“Seek the Lord”
A sermon on Isaiah 55 … and Shakespeare’s Hamlet
The Resurrection of Our Lord • John 20:1–18 • March 27, 2016
By Timothy Dost Mary Magdalene as Determined Eyewitness Here we have John’s account of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, the report of Mary Magdalene, and the response of Peter’s and John’s and Mary’s subsequent conversations with the angels and the risen Jesus. General comments on the text: The text here is anchored in time and ..
Proper 10 • Ephesians 1:3–16 • July 12, 2015
By Timothy Dost Here is a passage of great comfort that is a blessing and help in times of hardship and times of plenty. Paul thoroughly grounds the promises of predestination to salvation in the gospel of Jesus Christ and thereby assures us of the durability of the promise in the face of the troubles and difficulties of this present ..
Proper 20 • Ezekiel 34:11–16; 20–24 • November 23, 2014
By Timothy Dost God Protects and Heals His Flock When faced with the fall of Jerusalem, Ezekiel describes the judgment on those shepherds responsible and the reasons for the fall. In our passage he declares that God will provide new shepherds who will care for the flock and will tend to them properly. In the intervening verses, he ..
Epiphany 5 • Isaiah 58:3–9a • February 9, 2014
Who is Really Deceived by our Apparent Goodness? Isaiah makes the case that it is not through empty externals that we please God, but with the sacrifice of our priorities for the needs of others. Here we must frame the text in terms of the question of sanctification for the believer. It is not that ..
Holy Trinity • Acts 2:14a; 22–36 • May 26, 2013
By Timothy Dost Acts chapter two presents us with the contrast between our own self-righteousness and the righteousness of Christ. It shows clearly our need to repent and the Savior who still lives as King to forgive the wrong we have done to him and the sin we have laid upon him at the cross. ..
Proper 11 • Jeremiah 23:1–6 • July 22, 2012
By Timothy Dost Jeremiah 23:1–6 presents a challenge to the preacher of appearing to be too narrow in scope in terms of the law to be useful to the congregation. The lament of Jeremiah, while directed at clergy, can also be applied homiletically as a complaint about generally being unfaithful to one’s calling within the ..
Impressions of an Impressionist: Claude Monet at SLAM
For the first time in decades, the three panels of Claude Monet’s masterful Agapanthus triptych are together at the St. Louis Art Museum and the exhibition is striking
Proper 23 • Matthew 22:1–14 • October 9, 2011
By Timothy Dost The Parable of the Great Banquet This text can be challenging because it not only presents the issues of the place of God’s work and our own works in the lives of believers, and the right and wrong ways of attempting to enter the kingdom, but also because the text has been frequently ..
Proper 20 • Amos 8:4–7 • September 19, 2010
by Tim Dost Introduction Preachers who take up this text take up a daunting task, especially if they wish to proclaim the gospel and not simply generate a diatribe based on the law. The paral- lels to our society are striking, but I suspect that in every time and place there are those who lie, ..
Proper 28 · Mark 13:1-10 · November 15, 2009
By Timothy P. Dost Introduction In this text Jesus encourages his disciples—and us—to look not to present things, no matter how externally impressive, but rather to find our hope in Christ, who has sent his Holy Spirit to defend us even in the greatest difficulties. These difficulties are the preparation for the Gospel, which will be ..