9-30-2014

Good Morning All,

        John 15:2; “Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”

    The parsonage where we live has two apple trees.  This year, we have apples everywhere.  We have propped up two of the branches to keep them from breaking.  There have already been about four branches that are broken from the weight of the apples.  We pick up a five gallon bucket about every day of the ones that have fallen to the ground and are bruised.  So far, we have convinced our grandson that this is a fun project.  The apples are good sized but it would be nice if they were a little bigger.  The obvious answer is to prune the trees, but how much?

    I asked one of my know-it-all farmers.  He said that he had had the same problem and had asked the extension agent about pruning apple trees.  I was expecting some extensive answer; instead I was told that I should prune the trees enough so that I could throw a cat threw the tree and miss all the branches three out of five times.  I am not sure the cat will like this method of measuring.  I am guessing this means to prune it a lot.

   Pruning plants has always been interesting to me.  We injure the plant to improve is production.  We remove some of the limbs so the others will bear more and better fruit.  I have never asked a tree if it liked to be pruned.  I am guessing that, given the choice, it would not want to be pruned.  Yet if we do not prune this one tree down, eventually it will die because of the damage that the broken limbs will cause.  It may die because of the insects and diseases that may strike at its open wounds.  Pruning will be better for the tree in the long run but in the short term; the tree may resent me for doing it.

    The same is true in our faith life.  There may be things, events or even people who are harming our faith.  There may be things that we treasure greatly, we may even be almost worshiping them, that stand in the way of our faith growing and producing more fruit.  Losing those things may seem very painful at the time but it is possible that their removal from our life is the best thing for us.  You may find yourself with a group of friends who find going to church just a waste of time.  They may be enticing you away into going with them.  God may choose to cause this friendship to slow down or even stop in order to help you produce more fruit.

    Sometimes this pruning may take place because of unseen circumstances.  Just like a tree may be damaged in a wind storm and come back stronger; God may take some very painful events in our life and use them to help us grow in our faith.  Many times, these events bring us to our knees but they also strip away all the false and worthless props and supports that we think are useful but in reality are not.   The only thing we have is God’s mercy to carry us.

    This mercy may be in the form of a church member or family member who is there for us.  A person whom God has sent to help us as we struggle through life’s most challenging events may be God’s answer.  Pruning may be painful but through God’s mercy; it will be productive.

Father, as you prune us stay close to us.  Keep us from falling.  Help us to remember that all things work for good for those whom you love.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret         

9-29-2014

Good Morning All,

         Ephesians 2: 8-9; “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

      In a small cemetery in Olney, England, there is a granite marker for a grave that states; “John Newton, clerk, once an infidel and Libertine, a servant of slavers, was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the Faith he had long labored to destroy.”  This is quite a story of a life. 

     John Newton spent much of his early life living in a fashion that was to prove that he was in need of no God and that there was no God that would ever be in his life.  He ended up captaining a slave ship.  It was during a return trip to England from Africa that his life began to change.

    While on this trip, a particularly stormy trip in which he expected the ship to sink, he began to read the book “Imitation of Christ’ by Thomas a Kempis.  The reading of this book, combined with the fierce storm, began to change young mister Newton.  For a while, he tried to calm his conscience by having worship services on his slave ship but he soon realized that those two identities, slave trader and Christian, could not exist side by side.  He returned to England, married his childhood sweetheart and worked as a clerk in the Port of Liverpool.

   Yet God’s call continued until he became a preacher.  He drew great crowds because of his own personal story “Old Converted Sea Captain.”  It was out of the story of his life that he penned one of the most famous hymns ever written: “Amazing Grace”

   His life was an example of God’s amazing grace; a man who ran from God, fought God, denied God and, ultimately, restored by God.  You may not have this dramatic of a story but you do have a story and more, importantly, God has an answer for you.  Your story may be more of benign neglect, or of ignoring God but God kept telling you his story.  You may have not wanted to hear the story but you needed to hear it.  It may have played on your mind and in your head as you mulled it over, not sure of what it meant or how it worked.

   What you probably don’t realize is that as you “mulled it over” the Holy Spirit was working on your heart.  He kept telling you the story of God’s love for you and how Jesus died for you so that you would have life and salvation.  It is truly the most amazing story you will ever hear.  It is the one story that will completely change your life.  It takes some of us minutes to grasp it; it takes some of us years but God keeps talking to us with amazing patience and amazing love.  God’s amazing grace is being spoken to you from the first the moment you hear the story of Jesus told to you.  God’s amazing grace never gives up.

Gracious Father, your grace is truly amazing.  I never deserve or earn it yet it is always there for me.  When I need it the most, your grace pours upon me.  Your mercy restores me, your grace supplies me.  Be with those who are still struggling with your story of love and how it works for them.  Pour your amazing grace upon their heart so they may know your peace.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

9-28-2014

Good Morning All,

        1Timothy 1:15; “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.”  

     I became one of them yesterday.  I am old enough that I can wonder, “What’s the matter with kids these days?”  I see it every time that I drive.  The worst are younger women between the ages of 14-30.  I think that they would have to have their cell phones surgically removed from their ear.  They are either talking/texting/ adjusting the radio, fixing their hair, checking their makeup or all of the above while “pretending” to drive.  They are oblivious to anything else.  I followed one young gal as she drove her Corolla down a two lane county road.  She was about 2 feet into the oncoming lane and met a pickup and stock trailer loaded with cattle and she met a semi loaded with cattle.  They pulled over as far as they could; I doubt she even saw either of them.

   But yesterday, while driving to town on the four lane highway, I was trying to recall something that my wife wanted me to do.  So I called her on the phone, as we were talking, I noticed that I was drifting into the left hand lane which was already occupied by another vehicle.  I didn’t look the young woman who was driving the Enclave as she passed me by.  So I became one of those drivers yesterday.

    Yet even more than that, I realized a sin that I held onto.  If you read the first two paragraphs closely, it still surfaces some.  I was just a tiny bit over the white line; she was practically in the other lane.   I doubt the other driver even knew what I was doing; her other vehicles had to swerve to avoid her.  I recognized it; she probably still doesn’t know how close she came to a major accident.  Yet I noticed how easily I condemned her when I did the same thing. 

    Are you like me?  I make mistakes, have failures and slip ups while others sin and have transgressions and iniquities.  It is at times like this that God’s law points out to me my sin and I understand why I am the greatest.  I am supposed to know better and yet I continue to judge and to keep the log in my eye while looking at the speck in others.  Perhaps, you can relate.

    The thing about recognizing our own sin is that we are often times quicker to offer forgiveness to others.  This is the point that Jesus was making in the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant; the level of our sin against God is so great that the sins of others against us is minuscule.  So I relish in the fact that my sins, as great as they are, are forgiven and I ask God to continue to keep me humble when dealing with others.  I ask God to lead me to give forgiveness to those around because I know that I am worse than they are.

Father, too often I judge rather than love, I dismiss rather than bless.  Forgive me and lead me to forgive as you so freely forgive me.  Lead me by your Spirit to reach out to others with the mercy that is poured out upon me.  Be with those who struggle with forgiving others.  Lead them to know the wonders of your mercy as it is revealed in their lives.  In the precious name of Jesus, our risen Savior, we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret       

9-27-2014

 Good Morning All,

        Matthew 7:24; ^“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”

       It is always interesting to me when I watch the news and the story is about sinkholes.  Sinkholes are usually naturally occurring places where there is a hollow spot in the ground and it collapses.  Most of the time they show up without a lot of warning; sometimes even swallowing a whole house at once.  There was even a time in Florida when the house sank over forty feet and killed a man who was sleeping in his bedroom.  They can occur just about anywhere but are most prevalent in Florida.

    Florida has had over 300 sinkholes since 2010 and thousands in the last century.  Western Florida is especially prone because the soil lacks clay which normally binds soil together.  The holes can be anywhere from 1 to over 50 feet deep.  It is very difficult to know where they can occur so it is difficult to know where to build or where to not build your house. 

     This kind of reminds us of Jesus’ admonition at the end of the Sermon on the Mount.  We are to build our house upon the rock.  We are to build upon the sure foundation of God’s grace given to us through the death and resurrection of Jesus.  We trust that grace to be there for us no matter what has happened, is happening or will happen in our life.  When we look to God for our only source of salvation, trusting only in him for that truth; we are built on the rock.

     It is when we look to other sources that we are on the sand, or worse, on a sinkhole.  When we look to our own skill or strength, we are on a sinkhole.  When we turn to false teaching or other misleading beliefs, we are on a sinkhole.  When we turn to artificial supports like drugs or alcohol, we are on a sinkhole and when trouble occurs; everything will come crashing down.

    Yet we know that God is always faithful to his promises.  He has promised to be with us and to support us in all our times of need to comfort and to console us.  He is there to be our rock and fortress.  The psalmist calls him our rock and our shield.  It is in his arms that we are protected from the attacks of the devil.  It is in his arms that we can rest the holy sleep, in total peace, secure in the knowledge that we our safe.  Our house, our resting place is on the solid rock and it will not fail.  Nothing will ever destroy this house.  Its foundation is securely built upon God and his grace.  God’s grace is the only solid foundation that we have; without it all the world is a sinkhole.  Only God’s love will prevail.

Gracious Father, your mercies are new to us every day.  They roll over us like a river.  Upon you alone do we build our hope and faith.  Keep us safely in your loving arms so that the devil will have no power over us.  Be with those who are hurting, struggling or lost in this life.  Bring them to your most gracious rock of safety.  Bring them home to your loving arms.  Guard and protect them as their journey continues.  In the precious name of Jesus, our risen Savior, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret