6-30-2017

Good Morning All,

               Genesis 12:1; “Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.”

       I remember many years ago when I was in college talking to my grandfather about his parents and uncles and grandparents who left Germany and immigrated to the United States.  They left everything they knew, most of the people they knew and grew up with.  It was possible that a young man or young woman had fallen in love and was suddenly transported to another country far away to never see that person again.  They left their homes and the life they knew for a promise of land and a better way of life.  It must have taken a lot to go, especially the first one.  It might be a little easier if all of your brothers are going, along with a fair number of cousins and friends but what if you were first, or worse, the only one to go; a new land, new neighbors, new customs, new names; it took courage and faith.

    In our verse we see where God spoke to Abram.  We don’t know if it was a dream or a vision or something like the burning bush of Moses but somehow God directed Abram to leave his country and his family to go to a new land that God has promised to Abram and his descendants.  Yet it had to take a lot of faith, and convincing, for Abram to take his wife and his nephew and head out and go where God was directing them to go.  They left all the familiar things in life to go to a brand new land.  It certainly took courage and faith.

    God is leading you to a new land as well.  He wants you to leave the old life behind.  He wants you to leave the sinful existence behind.  For many of us, this can be difficult.  It can mean leaving behind friends, places that we are comfortable at, even perhaps some family members might get left behind.  Yet God calls us to a new land, a new life.  He calls us there for much the same reason he called Abram to go; to get out of a sin-filled environment that might lead us astray.  God wants us to be safe and sometimes a new place is the only way to safety.

    So as you feel God introducing changes into your life, these changes may be God’s way of   telling you to come to a new land, a new country or just a different set of people for you to be with.  The old relationships, the old places to go may be the toxic things that are dragging you down and holding you back.  This may be what is keeping you in sin; you are not leaving the temptations behind.  If you are tempted to drink to excess; stay away from the bars.  If you are prone to gossip, stay away from that coffee klatch.  Go to the new land.

    It might be difficult; it might require a few tries to finally leave the old behind.  Yet the new land that God is leading you into is the land that he has promised; a land of milk and honey.  It is the promised land of our salvation.  It is home.

Father of all wonders, you lead in the paths of righteousness for your name’s sake.  Give me the courage and strength to travel the path you have laid out and to follow as you lead me.  Show me the way to walk with you.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret   

6-29-2017

Good Morning All,

                             Isaiah 40:8; “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.”

       I admit it. At a very certain and basic level I am a cynical, skeptical pessimist.  This is especially true with almost any guarantee that comes with a product that I purchase.  I feel a little sorry for the poor salesperson who tries to sell me the “extended warranty.”  If they ask me if I want it, I say “no, thank you.”  If the salesperson is smart enough to let it go everything will be fine but it never takes long if they keep trying to sell me the “you simply can’t live without this warranty”; I start to get a little growly.  One time, I didn’t buy the product I took up to the sales counter because the gal won’t take no for an answer when asking about the warranty.

    I didn’t used to be such a cynical, skeptical pessimist.  I used to follow the rules.  I kept the sales receipt.  I kept the original box.  I sent in the paperwork.  Yet after a few fails, I could never remember where I put the box or where the sales receipt.  A couple of times, the company went out of business.  A couple of times, the store where I bought it went out of business and there was no way to return it to the “point of purchase.” A couple of times, the salesman never stopped again to make sure everything was working right.  It took a few times of the “lifetime warranty” to fall through that I stop believing in guarantees.

    This is part of what our verse is telling us.  The verse before this tells us that people are like the grass.  People fade away.  The promises, the guarantees, the “absolute certainties” that many a man claims to speak or possess tend to fade away.  We see that all around us.  Are eggs healthy or unhealthy this week?  Is coffee healthy or unhealthy this time around?  When I was in high school in the mid 1970’s, scientists told us we were entering the next ice age; we were experiencing a global cooling; now we have global warming.  They may be right or they may be wrong but I am not going to get too excited because they will certainly change.

    Man’s thoughts may be correct or incorrect but God’s Word stands the firm forever.  God’s Word never fails.  Through His Word, God promises and delivers to us eternal life.  He promises and delivers to come into our life and to bring to us healing.  He promises and delivers to bring about the restoration of his creation to perfect completion.  We are his people; we are safe within his loving embrace.  God’s Word is forever; we can trust that to be true.  God has always kept his promises and he always will.

Father of all mercy, you alone stand forever.  You alone are the only truth as all others wither away.  Your Word stands forever.  In it we have hope.  We ask that you guard and protect those who are listening to the false promises of this world and are confused and lost.  Bring them safely back into your loving kingdom.  In the precious name of Jesus, our risen Savior we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

6-28-2017

Good Morning All,

                   1 John 4:18; “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.”

       I remember as a kid I would stay up late on Friday nights and watch the old movies that used to come on after the 10:00 local news.  They were usually from the 1950’s and earlier; a lot of times they were black and white.  Once in a while they would be foreign.  This was my first experience with the mouths moving but not matching the words.  There were a variety of movie types.

    One that I vividly remember starred Vincent Price, Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing.  It was entitled “Scream and Scream Again.”  I sat there and watched the whole thing and then sat in my bedroom with the light on all night.  That was one of the scariest movies that I have ever watched.  I still think the old movies are scarier than the new ones.  The old ones relied on camera angles, careful editing and solid acting.  Today it relies on computer graphics and effects.  Yet as I watched that old Vincent Price movie; I was very afraid.

     There may be different times that you were very afraid and not have anything to do with a movie.  Sometimes the most fearful events occur in real life; events that can cause us to leave a light on all night and to sit in fear.  It might be a sudden illness or a sudden death.  It might be a prolonged illness.  It might be a loss of a job.  For some it is actually a stretch of time where their life is going fairly smoothly.  These folks are just waiting for life to turn against them.  We live in fear and we live in fear because we fear punishment.  We fear punishment for sins we have committed.  We know these sins and the devil knows these sins and he reminds us of them any chance he gets.  We live in fear.

    Yet Jesus came to remove the fear.  Jesus came as God’s perfect love faced all the challenges that we face, even facing down the devil and death itself with God’s perfect love.  In that perfect love, whole and complete, God displayed that perfect love by giving the victory that Jesus earned over death and the devil to us.  He gives us the victory and along with that he gives us love and peace.

    Yet since we are not yet perfect, we still experience bouts of fear.  We still fear even when we know that we have nothing to fear.  When this fear occurs, we can only look to God, clinging solely and totally to his grace.  When we cling to God, through faith, we trust his perfect love to conquer our fears.  It is we have and it is all we need.  Our imperfect love will fail but thanks be to God that he gives to us the victory.

Father, when my fears arise; lead me to look only unto you.  Guide me by your Spirit to rely on you.  Be with those who are in fear right now.  Calm their fears, give them peace.  Lead them into your wondrous light.  This we ask in the precious name of Jesus our risen Lord, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

6-27-2017

Good Morning All,

                           Isaiah 41:9; “you whom I took from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, “You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off”

       “Mr. Irrelevant.” This is the title they give to the very last person selected in the NFL draft.  The 256^th player drafted to play in the NFL.  You get the impression that the janitor is sweeping the floor; the lights are being shut off; they are taking down the signs; the reporters are gone except for the one who fell asleep in the back; the draft is over except for this last pick.  This guy rarely lasts more than a couple of weeks and then he is cut from the team.  He only gets picked because this is the number of picks that are made.  The first 100 or so picks will all get a good opportunity to play professional football but this guy usually goes home to his normal job.  He will always have a little memory of the chance to play but the reality is that he is not good enough to play.

    That is how the devil wants you to think of yourself; as “Mr. Irrelevant.”  First he wants you to think that you are not even close to being good enough for salvation and, if you have a shot at all; it won’t last.  As soon as God knows you, he will cut you from the team.  The devil wants you to always think of past mistakes and past failures.  The devil wants you to think “if God knows how bad I really am; he’ll kick me out tomorrow.”  The devil wants you to think that your only chance is to hide from God and be left alone.  The devil wants to lead or drive you to the ends of the earth, to get away from God.  The devil wants you to run and to never stop running; looking for some place to hide.

    Yet God does not view you as “Mr. Irrelevant.”  God chose you and he will not cast you off. 

He sent Jesus, born as a man to live the life of a man.  He ate, he drank, he slept, he felt sadness, he knew pain and sorrow.  Jesus knows every fear, pain, sorrow, disappointment or rejection that you have ever experienced.  He knows your life but more importantly he knows your heart.  He places his Spirit in you so that you may desire Him; that you may desire to follow God’s will.  He forgives your sin and forgets your past so that you may live in his holy and loving presence.

    You will never be irrelevant to God.  You are the one who Jesus came to earth to redeem from sin, death and the tyranny of the devil.  God chose you; it was no accident or mistake, God chose you because he loves you.  He chose you and because of his constant grace; he will never abandon you.  He will never leave you to face the devil by yourself.  You never need to face your fears, your sorrows, your pain by yourself.  You are important to God.  Trust his love and mercy; it is always there for you to give you hope.

Gracious Father, your mercies are new every day.  You lift me up from the pit to live with you in your loving arms.  Protect me from the devil and his assaults.  Keep me safe in the shadow of your wings.  We ask that you defend all those who are under attack at this time.  Keep them secure in the certainty of your grace.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret   

6-26-2017

Good Morning All,

              Matthew 7:3; “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?”

    I remember a time in college when my roommate and I were not getting along very well.  I didn’t really know what was going on.  All of a sudden he was real grumpy.  Every morning I would get up and get ready for class.  Now it was an 8:00 am class but I would roll out of bed and down the hall to the showers.  I would take my clothes and dress there and only return to the room to get my books and coat and leave my towel.  I had done the same thing the semester before and it didn’t faze him but now, he was grumpy.  I remember going to class and wondering what his problem was.  I thought maybe he was spending too much time downtown at the local establishments, getting in too late and maybe this was his problem.

    I kept wondering how I would deal with this issue.  I liked the guy I had for a roommate.  He was funny and friendly.  He didn’t demand anything; he was a “live and let live” kind of guy.  All of a sudden, he wasn’t.  Maybe he had some disease or was going through some traumatic life altering event.  Whatever the problem was, it had to be his; I couldn’t think of anything that was different this semester from the last semester.  I can remember praying that God would fix him so everything would be right.

   One day, I was doing some reading so I decided to make some coffee.  I filled and plugged in my percolator.  It soon started doing its thing.  GURGLE, GURGLE, SWOOSH!!  GURGLE, GURGLE, SWOOSH!  My roommate walked in just as it was going.  I said, “Man that thing is sure noisy.”  He said, “yeah, every morning.”  I then realized I would often start the coffee maker, go to the shower and then come back and take a cup of coffee to class.  It perked while I was gone but he was trying to sleep.  He didn’t need to change; I did. 

    There are many times when we seem to be at odds with our spouse, family, friends or co-workers.  We are quick to ask God to “change them and fix their mistakes so things can get back to normal.”  We may even think that they may be beyond hope.  Yet how often do we try and see it from their point of view?  We are quick to place the blame on someone, anyone, but on our own actions.   Yet deep down, we know that we are all sinful and that we probably play a part in the friction.

  So God invites us to pray and to repent.  He then calls us to go to our brother and to fix the problem.  Even before we worship him at his holy altar, God calls us to reconcile with our brother.  To God, healing this relationship is that important; that God would have us wait in our worship until we have healed the rupture. 

Father of grace; lead me to see that failures in relationships can only be healed by your love and grace.  Guide me to apply your grace to those around me especially to those whom I have offended and hurt.  Lead us to forgive those hurts and to let them go.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret