Author: Pastor Rich Lusk
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Clown Rights vs Crown Rights
The so-called culture war today comes down to what kind of ruler we want. It’s about the crown rights of King Jesus vs. the clown rights of Joe Biden (and his ilk). Who would you rather have rule over you — a king or a clown? Do you want the kingdom of God, full of…
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Epiphany Exhortation: Keep the Party Going
The move from Christmas season to Epiphany season should not be a let down. Christmas is a season of great joy, but Epiphany is as well. And so that’s my exhortation to you: Keep the party going. Keep the celebration going. The themes change, but the festivity remains. Christmas celebrates Christ’s birth into the world.…
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Zephaniah’s Christian Nationalism (Sermon Follow-up)
This is a follow up to my January 1, 2023 sermon. My opening comments on the passage are not on the audio here (thought you can get them on the YouTube stream of the service here), so I will reproduce those comments here, along with a few other notes. Today’s sermon builds off of last week’s sermon, though…
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Baptismal Exhortation: Grace Restores the Family
There are many arguments we can derive from Scripture in favor of the practice of baptizing children. This is the eighth day of Christmas, the day of Christ’s circumcision. We could look at circumcision as a precursor to baptism. If the sign of the righteousness that comes by faith could be applied to children in…
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Advent/Christmas Exhortation
Christmas celebrates the incarnation of God’s Son. John describes it as the Word made flesh. Isaiah used the language of “Immanuel,” meaning “God with us.” In the incarnation, God becomes man without ceasing to be God. Jesus Christ, from the point of conception by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, is…
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Christ the King Sunday 2022 — Sermon Follow Up
Sermon — How the Story Ends: Living Every Day in Light of the Last Day (1 Thess. 4:9-18) A few notes, following up on yesterday’s sermon: 1. Frank Senn on the eschatological/political background of Christ the King Sunday: “Christ the King is not a festival of great antiquity, supplying the church year with neat narrative…
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Wedding Homily #2
This wedding homily from 2014 is based on Romans 5:1-8. The world often seems to be a hopeless place. But as hard as hope is to come by, we cannot live without it. Hope is like oxygen for the soul. Without it, we suffocate. There is no greater pain than hopelessness; and yet with hope,…
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Wedding Homily #1
I will occasionally post old wedding homilies on the blog.This one is from my son’s wedding in September, 2022. John and Madison — it is a great honor to do your wedding service today. John, it has been a great pleasure for your mother and I to raise you and we could not be more proud of you. Madison, we have been…
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Who are the Modern Day Pharisees?
When Tim Keller preached his sermons on Luke 15 and wrote his book on the parable of the prodigal son, he treated the elder brother as a type of conservative/fundamentalist and the younger brother as a typical irreligious liberal. This model explains why he is hard on those to his political and cultural right and…
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Interacting with Christian Nationalism (Part 6): Isker Counter-Punches
My friend Andrew Isker has weighed in on the Christian nationalism debate with a response to Peter Leithart’s short statement on Christian nationalism. A few weeks ago, Larson Hicks and I interviewed Isker about his book (co-authored with Andrew Torba) on Christian nationalism. Like Isker, I also noticed the dichotomy in Leithart’s piece on a nation seeking its own good…
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