3-30-2026

Good Morning!

  Luke 16:13; “No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

    When we perform the rites of Baptism and Confirmation, we begin with the same basic set of questions.  “Do you renounce the devil, all his works and all his ways?”  Of course, the answer is, “Yes, I renounce them.”  It is pretty basic stuff.  If you are willing to follow Jesus you must renounce the devil.  The devil and Jesus are complete opposites.  So of course, we renounce the devil and all his ways, or do we?

    Do we really renounce the devil and all his ways, or do we keep a few of the “good ones”?  Maybe we like to gossip, you know just so we know what is going on in the community.  Maybe we are greedy and want to have “my fair share.”  Maybe we hold onto those lustful looks and thoughts.  Maybe our anger rules us more than we rule it.  Maybe we are a little quick to let the tongue run on and on.   They all seem so harmless.  Just little things that we keep around because we enjoy them and we take pleasure in them and, after all, no one really gets hurt; they are “innocent” sins.

    Yet they are sins and sins, no matter how small we make them out to be, separate us from God.  Sin has us serving the devil.  The selfish and self-centered nature of sin always causes harm and pain.  It causes us to lose respect for others, to lose respect for our self and to lose respect for God.  Sin is always saying, “I am more important than God.”  All sins do this.  It does not matter whether we think of them as small or insignificant; sin causes a chasm to form between God and us. 

    This is why Scriptures so clearly tells us that you can’t have both.  You can’t profess or live a life dedicated to Christ if you are going to hold onto old sinful ways.  We have to throw them away.  It may even take a drastic change in our life.  Maybe we need to avoid those places where we like to gossip or perhaps, we need to make a conscious effort to avoid anger or a sharp comment.  All these contribute to our brokenness as humans.  The healing is not complete until we rid our lives of the baggage of sin.  It destroys us, little by little, and leads us down the path of sorrow.  It leads us away from Jesus and into a place of darkness and pain.

    So, if we truly do renounce the devil, we need to fully trust in God for all that we need.  We need to stay away from those things and places that lead us to sin.  Yet above all, we need to recognize that these “little things” are sins.  We need to repent and ask God to help us move away from them.  God is gracious and will help us to do so but we will only succeed when we truly renounce the devil and his ways and only have Jesus as our master.

Father of all mercy, in you we have our only hope.  In you is our only way forward.  Help us to renounce the devil completely.  Help us to live as children in your kingdom.  Help us to serve you with our whole heart and body.   Give us the strength to throw out the devil and his lies and to trust only in you.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

3-29-2026

Good Morning!

         Isaiah 32:17; “The fruit of that righteousness will be peace; its effect will be quietness and confidence forever.”

     If you were to look at all the successful people in the world, whether they are athletes, businessmen, political people, authors, or whatever occupation you select; probably the most common trait that these people have is confidence.  They all believe in their ability to accomplish the task that they set out to do.  There are lots of posters or saying clips about this.  One that caught my attention the other day said, “whether you think you can or you think you can’t; you are probably right.”  Confidence is a major element in success.

    I would always tell the kids I coached in baseball that if they went to bat thinking they would strike out; they would.  The same is true for someone trying to make a free throw, or kick a soccer score, or even get job.  The need to believe that you can accomplish a task is vital.  When you have confidence, you approach a task ready for whatever it takes and even if you have some minor setbacks, you remain undaunted by the task.  When you think you will fail, any adversity only serves to reinforce your belief that you will fail.  Confidence lets you face any challenge with a calm and a peace that whatever happens, you will persevere and, in the end, be a better person for it.

   Faith should give us confidence.  We know how everything will end; we end it in God’s restored creation after the return of Jesus and the final resurrection.  This is how it ends for all believers.  We can face any situation with the full assurance that God is providing for us.  Just like that baseball player will strike out occasionally; it is not the whole ballgame.  There will times and events in our life when it seems like we strikeout yet we need to remember that it is not the whole ballgame; we still have a lot of life left and we still have God’s assurance of eternal salvation.

    Nothing can ever separate us from God’s love.  This is the fruit of righteousness that Isaiah writes of.  This certainty should give us peace.  We don’t have to earn it.  We don’t have to deserve it; we just have it because God is gracious and loving.  All we need to do is to trust in his Word.  We can have the full confidence that, no matter what we face, we are assured of God’s love and grace.  Events may knock us down, health issues, relationship issues, financial issues or even a combination of these can knock us down but they cannot keep us down.  God’s incredible grace will always pick us up.  Because of this certainty, we can face any problem with the calmness and the confidence that, through it all, we are more than winners; we are more than victors; we are God’s children with our eternal destiny assured.

Father of all mercy, your Word gives us confidence to face the challenges of this life.  Because of your great love, nothing we face is ever greater than you.  In you we have victory. In you we have peace.  Be with those who are afraid and have no confidence.  Build them up so they may ever know you peace and comfort. Protect our servicemen and women who are in harm’s way. In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret         

3-28-2026

Good Morning!

               Mark 1:35; “And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.”

        Jesus sought out a desolate place.  Have you ever sought out a desolate place?  I would be willing to guess that some of you, when your children were much younger and all you heard was, “Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!” you sought out a desolate place.  Just some place with a little quiet where I can collect my thoughts and my wits. There may be times when you sought a desolate place because you were tired and you needed a rest and you wanted to make sure you were alone for just a couple of minutes.

    Scriptures often speak of Jesus seeking out a desolate place, especially the book of Mark.  Mark’s account of Jesus’ ministry here on earth is one of a whirlwind of activity.  People are always trying to touch Jesus or get his attention or get him to touch them or have dinner with them.  As we read Mark’s Gospel, you can almost get the sense of Jesus always being tired and near exhaustion.  So, we often find Jesus seeking out a desolate place to be alone and to pray.

    It is many times, like our verse, early in morning.  Jesus sets a pattern that is one that we should consider following.  First, he seeks a desolate place, a place of solitude and quiet.  He does this so that he can truly concentrate on what he is doing, praying to God.  Prayer requires a focus on who God is and on who we are.  Too often in our lives we pray quickly and without thinking.  We have an attitude of “let’s get it over with so I can get to the important things.”  Yet the important thing is to start the day off right.

    Jesus shows us by his example the need for and the value of prayer.  He uses prayer to help re-energize his spirit.  He uses prayer to help refresh his soul.  Prayer helps to relieve some of the stress and confusion in our lives.  It connects us back to what is important in our life- our relationship to God.  Prayer helps us to find that footing so that we can regain our balance in life.

    Having a specific and, perhaps, a special place to pray can help you to stay focused on your prayers.  Having that special place that is quiet and peaceful can help to offer the solace that we need and desire.  Setting aside a time and a place to pray, especially first thing in the morning, can help to give us peace and to strengthen our faith by remembering that God, our Father, is listening to our cries and to our fears.  God hears our tears and wipes them away with his Spirit of comfort and hope.

    So, find your solitude, your desolate place and pray, every morning take the time to pray.  Speak to God from your heart and listen for his answer.

Father of grace, you lead me to quiet times and places that I may pray to you in peace.  Help me to focus on your Words as they speak to me and to listen to your grace.  Keep me safe and secure in the certainty of your wonderful mercy.  Show me the wonder of your peace.  In the precious name of Jesus, our risen Savior, we pray.  Amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

3-27-2026

Good Morning!

        Romans 8:1; “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

  I used to watch the old Perry Mason shows but since we switched our television situation, I lost him. I think it was planned by my wife but that is a different devotion. Yet I always wondered why the prosecuting attorney didn’t just give up every time he saw Perry Mason on the other side.  Just save yourself the grief and give up, you are going to lose Mr. Burger.  Perry Mason’s clients face no condemnation in their trials.

   We have no condemnation of our sins before God.  He has placed them all upon the back of Jesus.  Through our Baptism, those sins remain in the tomb, left there as we became new creations.  So, we have God’s promise to a wonderful life, so why is it so often that we don’t feel wonderful?  Why do we feel sad or lost or guilty so often?  We have no condemnation so why do we struggle so?

     We struggle, not with condemnation, but with self-condemnation.  It hisses in our ears and weighs on our shoulder.  It pulls us down with its insidious attacks.  You are unworthy.  You are not as good as they think you are.  You are a poor husband (or wife).  You are a poor son (or daughter).  You are a bad parent.  Those are just for starters.  Our own guilt drives us and self-condemnation drives our guilt.  We have no condemnation from God but we often fail to accept it.  We let the devil whisper to us that we are unworthy and self-condemnation begins.  It often ends with a poor night’s sleep, gloomy outlooks, sadness and an empty hole in our heart and soul.  The devil is very good at this.

    He launches these negative and destructive thoughts and feelings in order to make us weak and to separate us from God.  Just like the hyena tries to separate the weaker gazelle from the herd, the devil seeks his prey.  He is very good at this as it is his only real weapon against us.  Guilt and doubt are all he has to attack you with.  So how do we face this attack and fight back?

    First and foremost, we do not fight him alone.  If we do, we will lose.  We need to make sure that we are “in the herd,” that we are close to God.  This is why God gave us his Spirit to keep us close.  He gives us the tools to fight the devil by staying close to our Heavenly Father.  He gives us his Word to hear his words of forgiveness.  He gives us his body and blood in the bread and the wine so that we can taste and savor his forgiveness.  He gives us prayer to speak to him with our worries and fears.  He gives us his Spirit to comfort us and he gives us our fellow redeemed brothers and sister to give us consolation.

   When we stay close to God, by using the tools he gives us, it is more difficult for the devil to win.  He will still attack and we will still have bouts of self-condemnation but these bouts do not have to control our lives.  God’s grace will pull us through; we need to trust this.

Gracious Lord, when I forget your love, remind me that because of the cross and because you are my Savior, I am not condemned. Help me keep my eyes and thoughts on you. And to accept Your Word as truth so my confidence stays strong in you. In Jesus' precious name, amen.      

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

3-26-2026

Good Morning!

         Genesis 3:9; “But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”

    When you were a child, did you ever play games like “Marco Polo” or “Hide and Seek”?

They are fun little games for children especially if you have a handful and different ages.  Marco Polo is a game that works well in a swimming pool if you have a bunch of swimmers.  This helps to limit how far the players can get away from the player who is doing the hunting or seeking.  Kid games often involve looking for or seeking after someone or something.

    This is partly true because we spend a lot of time looking or seeking for someone or something.  Most look for a spouse, look for a job, look for a better price for what we sell, looking for a better price for what we buy; we spend a lot of time looking.  We also spend a lot of time looking for happiness, success, enjoyment, maybe even peace and quiet.  One of the problems is that we often look for these in the wrong places.  We look for them in other people, in ourselves, in poor relationships, in drugs and alcohol, in phony man-made ideas and notions.

     The thing is that as we look in all the wrong places and as we do this, we turn our back to God.  We go looking in the wrong places, we find the wrong answers and we go from seeking to not finding.   Once we have been burned a time or two, we find ourselves confused and we stop looking.  We have the blindfold on, we see nothing.  There is no hope left for us as we are completely lost, hiding from God perhaps without even knowing it.  We are lost but we are being sought out.

    God seeks us out all the time.  He uses the preaching of his Gospel to call out to you, “Where are you?”  He reaches for us with his Spirit renewing in our hearts and in our souls the cry of “Come home.”  He constantly calls us back to him to be renewed and restored.  Even as we continue to stumble and sin; he picks us up and calls for us to “come back home.”  His call is one of forgiveness and one of hope.

    The devil and the world will try to lead us away; to get us to hide from God, to turn from him.  At times we will succumb, at times the trials of this life will beat us down but God continues to call to us “Where are you?”  “I come to bring you hope, I come to bring you life.”  “I come to bring you peace and comfort.”  He calls us continually, renewing his desire to return us to his home. 

     God calls to us to come home and be safe, to come home and live in his gracious kingdom.  His call to us through the Gospel is one of redemption, one of reconciliation.  It is this call that gives us the certainty of our salvation.

Gracious Father, we spend much of our time trying to hide from you.  We spend our time running from you.  Yet you continually call us back by your grace.  Give us the confidence to trust in your promise of hope.  Call loudly to those who are especially hurting and may not see your gracious hand in their life.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret     

3-25-2026

Good Morning!

          Psalm 145:18; “The Lord is near to everyone who prays to him, to every faithful person who prays to him.”

    I remember watching Sesame Street with my sons many years ago.  I used to like the part where the two monsters taught the concept of near and far.  There was some catchy music and the monsters would show up near to the camera or far from the camera.  Sometimes the monster would be right in front of the camera saying “near” fairly loudly then soon he would be far away from the camera and you would barely hear “far.” 

    They learned the concept of near and far.  The problem with learning this concept is that as soon we understand near and far; many things seem to be far.  We seem to be far from our friends or far from being done or far from getting enough rest or far from being satisfied.  It seems like near is more about nearly lost, nearly broke, nearly empty or near exhaustion.  All too often, this is how we feel.  When we feel this way, it gives the devil a platform.  He stands near to us and whispers in our ear how far away God is.  In our sinful state, we listen.  In our time of being lost or wandering, we feel that God is far, far away.  We still see him as God but he is the great God who is far above the world far away from us.

    This is because our sinful nature doesn’t want to see God as being near; our sinful nature does not desire to have a loving relationship with God.  It only seeks to hold God in contempt.  As we do this we move far from God or so we think.

    But God is always near to us.  He is always calling to us.  He always wants to be in a loving relationship with us.  Even when we look at our world, at our life and we think God is far away; we may even be angry or hurt that God doesn’t care but he does, always has always will.  So how do we stop feeling so far from God?  How do we fix it?

    God gives us the tools to deal with this life.  One of the tools is prayer.  Prayer is a great gift of God to us.  It is half of that “holy conversation” that God engages in with us.  It is our part of the conversation.  God speaks to us through his Word and we speak back through prayer.  This conversation, this relationship is built up for us by God’s grace.  Prayer is never a “what” it is always a “who.”  Prayer is about talking with God and staying in close contact with Him.  The amazing thing is not that God gets nearer to us but that we recognize his presence in our lives and we rely on that nearness to give us hope to give us strength.  Our continuance in our prayer life, connected with our listening to God speak to us through His Word will keep us near to God and we will experience his love, his mercy, and his grace.  He is always near and with prayer; we will realize it.

Father of all mercies, your mercies are new to us each day and roll over us like a river.  Keep us aware of your nearness and the love which you have for us.  Guard us by your Spirit.  We especially ask that you send your Spirit with your Word to those who feel that you are so far away.  Comfort them with the assurance that you are near.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

3-24-2026

Good Morning!

          Galatians 3:11; “Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”

     One of my favorite movie series is the “Indiana Jones” series.  I really liked “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.”  In it, Indiana and his father are trying to find the Holy Grail.  When he finally comes to the cave that it was secreted in, he has three tasks to accomplish in order to recover the grail.  The first is about being penitent before God, the second is knowing the name of God.  The final task was to take a “step of faith” which appears to be an attempt to cross a distance of many feet, too far to jump.  As he looks down, he sees nothing but the depth of the abyss.  He must get to the room with the grail or else his father will die.  In a scene with some pretty good acting, you can see the anguish of fear and doubt on his face as he takes that step of faith.  As he steps out, he lands on a bridge that looks like the abyss below.  The pathway was there but he didn’t see it at first; he had to walk by faith to cross the abyss to the grail.

    That last task, the step of faith, really applies to us in real life as well.  We stand at the edge of the abyss and God invites us to come to him; in order to do so, we must take a step of faith.  And it is a step of faith.  Almost everything we learn in this world will tell us that to take that step is a mistake.  “If you can’t see it, you can’t believe it;” this is what the world will tell you.  So, we live a life alone.  You cannot see love, or trust, or compassion or any other emotion that we experience. 

    So, we don’t love, not really anyway, we manipulate and use others to accomplish our own goals and dreams.  We don’t trust because we know everyone is like us, willing to lie and cheat to get what we want.  We have no compassion unless we can get something out of it in the end.  This life is filled with sadness, hopelessness, and shame.

    Yet God still loves us and sent his Son to die for us.  He did this to show us that the path we can’t see really is there.  He did this to provide that path. He does this so we have somewhere to go when the pain and sadness of this life is just too much to bear.  God gives us the path and we walk it by faith.  He gives us the desire to believe that the path is the right one.  He gives us the faith to see what true love, true trust and true compassion are. 

     There will be many times when we will have to walk in that faith.  There will be troubles but we can rest assured that we will live by faith, trusting in God’s grace to pull us through.  It is his love that keeps us going and gives us hope.  We take that step but we know that the bridge is there and God goes with us every step of the way.

Gracious Lord, all we have is faith.  This is what gets us through and moves us forward.  Be with us as we walk through this life on the path that you give us.  Be with those who are especially struggling with life today.  Give them the certainty of your grace and bring them through their trials, strengthening their faith as they go. Protect our servicemen and women. In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret