κήρυξον τὸν λόγον

How many of you are filled with hope this evening? How many of you are filled with peace? How many of you are filled with praise? Continually? Never wavering? Never failing? Hope, peace, and praise? Or do your doubts sometimes overwhelm you?  We have before us a great text for the Advent season, this season of the church year when we turn our focus in life away from ourselves, toward hope, when we turn around to faith in Christ, and praise from what he has done.  Psalm 71, which is the basis for our meditation tonight, is a marvelous prayer! It is a reflection of continual hope and continual praise, even in the midst of overwhelming despair ... Tonight we get to hear again how our Lord continually comes to us and continually gives us hope, and continues to make all things new.  Listen to the Psalmist... For you, YHWH, are my hope ... My praise is continually of you ... My mouth is filled with your praise, and with your glory all day ... I will hope continually and will pr...

Sometimes we just need a miracle.  If ever there was a man who knew his purpose in life, it had to be John the Baptizer. John lived with singular purpose. Before he was even born, while he was still in the womb, John knew who he was. He knew he would spend his life waiting for Christ and pointing us to Christ.  When his father Zechariah learned from the angel that he and his wife were going to be parents, Zechariah fell into disbelief. In response, as a sign to Zechariah, God deprived him of the ability to speak. He ultimately was able to speak again only after his son was born and Zechariah insisted on naming him John. Because John had a purpose. Fertility experts can manipulate the body of a sixty-year-old woman to carry another woman’s child, but she can’t conceive her own child. John’s parents may not have been as old as Abraham or Sarah, when Isaac was born  ... Abraham was 100, and Sarah was 90 ... but conception in their seventies was just as miraculous.  The ...

CENTRAL THOUGHT : The Psalmist exhorts God’s people to worship the Lord continually because he faithfully rules over history.  MALADY : Original sin has so corrupted us that we cannot by our own reason or strength believe the historicity of scripture.  GOAL : That the hearers would gain confidence that God’s eternal purposes are continually being carried out, heading toward the eschaton of Christ’s return. Do you remember the day God saved you?  I imagine most of you don’t remember THE day, THE moment. That is, you don't remember God literally pouring out his water and word upon you, marking you as one of the redeemed, one of his chosen ones, one of his children, cleansing you, leading you out of the wilderness of sin into the promised land of life and salvation, of milk and honey. Most of us were baptized as infants, long before we could remember anything.  But God hasn’t stopped remembering. Our text tonight is a reflection of that. It’s all about memory. Continuin...

Every time I read or hear about John the Baptizer, I am reminded of a man I encountered years ago at a rest area along I-55 in Illinois. I was walking back to the car when I saw a state trooper pulled up in front of me. Out stepped two men: the trooper and the guy who today reminds me of John the Baptizer. This guy was wild looking. He had a full beard, long hair, long coat. He clearly had been outside for a long time. Kinda dirty, you know. Where’d he come from, I wondered.  “Can I get a ride,” he asked. Woah, he spoke to me. My heart skipped a beat.  “Um, I am only going up to the next exit,” I muttered, knowing that I was going much farther. I quickly made my way to the car and drove off, feeling like I couldn’t get away fast enough. “Turn around, Jerry,” I told myself. “Turn around, and give this guy a ride.”  “What are you crazy,” I thought.  “No, seriously; turn around and take him to a motel and buy him a meal.” For 30 miles, I pleaded with myself, “Turn aroun...

In some cultures, before the advent of print ... long before television ... people gathered together in their communities and told stories. These stories were the entertainment of the day. More than that, they were education for the people. The stories we told shaped the way we thought. They shaped our communities. The Israelites were such a community. They were an oral culture. For centuries, the highest ideal of all Jewish men was the study of Oral Torah, a study that led to an eagerness and thirst for knowledge, a desire to hear the story again, see the story, and to know the story. To help the people remember, to help them learn, to help them know the Word of the Lord ... the Levites led the people in song.  In response, the people rejoiced in Yahweh.  Our text for tonight from Psalm 118 is a great example. A small snippet of this psalm was used as our Introit on Sunday. It led us through the gates of righteousness, into the Lord’s sanctuary, into the presence of Yahweh. S...