10-5-2015

Good Morning All!!

        Hebrews 12:28; “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe,”

      A few years ago, I found a poker tournament on one of the ESPN channels.  I watched it for about a half hour trying to figure out what the fascination about watching poker on television was all about. (I never did).  There was a young man who bet a fair sum of money because he thought he had a good hand and he did until they laid the last card down and it came up an ace.  The look on his face was priceless.  His confidence in winning the hand was clearly shaken.  He lost the hand and was soon out of the tourney.

    I can remember a number of times when young athletes were overly confident that the game was going to be an easy victory only to have it become a very close encounter.  Their confidence was soon shaken by the ability of the opposition.  This was not always a bad thing; it made them focus on working harder in practice.

    Sometimes, we get shaken in ways that are scary.  If you have ever gone to the doctor and have “routine tests” and then have the doctor want to run some again because they didn’t look quite right; you know what it means to be shaken.  I remember sitting with a family during a simple same day surgery that was supposed to take about an hour.   2½ hours later they were told one of the monitors in the operating room malfunctioned so they had to wait to get a different one.  They were shaken but grateful for this eventual news. 

    We know what it means to be shaken; to have a small shudder of fear pass through us.  We feel the sweaty palms, the ragged short breathing, and the shudder you experience as you contemplate the possibilities.  There are many events in our life which can shake us to the very core of our existence but we are able to rely on one truth.  That truth is the love of God for us.

      We can trust God’s promise to us. He took an oath upon himself to keep this promise.  His pure and holy nature does not let him go against his oath.  We have this promise guaranteed to us; it will not be shaken.  Those of us who cling to this promise will not be shaken.  We belong to God’s holy family, his holy kingdom, so nothing needs to shake us.  We can always rely on God’s promise.  We can lean on his grace and mercy for all our fears, all of our worries, all of our needs in this life.  We can live a life of peace, of hope and with his holy rest because we cannot be shaken from God’s loving embrace.  This is what God offers to us; an unshakeable guarantee of eternal salvation and his promise of always being with us as we walk in our journey of life.  All is guaranteed, always unshaken and unshakeable.

Gracious Father, in you we have an unshakeable God.  In you we are able to live with unshaken confidence in all we face.  You never abandon us; you never leave us to battle alone.  Guide us to always trust in your Word that we may serve you in total confidence and live in your gracious hope.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,                          

Pastor Bret