Monday, December 31, 2018

12-31-2018


Good Morning All,
Psalm 37: 7a; “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;”
    Is your household finally returning to normal?  One of my grandsons, who usually likes to go, asked his dad if they got to stay home now.  We hurry so much, especially this time of year.  We seem to be more stressed and more anxious each passing year.
    It seems that much of our life lacks patience.  Partly because we aren’t still before the Lord.  We go around with an iPod going maybe an iPad maybe a cell phone, maybe with the TV on or maybe the computer going or both.  Each of these compete for our attention; each of these trying to be king and ruler of our life.  When we let them be king in our life, we lose patience and we lose sight of God.
    God comes to us every day but it usually is in a small, quiet whisper rather than a large gong.  In order to hear that small, quiet whisper, all the distractions must be gone.  In our hurry-up world that can be tough but the more you hurry up the more we need to take time and be still before the Lord.  We need to take time to listen to what God says to us.
    God speaks to us through the Bible; this is where he reveals himself to us.  We need to be still, be quiet and listen to the small, quiet voice.  God comes to us with words of tenderness and love inviting us back to him away from the noise and the impatience of the world.
    Some like to read this verse as a stern commentary, like when a mother scolds her young child and tells him to, “BE STILL!!”  This is really a very gentle invitation to rest in God’s grace and favor.  Be still; just take a moment to catch your breath.  Take a deep breath and relax.  Wait patiently for the Lord.  We know that God keeps his promises in his own time.  We only have to wait for his grace and mercy.  We wait with the total confidence that God will act.  God has always kept his promises and he always will.  He has promised to hear our prayers and to answer them.  But we must be in conversation with God and a large part of a good conversation involves us listening to what God has to say to us and he does that through the Bible and he does it in a quiet fashion.  We must be still to really hear him.
    How many times have you tried to have a conversation with someone when it was clear that they weren’t listening?  That is one of the most frustrating things we can ever do.  Yet, how many times do we do that to God?  We often “Tell” God what we what, how we want it, when we want it, and don’t be late.  We don’t like the verses that talk about getting our gifts in “due season” or how he provides for “all our needs”.  We have our “wants” and it better be due soon.  So we miss out on some of God’s greatest blessings; the blessing of peace.  Be still; listen quietly to our Lord.  Spend time reading the Bible and hear what God, our heavenly Father, has to say about you. 
Gracious Lord, we have too much noise in our life and it wears us down.  Give us peace to be still and to listen to you and to wait for you.  Give us confidence to trust in your grace that we may live secure in the knowledge of your tender mercy and care.  In your precious name we pray, amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret

Sunday, December 30, 2018

12-30-2018


        Good Morning All,
        Isaiah 32:2, “Each will be like a hiding place from the wind, a shelter from the storm, like streams of water in a dry place, like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.”
    It was a moderate blizzard at best.  We have seen far worse but still, it is an awesome sight.  You look out the window and can barely see and when it subsides enough to go out; we are amazed at the power of the storm, the size of the drifts, the hardness of the snow and the difficulty of getting back to somewhat normal.
   Most of us can relate to this verse at all the levels Isaiah lists.  We have been out in the wind or in a storm and we sought shelter.  We have been out in the scorching heat and wanted some cool refreshing time out of the sun.  We have experienced the cold, the hot, the storms which come our way.
    As we live our life, we have had this in our spiritual, emotional, relational and experiential life.  We have all experienced storms.  Whether it seems big to others or not, it was a storm to us.  It may be the anxiety from taking a test in school, a friendship that slips away, a job that is rocky, finances that are shaky, heath issues, death of loved ones, or even our own approaching mortality; we all experience storms.
    That is probably the biggest mistake many believers face.  Some think that if we are Christians we never have storms that we never need shelter.  This leads to a crisis of faith when we face a storm in life.  The thought process is that IF I am a Christian I will have no storms so if I have storms I must NOT be a Christian.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Sometimes it seems that Christians face more storms than non-believers.  I think it is because we face struggles of faith when we worry about others.  Talk to any Christian grandmother you know, all they do is pray for their grandchildren and face storms about how they live, how they act, how they will live their life of faith.  We all have storms just like the weatherman doesn’t miss wind as a forecast, we will face storms.
    The difference is that we don’t face them alone.  We have a loving God who is our shelter.  We can look throughout Scriptures and see where God id our refuge, our shelter, our hope, our comfort and the list goes on.  Storms will occur but they will never last.  God will heal us, God will guide us, and God will protect us.  We rest in his loving hands. 
    Sometimes, if you are out in a storm, you have to look for shelter.  Yet as a believer, you never have to seek shelter; the shelter seeks you.  God send his Spirit to you to provide you with the comfort that we need.  That comfort may take the form of a friend, or a neighbor or as a Christian brother or sister; shelter from the storm or shade to a weary land.
Heavenly Father, you are our only source of comfort, you alone are our shelter.  Protect us this day and when the storms of life occur, use them to strength our faith and draw us closer to you.  Hold us safely in your arms and give us peace.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray.  Amen
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret 

Friday, December 28, 2018

12-28-2018


Good Morning All,
        Jeremiah 31:33, “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. “
    We recently purchased a TV Firestick.  It allows us to watch a whole lot of television especially some of the old classics (to me, anyway).  I found some British comedies and detective shows; I also found some old favorites like Batman and Emergency plus a whole lot more.  I haven’t seen Emergency since I was in high school.  That is the show about the fire department paramedics in Los Angeles.  They were always saving someone who had a heart attack, at least one per show.
    It is always fascinating to watch shows where one of the characters has a heart attack.  They always show the monitor that shows his heart rate and it always goes flat and plays that one long tone before we see the “blip” on the screen and suddenly he is alright.  Everyone cheers because without the amazing skill of the doctor and his beautiful nurse, the patient would have died.  It is fascinating to think about the flat-line patient.  In the real world, that signals no heart beat; shortly you are dead.  It takes something external to bring him back to the living.  In the earlier shows, it was always a hard thwack on the chest; the later shows used electronic shock paddles but it takes something to bring him back.
    We are the same way before God.  In our sinful state, we are dead; dead in sin.  Nothing we can do can change that.  We need an external force to move us.  That force is the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross on Calvary.  That saving grace which God feely gives to us through faith makes us alive.
     Faith is an amazing thing.  It brings the Holy Spirit and produces new life in us, new life in our hearts.  Now that we have the Holy Spirit living in us; we now have spiritual impulses in this new heart.  The old has passed away; we are new creations.  This is what Jeremiah was referring to when he wrote, “I will write it on their hearts.”  We have the Spirit which will,” bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (John 14:26).  God’s message is written in our hearts and the Holy Spirit reminds us of that fact.  This then gives us the greatest comfort that we can have; we are God’s people.  We are God’s people chosen by him, claimed by him, loved by him and saved by him.         
    God’s mercies, new every day, renew us and bring us new life just like that electric shock brings new life to that heart attack victim.  God gives to us new blessings everyday which he wants us to share with those around us.  In this fashion, we return to the purpose which we created, to live in God’s presence with joyful thanksgiving and with love for our neighbor.  With the new beating heart, we are no longer dead but alive in Hm.
 Dear heavenly Father, we give you thanks for the blessings of this life and the promise of life eternal.  Forgive us when we fail to trust this great mercy which you shower on us.  Keep us close to you safe in your arms.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret