5-31-2016

Good Morning All!! 

        Judges 18:6; “And the priest said to them, “Go in peace. The journey on which you go is under the eye of the Lord.”

     It is always interesting to do a word study in the Bible.  If you don’t know what this is, it is when you take a word and see how many times it is in the Bible, where it is and how the word is used.  I looked at the word “road” and found it 54 times in the ESV translation.  It is used pretty much as you would expect.  It is the thing you walk on or ride a chariot on.  I then looked at “journey” and found it 81 times in the ESV translation.  It is sometimes interesting to see how different translations deal with the word.  The KJV only has road in it once, most of the other times it uses “highway”.  What I found interesting was there is a lot of traveling, moving or motion in the Bible.

    Many times in our life we can look at it as being on a journey.  We can look at our time of life as being on a road.  Sometimes that road is smooth and easy travelling and sometimes it is hilly or bumpy or it looks foggy ahead and we aren’t sure of what lies ahead.  Sometimes we come to forks in the road and we must choose a path or road; do we go left or right?  Sometimes we come to intersections that can drastically change our direction of travel.  A severe illness to you or to a close loved one changes life a lot.  Sudden fortune or misfortune can alter the path as well and we rarely can see very far up the road.  Life is a journey and the road of life has hills, valleys, curves, intersections and poor visibility.  So how do we travel in peace; how do we “go in peace”?     

    We can go in peace because our journey is always under the loving watchful eye of our heavenly Father.  Even when the road is curvy and the view ahead is obstructed, we know that our heavenly Father is keeping a watchful eye upon us.  Even when the trip seems to be at the height of hopelessness, it is never lost because our Father in heaven has his eye on us and, through it all, has plans to prosper us.  This prospering may or may not occur in our desired timeframe but it will occur.  God has promised to always protect us, defend us and to give us peace.  No matter what; we are under his watchful and loving eye.

    There may be times when we don’t want to be under his eye but we always are.  Even in these times God is lovingly seeking us out calling us to come back to the path that He has laid out for us.  God is forever looking to us with a fatherly eye so that we may make our journey of life in peace.

Father in heaven, keep me under your watchful care.  Protect me from all danger.  Nourish me that I may be strong for you.  Lead me by your hand and give me peace on my life’s journey.  Be with those who are struggling and confused on their journey.  Give them the certainty of hope in you.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret        

5-30-2016

       Good Morning All!! 

         Ephesians 2:4-5; “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved”

    Have you ever found yourself keeping a mental tally of when you were a good person or a bad person?  For example, if I went to one of my son’s ballgames; I was good.  When I yelled at the ref; I was bad.  I bring flowers home for my wife; I am good.  If they were for her birthday and it was a couple of days ago; I am bad.  If I say “hi” to a friend in the store; I am good.  If I get to work early; I am good.  If I don’t get my tasks done on time; I am bad. 

    We could go on and on.  Some of the list can get somewhat whimsical but sometimes it can hit a nerve as well.  Some things just irritate or hurt a little too much; especially if I find myself always scoring “bad”.  I try hard but I just can’t seem to score in the “good” zone.  So at the end of the day, when I tally up the total; I am a bad husband, a bad father, a bad son, a bad neighbor; well, you get the point.  At the end of the day it can be pretty depressing.

    Maybe you have stretches of times like that as well.  Sometimes things just seem to be going against us.  It always seems that just as trouble enters our lives; more and more comes our way.  We don’t get a drop of trouble; we get a flood of trouble.  We look at our lives and all we see on our score card is “bad” so we assume that God hates us and is getting even.  At least that is what the devil wants us to think.  The devil likes it when we look at our score card and see we are way behind.  He likes it when we look at life and think that God is evening things out against us.  He likes it when we think “I am just too bad to be loved by anyone including God.”  Once we are thinking this, the guilt and the pain just pile on.

     Sin and the guilt of sin can be very cruel.  They will take events in our lives and turn them into thoughts that we are not good enough to be loved by anyone, especially God.  This is one of the most painful things to think and it is also the most wrong.  The devil is trying to deceive you; don’t let him.

     God loves you very dearly.  Even when we were sinners, he loved us enough to send Jesus to die for us to make us whole again.  We have a hard time comprehending the love that God has for us.  We only have imperfect images to try and convey his perfect love.  God doesn’t look at your score card; he looks at us through Christ as his redeemed children.  So at the end of the day, throw the score card away; God has.  We may struggle at being a good parent, spouse, child, neighbor or whatever but God’s love doesn’t depend on us.  God’s love depends on God and that love goes beyond anything we can ever envision.  So live in the comfort of God’s grace and mercy.  We don’t deserve it but, thanks be to God, we have it.

Dear Father, your mercies roll over us like a flood and we are amazed by them each day.  Give us the peace in our hearts and minds that you have forgiven us and that you hold us near to you.  Watch over, bless us and protect us with your great love.  In Jesus’ name we pray, amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret  

5-29--2016

Good Morning All!! 

       Romans 3:24; “and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,”    

     The sign says “FREE TAKE ONE!” or maybe “FREE FOR THE TAKING!”  What do you do?  Do you take one?  Now I realize that if the sign was on a box of puppies you might think twice but what if it was something you or one of your family members could really use; would you take a free one?  Suppose you were at a garage sale and there was a snowsuit there that would fit your child or grandchild; would you take it for free?

    Many people might balk.  First you might look around and see who is watching but why?  It says it’s free.  Are we afraid someone will see us take something free?  Will they think we are poor?  Will they think we are cheap?  Do we “hear” their remarks, “drives a nice car but is too cheap to buy their kid a snowsuit”; even when no one is there?  Second, we might not really trust the sign.  What if some joker took the sign off of a box of marbles and put it on the snowsuit?  That would be embarrassing.  Third, do we tell ourself that we don’t really need it even though it is only January?

    Strange as it sounds, these are the same reasons that many people refuse the gift of God’s free grace.  There are those who have too much pride.  Their pride may not let them take the gift.  They look around to see who is watching; they worry about what people will say.  Maybe they think it is a trick.  There is no way it is free; it has to cost something.  They may even try to pay for it or even claim that they actually did pay something for it.

    Worst of all there are some who think they don’t need it.  They think they have no need for this wondrous free gift of forgiveness of sins.  They buy into the “I’m ok and you’re ok” there’s nothing wrong with any one.  When we think that we are good enough without any help, we tend to not seek out help.

    God comes to us in his Word and Sacrament offering to us the free gift of His true love.  God, the Creator-Redeemer rescues his created creatures, through the death and resurrection of His Son then freely gives that righteousness to us.  It is a gift that must not be too proud to take, we must not worry about how others view it and above all we need to see that we are truly in need of this salvation and that this is the only way we will receive it.  It will always be a gift; free for the getting.  It is God’s gracious, loving gift to us.

Dear Father, we give you thanks for the gift of our salvation.  Forgive us when we reject this wondrous gift out of our foolish pride.  Keep us mindful of the love that you have for us and strengthen our faith to trust in you.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.           

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

5-28-2016

Good Morning All!! 

             Colossians 3:15; “And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.” 

     In the mid 1970’s, a musician by the name of Harry Chapin had his one number one hit song entitled “Cat’s in the Cradle”.  It is a song about a father who is too busy providing for his family to spend time with his son.  The son tells him that it is ok and that he is going to grow up and be just like him.  In the last verse, the father calls his now adult son to visit and the adult son is too busy and the father realizes that his son is just like him.  It is rather poignant and is a song I encourage new fathers (and mothers) to listen to really closely.

    It is very easy to become too busy.  We strive to do it all and to have it all.  Time; and the management thereof, becomes a most stressing event in our life.  Our schedules are full to overflowing and we look to squeeze more in.  We don’t slow down and because of that and yet we want to have everything.  There comes a time when there is no more time.  God put 24 hours in a day and not matter how important you think you are; you cannot put 25 into one.  But we try and in the end we begin to crack.  The inevitable stress becomes more than we can handle. 

    The release of this stress takes many forms.  It can and will take a tremendous physical toll.  People have ulcers, high blood pressure, heart disease, over eat, under eat, use drugs and alcohol to compensate for the stress.  Sometimes it takes the form of breaking the relationships which are essential to our own well-being.  Like in the song, the father sacrificed his relationship with his son because he didn’t have the time. 

    The truth is we have the time; we just don’t have the priority right.  All of this stress leads away from that golden promise of Jesus; the promise of rest and the promise of peace.  The type of peace only found in Christ.  Take time to breathe and to enjoy the good life which God gives us.  If we stop and look at what God gives us, it is ample and with it we will have time.  Time for our families, time for our rest and above all time to spend with our Lord Jesus is available if we live in peace.  We need to let the way of the world go and live in God’s peace.  We all complain about the rat race and how it literally turns many of us into rats, doing whatever we can to get ahead and for what? A whole bunch of busted; busted bodies and poor health, busted relationships, and above all completely busted lives. 

    The devil and the world want you to race and race.  God wants to give you peace.  We get a choice.  We can receive God’s gift; it is right there on a platter for us.  Take the rest and peace he gives you; you won’t regret it.

Dearest Father, only you can give us peace.  Grant us the faith to grab hold of the peace that you give us.  You move mightily to redeem us and to bless us.  Let us see these are gifts from you.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret