7-8-2026

Good Morning!

     Acts 2:42; “And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”

       It is always interesting when you discuss church membership with some people.  When asked what church they belong to; some can’t tell you the name of the minister at the church, they aren’t sure what times services are, some aren’t sure of the denomination or what it meant.  When asked if they are Christian; it is not uncommon for the answer to be, “No, I am Catholic” or “No, I am Presbyterian” or “No, I am (fill in the blank).”  Unfortunately, many people do not know what it means to belong to a church or what that means.

    So, what does it mean to belong to the church?  Probably first and foremost, the church is relational.  It should be a place where, the relationship that you have with God and with one another is strengthened, healed, restored, enhanced, rejuvenated, invigorated, made perfect.  That is what the early church was engaged in; it was engaged in relationship building.  Notice what the members of the early church did: Bible Study, time with other believers, time with other believers in worship, interceding for each other.

    They studied the Bible, the teaching of the Apostles.  They did this, not to be a champion on “Jeopardy” but in order to hear what God was telling them and to see what God was revealing about himself to them.  They hungered to hear God’s Words of mercy and grace.  Through those wonderful words, he drew them closer, strengthened their faith, and built them up.

    Because God is rebuilding this relationship with you, he desires that we rebuild our relationships with each other as well.  We do this through the fellowship that is discussed.  This can be a meal together (first potluck?) or time around a table with a cup of coffee.  The important thing is that it is about listening to each other and truly hearing about the events in each other’s life and having true compassion for each other. 

    It is about joining together, as this compassionate fellowship and sharing together in God’s gift to us in his body and blood in the bread and the wine that we, as a group, may be strengthened in faith and in fellowship with each other.  Then they joined in prayer, corporately and individually, always praying for each other.  Lifting the concerns and needs of each other up to God and sharing in the rejoicing of God’s mercy.

    This is what the church should be like.  If this is missing from your life then you may want to prayerfully review your relationship with your fellow believers.  God gives you the church to strengthened and comforted in this life.  It is yours for the using.

Gracious Father, you give us the church so that we may be strengthened.  Help us to see and to use this wonderful gift.  Help those who feel they are alone and without hope.  Bring them to those whom you have called that they may be blessed through the true church.  Keep your church safe from the attacks of the devil.  Heal its wounds and strengthened it that it may be your true light in this world.  In the precious name of Jesus, our head, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret  

7-7-2026

Good Morning!

       1 John 4:18; “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”

        He was a cantankerous patient.  He growled at the nurses and the nurses’ aides who tried to help him.  He never said thank you or offered a smile or a kind response.  He seemed to be angry at everything.  One night, when he was particularly grumpy, an older aide asked him why he was so mad at everyone.  He stopped for a moment and while looking at the ceiling began to tell the aide his story.

    At that moment, he let it all out. He told the aide that he wasn’t angry; he was frightened.  He was afraid of what the doctors would tell him.  He was afraid of losing his independence.  He had never depended on anyone for anything but now; he had no choice.  He was afraid and being afraid made it hard to be thankful, joyful, or hopeful.  Fear was driving away his confidence; fear was making his life miserable.

    Fear is the devil’s favorite tool.  When we fear, we tend to become frozen in our vision.  We seem to only focus on how big the challenge ahead of us is and not on God’s grace.  Fear paralyzes us into inaction.  It drives us to emptiness and hollowness.  It deprives us of the confidence in the love that God pours upon us; it weakens our faith.  Fear causes us to deny our thankfulness and our willingness to see past the immediate and miss God’s perfect promise for our life.

    The only way for us to lose our fear is for the perfect love of God to drive it away.  We can never fight fear on our own.  We will never defeat fear on our own.  It is far stronger than we are.  If we are going to defeat fear we will need help; help from God.  His grace is poured out upon us freely because of Jesus and his all-atoning sacrifice for us.  Because of Jesus’ victory, we have nothing to fear.   The devil can only taunt us but in the end, we know that God and his mercy will prevail in the end.  Nothing can defeat God and his love for us.

    So, as we face our fears, we can be confident that God has already defeated them.  We can trust that in Him we have complete victory; in Him we have the promise of our salvation.  When we grab hold of this truth, we can give thanks to God that this challenge or struggle that we face has already be conquered by his mercy.  We can know that each struggle will end in God’s loving arms.  We can rejoice in his grace and peace. 

Father of all mercy, when we stand on our own fear can overtake us.  Use your love to drive out our fear.  Strengthen our faith that we may stand tall and face our fears with the confidence of your love destroys fear.  Be with those who are struggling at this time.  Give them the strength to overcome their fears.  Show them your perfect peace.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret   

7-6-2026

Good Morning!

     Romans 8:15; “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

       It is always fascinating how animals are trained.  How do they train those huge elephants?  They start when they are babies and then tie a rope to their leg and then attach the rope to a stake in the ground.  As the baby elephant pulls on the rope, it cannot break the rope or pull away.  It thinks it cannot get away so it quits fighting.  Anytime a rope is tied to its leg, it “thinks” it is still tied to the post and will just stand there.

      The devil does the same thing to us.  He wants us to think we are still tied to him.  The devil wants to keep us as slaves and for us to live in fear.  He does this by taking the events that occur in a broken creation and making us fear what we do not know and what we do not understand.  We can see that throughout our life.  Remember the near hysteria that occurred when we started dealing with the Ebola sickness, or covid or anyone of a myriad of other times.  Our fear led us to think and advocate actions which were not useful or helpful.  We reacted in fear.

     Perhaps you have a story that is closer to home.  Perhaps you have faced a time when fear made you feel tied down as a slave to the devil.  The devil loves to sit on our shoulder and talk to us.  He loves to remind you of your failures and sometimes he convinces others that they can build themselves up by reminding you of those failures.  The devil wants you to think that the string he tries to tie to your leg to keep you tied down as his slave.  When we are his slave, he torments us and makes us live in fear.  It might be an illness in the family; it might be rumors at work; it might be an uneasy feeling in a relationship; it might be anything but the devil whispers to us and tries to make us slaves to sin by pointing out our weaknesses.  Maybe you didn’t live as healthily as you should have, the devil whispers it is your fault that you are sick.  The devil will tell you that you are the weakest employee and you will soon be out.  The devil will tell you that you do not deserve a healthy relationship.  The whispers are designed to make you live in fear.

    It is this fear that Christ came to free us from.  Jesus freed us from sin so that we are no longer slaves to sin.  We are now co-heirs with Jesus in God’s kingdom; we are part of God’s family.  Now, rather than be afraid of God, we can call out “Abba!” “Father!”  We can approach his holy throne as dear children approach their father.  We know God’s love for us by looking at the vacant cross and the empty tomb.  We are free from the devil; we are no longer tied to him; he no longer rules our life.  We are free to live in God’s kingdom knowing God’s love and grace.  We can leave the past behind us and strain forward for what is ahead, eternal life with Christ.

Father, you free us from the devil’s noose because of Jesus.  Give us strength to resist the devil’s lies and to live in your peaceful grace.  Be with those who are especially troubled by Satan’s treachery.  Bring them to know the certainty of your mercy and the end of their terrors.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret        

7-5-2026

Good Morning!

              1Peter 5:7; “casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”

      My office habits are not necessarily the greatest.  I am a proponent of “organized mayhem” or “controlled clutter.”  I don’t really file things; it is more that I pile things.  I have a pile on this corner of my desk and then a pile on the other corner of my desk.  One pile is for marriage counseling stuff.  One pile is confirmation stuff. One pile is Bible Study stuff.  There is a pile that has stuff for the next week’s service.  There is a pile on the side table by my chair that has sermon prep stuff.  There is a pile by the printer that is miscellaneous church mail.  There is a pile of books on my library shelves from various study material.  A new pile is forming for Facebook lessons and then there are just the seeds of a pile for more electronic preaching. It is mayhem but moderately organized.

    Yet sometimes, especially if things get a little hairy and harried, the piles get a little deep.  Sometimes, I just have to stop and take an afternoon and start throwing things away.  I just hope as I go through it that nothing of an importance emerges from the bottom of one of the piles.  So far nothing major has shown up.  But I do find a fair amount of material that really doesn’t need to be kept.  It might be duplicate material, it might be outdated, or it might not seem as valuable or important as it did a few weeks ago.  Sometimes I need to go through the piles in my office.  Sometimes we need to go through piles in our life as well.

    Sometimes we keep piles of past sins, past worries and past hurts and fears around too long.  Every so often, you need to go through and truly clean house.  When we hold onto these painful, past events, they pull us back from Christ and his love.  They serve to distract us from focusing on God’s grace and his promise of salvation.  It causes us to lose sight of God’s promised mercy in our life.  Holding onto the past pain short circuits our contentedness and our ability to truly enjoy the life that God has for us.

    Jesus invites us to get rid of those sorrows and worries.  He invites us to cast them on his back.  He invites us to replace our anxiety with his peace, peace that only God’s mercy can give us.  So go through your “piles” in your life.  Are there worries that are outdated?  Are there worries that occur over and over?  Are there worries that aren’t important to us at all?  Then cast them away.  Don’t keep the baggage; that only serves the devil.  Cast off the unneeded and the unwanted cares and sorrows of this life.  Jesus has removed our sins and with this, has given to us the certainty of God’s grace.  So, clean out the piles that are hurting you.  Give them to God for he loves you and cares for you.

Father of all mercy; help me to clean up the piles in my life.  Help me to throw away those things in my life which cause me pain.  Help me to have a clean heart and spirit so that I may better serve you.  Be with those who are struggling with the piles that are building in their life.  Lead them from the destruction of the world and the devil and to return to you and your peace.  In the precious name of Jesus, our risen Savior, we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret                 

7-4-2026

Good Morning All,

     Micah 6:8; “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

       If you have ever worked for a large corporation or belonged to a board of a non-profit organization, you are probably familiar with a mission statement. A mission statement is to be the guiding principle when making plans for the organization. As a country, I always believed that the Preamble to the Constitution was an excellent mission statement.

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

    Those men who met in Philadelphia in 1787, laid out their plan and vision for a different type of governance with three branches of government with co-equal checks and balances that were designed to accomplish these goals. It is intended to work for the common good of the people who live here. It is to share in providing those things which we all need, common defense, justice for all, and a general welfare where each has the opportunity to prosper from his labors. Are we perfect, not by a long shot, but we should always strive to live up to this high ideal for a nation and a people.

    In many ways, we as Christians have a mission statement as well. Some may choose a different verse and that is fine but I would think that it would be close to this one. As a Christian, as we look around at the world we live in, how are we to live and act in this world. First, we are to do justice. Justice in the Bible is much more than punishing wrongdoing. It is about making sure that all people have a chance to try. All people are to have as fair an opportunity as anyone else.

    We are to love kindness. Some translations use the word mercy here. This means that all our actions, our words, and our plans show mercy to others. We should have mercy when one of our neighbors needs help to keep up. We should have mercy in the enforcement of our laws. We should show mercy to those most in need of God’s care.

    The third statement listed is to walk humbly before God. In the Bible, to be humble means to recognize that all we have is from God and that we are totally reliant on His merciful kindness. None of us are “self-made” all of us have received blessings from God which He gives us to be prepared and willing to aid our neighbor in need. It is interesting how these two documents intersect and interact.

Gracious Father, we give you thanks for the blessings you give us. Today, we give thanks for our country. Guide us by Your Spirit so we may live out these statements and verses. Guide us to humbly serve you by helping our neighbor, seeking justice with mercy, and loving all people as Your children. In the precious Name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

7-3-2026

Good Morning!

      Mark 1: 15; “and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

     It is always fascinating to watch how we measure time.  Sometimes, time can move so slowly that we question if it moves at all.  Think of those times when you had to wait; like a 5-year-old waits for Christmas to arrive.  There are times in our life when time just seems to vanish.  Think of an evening with old friends.  Think of a sporting event that has a clock to time it.  As the fans watch the game, they would look at the clock.  The team that was ahead kept wondering if they were shutting the clock off because it seemed that no time was coming off the clock.  The fans of the team which was behind couldn’t believe how quickly the time went.  They were sure that they didn’t put enough time on to start with. 

    So, the Apostle Mark has Jesus telling the world that the time is fulfilled.  What does he mean?  He means that this is the exact right time for the events which are occurring to happen.  Everything is in place.  The players who are of any importance are present; the people are ready to go. The time is right.

   The kingdom of God is at hand.  Whenever you see the phrase “the kingdom of God” or “the kingdom of heaven,” don’t think in terms of a thing or a place.  The kingdom of God is an action taking place.  The kingdom of God is a verb and not a noun.  The kingdom of God is Jesus entering this world and taking back the broken and hurt creation and restoring it to its proper place.  The kingdom of God is the reconciliation of man back to God.  It is about God coming into your life and changing your life so that you now have hope for life.  The kingdom of God is about changing you into the redeemed child of God who can be confident of your salvation and live with hope for tomorrow.  The kingdom of God is alive and active in this broken world bringing peace and comfort where none exists.

   So, what do we do? The answer is “repent.”  Repent means to change or to alter.  Repent means to turn around.  So rather than look away from God and only at ourselves, we are to turn toward God and seek after him.   Repent means to grab hold of God’s reconciliation and to trust fully in him.  To repent is a response to the active work of the kingdom of God.  It is the response to God’s invitation to be free from sin.  It is the invitation, at just the right time, for you to be part of God’s holy family.  It is the response to God’s grace that gives to us the opportunity to live in his loving presence holding onto his mercy.  Repentance is having all the time to grasp God’s steadfast goodness and to cling mightily to his love.

Father of all mercy, in you we have hope.  Father, we ask that you bring about change in our lives.  Bring us to the knowledge and understanding of your great mercy.  Strengthen our faith for those times when nothing makes sense.  Cling to us Father so that we may cling back to you.  Guard and protect us and give us peace as only you can.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret          

7-2-2026

Good Morning!

      Exodus 15: 25a; “And he cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.”

      “Sweet Water.”  This was one of the most important things for the settlers of the plains to find.  It meant that they, and their animals, could survive.  Some water would be poisonous but often it would just be brackish and bitter, usually because of a high alkali salt content.  This may have been what happened to the Israelites in our story.  The Israelites were in the wilderness after leaving Egypt.  They were thirsty and they came to a place they called Marah.  The name means “bitter” or “bitter water.”  The Israelites did what they would do often; they grumbled against Moses.

     It is always kind of interesting.  The Israelites had just crossed the Red Sea and saw how God had protected them from Pharaoh’s army.  They had just witnessed God’s power through the might of the plagues.  Yet in three days, they grumbled and showed a lack of faith after witnessing such incredible power.  Moses prayed to God for help and God delivered.  God made the bitter water sweet.  He delivered the Israelites, again.

    There are many times in our life when we feel like we are at a spot that is bitter water.  There are times when we experience struggles in life, sometimes they even pile on top of each other.  We may question, we may grumble, we may doubt God’s grace and favor.  It might be struggles with children or other family members.  It might just be a collection of different stresses in life.  A job that is tougher, a crop that isn’t worth as much as you need, it could be a visit to the doctor that requires you to change your lifestyle; any of these can leave a very bitter taste in our mouth and we experience Marah.

    Yet we know that God has made it sweet.  It might still be a stressful event but we know that these events do not define us or really control us.  They twist us, they plague us, they cause us pain and discomfort but they do not define us or our relationship with God.  We are always in God’s loving arms.  We always have his comfort and his promise of eternal salvation.  We have the sweetness of his mercy.  He took our life, bitter from sin and gave us the sweetness of his wonderful mercy for us to drink from.  We receive the refreshing, energizing drink of that sweet water that enables us to go through the pain of the day.  God is for us, making our future sweet with the hope of salvation.  God is for us; no one can be against us.

Father, in you we have the blessings of today and the hope for tomorrow.  Keep us safe from the pain of suffering in this life.  As we do, keep us strong in our faith that we may know your peace, we may know your comfort, that we may know your unending grace.  Be with those who are especially experiencing bitterness at this time.  Help them to see the sweetness that is your mercy.  In the precious name of Jesus, we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret