6-26-2026

Good Morning!

    Matthew 28: 20b; “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

     Even Elvis asked, “Are you lonesome tonight?”  It is one of the more interesting elements of being a human.  We are social creatures; we tend to seek out companionship.  Yet for many, it is the most elusive part of their life.  Much of the time people feel alone.  There are many “self-help” books and articles that tell you to prepare to be alone, even in a marriage. 

     We see it in pre-teen and in teenagers.  Many times, a young person will join a group, even a group they know is a bad influence and decision to be with, rather than be alone.  They seek acceptance by society, or the group; if they don’t get it from one group, they will seek it from whoever will receive them.  This can include groups that tend to misuse them and abuse them just as long as they are accepted into the groups.  They just don’t want to be alone.

     Sin brought about our sense of loneliness.  The first sin broke the relationship between man and God.  Sin separated us God’s grace and it turned us from being compassionate being into self-centered beings.  The next recorded sin proves this; it is the murder of Abel by Cain.  Jealousy, envy, greed among other emotions and desires drove Cain to kill his brother and soon this anger became loneliness.  This is what sin does; it separates us from God and from each other.  We are left lonely.

    This is part of what Jesus came to change.  He came to reconcile us back to God and back to each other.  This is why he teaches his disciples to love one another.  This is the answer to loneliness; God giving us his love and then this love flowing through us to others.  This is one of our greatest gifts; the gift of loving and of being loved.  It is the end of loneliness.

    Yet the devil does all he can to convince us that we are alone.  It is one of his greatest lies.  He wants you to feel that you are isolated and all alone.  Once he has convinced you of this, he can torment you.  This is why we so often feel all alone.  It is the devil trying to entice you to leave God’s gracious and loving arms in order that you might be his target.

    Yet Jesus knows his plans and his ways.  Jesus knows our fear and pain in loneliness.  He has promised that we will never be alone.  He has promised to be with us to do protect us from the devil.  We can live in the certainty of his unending mercy.  We live with his eternal presence in our lives giving us the peace and confidence to face the struggles of this life with courage and certainty that we do not face them alone.  We face them with the certainty of God’s mercy always being present.

Gracious Lord, you are always with me.  You guard and protect me from all that the devil throws at me.  Keep me in your loving arms.  Be with those who are especially feeling alone at this time.  Bring them to the certainty of your grace.  Give them the wondrous knowledge of your loving protection and peace.  In your name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

6-25-2026

Good Morning!

    John 18:38; “Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him.” 

      “What is truth?” That was the question that Pilate asked Jesus.  There are many ways to interpret that question.  It would seem that this one is somewhat rhetorical and cynical.  It reminds me of “Reality TV.”  Just where is the reality on these TV shows?  I have only watched a couple of episodes of a couple of Reality TV shows and have never met anyone who spoke or acted like these people do and yet we call it “reality TV.”

    Why do we call it that?  Do we think that there are people who believe that life is like this?  Do the makers of these shows have strange dreams and then come up with these stories?  Or do they think this is reality?  I suspect the answer is that the makers of the show see reality as whatever makes a profit.  If they can make money, they put it on and smile all the way to the bank.  It is funny how we can distort reality so that it is what they want it to be.  The makers of the show have their motives and then call it reality.

    Pilate does the same thing.  First, he asks Jesus what is truth, and then he announces that he finds no guilt in him.  Pilate knows the truth; he knows that Jesus is innocent of all the charges made against him.  Yet he has Jesus beaten and whipped; apparently being innocent had a different meaning to him.  He then allows himself to be bullied into letting Jesus be crucified.  What is truth? Apparently to Pilate it was whatever was convenient at the time.

    How often do we do the same thing?  We take the easy or convenient way out.  Everyone else is gossiping about someone else, so we join in.  Everyone around us is advocating some form of sinful action and we acquiesce.  Everyone around us espouses some form of greedy or selfish stance and we agree, even when we know it goes against our faith and our understanding of Scriptures.  What is truth? The world tells us that truth is whatever works at the time we need it.  “Truth” depends on the situation; it is relative to what is around us.  The world wants you to believe that “reality TV” is truth even when we know it is not.

    This is what Jesus is talking about when he told his followers that “the truth will set you free.”  When you have no truth, only imagination, you are always tied up in the lies.  You have to figure out why the current “false truth” exists.  Who has the power, who has the influence, who thinks they decide what truth is.  Believers in Christ know the truth.  Jesus came as the truth.  In him, and in him alone, do we have salvation; that is the truth.  God and God alone is truth.  He alone determines the truth.

    In Christ we have the truth of God’s love.  In Christ we have the certainty of God’s mercy in our life.  In Christ we have the truth of our salvation.  In Christ we know truth. 

Father, you sent Jesus to be our truth.  Give us the courage to cling to you and to your truth.  Be with those who are being led astray by the world’s twisting of truth.  Bring them home to your eternal truth and love.  In the precious name of Jesus, our Risen Savior, we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret   

6-24-2026

Good Morning!

    Hebrews 13:6; “So we can confidently say, "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?"

       There used to be a sports clothing line called “No Fear.”  It made and sold t-shirts, sweatpants and tops, hats, and other sports clothing.  It even had a deal with Pepsi to sell an energy drink.  Its clothing was popular among the high school age group and with those who were into extreme sports.  It became a motto for those who were willing to do just about anything for a thrill or in order to win a competition. 

     Many coaches would use this phrase in order to motivate their young charges.  It worked some of the time but when you challenge a young man to knock over a guy that is 6 inches taller and 100 pounds heavier; well even having “no fear” is usually “no success”.  The problem is that next time, the young man has fear.  Part of that is plain old common sense.  If at first you don’t succeed, you probably won’t the next time either.   This can often cause a certain amount of trepidation and fear.  So, what does that smaller young man do?  He gets some bigger help.

    That is the real reason a 90-pound freshman can have no fear on a football team.  He has a bunch of 250-pound teammates.  Then he has nothing to fear.  Yet his strength does not come from his own size but rather from the size and strength of his teammates.  The same is true for us; we just have a stronger teammate.

     We can never face up to God’s wrath on our own.  We would wither and die in no time.  We might think we are tough but when faced with the awful truth, we would crumble into wretched fear.  We also cannot face the onslaught of the devil on our own either.  The devil has ways to taunt us, to haunt us, to cause us pain and misery all day long.  He would have us quivering in fear in no time.  We would be huddled in the corner of our life, empty and alone.

    Yet we have the greatest champion of all time on our side as our teammate.  It is Jesus who overcomes the fear of punishment and the fear of the devil’s torment.  We only stand beside as our punishment is taken and the devil’s attacks are deflected.  We can stand tall and strong; we have no fear because we have Christ as our defender and protector.  The greatness of this is that it is never our strength that we stand on and as I get older, I know my strength is waning away.  But I stand on the strength of Christ which never fails.  I stand on his righteousness alone.

    This is how I can avoid God’s wrath.  This is why the barbs that the devil throws, although they might sting, can do no harm.  We stand with Christ and we stand in Christ and in him alone.  It is by his wonderful grace that we have nothing to fear for we are always in his loving arms.

Father, too often I am tempted to fear the devil and his ways.  Give me the courage to stand always at the side of Jesus.  Lead me to have no fear.  Be with those who struggle with all that the devil throws.  Be with those who still live in the shadow of fear of you.  Be with all those who only know fear.  Free them from this bondage and give them the certainty of your grace and peace of living in no fear.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

6-23-2026

Good Morning!

    Romans 6:1; “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?”

         It always makes for an interesting, and lively, discussion.  This is especially true when you are talking to sixth, seventh and eighth graders.  They always answer so enthusiastically.  It starts with the discussion about the completeness of God’s grace and the completeness of Jesus’ sacrifice.  It goes something like this. 

   Student: “So I don’t have to do anything to get into heaven?”  Me: “No, in fact, there is nothing you can do.”  Student: “So now I am free, to do what I want?”  Me: “Yes you are free to do what you want; your salvation has been given to you because of God’s love and not because of your hard work or value.”  Student: “So I can sin if I want to?”  Me: “Yes.”  This is when bedlam breaks out.  I usually take a drink of water, or tea, or coffee, or something until it settles down a little.  A few of the kids are thinking of all the things they want to do but most are trying to figure out what is coming next.  So, then I turn it around and ask them questions.

   Me: “Yes, you are free to sin but why do you want to?”  Students: “It’s fun.”  Me: “Sin is what separates us from God’s love; why do you want to do something to hurt your relationship with God?”  “God has just forgiven you all of your sins; he has freed you from the bondage of sin and the slavery to the law; why do you want to sin, why do you want to go back to that?”  Now it is a little quieter.  Me: “Since God has shown how he loves you by sending Jesus to die for you; what should be your response?”  Student: “Love him and give thanks.”  Me: “How can you do this by sinning?”  Now it gets really quiet.

    This is the jist of Paul’s rhetorical question at the start of Romans chapter 6.  We have God’s grace poured out upon us; so, if we keep sinning, we get more grace so we might as well keep on sinning.  This is the argument put forward.  Paul responds with the dramatic and forceful response that we are dead to sin.  Our desire should be toward God not toward sin.  When our sinful nature has been changed from desiring to sin to desiring to love and serve God, this is the result of forgiveness alive in our life.  Our faith is moving forward.  Why would we want to sin?  The truth is that we do not want to sin.  We may slip into sin again (and again) but we do not desire it and often feel guilty after we have committed it.  This type of sin is not what Paul means.  It is the desire of the heart that reflects what is in our heart.  Is faith in God’s forgiveness and the completeness of Christ’s sacrifice in our heart or do we deny and reject it?  If we have the Spirit living in us, we desire to do God’s will; it is about this simple.  The hard part is that we still have the sinful nature which battles against the new creation we are because of Christ.  We battle against sin, we hate sin and we do not desire to sin.  We desire God’s love and grace.

Father, lead me away from sin.  Guide me by your Spirit to desire your will.  Be with those who are especially tested and challenged at this time.  Protect them with your loving arm and keep them from falling.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret     

6-22-2026

Good Morning!

     Psalm 25: 14-15; “The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant.  My eyes are ever toward the Lord, for he will pluck my feet out of the net.”

    Just someone to talk to; just someone who you can share your thoughts with; just someone who you can be yourself with.  Most people want and need a friend.  They seek that special companionship that only true friendship can bring.  The main thing about true friendship is the complete honesty that you generally have.

   It is your best friend that tells you the person you are dating is not the right one.  Your best friend is the one to tell you that the clothing you have on isn’t you.  It is your best friend who you share your dreams with and who helps you keep your life grounded.  It is usually your best friend that you call first, whether it is wonderful news or the worst news.

    In many ways, we can view Jesus as our best friend.  He is the one who truly knows you better than anyone else.  He knows your fears; those things in your life that cause you to stay awake at night.  He knows those events that cause us to worry.  It might be struggles with your spouse, or other family members.  It might be struggles with your boss or a co-worker.  It might just be the struggles that can come with getting older; but the fears can make us feel very lonely.

    It is through that loneliness that Jesus leads us to hope.  It is through his love and grace that we are kept safe.  He protects us from the snares and the traps that the devil sets for us.  He protects us from the fears that can paralyze us.  He gives us the confidence of our salvation and to us the peace that only he can give.  It is through his loving kindness and patience that we receive form him the blessings of this life and the ability to face the trials and struggles with hope.  It is that hope that secure us.

    Jesus is your best friend especially in that he will never abandon you or forsake you.  Even when others do, he will always be there to comfort you and to guide you through the trials and fears.  He speaks to us those words of comfort through his Word and hears our cries.  He listens better than any best friend because he offers true healing and true hope. We can live in the certainty of his wondrous grace.  In him and in him alone we know that our salvation is secure.  It is only by his grace that we win those battles and can face those fears with the certainty of the victory promised to us by God.  Given to us at our baptism, we can hold onto that promise that absolutely nothing can separate us from God’s love.  He is our friend; he is our salvation.  He protects us from all the devil throws at us.  In him alone we have peace.

Gracious Lord, you are our hope and salvation.  In you we have the peace and comfort to face this world.  Guide us by your light of truth.  Be with those who feel lonely and without anyone to be with them.  Guard and protect them from the traps that the devil lays before them.  Keep them safe in your loving arms.  Bring them safely home.  In your precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

6-21-2026

Good Morning!

     1Timothy 2:1; “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people.”

      I am always fascinated by looking at Facebook at what people write or think.  One thing that is interesting is that so many people place requests for prayers on the site.  People ask for prayers for themselves, for their children or other family members.  It might be prayers for health or success in a new venture or just for the Holy Spirit to give them some comfort and peace.

    Of course, the standard reply is something like “I’ll pray” or “prayers are being offered” or something like that.  I often wonder if it is meant or if it is just a comment that is made along the line of when we say, “How are you?”  We usually don’t want the person to give us a real answer.  Is the saying “I’ll pray for you” the same thing, just and answer.  I hope not.

    Prayer is one of the most beautiful gifts that God gives his people.  First, it helps to connect us to God in a family fashion.  We are told to approach God as our loving Father.  This allows us to speak honestly and frankly from our heart.  We speak, even when God already fully knows what is in our heart.  God knows what weighs heavy on our heart, what our fears are and where our struggles lie.  Yet he invites us to speak to him, in what is best thought of as the holy conversation, the reading of Scriptures (listening to God speak) and the response of prayer (speaking to God as he listens).  It is in this that we find comfort and consolation.

    Yet there are other benefits which all Christians should rejoice in.  Prayer, when offered with others and for others, tends to bring a closer relationship with those people involved.  Married couples often report a closer relationship with their spouses when they pray together and for each other.  Family members claim a closer relationship with their siblings when they grew up actively praying for each other.   Church members tend to be closer when they join in prayer for each other and with each other.  This is part of the “bearing one another’s burden” that we are encouraged to engage in with one another.  Prayer strengthens our personal relationship with God and it strengthens our personal relationships with our fellow believers.

    It can also strengthen our compassion and empathy for those for whom we pray.  We tend to connect with their experience more intensely when we pray for them.  There also tends to be more grace offered for their lives and less judging of their actions.  Prayer, true prayer, brings us peace.

    So, if you are a FaceBooker, and you say that you will pray for someone; mean it and do it.  Often, it is easiest to pray for someone immediately when the need is brought to your attention.  Write it down to remember it if you can but pray right away and you will keep your promises and you will hear God’s call to make supplications and intercessions for everyone.

Father, teach me to pray for others, especially those who are in great need.  Father, you teach us that the greatest in the kingdom of heaven are those brothers and sisters who are in the greatest need.  Lead me to make intercessions for them.  In the precious name of Jesus, our Risen Savior, we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret          

6-20-2026

Good Morning!

     Matthew 16:6; “Jesus said to them, “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

        It is often called “herd mentality” or “mob mentality.”  It is a social and psychological phenomenon which describes when a group of people begins to act in a fashion that may be different than how they would act individually.  We see it most often on the school yard.  All of a sudden, a group of kids decide to pick on one child.  The group just gangs up and is merciless to one child.  Many have experienced this at one time or another.  It may have been on either side of the interaction.  You may have been the victim or you may have been one of the perpetrators.  This event seems to grow beyond any sense of logic or reason.

    Some scientists think that when a group begins to act in this fashion, that one of the first things to go away is personal responsibility.  People tend to see their personal beliefs and actions to be overruled and controlled by the mob.  We simply go along with the crowd and as someone begins to escalate the problem, many seem to just go along even escalating the event as it occurs.  Many scientists feel that each person can deny personal culpability; it frees the individual from personal guilt.

    When Jesus was speaking of the “leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees,” he was speaking specifically of their false teachings.  It also can speak to the way that sin, once it begins to grow, can easily consume those who are either not paying attention or are easily swayed.  So, if we are in a group and gossip begins; it becomes easy for us to join in, add to the lies and falsehoods, and perpetuate the pain.  Be sure to always remember that sin causes pain to all those involved.  Sin is something that can and does grow easily if we let it.  It can grow until it crowds out all of our faithful actions. 

    Jesus warns us against this.  He warns us that sin, left unchecked, grows and grows until it destroys all around it.   Sin, when viewed as harmless or “not that big of a deal” grows until it reaches the point where many are harmed.  This is why Jesus continually encourages us to be watchful; to be alert to what is going on around us, what is being said, on what is happening.  Sin can start so small and mushroom so large before we even have time to think.  Sin is stronger and faster than we are; our only hope is to avoid it.  The only way to avoid it is to cling to Christ through the faith that he gives us.

    We are never stronger than sin.  We should never think we can play with it or toy with it.  Sin is only destructive and painful.  Our only chance of avoiding the leaven of sin is to cling to the cross of Christ.

Father, lead me to cling to your wondrous grace.  Lead me to hold onto the cross of Christ.  Keep me from the enticement of sin.  Be with those who are being tempted and are weakening.  Give them the strength to stand up to the struggles of sin.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret