4-2-2026

Good Morning!

      John 11:39; “Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.”

      This is part of the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.  It is the final act that Jesus performs that causes the Jewish Council to decide, once and for all, that Jesus must die.  It is significant that Lazarus was dead for four days.  It was a Jewish belief that the spirit hung around the body for three days, after the third day you were completely and officially dead.  The fact that this occurred in a warm climate without embalming techniques explains the odor.  It doesn’t take long for the decaying process to set in and for the stench to become very noticeable.

    The odor that would have come from the tomb would have been pretty powerful.  It would have also reminded Mary and Martha that their brother was really dead and gone.  The people around the tomb would have recoiled and some may have even gagged at the smell.  The smell of death is very overpowering.  It can cause you to be sick at the smell’ sort of like our sin before God.

     The stench of the world to Jesus would have been overpowering in many ways; yet he stayed and ministered to the people.  He did this out of his great love.  His love was so great that it overcame the stench of our sin and make no mistake about it sin stinks.  It stinks even to us.  We see the cruelty of man to his fellow man. We see how cheaply we view life; we see how much we seek our own selfishness over the needs of others.  Our greed and arrogance raise a stink to God. 

    Our sin what separates us from God.  It is the stench that keeps us away.   Our sin also separates us from our neighbors as well.   This is what we must repent for and get rid of in order to have a more pleasant life.  When we fail to repent, we continue to live in the stench of the tomb.  We stay in the arms of death.  Yet Jesus enters our life, our tomb, and calls us out of the arms of death and away from the stench of sin.  He calls us away from the pain of sin and brings us to life and light. 

    We can leave the pain, the sadness, the stench of sin behind.  It does not have to control you.  God gives us the power to walk away from sin; God enables us to leave sin behind.  The stench and the odor can be left in the grave while we walk out in new life.  God’s grace never fails.  It can lift you out of the sadness that sin is.  It can lift you to life.

Gracious God, your mercy rolls over us like a river.  Each breath we take is a new experience in your grace.  Guide us by your Spirit that we may remain out of the stench of the grave and live the life that you have called us to.  Direct us with your love.  Be with those who feel they are pulled back to the grave.  Cleanse them of the stench of sin and bring them before your glorious throne of mercy that they may rest in the arms of your love.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret 

4-1-2026

Good Morning!

              Romans 12:10; “Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.”

        “Women and children first!”  That used to be the standard way that any crisis would be handled.  If a ship was sinking, it was “women and children” into the lifeboats first.  If you were evacuating a building that was on fire you would evacuate “women and children” first.  It was a bit of chivalry, men protecting the weaker ones.  It was a bit of chauvinism; get the weaker and more emotional ones away so the men can figure out what to do.  Whatever it was and however you view it, the idea of self-sacrifice was expected.

    If a man was found to be safe while “women and children” were still in danger, he would be viewed as a coward and something “less than a man.”  It would be a legacy hard to live down.  Of course, after the women and children were safe it was “every man for himself,” so much for chivalry.  Self-survival kicked in fairly quickly.

    Yet one of Scriptures most enduring teachings is the one where we are to put others ahead of ourselves.  We are to deny ourselves; we are to take a servant’s form; we are to put others first.  We are to play second fiddle in life.  This teaching causes many to chafe.  We don’t like the idea of putting ourselves in second place; yet we are supposed to.  Part of this comes from the very nature of sinful man and places us back where we are supposed to be; one of God’s children.

    It is our sinful nature to want to be first.  It is our sinful nature to want to satisfy our own desires and lusts ahead of others.  It also goes against God’s design.  God’s design is to have us live as his children; take care of creation and to take care of each other.  If we are to take care of each, we have to place the needs of others ahead of our wants and even some of our needs.  This is the highest form of faithfulness that we can exhibit.  It is even higher than always going to church.  Seeing to the needs of others demonstrates our faith far better than every hymn sung.  Helping to reconcile each person we meet back to God and to their fellow man is one of the primary tasks that Jesus gives to his Church.  Love one another or they will know of the love that we have for each other. 

    It takes some conscious effort to put others first but this is our calling.  God calls us to love others as we love ourselves.  We can’t do that if we think we need four items to the other person’s one item.  We need to see their needs as our needs.  We need to remember that all of us are facing our own battles with the devil; some may be less obvious than others.  We need to remember that God uses us as his hands and feet and voice here on earth.  Trust God and enjoy playing second fiddle; God gives us great joy when we do.

Father, enable me to love those around me and to show them your great love through me.  Guide me by your Spirit that I may be patient and humble, kind, and thoughtful.  Be with those who feel trampled on and left out.  Guide me to them that through me your grace may abound.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret 

3-31-2026

Good Morning!

            Psalm 146:8; “the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.  The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous.”

    His name is Mitch Williams; they called him “The Wild Thing.”  He was a pitcher in major league baseball.  He was well known for throwing the baseball very hard but very wild.  When he put Mitch into pitch, his manager would cover his face with a towel so he wouldn’t have to watch.  Sometimes the manager would even leave the ball field so he wouldn’t even have to listen to the game as Mitch pitched.  For whatever reason, the manager felt better being blind to his pitcher’s pitching.

    Sometimes in life, it is difficult when we can’t see.  We go through life with a towel over our eyes.  The problem is that the towel only covers the good in our life and we only know and experience the bad.  The devil and the world only want us to know the pain and the sorrow.  They want us to only realize the “agony of defeat.”   They want us to carry the weight of our entire life on our shoulders.  We are burdened and bowed down by past failures, pains, and sadness.  We suffer greatly under the towel that the devil has over us because of sin.

    Sin will blind us so that all we know is the pain of failed relationships or financial setbacks or the death of a family member or friend.  Sin will bow us down with the weight of guilt, anger, and sadness.  It will attempt to isolate us from those who can help us heal; it attempts to isolate us from God.

    Yet God is stronger than sin.  God has redeemed us from sin.  He has bought us back and removed the towel so that we can see.  We can see the certainty of the hope that he gives us.  He gives to us the ability to trust in his promise of eternal life with him in total perfection.  He removes the guilt and the pain of sin; he removes the weight that bows us down so that we can stand up.  We can stand straight before him because he has given to us the righteousness of Jesus.  Because of Christ, we are righteous before God.

   The events of this life can and often are painful.  Sadness and pain are the two main components in a sinful and broken creation.  Yet events and circumstances do not define who you are.  You are God’s beloved child, cleansed by the blood of Jesus and given the promise of always being that in your Baptism.  This is who you are.  You are not a loser or a failure.  You are a child of God.  You may have health problems or problems in your marriage.  You may have done some things in the past that cause you pain today but they do not define who you are:

God defines who you are and you are his child.  This is the truth that the devil tries to hide from you with his towel but God removes the towel and throws it far away so you can see the brightness of his mercy and feel the warmth of his grace.

Father, you open our eyes to your great mercy.  You lift off the weight of sin in our lives.  Keep us safe from the devil’s towels.  Help us to keep our eyes fixed upon you and your mercy.  Guard us by your grace.  Be with those who are still feeling burdened by sin.  Open their eyes to your grace and truth.  Give them the peace that the world cannot and will not give.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret 

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