Thursday, March 31, 2016

3-31-2016



  Good Morning All!!
             Luke 7:12; “As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her.
     Jesus can come to people and change their lives in some very unique places, times or events.  I remember visiting with a young man who had experienced some difficult times in his young life.  He told me that Jesus came to him while he was “laying on the floor of the Hughes County jail.”  Others have spoken of music concerts or youth gatherings as a time or a place where Jesus seemed to show up and change their life.
    Our verse is one of those places.  Jesus, his disciples and a large crowd of other followers were entering the city of Nain.  The city had a wall around it so it had gates that you had to use to enter it.  Just as Jesus and this crowd of people were entering the gate another crowd was trying to leave the city and they met at the gate; two mobs met.  There would have been a moment when both crowds pushed in.  The front of the processions would have stopped but the back would have kept pushing and the congestion would have stopped everything.  There was no going forward and no going backward; there was just a stoppage.
    The crowd with Jesus at the front was abuzz with the events of the past few days.  Jesus was teaching with authority like the people had never heard and he was healing the sick and the infirm.  There was something about this Jesus that had everyone getting excited.  Who was he?  Was he a prophet like Elijah or Jeremiah?  Who was he?  Could he be the Messiah?  The noise, joy and exuberance that surrounded Jesus would have been incredible.  The outbound crowd was a funeral procession.  A widow was burying her only son.  Life would be tough for her from now on.  With no man in her life she would have a hard time making a living.  She would probably have to live on the kindness of her family and of her community if that wasn’t enough for her to live on, she may have to become a prostitute.  It was a gloomy, sad and despondent crowd trying to leave the city.   Yet in her moment of deepest despair, Jesus met her and changed her life.
    He gave her back her son.  He gave her back her life and brought her joy.  She could stop worrying about where she would find food tomorrow.  Her pall of darkness was ending.  Jesus came into her life and changed it.  Jesus does the same for us each and every day.  He comes to us in our pain and fear, in our sadness and sorrow to give us hope, to give us life.  This is why Jesus came and died and rose again; to give us life and hope.  He gives it freely to us as a gift.  He gives it out of love for us.  He loves us enough to die for us and to give us life eternal.  Trust his gracious love.
Father, through Jesus you meet me in my pain and sorrow to give me hope and life.  Strengthen me by your mercy and keep certain of your love and mercy.  Guard me that I may always cling to you.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret        

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

3-30-2016



Good Morning All!!
           John 20:26; “Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”
    Have you ever wondered about why the Apostle John mentions that it was eight days later?  Some think it is only a measurement of time as in the next Sunday after Easter, perhaps.  Yet John writes with extra purpose.  John is the only gospel writer to specify that they used palm leaves on Palm Sunday.  This ties to Revelation 7:9 (the other place in the New Testament to mention palm branches) as the way to worship the king.  So does eight days mean something; probably.
     Jewish boys were circumcised on the eighth day.  Does it all connect?  Probably.  Think back to the creation and how the first six days all speak of “there was evening and there was morning” except for the seventh day, the Sabbath.  All we get there is that God rested with no morning or evening mentioned.  So the eighth day would be the first day of a new week.  Eight seems to be a new start.  The Jewish boy is now part of the covenant, something new.  John is telling us that something is new.
    As we look at this, we need to remember something crucial about the Scriptures.  Scriptures, especially the New Testament is a collection of letters.  These letters always have two readers.  It has the original readers who actually received the letter and then we are the second readers.  The original readers of John’s letters were living at a time of severe persecution.  So John includes words of hope and sometimes these words are more hidden then other times, kind of like getting around the censors.  Think of the high school graduate who wants to mention God in their speech but is told not to do this.  At the end of her speech, she sneezes and her fellow graduates yell, “God bless you!”  John is trying to comfort the people who are struggling.
    So as he refers to this now eighth day, he is reminding the readers that with the resurrection of Jesus, God is ushering a new age.  We are now in the age of grace and forgiveness; we are in the age of grace.  We have actually begun the end times.  As Jesus showed his victory over sin, death and the devil, he is ushering the kingdom of God that is the reclamation and the restoration of creation back to what it was designed to be, to live in perfect harmony with God.  We are in that process.
    We have the victory so we are just finishing out the time until Jesus returns.  Yet during this time, we as believers should try to bring as much healing and comfort to the broken and frustrated creation.  We witness, we feed, we heal, we comfort, we do all the things that Jesus did until Jesus finally returns and ends death forever and then ushers in the new creation where we will have perfect eternal life with him.
Merciful Father, in this age of the restoration of the creation you give us hope in Jesus.  You have brought us into your loving kingdom by through the death and resurrection of Jesus.  Keep us in your grace.  In the name of the Risen Savior we pray, amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

3-29-2016



 Good Morning All!!
           John 20: 30-31; “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;  but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
     We are just getting started with planting season around here.  At a Bible study earlier this month with a group of farmers, I asked them what they would do if I could produce a newspaper or whatever document they needed that showed in six months the price of their wheat was going to be double what it is today.  Somehow I transported myself into the future and brought back a newspaper dated six months from today and in the business section the price of wheat was twice what it is today.  What would they do?  First they decided not to sell the wheat they still had.  They thought they might plant more wheat.  A few brave ones thought they would buy some wheat and then sell it in six months.
    Then I asked them this.  You still have that newspaper showing you that in six months wheat will be twice the price; what if in 2 months the price of wheat is half of what it is now?  They responded that as long as they had the first newspaper they would wait it out.  What if in four months it was only a quarter of the price it is now?  The “experts” are predicting the end of wheat farming as we know it.  They predict wide scale fall out and bankruptcy throughout all wheat growing regions of the world.  Now what; what would you do?  Your neighbors are worried, your banker is worried, the people who you bought the wheat from earlier and the people who watched you plant extra wheat are laughing at you; they think you are an idiot.  The wheat farmers answered they would sit tight and wait because they held the proof of their decision.  Rather than worry, they figured they would sleep well and tell their neighbors to just hold on and watch for the good times to come.
    That is our verse “but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.  You have that newspaper, we call it the Bible.  It was written so that you could have the confidence and certainty of your salvation.  You have the victory and nothing changes that.  Even when events occur that may look like it is going against us, even when family and friends think our faith is a waste of time, we still have the certainty of the good news of Jesus.  We have life; we have the proof of our faith.  We know that Jesus rose again from the grave and gave to us this victory and this life.  We can rest confident in this truth.  We are the victors because of Jesus.  We know the end; we know the ultimate victory is ours we only have to wait it out.  We wait, patiently as we can, knowing that God is always faithful to his promises.
Father in heaven, you have given us the certainty of your promise in your Word.  Through it we know that our salvation is certain in Jesus guard us with your loving arms that we may always know your peace.  In the precious name of our risen Savior we pray, amen
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret

Monday, March 28, 2016

3-28-2016



Good Morning All!!
           Matthew 28:1; “Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.”
    Easter Sunday was very early this year just about as early as it can be.  So with an early service, it was downright cold at the start of service.  Many of the ladies, young and old alike wore some very pretty Easter outfits but they wore winter coats to get into church.  Easter started a little chilly this year.
    You kind of wonder about the women who went to the tomb early that morning.  I don’t know if it was actually cold but it felt cold.  It had been three days and they were still drained emotionally from the events of Friday.  They had such high hopes.  They had seen and experienced acts of incredible compassion.  People who had been sick for years were healed.  People who had been rejected and tossed away by the religious leaders and by society in general were hearing a voice of hope.  They probably thought that if only the leaders would just actually listen to Jesus everyone would understand.  Yet, all this hope they had fell short and now, early in the morning, they just felt cold.  They felt numb.  Their motions were almost mechanical.  They were going to attend to something that needed to be done.  It was going to be done in the respectful manner.  They needed to properly prepare the body.  They would do as expected, they would tend to the one they loved but it would be difficult.  Their sorrow flowed through them like ice water and left them cold, sad, and lost.
    So when they saw the tomb open and then empty and then they were told that Jesus wasn’t here but he was alive; they were shocked and ran and told the disciples.  As the truth settled in and Jesus appeared to them, they once again were warmed by his presence.  Suddenly, it warmed as their hearts were filled with a new joy and a new hope that went beyond anything they had experienced.  They knew true love, true peace and true hope.  They were no longer cold and dead spiritually but now warm and alive.
    It seemed fitting that by mid-afternoon our temperature was very mild and enjoyable.  The warmth of Easter is felt by all who believe.  We cling to the promise made to us by the risen Savior.  He has promised to give to us life and to give it abundantly.  We have that eternal hope.  We have that warmth, no matter how cold the devil wants us to feel; we have the warmth of God’s love for us.  We have all that we need.  God has remembered us and sent his Son to die and rise again in order to free us from sin and to reclaim us as his eternal family.  He bought us back so we can be brought back into the warm sunlight of his mercy.  The resurrection of Jesus ended the cold reign of death and replaced it with the warmth of his eternal life.
Loving Lord, in your resurrection you have warmed us with your love and mercy.  In you all our hope rests.  Keep us secure in our faith towards you and move us by your Spirit to love one another as you love us.  Give us the voice to proclaim your truth.  This we ask in your loving and precious name, amen,
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret

Sunday, March 27, 2016

3-27-2016



Good Morning All!!
        Matthew 28:6; “He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.
CHRIST IS RISEN!! HE IS RISEN INDEED!!

    As I was watching the NCAA March madness basketball tourney, I was struck by a phrase that one of the announcers made.  One of the teams playing was outsized.  Their opponent had three big, tall players and they only had one tall player.  The game was fairly close and with about 10 minutes left in the game; the team’s lone tall guy fell down and twisted his ankle and left the game.  The announcer said that this event “was a game changer”.  He was right; the team with all the big players scored easily while the other team struggled and soon the game was no longer close.  The announcer was right when the lone big man left the other players tried but could not stop the bigger team.  A game changer: an event that changes everything!
    That is what Easter is all about.  The resurrection of Jesus is a game changer!  The resurrection of Jesus changes everything.  No longer is death the final end.  Death no longer holds the rule of the world.  The devil can no longer threaten you with separation at death.  The devil no longer can plague you with doubts and fears about death and what happens.  Jesus rose from the grave and overcame death and the devil.  Then in what can be seen only as love; he gave that victory to you.  You now have victory over death and the devil; the grave no longer is the end.  For all believers, the grave is simply a place to rest.  It is simply where the body will lay until Jesus returns and all believers will rise from the grave to live with him, body and soul, for eternity.  This changes everything!
    Since we now know we have total victory, we can live as a people of hope.  Nothing that occurs today will ever overshadow the one great truth and that is we have eternal life with Jesus.  The battles of today pale in comparison to God’s eternal plan of your salvation.  This changes everything!  We are now the forgiven and eternal children of God.  We are his beloved children.  God opens his heart to us.  He opens his ears to hear our prayers and opens his arms to give us a safe place to rest, truly rest.  It is our certain hope going forward.    

CHRIST IS RISEN!! HE IS RISEN INDEED!!

Father, through the resurrection of Jesus you have reclaimed us to be your eternal family.  Through your amazing grace, we now have certain hope.  Through your amazing grace, we now have victory and we can live today certain of your love and mercy.  Keep us safe in your arms.  Let us forever know your love.  Reach out to the hurting and the lost.  Bring them to your saving knowledge.  Bring them home. In the precious name of the Risen Savior we pray, amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret