9-30-2018

Good Morning All,

         Luke 17:5; “The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

     I like to watch football on TV. I prefer college to professional.  Even way back when I was in high school and college, I preferred college to professional.  So early in our marriage, just as VCRs came onto the market, I tried to record the college game and then watch it later.  This way I could get some work done on Saturday and then either Saturday night or Sunday afternoon, I would watch the game.  It sounded like a good plan.

    The trouble was trying to not hear the final score of the game.  It is amazing how, when you don’t want to hear something, it was on the radio or on the TV all the time.  If I had wanted to know the score, it would have probably never been on but it was and often.  So, more often than not, I knew the final score of the game before I began to watch it.  At first, that may sound somewhat boring.  If you know who wins, why watch?

     What became interesting were the games that the team that won was way behind at one point.  It was something to watch them mount their comeback.  There were more than a few games that I would think; “I know that this team will win but I sure don’t see how.”  There were times, I really questioned whether the news reporter had told me the right score.  At times it looked like they were wrong but in the end; they were always right.

     We, as Christians, are sort of in the same boat.  We know how our life and the world will end.  It ends with a beginning, a new beginning with the resurrection and the life everlasting.  We will live eternally, with god, just like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.  We will live victoriously forever.  We know how it ends but there are times, if we look around, we wonder how it could possibly happen.  We are banged around and buffeted by the world.  We look around and our faith is under attack and we wonder how it can possibly all work out.  When we have times like that, we need to turn to God and ask, “Increase our faith!”

    We know who the victor is; we need to have stronger faith that this is the way it will go.  Having stronger faith will allow us to weather the storms of life with far more confidence.  It makes it easier to see the end of the game.  We can live confident that any setback now, no matter how huge it looks now, is only a minor twist in the journey of our life.  God has promised us victory and we can cling to that promise with all the certainty that there is.  To see the victory assured before the game is even played is what faith is about.  We know we will win because God has promised it.  We can see the victory and we can see it clearer with a stronger faith; so we pray, Lord, increase our faith!

Father of mercy, increase our faith!  Draw us closer to you so that we may cling tighter to you.  Give to us the clear eyes of faith to see the victory we have because of your grace.  Be with those who are struggling at this time.  Preserve them by your loving arms.  Give them the assurance that they too will share in the glorious inheritance with you in life everlasting.  In the precious name of Jesus, our risen Savior, amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

9-29-2018

 Good Morning All,

              Deuteronomy 10:18; “He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing.”

     The singer James Taylor released a song in 1971 called “You’ve got a Friend.”  It is a song about the singer telling his friend that he could call him at any time.  It was supposed to convey a message of "a universal, sisterly/brotherly, agape-type love of one human being for another, regardless of gender.”  That is kind of a tall order but it is one that you and I as Christians should be familiar with. 

     So do you need a friend?  Can you be a friend?  That is always the question before believers.  It speaks to the second layer of being a Christian and that is “love your neighbor as yourself.”  Christianity does not occur in a vacuum, which was quite different from the other religions that existed at the time of Christ.  The Greeks, and by extension the Romans, had separated belief from ethics.  The Greek and Roman idols placed no type of ethical requirements on their worshippers; they simply wanted offerings.  It was from the philosophic thinkers that the idea of ethics was derived.  Judaism had deteriorated into a religion that only required ritualistic actions but no faith.  So when the teachings of Christ connected our faith life and its relationship between God and man to man’s relationship with each other, some would think this was a new idea or teaching.

    In fact, this teaching is as old as Genesis.  It is part of what “being human” means.  From the very creation of Adam and Eve, “to be human” meant three things; to worship and praise God, to take care of God’s creation and to take care of each other.  So taking care of each other is an essential part of what makes us truly human.  This is how God designed us but sin destroyed that.  Now, through the new life that we receive from Christ, we are “becoming human” again.  Instead of our desire being for our own selfish wants, God’s Spirit instills in us a desire to love and care for others.

    So God calls us to live as humans, to care for each other, especially those who are in greatest need.  We see basic humanity as for all, not just the wealthy or the beautiful, but for all of God’s creatures.  It is the love that God showed us.  He loved us at our most broken and crushed days.  He continues to love us as the world and the devil continues to try and crush us and break us down.  He picks us up and cleans us off and comforts all our pain.  He provides for us in all that we need.  For this we thank and praise him.

     Yet God is making us human again, we love one another, we come to each other’s aid and we comfort one another; most of the time.  Sin still rears its ugly head and causes us to hate and despise or to experience apathy and callousness.  Yet God Spirit keeps calling us back to him and back to being human.

Gracious Lord, in you we find our hope, our security, our humanity.  Help us to find and to keep our true humanity.  Help us to love and care for one another.  Be with those who are broken and hurt and in need of our compassion and move us to show that same compassion that you gave us.  In Jesus’ name, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret            

9-28-2018

Good Morning All,

         1 Timothy 2: 3-4; “This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior,  who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

        Over the last few years we have read about or seen on the news about people, or groups of people who claim that God hates someone.  It might be homosexuals, or abortionists, or pedophiles, or any one of a number of other people.  When these comments start showing up there is a firestorm of protest.  It seems that the idea that God hates causes people to come completely unglued.  It is true that God hates but we must be careful in how we read it.

    Scripture tells that God hates, he abhors, he finds things detestable.  There are plenty of verses that tell us that.  Yet we also have verses like the one we have today that show that God wants all people to be saved.  So how do we balance these two thoughts?

    So what does God hate?  God hates sin.  God hates sin and what it does to the relationship between God and man.  Sin separates us from God’s love.  Sin corrupts God’s perfect creation causing all the pain, destruction and death.  Sin leads us away from God’s perfect harmony and into a life of selfishness and greed.  Sin leads us to turn our back on God and despise all the he does for us.  Sin leads us to run from God and seek after other gods of our own making.  God hates sin because it leads us to harm one another and to harm his creation.  God hates sin because it pollutes, corrupts and destroys the creation and the creatures which he created to be perfect.

    God does not hate people; his desire is for all to be saved.  Yet God abhors sin and what sin is and what sin does to us.  But in his mercy, he forgives sin.  He forgives sin because by his very nature; God loves us.  If God hated us, we would be long since destroyed.  Yet God did not destroy us, rather he went the other way; he redeemed us.  He bought us back at a terrific price, the death of his only son.  All out of love for you.  We know that God hates our sin because of what it does to us and to our love for him.  We know God hates our sin because of what sin does to our relationships with our fellow man.  We know God hates our sin which causes us to abuse his creation.  Yet we know, without a doubt, that God loves us.

    So we can see that God does not hate us, rather he hates what is separating us from hid love and benevolence.  So no matter how horrible you think the sins you committed are, no matter how much you think God might hate you; he doesn’t.  He is pained and saddened that the perfect relationship that man once had with him is now broken but it is being restored, one heart at a time.  God’s love for you is immeasurable.  He wants you to be with him, in his kingdom for eternity; that’s a promise!!

Father of love, we come to you praising your name for the mercy you show us.  Through you we know love.  Send your Spirit to those who experience only hate.  Be with them and give them your comfort and your peace.  Lead them to know your love.  In the precious name of Jesus, our risen Savior, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret