Tuesday, October 31, 2017

10-31-2017



Good Morning All,
    Matthew 11: 4-5; “And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see:  the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them”.
    When our boys were little, we would play a game with them.  We called it “I Spy.”  We would start with the phrase, “I spy with my little eyes” and then go on to describe an object in the room.  We might look at the picture on the wall and say,”I spy with my little eyes something square, with colors of blue and red and green.  I spy with my little eyes something high up and looking down on me.”  Hopefully, they would figure out what we were talking about and point it out to us.
    The essential part is to give good clues.  You try and make them somewhat age specific.  You try so that they are not too easy or too hard.  The clues should provide the answer that you are looking for.  As the boys got older, we tried to make the clues a little harder.  Sometimes we did too good a job.  Sometimes they would be distracted by the television or a hand held game and forget some of the earlier clues.  Then they would get flustered and miss the object that was being spied on.
    Our verse for today is about a man who missed some of the clues.  John the Baptist was in prison and waiting for Herod to kill him.  He had been out and preached the repentance that the Holy Spirit directed him to do.  His was a ministry of about six months’ time and he possibly baptized many thousands of people.  He even identified Jesus as the Messiah, “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”  Yet sitting in prison waiting for your execution can make you miss some of the clues.  He wondered if Jesus was really the one they were waiting for.  He sent some of his disciples to ask Jesus that very question.  What Jesus gave in response are the clues that John had forgotten for the moment.  When he heard these, he was renewed.
    If John the Baptist can miss the clues, you know you and I can.  If John can question while under duress, you and I will also.  But just like John, Jesus keeps reminding us of the clues of his love for us.  He reviews the words of redemption, the words of consolation and the words of hope.  We have his Spirit, grace, blessings, gifts and mercy.  The clues are there even if we get distracted or confused.  God’s grace is revealed to us through the Scriptures.  Sometimes the devil will use whatever means he has to confuse us; sometimes it works.  But God keeps coming to us; showing us his love and grace and bringing us back into his loving arms. 
    We may fall short once in a while but God’s love is always there.  We may miss it because of the distractions that we have but God’s love is still there.   God’s love is always there.
Father of grace, we give you thanks for the blessings of today.  Father we often overlook your love and mercy and fail to see the truth of your grace.  Strengthen us to see your mercy alive in our lives and active in our days.  Help those who are especially missing the signs of your love.  Let them spy on your grace.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret     

Monday, October 30, 2017

10-30-2017



Good Morning All,
         Hebrews 4:15; “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
    I always used to hold to the theory that anyone who was going to teach or coach had to do so in the class that they had the most difficulty.  If, when the teacher was a student, and had trouble with English but had no trouble with math, he should teach English and not math.   The reason for this is because if a teacher does not struggle with a class, he may have difficulty in relating to a student who has trouble with the class.
   I came up with this theory while I was in college.  We had an instructor who was teaching Intro to Math.  It was the most basic of basic math.  Some of the students struggled even with this.  The real problem was that the instructor had taught at the Naval Nuclear Propulsion School the fall before.  His math skills were so far above the students who struggled that he simply could not teach them.  He could not relate to their struggles with math.
    That is part of what our verse is talking about.  Jesus is our high priest.  He came to earth and lived as a man, not a king or a prince or a wealthy landowner but as a man who had to work for a living.  He was a man who was subject to the laws and was even subject to the harassment of the Roman soldiers.  But more than this, he was subject to the frailties of man.  He knew what it was like to have a customer yell at him for some imagined error.  He knew of the pain of hitting your thumb.  He knew about people and their cruel comments.  He knew about being hungry and tired and aching after a hard day’s work.  He knew the temptations of life in a sinful world.  He understands what it means to be human.
    So when we are tempted, or when the life we lead just gets extremely difficult; Jesus understands and will empathize with us.  He knows the struggles.  He knows the emotionally draining effect of one crisis piling upon another.  Even if they are simple or mundane, he understands.  He understands the parent who started the evening with one screaming child but soon escalated into three.  He understands the struggles you have with a boss or a co-worker.  He understands the battles you have with some addiction like alcohol, drugs or porn.  He understands how hard it can be when you have a roving eye.  He knows what and where temptation can hide and the rise to show its ugly face.
    So when we face temptation, we can turn to him in prayer and he will empathize and give us the courage and strength to stand up to the devil and his lies.  He will offer us a way out.  He will show us how to withstand but we must act with faith and we must trust and with prayer seek his help.  He will help; he has promised to care for us.
Father of mercy, we need you every hour.  We need your guidance and support.  We need your Spirit to keep us from temptation.  Give us the strength to withstand the tempter’s power.  Be with those who are especially feeling the devil’s assaults.  Keep them strong.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret    

Sunday, October 29, 2017

10-29-2017



Good Morning All,
     Genesis 3: 19a; “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground”
     We all know what sweat is.  Perspiration is what happens when it is warm or humid and the moisture forms on the body.  Sweat is the result of exertion.  It means that somewhere along the line, it was hard, arduous work.  It was a labor that caused us to groan as we did it and ache when we were done.  Part of that ache was knowing that tomorrow; it would happen again.  It was the price we paid.
    When God first placed Adam in the Garden of Eden, work wasn’t really work.  Tending was more of watching and enjoying.  He didn’t have weeds to pull or thorns to fight.  There was no need for Roundup or 2, 4D.  He didn’t need a hoe or a tiller to clean up the weedy spots.  What he ate was all around him; plentiful, tasty and fresh.  He had it all, literally; until sin stepped in.
    From that point on human existence was changed.  Cracks began to form, problems arose.  When man sinned, creation also paid the price.  Weeds, thorns, droughts, storms and the like appeared.  All of a sudden, eating became a job.  Finding food took work, often extensive work.  It took time as well sometimes meaning food was lacking for a day or two.  It became a lot of work just to eat and survive.  The painful part was that often that sweat, that aching labor would go for naught.  The painstaking planting was destroyed by animals or weather or other people who were stronger and took it away.  Life got tough in a hurry and stayed that way.
    Yet God had a plan from the beginning.  It was to send his Son into the world to sweat for you.  There is a certain symmetry when we read in Luke that as Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, “His sweat became like great drops of blood.”  Jesus did all the hard labor for our salvation.  Jesus did the painstakingly agonizing work of our salvation.  He received the lashes that carried the life blood from his body.  He carried the cross, laboring under its weight until he could carry it no more.  He hung on the cross with the weight of the sins of the world on his shoulders making the labor excruciating.  He died as he could sweat no more as there was nothing left to give.
   Yet in his mercy, he paid that price so you wouldn’t have to.  Through his grace, he gives the victory won, the price paid, the promised mercy delivered so that you might be healed.  He did this so the rip in the relationship with God might be healed.  He poured all the sweat that goes into making a relationship work in so that we might be restored before God.  Through his love, his sweat, we are made whole again.
Father of grace, our life is difficult and hard because of our own sin.  Yet you wonderfully restore us through the love that is Jesus.  Give us the wisdom to trust in your love and in your love alone.  Be with those who are struggling with the battles of life.  As they sweat and struggle send them your Spirit of comfort and hope.  Give to them the certainty of your love.  In Jesus precious name we pray, amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret