Monday, March 31, 2014

3-31-2014



      Good Morning All,
      Acts 2:42; “And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”
     In the olden days of VCR’s we used to watch them movies and every so often, push the pause button or even run it backwards.  When you did this, run it backwards, you could watch the guy fall on his horse instead of off his horse.  If you could push the pause button at just the right moment, you could see the water just start to touch the top of the head of the unsuspecting victim.  If you were watching a mystery, you could pause the movie and look to see if there were any clues sitting there that you might miss otherwise.
   Of course the greatest use of this slowing down, pausing and then backing up is in watching sports today.  They take close plays, ones that at real and normal speed are almost impossible to see exactly what happened.  So they slow it way down, they zoom in on the play, they run it backwards slowly to see exactly what happened.  They study it and look at it until they almost have it memorized.
    We scrutinize old VHS tapes and controversial sporting events yet our Bible often just gathers dust on the shelf.  We put it up there just in case, some time, we might want to look something up that we “know” is right but we heard it differently.  We use it to store the family documents in, maybe a pressed flower from a loved one’s funeral; that is about all that we have it for.  It is just there.
    Yet God gives us this book for a very special reason.  This is how he chooses to talk to us.  This is how he reveals himself to us.  As we read it, we see his nature unfold before us as his desire to love us and for us to love him is revealed over and over.  We see that God is by nature loving but can be provoked to anger but only for a short time.  We read about how, no matter how many times we fall short of his will; he keeps bringing us back and restoring us to our place in his kingdom.
    So by reading God’s Word and listening to what he is saying to us, we can find comfort; we can find hope.  This is where God shows us his desire to save us and to make us his people and what that means to us.  Many try to accomplish this by guessing or postulating or simply making it up.  Yet God shows us what his plan for us is.  His plan is to prosper us by his grace and to give us comfort and hope as we face this life’s challenges and to give us the true peace that the world cannot give.  We get this through the prayerful study of God’s Word.  We get this by listening to what He speaks to us.
Wonderful and loving Father, in your mercy you took the time to record for us your message of salvation and to give it to us.  Guide us by your Spirit to love reading and studying it.  Teach us to savor the message of salvation which you speak to us.  Help us to share this message with those around us.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret   

Sunday, March 30, 2014

3-30-2014



      Good Morning All,
       Psalm 1:2; “but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.”
        Why do you make us learn this?”  Why do we have to memorize this?” “My mom says I need to practice my music lesson before I do my confirmation lesson.”  “You expect me to read the Bible every day; I don’t have time!” The list goes on.  It is always interesting teaching 12 and 13 year-olds confirmation.  They always seem to go to more work to get out of work then actually doing the work. Yet they ask a fairly good question, in your busy life, why take time for reading the Bible?
    Scriptures tells us to spend time in the study of the Bible.  In the verse that follows this one we are told that this man is like a tree that is planted by streams of water.  The image is that of a tree that never withers and is always healthy and always produces great fruit.  So is that how you would view your life?  Don’t worry, I don’t think I would consider my life like that either.  Yet the ground work is laid.  This can be our goal.
    Jesus told his disciples that the “Spirit would remind us of all that Jesus said.”  It does this by causing us to see the Bible as providing us with guidance, direction and the words of help and encouragement that we need.  Yet through study, both in depth study and devotional time, we will have those words come to mind at the time when we have need of them.  By focusing on God’s Word, when trouble strikes they will be the first words that come to mind and that will give us comfort and hope.
    “Nothing is so powerfully effective against the devil, the world, the flesh, and all the evil thoughts as to occupy one’s self with God’s Word.  Without a doubt, you will offer up no more powerful incense or savor against the devil than to occupy yourself with God’s commandments and words.”  This is how we understand this teaching.  Only God’s Word s powerful enough to withstand the assaults of the devil. 
    So God gives to us the power we need to withstand the devil’s attacks but we need to utilize them.  He gives us the tools to live our life in contentment until Christ returns but we need to use them.  He gives us his Word which gives us the comfort, his body and blood to nourish our spirit, prayer to speak from our heart to our Father.  He gives us the Holy Spirit to keep us in the faith and to make us part of His holy family.  These wondrous gifts await us but we must use them and take advantage of them.  We are saved now and we have access to all the power we need but we must access.  We must use God’s gifts to the fullest.
Father of all mercies, you give us the tools to withstand the devil’s onslaught.  Lead us to use them fully.  Lead us to trust in your Spirit to guard and protect us.  That he may keep us in the true faith.  Be with those who are being attacked by the devil at this time.  Keep them safe and give them the sure victory.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret         

Saturday, March 29, 2014

3-29-2014



Good Morning All,
        John 10: 27; “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me”.
         So the poll question for today is how do you define church?  Some would say that it is the place where we gather to worship.  Some would say it is the people who go to this place to worship.  Some claim that the church is what’s left if the building burns down.  A structured Lutheran definition is that this is where the Gospel is rightly proclaimed and the Sacraments are properly administered.  These are all good answers and there are probably many more.  Yet Luther had another way of saying it.
    Martin Luther was a prolific writer.  At one time, almost 25% of all printed material was written by Martin Luther.  He was a man who took advantage of the current cutting edge technology (the printing press) and used it to his advantage.  So his writings had to appeal to the theologian but also to the laity who read his writing.  So in doing so, Luther would use phrases or terminology that would resonate with the reader.  It still does today almost 500 years later.  So in one of his writings, Luther wrote this “God be praised, a seven-year-old child knows what the church is: holy believers and ‘the little sheep who hear the voice of their shepherd.’”
     You are the sheep that hear the voice of the shepherd.  Shepherds had to be very patient with their sheep.  They would speak to them in calming tones.  Sheep could not be driven, they had to be led. So the shepherd would go ahead and call them to follow him.  He would call each by name and they would follow him.  If a flock was so big that it had more than one shepherd; each shepherd would call his sheep out and they would separate from the other sheep and follow him.  The shepherd would call the sheep and then lead them to the lush green pastures.  He would call them to the still waters for them to drink.  The goal of the shepherd was to have calm and contented sheep.  They grew the best and were the least amount of trouble.
    This is what Jesus wants for us here on this earth.  He desires that we live a contented life.  He provides for us all that we need.  He wants us to hear his voice and we do this by gathering around his Word and Sacrament.  We do this best as being in the flock.  Flock as in plural not singular.  We are a part of the larger body and we receive the blessings of being in this larger flock.  It is in the flock (the Church) where we receive “the mutual conversation and the consolation that brothers and sisters offer each other” (more Luther).  So the church, the place where we hear the Shepherd’s voice is felt and expressed by as little as one or two brothers or sisters in Christ offering us hope, comfort, peace, reconciliation or whatever we need.  That is how God reaches us, through the creation that he made.  It is for us and to be used to provide for our needs.  God calls you by name and leads you to safety.  Are you listening?
Savior of all, lead us to hear your voice. Help us to find comfort and hope in your gentle word.  Be with those who do not hear.  Be with those who struggle with listening to you who have the world drown out your voice.  Guide them by your Spirit to come home to your loving arms.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret