7-31-2017

Good Morning All,

2 Samuel 22:36; “You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your gentleness made me great.”

     There is a story of a brave man who, as he was driving home from work, noticed some children playing in an old abandoned building.  Just as he drove by, there was a huge explosion and he saw the building erupt in fire.  He stopped and ran inside to find the children.  By the time he found them the exit was blocked by the flames.  He remembered the old building had a huge furnace in the basement.  He herded the children into the walk-in furnace and pulled the huge iron door shut.  Inside that old furnace, they were safe from the inferno around them.  The man comforted the children telling them that they were safe and would soon be back with their families.  They were shielded from certain death and kept calm by the man’s gentle nature.

    This is what God does for us.  He shields us from certain destruction.  He saw our pain; he saw our danger and rescued us.  Jesus experienced our pain.  He walked among us to give us hope.  He gives us salvation.  His death on the cross paid for our sins.  His resurrection from the grave sealed the promise of our resurrection.  We are shielded from the fire that the devil hurls at us.  We are protected from the wickedness that the world tries to pour out upon us.

    Even in this salvation, God is gentle with us.  He calls us by his Word.  His Spirit continually guides us back into the safety of his shield of mercy.  It is here that we are kept safe from the fire of the devil.  Regardless of the many ways that the devil tries to attack us; we are under God’s shield.  The fears and uncertainty of this life and covered by God’s grace.  He calls you to listen to his Word of grace.  He calls us to be comforted by his tender words of forgiveness.  He shields us by his tender love and mercy.  Our hope is secure.  We can trust this shield.

    Because of God’s mercy, because of this shield, we can stand tall; we are great.  We can stand up to the devil and his attacks.  We can see his attacks for what they are; they are lies.  God loves you and wants you to be his child.  God desires that you live under him in his kingdom, safe and secure.  This is what God’s shield does for us; it gives us the comfort we need in the battles that the devil launches at us.  God shield protects you from all the devil throws at you.  Behind his shield, you are safe.

    We can hide be this shield, comforted by the gentleness of God’s loving mercy.  We can hide there, safely until we are reunited with him in eternal paradise.  We can trust him to protect us from all that we face.  We can trust him to bring us the shield that is our salvation.

Gracious Father, your mercies are new to us every day.  Guard us by your shield of mercy that we may have salvation.  Be with those who are struggling with the battles of this life and feel that they are fighting this struggle on their own.  Save them by your mercy.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret  

7-30-2017

Good Morning All,

                Hebrews 4:9; “So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God”

     After a long day of work, we are often tired.  We lie down and sleep.  We rest but often times it is not a full or complete rest.  We wake the next day and sometimes let out a huge sigh as we think of the day ahead.  We think of the project that we had begun a few days ago and now we are in the middle and we still have a few days left until the project is complete.  We sigh as we see the end no closer than the distance we have already travelled.  We have rested some but not completely.  We only get the complete rest when the project is done.  Then we can rest the rest of completeness.

    This is the type of rest that God gives to us, the rest that he took on the Sabbath.  It was the rest of completion; it was the rest of perfection, of wholeness.  This is not the rest of the weary; this is better.  This is the rest received when a task is finished; when the job is done.  It is the rest of satisfaction at a work completed and a task finished.  This is the rest that God had when he completed creation.  He wasn’t weary from the task; he was satisfied for all was “very good” and existing as he designed it.

    The good news of the Sabbath is that we are invited to participate in this rest.  To live in perfect equilibrium between the outgoings and incomings of the life; to a contented heart; to peace that passes all understanding; to the repose of the will in the will of God; and to the calm of the depths of the nature which are undisturbed by the hurricanes which sweep the surface, and urge forward the mighty waves. This rest is holding out both its hands to the weary souls of men throughout the ages, offering its shelter as a harbor from the storms of life. This is God’s will and invitation for us and to us.

    So when life struggles are great, we look forward to God’s blessings.  We can look to him in complete confidence that we will have rest.  We have contentment far deeper than this world can grasp.  It is a peace that the world can never offer or understand.  It is God’s holy rest and we are partakers in it.  We are partakers because Christ went before us, completing our work of salvation, entering his rest so that we would also enter into our rest.

   No matter how great the task here on earth, no matter how grueling the job is; God’s rest waits for us.  No matter what the devil or the world tries to throw upon our backs, in an effort to cause us to work ourselves to exhaustion; God holy rest is there for you.  You can rest secure in the certainty that your victory is won and your salvation is secure.  You can rest in the contentment of the task completed.  We can recline in God’s loving arms, knowing that we are safe.

Gracious Father, in you we have rest.  Give us the comfort and the contentment of your loving arms.  Father, there are many who do not know your rest; they only know the rest that the world deceives them with.  It is not rest; it is a lie.  Bring them into your Sabbath Day’s rest.  Bring them to the knowledge and faith of their salvation.  This we ask in the precious name of Jesus, our risen Savior, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret  

7-29-2017

Good Morning All,

                      Psalm 103: 2 &4; “Bless the Lord… who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy”

       “The pit”; it conjures up images of despair.  In many of the old prisoner of war movies or in the old western prison movies, they had “the pit”.  It was a place of punishment, usually not big enough to stand in, usually an actual hole in the ground.  In the movies in the southwest United States or in the south Pacific, they are hot.  In the war movies in Europe, they are cold. Usually, at some point, the hero of the movies will rescue someone from the pit and save their life.  Of course, that is what heroes do.

     As sinful creatures, we live a life in the pit.  It is dirty, dark, dank and very uncomfortable.  It is lonely and filled with despair.  We are in the pit and fear everything and we live with no hope.  This is the condition in which Jesus finds us. It is from the pit that we are rescued.  Jesus came to us and saved us just as we were.  We were dirty and despised; yet Jesus did not turn away from us.  We were and never are too dirty for Jesus to reach out to us and to save us.  We can take comfort in that; there is nothing about you that makes you unlovable to God.

    Now we see the next step, Jesus doesn’t leave us as he found us; we are cleaned up ad lifted from the pit.  We don’t have to live in the fear that the devil can keep dragging us back to the pit; we are free from him.  We are free to walk the journey that God has given to us. He does not want us to live in the pit; he frees us from the darkness and the hopelessness.  Jesus gives us hope and peace.

   So why is it that we so often return to the pit?  Why do we return to the pain and destruction?  Often it is because that is the only life we know.  We mistakenly think that we belong there.  We tend to see it as our “lot in life” and nothing is further from the truth.  Jesus frees us from that pit of despair, from that pit of hopelessness; so why go back?  Jesus lifts us from the pit and we never have to go back, we never to live in that despair. 

    Jesus came to us to give us hope; hope that can wash away our despair.  We can live knowing that our future is secure and that God goes with us on our journey to give us comfort and to hear our fears and to share in our life.  He goes with us to protect us and to guide us.  He goes with us to remind us of the loving promises that He has made to us.  We are his children and his desire is that we live in joy and contentment in his kingdom.  We are his people.  It is by his mercy that we are out of the pit.  It is by his grace that we have the peace that God grants to us.

Gracious Father, we give you thanks for freeing us from the pain of the pit of despair.  We give you thanks for the wonderful freedom that you give us.  Be with those who are still in the pit.  Give them the certainty of their hope in you.  Keep them safe in your arms and guide them by your Spirit.  In the precious name of Jesus, our risen Savior, we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret