is the best, to H with the rest! Yea.............Team!”

      In this sermon I only found one very weak attempt at applying God’s Law to the hearers. At 10:20 on the time line Pr. Harrison says:

     Then Jesus began inviting the dregs of society to be His friends, like Levi, the tax collector, Luke 5:27. And He still invites the dregs like YOU, even you in the back. (Audience chuckles.)
     I asked them before this sermon if I could mention a few of their sins up here publically, but nobody was forthcoming. (Audience chuckles.)

      This is the only attempt at application of the Law to the actual hearers. And this was making very light of their own sinful condition, actually making a joke of it. Not one person hearing this would be cut to the heart concerning one’s need for God’s forgiveness and healing. I certainly did not hear myself being confronted with my sinfulness.

      What I did hear was a condemnation of OTHERS! Over and over the Nazis were condemned. There also was a connection made to those who have promoted and performed the more than 53 million abortions in America.

      But no condemning statement was made concerning the hearers and their refusal to love their neighbors. No call to acknowledge any of our own sins and rebellion against God’s holiness was preached at all. Rather, the LC-MS and its membership were praised for their good works and urged to take pride in doing more good works. The presumed good works of fighting abortion from a “loving” and “joyful” disposition were praised and urged. “Go Team!”

      Just as the Law was not applied to the hearers, neither was the Gospel applied. No one hearing this sermon would respond with a broken and contrite heart saying, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” Even a Nazi would laugh at this sermon, without any sense of wanting to turn to God to hear His gracious absolution. Even if a Nazi heard that the millions of murders were wrong, that Nazi would think that at least the six million plus murders are not as bad as the 53 million abortions of the Americans. Both the Nazis and the LC-MS membership hear an excuse to say: “At least we are not as bad as certain others. Besides, Pr. Harrison says that Jesus invites the dregs to be His friends.”

      Indeed. Where did Pr. Harrison say anything about members of the LC-MS being in need of repentance? Was it somewhere in this sermon mentioned so subtly that even with several viewings that I did not perceive it?

      On that, what about the many blatant denials of the pure Gospel and Sacraments that the pastors and congregations of the LC-MS have committed for many decades, and with increasing boldness in recent years? The Lutheran Confessions speak of these compromises as the very worst of sins, even calling them soul-murder. Do we Lutherans, regardless of whichever synodical team or congregation we belong, do we not need to hear the call to acknowledge the First Three Commandments and our many sins against them? Do we not need to hear that we daily worship at the feet of the idol of the media and movie industry and the Internet? Do we not need to hear how we have taken the Lord’s name in vain and misused it in connection with false worship practices? Do we not need to hear how nonchalantly we treat daily prayer and devotion? Do we not need to hear how we give “half-cast” prayers toward God? Do we not need to hear, especially those who are of the LC-MS, how unionism has been openly practiced without even a hint of contrition over this violation of the Third Commandment?

      How can Pr. Harrison or any other pastor imagine that anyone from outside their “fellowship” will take their preaching seriously? Why would any nonbeliever be moved to listen to this kind of pep rally drivel? This is not even honest evaluation of their own membership. Why would someone like myself, someone who counts himself as a very desperate and poor, miserable sinner turn to such a works-righteous preacher and church body? I need to hear God’s Law and Gospel carefully and accurately preached to me so that I know that my need for the remission of my sins has been genuinely addressed. I need to know that the merits of Christ crucified are imparted to me through the ordained means of grace. I need to know that my miserable attempts at righteousness are not the basis of my judgment. I need to know that the perfect righteousness of Jesus has been poured out to me so that by His righteousness I am judged.

      Then and only then do I recognize myself as one among those who rejoices to count myself among those “who like Jesus are people of joy over life.” Pr. Harrison proclaims this as a catch phrase, but it is inestimably more. When a person hears this as what God works for us, then the person truly is made to be a person of joy over life. Then a person does not need to be urged to stand up for others, for that is the regenerated motive of the person’s heart. This is what the Holy Spirit produces. It is not something that a person must generate within oneself. The preaching of the necessity of good works in the life of Christians takes true form when preached as St. James says:

     What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? (James 2:14-20)

      St. Paul proclaims the same, saying:

     So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. (Romans 1:15-17)

      A living faith causes a person to live from that faith. A living faith is not idle. It is like turning the key in a car and hearing no sound of the engine being turned. A person observing this says that the battery is dead. It has no life in it. Thus it produces no action.

      On the other hand no one imagines that a battery is made to be a good battery by turning over the engine. No. Rather, a person observes the innate goodness of the battery when it produces the work of turning over of the engine. Because the battery has life in it, the engine is turned over. The life has already been given to the battery by another source of life or energy. Then, because the battery has been made to be a good battery that is full of life, it then produces that which flows from the life that has been generated within it. Because of the life generated in it, the battery is declared to be a good battery that produces the good work that a live battery produces. If the battery dies and produces no work, it is then declared to be a bad battery and is cast into the pit.

      People in whom the true faith is alive do the works that this living faith produces. This living faith is generated in the person through the pure means of grace, that is, the pure Gospel and Sacraments. Oh that the preachers would preach and administer the pure and unadulterated Word and Sacraments rather than preaching that people should be good Lutherans or good Christians or good Whatevers. For as St. Paul masterfully proclaims, it is the Gospel that is the power of God into salvation. It is the Gospel that is the power that generates the true faith that changes people’s hearts and minds so that they live by faith and live the life of joy that produces the good works of that joy.

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Where’s the Law?

Today I received a surprise from an old friend. He made a statement regarding my sermons that was surprising to hear, especially from him.

Thanks for the sermons. But where is the Law? I know that you may seem surprised to hear me say that but I didn't see much about us being poor, miserable sinners and stand in need of God's forgiveness. The soul that sinneth shall die.

My friend has long teased me by calling me the “Sherriff” and “John Law.” This began in our seminary days together as I was known for asking the question of certain professors: “But where’s the Law?”

In some of our classes, especially those that were counted as the “practical” areas of study, some of the professors rarely if ever spoke of the application of the Law. They usually only spoke of the application of the Gospel, and that application was a weakened and general application that was quite non-specific, rarely if ever actually speaking of the cross and the reason for it. As a student, I sensed what was wrong and cried out. My own understanding of clear and effective preaching of the Law and Gospel together had a long way to go, but I recognized the false preaching of those professors who had forgotten the interconnectedness of the two.

As I have become more experienced I have learned more and more the importance that both be preached, but that the Gospel predominate in the sermons. While we sinners most assuredly need to hear our lost condition so that we despair of our own efforts at worthiness and trust the Gospel as the power by which we are brought back into God’s communion of everlasting life and blessedness, this hearing and receiving of this blessed Gospel is the object of the preaching. As I have grown as a preacher, I have learned that I need to preach so as to send people from the divine service with the glorious good news of restoration and reconciliation through God’s means of grace as what fills their hearts and minds.

This is a continual concern in my preparations. I remain continually mindful of the necessity of the prevalence of the Gospel over the Law in my preaching.

I take the concern of my friend very seriously. I take any criticism of my preaching very seriously. In the past I have had very dear friends who had turned to a different gospel blast me very harshly over the Law that they heard in my sermons. The Gospel did prevail in those sermons, but because of the altered perspective of my friends, the Law was all that they heard. This was on account of the fact that their understanding of what the Gospel really is had changed and so the entire message was received from their perspective as condemnation. They began to attack until finally denouncing me as a friend. But I was not the one who had changed, except that my preaching of the Law and Gospel message became more clearly defined.

This repeated experience from friends who migrated from the confession in which we previously stood together has been painful for me. So today, it was really quite surprising to hear from this friend that he did not perceive the Law slapping him in face. I have examined a couple of the sermons and found that of the two, the Christmas Day sermon was much less in-your-face with the Law than the Advent sermon, but that it was indeed proclaimed.

My conclusion on the matter is that first of all, I need to be ever mindful of the necessity that both the Law and the Gospel be proclaimed, and that it be proclaimed so that the person can hear both as applicable in that person’s life. Secondly, I conclude that my dear friend is indeed a dear friend for sharing this with me. Thirdly, since my dear friend seems to have heard the Gospel applied to himself, that indeed both the Law and Gospel were heard, but at least from his perspective that the Gospel came through so clearly that in the end the Law was hardly even remembered as hitting him.

I could be wrong about this last part, but if so, I am sure that he will tell me so. Moreover, he has done me a great favor by reminding me of the absolute necessity that the Gospel not be preached apart from the awareness of the pronouncement of the Law.

One final note: In my own daily walk my own brokenness and extreme need for the healing and comfort of the Gospel is felt so keenly, so sharply and powerfully, and my wife’s expression of her awareness of this in her life, most assuredly must impact my preaching. As Luther wrote to Melanchthon, before one can become a great preacher, he must first become a great sinner.

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Blogging Volume

It seems that everyday I have multiple ideas, for which I jot some notes and add to my stacks of possible blog posts. Some I have even spent many hours and in some cases even days studying. Most blog posts require a considerable investment of my time. A few are of such a nature that I can simply cut and paste, but most take much time in order to treat them with seriousness and to attempt accuracy and truthfulness. Matters of the Faith most certainly should not be haphazardly composed and posted.

Even converting the sermons to PDF, HTML, and MP3 and then to upload to the web site usually takes an hour or two.

And so I frequently wonder whether people really benefit. I wonder whether it is good stewardship of my time and energy. But occasionally I do hear from someone that the efforts are beneficial and appreciated.

It seems that the most beneficial efforts are those that I direct toward those who are in prison. The one friend to whom I send sermons every week often comments on how helpful he finds them, and that he passes them on to his friends who pass them on to others. Recently I sent him a copy of the Enchiridion, i.e., Luther’s Small Catechism, and he requested 2 more copies for his friends who eagerly received them.

What can be better than to hear of such things? It gives me a tiny sense of what the Lord Jesus says happens among the heavenly hosts when even one sinner repents. It also causes me to remember David’s joy when he wrote:

I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord (Psalm 122:1)

For those who do find my posting and uploading of sermons to be of benefit to you, I am glad.

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All the Law and the Prophets

Reflecting upon my preparations for last Sunday’s sermon, as well as the many texts on which I have expounded, I wonder how many sermons can be written from a specific text. Each time that I approach one of the pericopal readings I wonder, how can I preach this with freshness? Yet each time, as I wrestle with God in His Scriptures, I find that He has said more than I previously realized and that there is most certainly more to be brought out from the great treasure-house of the Scriptures.

In Sunday’s Gospel reading Matthew 22:31-46, the Lord Jesus says:

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Matthew 22:37-40)

The Lord Jesus says that on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. This means that all of the Scriptures were written based upon these two commandments. That is a lot of writing and explaining and exposition! And then we have the Scriptures of the New Testament, too!

St. Paul shows himself a true apostle of Christ when he says: “Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. (Romans 13:10)

How many sermons can be preached concerning the right understanding of this? Ultimately, is this not the focus of every true exposition of the Gospel? To grasp this is to grasp all the riches of the kingdom of God.

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Collect for the Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity

     Lord, we beseech Thee, let Thy continual pity cleanse and defend Thy Church; and because it cannot continue in safety without Thy help, preserve it evermore by Thy help and goodness; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

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This week’s sermon: Galatians 5:25- 6:10 — “If We Live in Spirit in Spirit also We Should March”.

Audio/MP3 Sermon.


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The Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity

From the readings for the Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity, the Epistle reading was the text for the sermon. The introduction began:

     Repent! Repent! Repent! Do you get tired of hearing this message? Nevertheless, it is the perpetual message of the Church. It is the tireless message of the preachers of the Gospel. It is a command. Yet it is a command that we cannot fulfill. It is a command that works for us and in us that which must be enacted. The call to repent is a command that has the power to turn us from our ways back again to the Lord. The call to repent is actually God’s mercy in action. It is His call to those whom He would rescue from their wandering into everlasting destruction. While we hear it as Law on account of our failure to hear and obey, it is nevertheless brought to effect in us by the Gospel, the power of God unto salvation to all who believe. It is God’s promise of salvation that converts us. It is His promise of the Savior that saves us. For what God promises He brings into being. In fact, what God promises, He has already accomplished for us.

For the rest of the sermon: Galatians 3:15-22 — “A Testament Being Confirmed Previously under God into Christ”.


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Sermons, Why Bother?

Why should we still bother with sermons? Why not simply bypass them or do as many churches do and simply turn them into Bible Studies?

Is there a difference between a Bible Study and a Sermon? Many people think not. Yet I cannot imagine a single person counting standing in a grocery store checkout line as being the same as being called to the supper table. What is the difference? In the first instance the food items are gathered together and bagged and carried home. In the second instance the food items are prepared as a succulent meal and served to those hungrily awaiting to gobble it down.

A sermon is not merely gathering together facts to present to people in an organized manner. A sermon is not merely a lecture. A sermon is a prepared feast that is fed to those who have been called together to gobble it down. This feast is not mere facts and information. This feast is the very Word of God, the Lord Jesus Himself, fed aurally to those who have come to receive Him into their hearts yet again. The sermon is also preparation, like an appetizer, for the greater feast of the body and blood of the Lord in His Holy Supper of everlasting Communion.

Sermons are without a doubt a lot of work to prepare. The initial stages are sheer agony. But the pastor receives more than he exerts, and what he receives he delivers to those whom the Lord has entrusted to his pastoral care. They in turn receive what their loving pastor feeds to them and they carry it with them wherever they go throughout the week, sharing morsels with others whom they encounter in their daily journey.

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Be not Thou far from me, O Lord

From the conclusion of the sermon for Palm Sunday:

In the Introit we joined with the saints of old saying, “Be not Thou far from me, O Lord; O my Strength, haste Thee to help me.” Truly we have been comforted again with the declaration that the Lord is not far from us as we so often imagine. He comes unto us and works salvation for us and speaks peace to us.

The full sermon is available here.

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The Faith out of Hearing

After preaching Sunday’s sermon, “Why Are Ye Fearful,” and editing it for HTML markup for the web site, I found myself wondering whether I had misspoken. In the third paragraph of the first part I stated: “Faith is not what we do but that which works in us and upon us to bring to effect the hearing and following of God’s Word.” As I pondered what I wrote and said in the next paragraph, at first I thought that I might have spoken a contradiction.

Understanding how God works faith in us is beyond our human reason to grasp on its own, and even when it is declared to us rightly, we are inclined to doubt its validity. Upon careful repeated examination I realized that what I had preached is correct and in keeping with what the Scriptures declare.

In the fourth paragraph I said what at first seems to contradict the statement of the third paragraph: “Hearing produces faith, not the other way around.” Without careful attention, this struck me as contradictory. But it is nonetheless true. Hearing produces faith, not the other way around. Likewise it is true that the true faith works in us and upon us to bring to effect the hearing and following of God’s Word. Hearing produces this faith in us and this faith that is generated in us brings to effect the hearing and following of God’s Word thereafter. Both the hearing and the faith are God’s work. The hearing must precede the faith, producing the faith in us by which we are made to be believers, so that forevermore this faith keeps us in the Word, hearing it and following it.

Happenings: Sermon: Last Sunday of the Church Year (OT)

Ask the Pastor, a.k.a., Pastor Walter Snyder, has two new sermons posted.

Happenings: Sermon: Last Sunday of the Church Year (OT)
Happenings: Sermon: Last Sunday of the Church Year (Epistle)

I always wondered how Pr. Snyder was able to produce so much. Anyone can produce piles of material, but his was always very well researched and documented as well as extraordinarily accurate and orthodox (usually). It has been quite a while, however, since he has been active.

I have thought many times that I would offer something akin to ATP. However, such an effort would be overwhelming for me. I find researching and careful contemplation of people's questions take me many hours, sometimes days or even weeks. The proper care for accuracy and faithfulness to the Scriptures, with the additional concern for actually understanding the inquirer's actual question and concern so as to address it so that it may be comprehended, is an enormous task. Moreover, my answers are not cushioned with the allowance for alternative views, which people can perceive as arrogant and intolerant. I do not give answers in the form of “perhaps you should consider”. When I am speaking as Christ's representative I am bound to declare: “Thus saith the LORD!” and “Believe it or perish everlastingly.” Very few people desire to inquire with such as the anticipated answers.

That is not to say that I never receive correction from others. Being challenged drives me to reexamine my understanding. Thus I find that I benefit greatly from such challenges, especially from those who present them respectfully. On a few occasions I have learned some important new points or have learned that I had previously misunderstood. A few times I realized that I had obstinately held a wrong position, from which repentance, being turned by the Holy Spirit, was necessary. Thanks be to God that when He is the source who is sought, He does provide the needed correction, humbling, and turning.

I have often learned new things and have been reminded of old treasures from Pr. Snyder’s “Ask the Pastor” articles. These two new sermons of his are worthy of hearing as well. I am glad to see that he has made them available.

Sermons Posted

After almost a year of not posting sermons to the web site, I have begun posting again. Due to financial struggles and the need to adjust the format of the web site to compensate for changes to the various web browsers and their “improvements,” I did not post sermons for a time. I was not even sure, for a time, whether or not I would be able to afford to maintain the web site.

Learning new HTML and CSS and other language needed for web site administration takes time. I am hopeful that I have the site working more in accord with the newer standards. I have not yet corrected the entire site, but the newer pages have been adjusted.

This Sunday’s sermon for the Festival of the Reformation has been uploaded and can be viewed and downloaded here.

I hope to begin uploading past sermons up to the time that I stopped last year and to make changes to the pages previously posted.. But at least the site should be functional again for the newer pages across the various browsers.

The Exciting Glory of the Gospel

Today’s sermon text was so exciting to me as the sermon developed in the writing of it that when I finished I could hardly wait to preach it! How wonderful, exciting, and glorious is the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ!


2 Samuel 22:21-29 — “The Lord Rewarded Me According to My Righteousness”

HTML Sermon

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Palm Sunday: Entrance to Holy Week

Palmarum - Palm Sunday is the entrance into Holy Week. With the Lord’s entrance into Jerusalem He set into play the events that would finalize the salvation for which He was born into the world as a man. The Lord Jesus was received on this day by the multitudes as the Promised One, the Messiah or Christ, the Anointed of the Lord. Yet very few understood what this meant.

The Lord Jesus most assuredly knew. It was for this reason that He took on human flesh and a human spirit. As the eternal Son of God, the Logos, the King of Glory, He came to Jerusalem on an ass, a lowly beast of burden.

After the Sunday service, we always reflect upon the pericopal readings, the liturgy, the hymns, and the sermon. After preaching the sermon I realized more fully the point of the Epistle reading and the point of Palm Sunday. St. Paul declares that the saints are to be united by the mind of Christ which is the mind of God.

And what is the mind or the way of thinking of God? He is the King of Glory who according to His very being serves. God is a servant King. From the beginning, He is a servant. Everything in the accounts of creation shows us this. God is love. He acts in love. He created the cosmos for the sake of humans. He created humans and placed us over the entire creation to enjoy all that He had created.

The mind of God is the way of providing for His beloved children whom He created in His own image. From the beginning He established all things for our sake. Knowing what would be and the choices that we would make, He established our redemption even as He created us and the world for us.

Palm Sunday is the entrance into knowing the mind of God. By His entrance into His Holy city He publicly displayed His mind toward us. He came lowly and riding on an ass, the foal of an ass. He came not to be served, but to serve and to give Himself as a ransom for many.

When He speaks of our service to Him, what does He require? His definition of service to Him is that we hear His loving voice and live in accord with the good life that He has established for us. His definition of service to Him is that we receive from Him in faith the good things that He gives for us. In other words, His definition of our service to Him is that we acknowledge His loving and fatherly desire to serve us and to receive His loving service in His love together. Service to God is simply acknowledging Him as our loving God who establishes His Holy Communion for us to enjoy together with Him and one another.

Sunday’s sermon is Philippians 2:5-11 — “This Mind Be In You”.

Lenten Disappointment

This year I feel cheated by the season of Lent. Actually, I feel cheated by the circumstances that have led me to cheat myself during the season of Lent.

Circumstances have forced me to have to apply so much energy regarding running my business and earning a living that I have had to set aside the usual midweek Lenten services. Even for Ash Wednesday I was unable to muster the energy to prepare a sermon and to prepare for a service. This is most regrettable to me.

The office of preaching is truly a blessed office, and the season of Lent is, in my estimation, the most wonderful season for preaching. It is the time in the Church Year that most clearly focuses upon the preaching of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The texts are so richly laden with the preaching of our need for repentance unto faith and with the Lord’s endless calling to us to bring us to repentance unto faith that I truly regret missing these extra opportunities for preaching.

Preparation for preaching is truly a wonderful blessing. Those entrusted with the preaching office are truly blessed. For studying in preparation for proclamation is considerably different than ordinary study of the Scriptures. Sermon preparation forces a very deliberate and unavoidable subjugation to the Scriptures as the record of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It forces a subjugation to the will of God for the world and for the saints. If forces an attitude of humility to turn from one’s own thoughts to listen to the voice of God.

Sermon preparation is a very special time of struggling intensely with God in connection with what He intends to say through the Scriptures to His Church. The preacher is richly blessed through this struggle, and then is doubly blessed to be commanded and commissioned to share this blessing publicly to all who will receive it.

Yes, I feel disappointed that I found it necessary to set aside the usual blessing of midweek Lenten services this year. This is a fast that I hope never to need to observe again. Yes, this year for Lent our fast was to give up the midweek services, and for me especially, the giving up of preparing the service and preaching the midweek proclamation. Truly this has been one of the most difficult fasts that I have observed. Yet it nevertheless has served the purpose of a fast, namely, that it made me hungry for the Word and has directed my heart to my need for the Gospel. Still, when I choose to fast, I would much rather give up desserts or chocolate or meat or whatever else.

Oh Lord Jesus, come soon, and put an end to all fasting and bring us to Your wedding banquet that never ends! Amen!

The Parable of the Sower

     The Gospel reading for Sexagesima, the Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany, is Luke 8:4-15. The title that is generally given to this is The Parable of the Sower. Amazingly, however, in practice those who identify themselves as Christians rarely treat this as the parable of THE Sower. In practice, the tendency is to ignore The Sower and to act as though we were the sower.

     In common parlance this is called Evangelism. Yet the Lord Jesus gives this parable in contrast to what is commonly thought to be evangelism. He explains the true work of evangelism in this parable. He also teaches what the true message of the Gospel is.

     As I prepared Sunday’s sermon my thoughts became so deep that I wondered whether the sermon would be hard to hear on account of the depth. Even as I proofread I wondered. It was not until I heard it as I preached it that my wondering was turned to wonderment. Truly the message of this parable is a wonderful message.

     I find myself amazed at the difference in the dynamic of hearing the Word as opposed to reading it only. There truly is a difference. It impacts a person differently. That, too, is declared in this parable of our Lord Jesus as He sets before us the wonderful statement of affirmation that is simultaneously a word of warning, “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”




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New Sermon Archive Format

I have redesigned the 2007-2008 sermons archive page in the hope of making access to the year’s sermons easier. Now all the sermons for the year are available for selection from one page rather than selecting by seasons of the Church Year.