2-9-2026

Good Morning!

      Romans 15:13; “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

       It was the phone call that every parent fears.  There was a car accident.  Someone had run through a stop sign, never even slowed down.  Neither car was recognizable.  Six high school kids all together in the two vehicles.  Two were dead, three in serious condition and one was flown to a larger hospital.  When the parents of the one that was flown out arrived at the hospital, the doctors sat down with them and had a rather short discussion with them. 

   The doctors explained that there was internal bleeding and massive head trauma.  They would know more in a couple of days but the doctors told the parents, “there isn’t much hope.”  That kind of a statement can be very difficult to handle.  No one wants to hear that there is no hope.  No one wants to feel that all is lost.  To lose hope is to lose everything.  That is why the devil tries so hard to deprive you of hope, when you lose hope; you have nothing.

    That is what God gives us; he gives us hope.  He gives us hope because we know that sin, the devil and even death do not hold us.  They will take their swipes at us but they do not own us or control us.  We have the certainty of God’s promise of salvation.  We have God’s promise of life eternal with him.  This is his guarantee.  Eternal life with God living, celebrating, and rejoicing in the perfect creation; that is what we have waiting for us.  The devil can never take that away from us.

    Even though bad things happen to us, we always have hope.  Hope in the certainty of God’s eternal love.  Hope is the certainty of eternal life.  That is what we cling to.  All those loved ones, some we think left us too soon, will be reunited with us in heaven.  We will share eternal life with all the saints in the glory of God.  We have hope.  The lies and the pain that the devil throws at us are only attacks and not truths.  We are never without hope.  We will face the pain of this broken world; sin causes pain, it always has and it always will but it will not destroy us.  It will not take from us what God gives us; sin will not take away our hope.

     So even though there may be times of pain and struggle, we can face them.  We can face them knowing that our heavenly Father is there with us.  Keeping us in his arms as we face the battles of this broken world.  We face the fight but we are never alone and we know that we will be with our loved ones again when Christ returns and we are all reunited with him in love and glory.  We face the battles but we face them with the certainty of hope.  We have hope that God is love and his reign is eternal.  We have hope that our present pain is nowhere near our future glory.  We have hope; we always have and always will.

Father of love, in you we have hope.  Help us to never lose sight of this.  Help us to always look to you for our hope.  We ask that you be with those who feel that they have lost all hope.  Send your spirit of comfort and use us to bring the consolation which they need.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret 

2-8-2026

Good Morning!

    Daniel 3: 24-25; “Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.”  He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.”

     It didn’t quite go as King Nebuchadnezzar had planned.  He built a huge idol and all the people were to bow down and worship.  Yet three men told him: “no.”  The king did not like being told no so he decided to teach these men a lesson.  So, he had these men thrown into a fiery furnace, so hot that the men standing outside of it were killed by the heat.  So, the king had these three men thrown into the furnace but when they looked in; they saw four men walking around.  The fourth looked like a son if the gods.

     There are many things we can take away from this story.  The one we want to look at today is that faith doesn’t always keep us out of the fire.  Sometimes we face huge challenges.  Some seem almost insurmountable and they are if we tackle them alone.  We can face struggles in our families.  Many sociological reports continually show the steady decline in the viability of the family.  In a few years, it would appear that the traditional nuclear family will be in a very distinct minority.  How do we face that challenge?

    We see struggles with our jobs and financial situation.  No matter how much we work or how hard, there never seems to be enough.  On those rare days when we do feel a little ahead, all of a sudden, the car needs some major repairs and we start all over again.  Sometimes we struggle with our health and we wonder if it is ever going to be better.

    Sometimes we struggle because of our faith.  We are ridiculed; we are made illegal. We are called intolerant, arrogant, stupid and many other things; some by our own family.  “Get with the times; don’t be so old-fashioned!”  Where do we go?  We go to God.

    No matter what happens in our life, God is the only true hope that we have.  Only God and his grace will see us through.  Yet we might still have to face the fire.  We might still have to be tossed about by a sinful and broken world.  We might still have to face some pain in this world but we do not have to face it alone.  God is always with us and he gives us his church to be with us as well.  We should always rest assured that our brothers and sisters in faith will stand with us.  Our brothers and sisters in Christ will give to us the consolation that God gives to us.

     In our passage, we often see the fourth man as Jesus.  Yet we could also see him as our earthly brothers and sisters who God sends to be with us at times of trials.  Either way, God is there for us with his Spirit of hope.

Dearest Father, when we face the fires of this life, keep us safe in your arms.  Hold us tight.  Be with those who are feeling the extreme heat at this time.  Keep them confident in their faith and give them the comfort and the consolation that they need.  In the name of Jesus our precious risen Savior, amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret  

2-7-2026

Good Morning!

                 Luke 19:10; “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

      I was reading an article in an advice column on the internet the other day.  A woman writer was complaining, she was aghast, that she had gone to a church and the pastor had said some things about “sinners!” and he pretty much stated that, in fact, she was a sinner.  She said she felt humiliated and would have stormed out but “didn’t want to make a scene.”  The advice columnist went on about how incredibly insensitive the pastor was and she was a fabulous person for not storming out and of course she was under no obligation to ever go back or even speak to this person again.  (Big sigh!!)

    This woman was offended to be called a sinner; sorry but you are.  Now to clarify a little, there has been an attempt by some to alter the definition of “sinner.”  These people imply that a sinner is someone who murders, or abuses children, or steals things; stuff like that.  So, if this woman was offended to be called a murderer or child abuser or thief; I can see her offense.  But while these people are sinners, so are those who gossip, who speak poorly of others, who fail to help those in need and anyone of a whole host of actions which are sins.  So maybe she should look at sin a little differently.  Instead of seeing sin as an action, she should see it as a condition.

    Being a sinner is not so much about what you do, it is more about being lost.  It is more about not knowing where you are or where you are going.  Imagine that you are driving in a city in which you are unfamiliar.  As you are driving along, you miss your turn off.  You don’t even realize that you are lost so you continue to drive.  Now you are not only lost and going the wrong way but you are getting farther and farther from where you want to be.  That is what sin is.  It is missing the turn off and getting farther and farther away.

    Since we are no longer on the pathway to God, we do things which are not according to God’s will.  Since we are our own navigator, we follow our own set of directions.  This path is designed to provide us with our own personal, selfish, and self-centered desires.  Deep down, we only worry about us.  We help others because we want to be able to use them later on.  Our only real worry is “what is in it for me.”  This selfish way takes us farther and farther from God and, ultimately; causes us to become unhappy, to lack contentment and to lose a sense of true purpose.

    That is what sin does to us.  It makes us lost and keeps us lost so thus we are not content or happy in any way, shape, or form.  We become more and more frustrated as we become more and more lost.  We have no way to deal with problems or struggles.  We may even turn to false helps.  Yet Jesus came to find us and put us back on the right path.  It is by his grace that we have peace, contentment, hope, and security.  God’s grace finds the sinner; God’s grace finds you.

Father of mercy, you sent Jesus to find me, a poor, miserable sinner.  I am found by your tender love and given hope.  Guide me that I may stay on your path.  Help those who are especially lost.  In the name of Jesus our risen Savior, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

2-6-2026

 Good Morning!

              Psalm 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God.  I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”

         I feel very blessed.  The Lord has given me a wonderful gift.  I am a “baby whisperer.”  From the time I got to be involved with babies, I have had the knack for getting them to quiet down and to settle down.  It is really a neat gift from God.  Some of you probably also have this gift. It is a real blessing to be able to comfort a child in this manner.

    It seems that the greatest part of this is to be able to quietly whisper into the ear of the child.  The movement and holding the child close to your chest is important as well but the soothing sound of a quiet voice helps.  Probably the first order though is to get the child to stop fighting and wrestling around.  Once you can get the child to quit squirming, the process goes a little easier.  It can be frustrating for a while; you want to yell “BE STILL” but you know you have whisper “be still;” that is the only way that you can calm them down.  You need a gentle voice in order to bring calmness to the child.

     This is exactly how we should view God’s Word to us.  His Word comes to us gently to still and calm us.  It comes to give us peace.  This is exactly what the psalmist is saying in this verse.  The directive “Be still,” is better viewed as “quit fighting” or “quit struggling.”  That is what we do when we focus on ourselves and our own abilities and work.  We keep waging our own battles against the devil and his lies and we get nowhere.  We struggle and struggle and we get nowhere.  All we do is exhaust ourselves and lose our ability to truly rest.

    In all this, God is holding us in his arms and quietly whispering into our ear, “shhh, be still.”  “Stop fighting against my grace.  Rest in my grace, have peace in my arms.”  This is what our loving God is really saying to us.  He is quietly and lovingly calling us back into his arms.  His peace and grace await us.

    Yet we keep fighting, we keep battling against God.  We think we know better so we fight on and yet we get more and more tired and we get less and less rest.  We are never content.  We battle and battle yet we continue to lose ground.  So, into this life god tells us to be still; quit fighting, it only makes things worse.  Stay with me and be still.  Rest in my grace and take comfort in my arms.  This is what he tells us over and over, all we need to do is listen.  All we need to do is listen, stop fighting, stop running from his love and cling to him and soon we will be at rest. 

    We need to listen to God’s words of mercy, his words of forgiveness and to his words of gentle comfort.  God offers this to us, all we need to do is to stop, stop fighting and rest in his arms.

Father of all mercy, in you we have rest.  Guide us by your Spirit to stop fighting and to cling to you instead.  In you we have peace.  Be with those who are especially struggling against your grace.  Keep whispering to them to be still and to trust in your mercy, in the precious name of our risen Savior, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor 

2-5-2026

Good Morning!

             Matthew 8:7; “And he (Jesus) said to him, “I will come and heal him.”

      You already know I am an old movie addict.  One of my favorites is the movie “Jaws.”  This is a classic from the mid 1970’s and starred Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, and Richard Dreyfuss.  I like it because it has some really good dialog in it.  This is one of those movies where you can say a line from it and a lot of people will recognize it.  The line when Brody (Scheider) sees the shark and says, “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.” It is or at least was pretty popular.

   There is a scene in the movie where the three leads are in the boat, drinking more than they should, and they start to compare scars.  One shows a scar from a moray eel and one shows a scar from a thresher shark one shows a scar from his appendectomy.  Quint (Shaw) shows a scar on his arm where he had a tattoo removed and that was a fairly poignant moment in the movie. 

    We all have scars.  I have one on my left wrist where I put my hand through the window of a door.  I have one on my right leg where I landed on a fence post wrong.  I have a couple of little ones here and there.  You probably do as well.  Perhaps from a surgery or some accident or something in your life that left that mark on you.  The funny thing about a scar.  They don’t seem to tan as dark so in the summertime they are more apparent.  They seem to be more sensitive to touch.  I have been told that if you cut the skin of a scar that it takes longer for this to heal a second time.

    Many of us have scars that cannot be seen.  It might be from the pain of growing up in a house that provided little love and mostly anger.  It might be from the shattered relationship that you thought was good until one day it wasn’t.  It might be from the cruel comments made or the repeated rejections that you experience.  We all have scars.  Scars that cause us to doubt our self-worth and our value.  Scars that cause us to think we are of no use to anyone.

    Yet Christ came to heal you.  He came to heal your scars.  He came to remove those scars which cause you to believe you are worthless.  You are the apple of God’s eye.  You have value far beyond your understanding.  God loves you.  He sent Jesus to die for you to remove those scars.  Those scars do not define who you are; they only show what you have experienced.  God’s grace for you defines you and it defines you as precious and valuable, loved and redeemed.  It defines you as one of his eternal children.

    The devil will try to convince you that scars remove any value you have but God loves you and removes any scars that matter and heals over the ones that don’t.  He gives us life and gives us the hope for battling life’s struggles.  He comes to heal you.

Gracious Father, in you we have healing.  In you we have hope.  We thank you for sending Jesus to be our savior and to give us health and hope.  Be with those who are especially scarred at this time.  Give them the assurance of your love and the comfort of your mercy.  In the precious name of Jesus our Risen savior, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret      

2-4-2026

Good Morning!

              2 Corinthians 12:9; “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

     A few years back I used to coach baseball.  One year when we were fortunate enough to make it to the state tourney I got to watch one of the most incredible baseball games I have ever watched.  It was on the last day of a three-day tourney.  Being in the smaller town tourney meant pitching was a premium.  As I watched the game the pitcher started to rub his pitching elbow.  The coach did exactly what he needed to do and that was bring in a new pitcher.  His team was behind by 5 runs already and he was forced to do “the coach’s twirl.”  This is what a coach does when he needs a pitcher but doesn’t have one left.  You stand on the pitching mound and look at every player on the field and sigh.

    The young man playing second base came in and volunteered to pitch.  Most of the players in the tourney were 15 and 16. If he was 13, it occurred during the tourney.  His first practice pitch bounced before home plate but he kept throwing.  He actually struck out two batters and got the other one to ground out.  Over the next three innings, his team scored enough to get back to within one run.  This young man’s pitching, although shaky at times, was good enough.   So, going into the last at bat, being down one run, his team came up.

    The first batter flied out but the second one got a hit and stole second.  The next batter hit a single and then stole second on the next pitch.  So, the home team had a runner on third and the winning runner on second and one out.  The next batter struck out.  Then guess who came to bat?  The young second baseman turned pitcher.  When he came to the plate to bat, he was grinning.  I was sitting next to a coach from one of the other teams.  He looked at me and we agreed that this young man wasn’t old enough to know he was supposed to be scared to death.  He swung badly at the first two pitches but on the third one he got a real nice single to left that scored two runs for the victory.  It should have never happened but it did.  It was amazing to watch.

   How many times have we been afraid to speak up for God?  How many times did we talk our self out of doing God’s will?  God tells us his grace is sufficient for us.  We need to be more like this young man.  His older teammates didn’t want to pitch because they were afraid.  He had no fear so he succeeded.  God gives us no fear.  We need not fear anything because his grace is sufficient.  It will carry us through.  So, trust God’s Word and have no fear, by doing so we will souls for Christ.  By doing so, we can bring comfort and hope to a world that is in desperate need.  God’s grace is sufficient so boast in it.

Father, often I let fear slow me down.  I let fear stop me from doing your will.  I let fear hold me back; all because I do not trust your grace.  Teach me Lord that your grace is sufficient for me.  Make me bold for you.  Give me courage to be your light and beacon in a dark world. In the precious name of Jesus our risen Savior, amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

2-3-2026

Good Morning!

            Proverbs 12:18; “There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.”

     As children we were all told the old adage “Sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never harm me.” Or maybe your version was “Sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never harm me.”  This tells us that we are not to worry about what someone says about us as simple words cannot harm us.  Well welcome to the 21^st century!

    I think most of us have been there at one time or another.  Our mouth took off long before our brain was engaged and we made some offhand unfair or cruel comment about someone only to see them standing behind us.  I know I have and I felt about two inches tall after I did it.  It’s strange; you don’t know whether to make a big deal about it being a joke or just try and ignore it and hope it goes away.  I can remember some of the times that I coached baseball.  I would watch in horror as some adult (?) would yell and scream at a 10-year-old for striking out or dropping the ball.  I remember the pain in that child’s eye.  Sticks and stones will break your bones but words will kill your spirit.

    This is why I think one of God’s greatest gifts is the gift of the soothing comforter.  There are people who just seem to have a way of gently encouraging people.  They have a way of getting the person to smile, even under some pretty harsh situations.  It can soothe a very hurt and savaged soul just to have kind words spoken to them, especially after words of hurt have been hurled.  And we seem to have more hurled at us each day.

     I read an article about how children today are being “cyber-bullied.”  They are tormented day and night by other kids on the internet through text messages or Instagram.  I listened to a story on the radio about a man whose fiancée was killed by her jealous ex-husband.  One twisted and sick lady began an attack on him on a gossip website.  She had four different avatars or identifications on the site.  She would act like she was carrying on a conversation between the four of them.  He had to leave town; his children were shunned and the parents of his now dead girlfriend refused to speak to him.   It took three years to get it all straightened out.  Words can cause a lot of pain.  Yet the opposite is true as well.

    The right words at the right time can bring about comfort, encouragement, or hope.  The right word can calm fear or engender a desire to strive and to try to do your best.  The right word will bring about healing.  So, as you go about today, do some healing.  Say something kind especially to those who need it like the waitress or the store clerk or the mailman or the young gal with two little ones who looks so frazzled.  Using God’s gift of healing, using the soothing and kind words that He gives us to bring about a smile and some peace.

Gracious Lord, enable us by your Spirit to speak the words of kindness and love that you give to us. Help us to make the world a little less painful for those who battle the pain of unkind words.  Give them your Spirit of comfort and use us to be their hope.  In the name of Jesus our risen Savior, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret