5-29-26

Good Morning!

               Numbers 11:31; “Then a wind from the Lord sprang up, and it brought quail from the sea and let them fall beside the camp, about a day's journey on this side and a day's journey on the other side, around the camp, and about two cubits above the ground.”

      I was talking to a friend the other day.  He is one of the nicest people you would ever want to meet.  He will do anything to help you out.  Yet he is one of those guys who never seem to catch a break in life.  He farms, but not the best land around.  It seems he gets hailed on a lot of the time.  His equipment isn’t the newest around.  His wife isn’t the healthiest person so she visits the doctor quite often.  He works hard but doesn’t seem to get ahead.  Yet despite all this, he is content.  He will tell you about the beauty of a sunrise or the miracle of the birth of a new calf.  His faith is strong.  He will tell you that God is bigger than any problem he has so he can sleep knowing things are under control.

    So, do you think that God is bigger than any problem that you have?  It is a more difficult thing to think about.  If you and your spouse are struggling to find the love for each other and it feels like your partner has thrown in the towel, is God bigger than that?  If your health or the health of a loved one is beginning to wane, is God bigger than that?  As we watch the news and see all the hatred and distrust, is God really bigger than that?

    Our verse is about a time in Israel’s history when many questioned God’s ability and judgment.  They questioned why God brought them out of Egypt just to die in the desert.  They had all witnessed the miraculous rescue from Pharaoh’s army and now they questioned God.  So, God gave them a sign or maybe even a sign and a half.  Within the Hebrew tradition, a “day’s journey” was about 15-20 miles.  So, the camp is surrounded by quail, there for the picking, over an area that is over 700 square miles and over those 700 square miles the quail are three feet deep.  In a few verses after this, we are told that everyone who gathered picked up 10 homers of quail.  A homer is about the size of a fifty-gallon barrel. 

    The people of Israel questioned whether God could feed them, so God fed them in an amazing fashion.  God was far bigger than their problems and he is bigger than any of our problems as well.  We may not see it, feel it, or even fully believe it; but God is bigger than any problem that we have.  So, he gives us the power and the courage to face the battles head on; knowing that God will not let these battles destroy us or his love for us.  God is bigger.  His love for you spans farther than the east is from the west.  God is bigger. His comfort for you, his grace for you is beyond any measure.  God is bigger and he is bigger so that you may have life.  He is bigger so we have hope.  So, we face the challenges knowing that, when all is said and done, God is faithful to us and to his promises.  His grace will never fail.

Father, we give you thanks for the grace you give to us.  You are our rock and our place of refuge.  Be with those who are battling at this time.  Give them hope for a better day and comfort in their struggle now.  Guard and protect them.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret     

5-28-2026

Good Morning!

       Colossians 1:22; “he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him”

    What would happen if you fell down and broke your arm? For most of us, we would go to the hospital. We would go to the x-ray and then after they found the break, we would go to the doctor and have him put us in a splint or put a cast on it. We would take our time and then let it heal until it was strong enough to use again. You would take the time to heal.

    We would never think about leaving a broken arm or a broken leg unattended to. We would never think that it doesn’t matter. We would never leave it broken so every time we bumped it, we would feel the pain all over again. Every little twist or bump, whether intentional or accidental, would cause us pain and maybe even cause us to remember how we broke our arm or leg. We would not let it go untreated; we would do what it takes to make it heal. So why don’t we try to heal our relationships as well?

    Jesus came into this world to bring an end to the wall of separation that existed between man and God. By offering his body as a sacrifice, he reconciled us back to God. Because of his sacrifice, we can stand before God whole, holy and blameless. We are before him as his dear children. The brokenness of the sin which separated us from God has been healed. It is by his grace and mercy that we can come to him in all boldness and approach his throne as children approach their parents.

    Since God has healed our pain and our brokenness; since he has made us whole; He gives us the power to heal the brokenness in our relationships with our brothers and sisters. Just as he heals us to stand before him in a loving relationship; he empowers us to heal the relationships with those around us. The brokenness, all the pain that occurs because we fail to heal the break, can be healed. This is done best by focusing on the forgiveness that is ours through Jesus. Since we are forgiven, we need to look at all of our relationships through the lens of our forgiveness. Since we are forgiven and are forgiven so much; we have the power in our hands to forgive those around us, we just need to have the desire in our heart.

   We have been given the power to change the desire of our heart from selfishness to loving. We have been given the opportunity to desire the love of God to pour through us. This is what God desires for us, to live our life in the fellowship of each other. God desire is for all of us to live in peace together. By forgiving our sins, he enables us to forgive our brother.

Father of all goodness, your mercies are new to us each day. They roll over us like a river. Through your gift of redemption, you have brought us back to be your children. Enable, empower, and encourage us to rebuild the relationships with our brothers and sisters. Be with those who are struggling at this time. Be with those who are broken and distraught. Heal them with your Spirit. In the precious name of Jesus, our risen savior, amen.

God’s Peace,           

Pastor Bret

5-27-2026

Good Morning!

     Romans 7:18; “For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.”

        After every visit to my doctor, I try to exercise and lose weight. I know what I have to do: watch what I eat cut down on sugars and fats, exercise more and drink more water. Yet I really like “Special K Bars.”  Now I know that one bar is at least 2 hours on the tread mill, but I follow all the classic denials. I can try to justify the action; for example, I can eat them on the weekend as a reward for not eating them during the week. I can try to offset the action; for example, I will spend more time on the tread mill for each one. The final one is to hide the fact that I eat them and then deny, deny, deny that I ever ate them. I know what is right, but it is hard to do what I should.

    The technical name for this is called “cognitive dissonance.”  It is when we hold two contradictory thoughts at the same time. As a Christian I know I should forgive you but the sinful nature in me wants to punch you. So, I struggle. I have a friction in my heart and in my mind. I know what God’s desire and what God’s law says. I know I should keep it because of God’s great love for me and why would we hurt someone who loves us? Yet I desire revenge, I lust, I am greedy, I gossip, I judge the actions of others harshly, I really don’t want to give someone else what I worked hard for. Both are at work, the devil on the left shoulder and the angel on the right.

    Theologians call this existence “simul justus et peccator.”  We are, at the exact same time, justified saints and we are sinners. The sinful nature still rears its ugly head in our life. Sometimes, we can fend it off and sometimes we can’t. We will always fight it. We will battle it until we die or until Christ returns. The struggle will always be there.

    The unbeliever doesn’t have this trouble. The unbeliever doesn’t think about what their faith says to them. The unbeliever only worries about self-preservation and his own self-interest. It is only the believer who struggles because we know what is right, we even desire to do what is right but there are times when we fail. So, we struggle, we battle and we win some and lose some but through it all we are forgiven by God because of Jesus.

    We all have this battle; you are not alone in your battle. Yet while this struggle occurs in all believers; Christ continues to forgive us and to renew us. His Spirit continues to remind us of what is right, what is proper and what is according to God’s will. His desire is that we do his will because that is how the world was designed to run smoothly and peacefully. Through it all God is with us. His love and forgiveness will always be with us to give us power to withstand and to pick us up when we fail.

Father of all mercy, your Spirit guides me and shows me what is right, yet I often fail. Give me the strength to withstand the temptations of this world. Lead me to overcome this world’s deceits. Lead me to know your truth. In the precious name of Jesus, I pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret    

5-26-2026

Good Morning!

     Hebrews 11:17; “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son.”

      “By faith” that is the theme of this great chapter in Hebrews; some call it the “Hall of Faith.”  It lists many of the “greats” who we all look to as inspiration in the Bible. We look to these people as the greats, the stalwarts of faith. Yet if we look at them truly closely, we see that they are really human, just like us.

     Abraham led a life that was filled with questioning doubts at times. Even though he had God’s promises, Abraham often struggled with God’s truth. Along the way there were many times when Abraham doubted God’s assurances. He hid his wife Sarah twice by calling her his sister rather than his wife. He thought he was getting too old to have a child with his wife Sarah, so they “borrowed” Sarah’s slave girl and used her to produce a child. Abraham would hear God’s promises but would sometimes wonder.

    We do that much of the time; don’t we? We have heard God’s promises to us, yet we wonder sometimes how it can ever work out. We may wonder what God can possibly have in store for us when our spouse turns cold or our children turn angry and belligerent. We wonder what good comes from our health going bad or our memory failing. We wonder sometimes what it all means. Sometimes it means that God is showing us faith.

      Sometimes we claim faith, but do we have true faith? We have the security of our job, the security of our wealth, the security of our family, so we are safe and secure. Yet what happens if these are slowly stripped away? What do we truly rely on then? We may find that we place too much of our trust in the wrong things and sometimes, God strips those away so we can find our true faith. Sometimes, he removes the crutches that we rely on to show us that our true hope is not found in them. Sometimes he slowly removes them to show us the truth. Sometimes, this process can be incredibly painful. It might be physical pain or emotional or spiritual, but it is pain.

    So, God peels away the false hopes and reveals to us the only true hope that we have and that is God’s own grace. That is what Abraham was left with when he held the knife over Isaac. God had promised to use Abraham’s son to build a great nation and yet God wanted him to sacrifice him. We can only imagine what went through Abraham’s mind at that time, but we know that whatever it was; it settled on faith and trusting God. There are times in our life just like that and we too can only trust in God’s faithful promise to be with us, to guard us and to defend us through it all.

Gracious Lord, all we have is you. You are our only hope; our only stay. Strengthen us that we might not be moved from this certainty. Be with those who are struggling with the challenges of life and lead them to focus their eyes and their hope only on you. In your precious name, O Jesus, we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret 

5-25-2026

Good Morning!

     Psalm 23:6; “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

      It is interesting to watch how a true shepherd works with his flock.  The shepherd is up in front of the flock.  He is looking for good grass and fresh still water for the sheep to eat and drink.  He keeps an eye out for predators.  He calls the flock to follow him.  He calls each sheep by name and they respond to him.  They follow him to the fresh water and grass.  They follow him to the safe place to rest; usually.  There are always a few stragglers.  So how does the shepherd lead the flock and keep the stragglers and the wanderers from getting lost?  He uses sheep dogs.

     These are very highly trained animals, and they serve a very important purpose.  They keep the sheep in the flock.  They keep them moving along.  They keep them from losing sight of the flock and being lost.  The sheep dogs literally hound the sheep to keep them in the sight of the shepherd so that they are always safe and can hear the voice of the shepherd and be in the fresh grass and water and rest in the safe place.

    We often read this verse as some sort of a lazy day stroll.  “Goodness and mercy shall follow me” sounds like a carefree meandering.  Yet when we look at the original language, “follow” actually means to chase or pursue; almost to the point of hunting.  So rather than see this as a leisurely strolling, we should read this more like goodness and mercy are chasing us or hounding us.  We can see that goodness and mercy are Jesus’ sheep dogs.  They keep us up to the flock. They don’t let us get lost or distracted and if we do; they bring us back.  They chase us back to the flock and under the care of the shepherd.

   God uses his goodness, his grace, and his mercy to remind us of his great love for us.  He uses his love to remind us that he cares for us.  He calls us by our name, our own name, in gentleness to live in the safety of his precious, blood bought flock.  Even as we stray, he continues to call us, and he moves us forward with his goodness and mercy to bring us home.  He restores us with his blessed bread and wine.  He uses his Word to comfort us and to give us hope.  It is in this hope, this certainty of our salvation, that he brings us peace; the safe resting place under his watchful eye and protective arm.  We are his flock, brought in by the loving grace that he bestows upon us through our baptism. 

    So, as you graze in the glorious pasture of God’s immeasurable peace.  Rely on his wonderful love to sustain you.  Remember that his sheep dogs, goodness and mercy, will always be there to return you to the flock to remind you of his great loving kindness for you.  Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Gracious Father, you keep me in your flock by your grace and mercy.  Hold us close to you.  Keep us safe in your loving arms.  Be with those who have strayed and bring them safely home.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret    

5-24-2026

Good Morning!

      Joel 2:13; “Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.

      There was a news story about when the iPhone 6 was introduced. There was quite a promotion and people were camping out to be “the first” to buy one. The first one was purchased by a man who, when showing it to the reporters and to the rest of the customers, dropped it on the floor.  I find that amusing; I am sure he didn’t.  It is amazing how dependent we have become on these devices.  It is said that the average person checks their cell phone 110-150 times a day.  They check their Facebook account 14-18 times a day on their phone.  It is vital that we stay connected to everyone.

    I can remember the tractor that I spent the most time on when I was in high school.  It didn’t even have a radio.  I had no phone so the only way to contact me while I was disking or racking hay or whatever I was doing was to drive out and talk to me.  Without a GPS, you had to know where I was and how to get there.  I actually enjoyed the solitude.  Now, as I watch people drive down the road, they are all constantly talking on the phone.  I don’t know enough to have that long of conversations.

    When I ask some people what they talk about, high school girls talk about boys and what other girls were wearing or doing.  High School boys were talking about girls, cars, and sports.  Spouses were asking their spouses what was for supper and where they needed to be that night.  Parents were checking with their children to see how practice or school went and did they have their homework done.  Employers were informing employees of the next assignment.  Everyone finds it so important to be in contact with each other.  So how often do we contact God?

    Do you contact God 110-150 times a day?  Some of us do but most of us don’t.  Most of us wait until something “really big” comes up.  Then we pray and it often seems like nothing happens.  The problem is that God is not a vending machine.  We don’t put in our money, push a button, and then watch what we select spiral out and down to where we can get it.  Prayer is about staying connected to God.  It is a vital part of our faith life.  We need to listen to God (through his Scriptures) and speak to God (through prayer). 

    So, God invites us to return to Him.  Return to the Lord and hear his words of comfort and grace.  Return to having the holy conversation with Him that keeps us connected and keeps us strong.  Keeping connected strengthens our faith and anchors our hope.  Keeping connected to God through prayer and devotion leads us to be more content and peaceful.  God is abounding in love which he daily and richly pours out upon us.  Trust in his mercy and his love to sustain us and to bring us home safely.

Gracious Father, keep us connected to you.  Guide us to desire to return to your mercy and grace.  Guard and protect us from the devil and his attacks.  Be with those who have lost contact with you and bring to them the certainty of your promise and your grace.  In the precious name of Jesus, our risen Savior, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

5-23-2026

Good Morning!

     Luke 18:1; “And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint.”

      Are you a household that has two types of dishes?  Do you have the “every day” bowls, plates and silverware and then have the “good dishes”?  Perhaps it is even China with real silverware.  It might be handed down by your mother or grandmother.  It might be special to you.  It may have even caused some discomfort in the family as someone got it and someone else did not.  Do you use it sparingly?  Perhaps for Christmas, a special anniversary or birthday, it may be a special guest who you want to impress.        

    In our verse, Jesus uses a story to try and teach his disciples.  The basic idea of the story is to pray and not faint away.  So, what does that mean to us?  What is Jesus telling us?   The message here is pretty clear.  First and foremost, prayer is not a luxury in the life of a Christian.  It is not the fine China in the house that we take out and use when we want to impress someone.  Prayer is the everyday stuff.  Prayer is the day in and day out dishes that we use.  We need to see that prayer is not a meaningless function or something that we try to fit into our busy schedule.  Prayer is and should be far more than that.  When Jesus says, “ought always to pray” He means we ought to be in prayer at all time.

    Yet he does not want us to avoid our everyday activities either.  What he is talking about is that our soul has an intimate contact with God.  We keep his Word in our heart and in our mind.  Our first thought is to look to his grace to defend us and to comfort us.  In this mode, we never lose conscious fellowship and communion with God.  When we stay in this communal state or desire is to trust God.  Our desire is to rely on him from the start and not from the middle.

   This type of prayer is the type of prayer in which it is completely and intricately connected to God’s Word.  The two combined and never can really be separated.  It is by keeping this combination first and foremost in our mind that we keep focused on God’s grace.  We remember our inability to accomplish on our own and can thus rely fully on God.  By fully relying on God, we will not faint away at those times of intense emotions or reactions to events. 

    The thing to remember is that there will be times when we fail.  Fear will creep in and control us for a while.  Yet God does not give up on us so we should not give up on God.  Continue to strive for the prayer life that God has designed for us.  It is designed to give us hope.  When we cling to it, we have the comfort and the peace that we desire.

Father of all mercy, in you we have our hope secured.  Keep us mindful and focused on this truth.  Keep us in prayerful communication with you so that we may not faint away.  Keep us courageous at all times that we may stand strong in this life.  Be with those who are struggling and in need of your grace.  Strengthen them by your tender mercy.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,                                     

Pastor Bret