Thursday, October 31, 2019

10-31-2019


 Good Morning All,
   John 15:15; “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.
    It is always funny to listen to people; especially when there is something interesting going on.  Someone has a cousin in the sheriff’s department while someone else has a brother who is on the county commission.  All of this will give us the “true, inside information”.  We can know the “real facts” because we know someone, you know, important.  It gets even better when we need something and we “know” someone who can make it easier or quicker or, best of all, cheaper.  We all like to know someone, or better, have a friend in a position of some authority that we can call on when we need a little extra help.
    Garth Brooks liked his friends in low places but most of us want a friend in a high place; a place of power and influence.  We want someone who can take the time and the effort to help us in some difficult or perplexing situation.  It might be as simple as a friend with a pickup truck to help us haul something to someone who understands some confusing zoning law or someone who can get us cheap seats on an airplane or an introduction to someone famous.   We like friends in high places.
    This is what we have in Jesus; we have a friend in the highest place of all, at God’s right hand.  We have an “in” as in we have someone who is pleading our case before God.  We have someone who is serving as our high priest, praying for us at all times.  We have a friend who understands our struggles, the everyday battles that wear us down and beat us up.  We have that friend, the one who always knows when we are sad or worried.  Yet this friend can actually do something about it.  He comes to us in His Word to give us hope.  He came to this world to give his life that we might have eternal life.  Now that is a true friend!
    This friend now is seated at the right hand of God and has been given the name to which every knee shall bow.  This greatest of all King of kings is our friend.  He wants us to succeed; he wants us to live with him and share with him in his eternal kingdom.  He has promised us this wonderful gift.  While we wait for this gift to come to completion, he gives us the peace to always know that He is with us; to defend us from the wiles and cunning of the devil.  Jesus offers us the hope of eternal Sabbath, a rest that restores and refreshes us; all this from a friend, and not just any friend, but from our greatest friend.  All of this we receive because of his great love for us. 
    Jesus came to give us life, hope, peace, comfort and love; this is the definition of what a friend will do for those whom he loves.  This is Jesus; this is your savior!
Gracious Lord Jesus, we thank you for being our friend.  We thank you for coming into this world to redeem us and bring us into your holy family.  Keep us ever safe in your arms and defend us we pray.  Be with those who are especially vulnerable at this time.  Give them your Holy Spirit to defend.  In your precious name we pray, amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret

Wednesday, October 30, 2019

10-30-2019


        Good Morning All, 

    Luke 22: 31-32a; “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.”

    “Sift you like wheat.”  This is a reference to how farmers at the time of Jesus would finish the harvest of wheat.  First the farmer would go out into the fields and with a scythe cut down the wheat and stack it into bundles which were then carried up to the thrashing floor.  Here the farmer would take the bundles and then beat them against the floor in order to loosen the kernels of wheat.  After they did this, they would then take a winnowing fork and throw the wheat, chaff, broken straw mixture into the air.  The wheat would fall to the floor as the chaff would blow away in the wind. 

    This was a rigorous process.  Yet, in the end, all you have is kernels of wheat but it can be a very, very stressful event especially on the wheat.  It gets thrown up into the air and then crashes to the floor only to be tossed up into the air again.  It is a trying and tumultuous event for the wheat but it is necessary to separate the wheat (the necessary part) from the chaff (the waste).  This also happens in our life, sometimes very painfully.

    Many of you have experienced being sifted.  There are times in our lives when our faith is shaken to the very core.  The death of a child will rock you like an earthquake.  Sometimes, the stress from our everyday life shakes us.  Health issues in our family, especially big ones, can really shake you.  Placing a parent or a spouse in a nursing home can make you shudder.  Having your job disappear can be devastating.  Having the company that you worked for all your life suddenly go bankrupt and take your retirement with them can really hurt.  Put two or three of these together and you are sifted.

    When being sifted our confidence can be shaken.  One thing that it does is that it can cause us to seek our god.  Luther defines a god as “That from which we seek our ultimate source of security, that which we cling to with all our heart.”  So, what is your god?  Is it your money, your intellect, your spouse, your parents, your government, just plain you?  What is your god?  Because when we get sifted, the chaff all the false gods, blow away in the wind.  Finally, we are left with only the kernels.  Only the true God, Yahweh the triune God, is left and that is all we can cling to.

    So, we cling to the God who died for us, we cling to the God that redeemed us and we cling to the God that loves us and promises to never forget us.  So, if you are being sifted, pray for God’s grace, talk to your brothers and sisters in Christ and remember who your only source of hope and security is and that is Christ.  You will be sifted, maybe many times, but through them all God holds you close and protects you from the devil and his attacks.

Father, we often feel sifted.  Protect us from all that the devil throws at us and keep us safe.  Give us the certainty of your hope, the certainty of your grace and the wonder of your comforting Spirit.  Be with those who are currently being sifted.  Give them the consolation they need and the comfort of your saving grace.  In Jesus precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

10-29-2019


Good Morning All, 

    Ephesians 2:8; “God saved you through faith as an act of kindness. You had nothing to do with it. Being saved is a gift from God”

    Everyone loves to receive gifts.  We look forward to receiving items from our loved ones.  It can be things as simple as a card or a flower.  When our sons were little, we used to wrap up socks and t-shirts at Christmas time so they would have a few more presents under the tree.  They were excited about them.  We all love to receive presents and some are especially meaningful.

     Many years ago, my in-laws gave me a hand-crafted chess board.  It was made by an older member of our church out of the wood from the trees that grew around his farm.  This older member died a couple of years later.  This gift is special because of who gave it and who made it.  Another special gift I have received is from my father.  He gave me the pocket watch my grandfather received when he was confirmed.  I keep this in a special place and hope to give it to my grandson when he is confirmed.  Yet the most precious gift that I have ever received is the love and companionship of my wife of over 35 years.  It is the best gift I have.  I need it and rely on it each day.  Even at those times when I don’t treasure it as I should, it is irreplaceable.  

    Some gifts we receive and we treasure them.  Some we toss away and some we hide in the closet.  So how do you view your salvation?  Being saved is a gift from God but do you truly appreciate it?

    Do you take that gift and use it every day, relish it, cherish it and rely on it all the time?  Do you take it and place it on the shelf of your closet, out of sight and out of mind?  This is a choice we have.  God’s salvation is a tremendous gift; it gives to us each day.  God’s salvation brings us into God’s family, reconciling us back to him.  We receive his love, his comfort; he listens to us and gives us hope even at those times when we don’t treasure it as we should.  God gives us this faith to trust his salvation to allow us to cope with each day. 

    The devil and our own sinful nature loves to drag us down and to see our life as empty and without meaning or hope but God uses our faith to encourage us, to help us see and understand that we are his children, loved by a gracious God.  This is a gift that keeps giving but only helps us today if we use it today.  Too often we think of God’s grace and salvation as being good when we die; the truth is God’s grace is there for you right now; there is no need to wait.  It provides for us this very minute.

    It is also a gift which, when you possess it, you should share it with those whom you love.  Share with them the certainty of salvation, the comfort for today and the promise of tomorrow.

Gracious Father, you give to us the greatest gift through your Son Jesus.  You give us life and hope.  Give us the wisdom to use this gift every day.  Give us the presence to trust this wonderful gift and to keep it precious in our life.  Lead us to share this gift with those around us, especially those most in need of your care.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret 

Monday, October 28, 2019

10-28-2019


Good Morning All, 

        Exodus 20:12; “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”

    A student is listening to his history teacher and thinks to himself “What an idiot!”  An employee looks at his boss and thinks to himself “What an arrogant jerk!”  A woman finishes talking to her mother and thinks “Another crazy old lady!”  We do it all the time.  Sometimes we don’t even think about it.  We curse under our breath as someone blocks the bread aisle in the grocery store.  We roll our eyes and quietly mutter when the person ahead of us in the checkout line gives the checker girl a wad of coupons.  You can almost hear Aretha Franklin in the background “R..E..S..P..E..C..T, find out what it means to me.”

    As we look at our verse, and really the whole of the Commandments, they all involve one basic element: respect.  The Commandments show us how to live with respect for each other.  Far too often we look at the 10 Commandments as “Law” what we have to do to please God.  Yet this is only partially how we should look at them.  It might do us better if we look at them as what they do to live in harmony with each other.

     After sin entered the world, man soon turned against man.  The story of Cain and Abel is the first story after Adam and Eve’s fall, it is not a coincidence.  Immediately, man went from seeking companionship and a healthy relationship to a creature that sought to control, manipulate and seek only self-serving pleasure.  So, when God brought Israel to Mount Sinai, he had to re-teach them how to behave as loving, children of God should act.  He had to teach them how to live a life that would be fulfilling, one of contentment, one of peace and promise.  So he gave them, and us, the 10 Commandments as guidelines or rules for a good life, one filled with the contentment and joy that God has designed for us.

     What would be nice for the world, actually best for the world, is to see that our relationship with others should be built on respect.  Before we can love, like, or even tolerate another person, we need to respect each other.  Basic respect is the very building block of all our relationships; without that we have nothing.  God, through the 10 Commandments, shows us that.  It is his truth and we need to accept this for what it is; the beginning of living in his kingdom.  Without respect, we have nothing but pain and sadness.  The devil sees to this.  God calls upon you and me to treat each other with respect as the basic block to build our relationships on.  Through God’s grace, we can become the people that God designed us to be.  We can live together in peace and contentment.

Dear Father, your will for us is that we may live a healthy life content and meaningful.  Give us the wisdom to follow your commands.  Teach us to love, teach us to respect each other as you love and respect us.  Guard us by your grace.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret   

Sunday, October 27, 2019

10-27-2019


Good Morning All, 

    John 13:35; “Everyone will know that you are my disciples because of your love for each other.”

    Some of my favorite songs are ballad love songs; I cry every time.  Marty Robbins has some of the best especially “My Woman, My woman, My Wife;” that has to almost be the best.  The funny thing was that in the mid-70’s every hard rock group had at least one love song.  KISS had “Beth”, Styx had “Lady”, Alice Cooper had “I’ll Never Cry”.  Love ballads have always been the staple of country western forever.  Like one wag once noted, if you play a country western song backwards; the wife comes back, the dog comes back to life, it quits raining and I get my job back.   

    We are fascinated by love songs just as we are fascinated by the whole idea of love.  Yet what does “love” mean?  We use the word so freely that, for some, it has very little meaning.  I love my job, I love my wife and I love pizza; are these all the same?  Most would say “no” but some might not be so sure.  So, what is love?

     Our verse is part of the “Upper Room” discourse in John.  This took place on Maundy Thursday just before the institution of the Lord’s Supper and then Jesus’ arrest.  Jesus told his disciples to “love one another” this was his “new commandment”.  Everyone will know by the love we have that we are His disciples, but what does this mean?  It simply means to forgive and to not judge.

    We show our love best by forgiving each other.  Forgiveness is a lifelong process; it is critical to becoming a disciple of Jesus.  For some, this is the hardest thing to learn.  We end up forgiving the same offense over and over but that is love; to forgive and then move forward.  This is what God does for us; He forgives us and then we move forward, onward in our journey with him.  This is how we continue in our journey with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ; we forgive and move forward.

    The second is to not judge one another.  Never look at someone else’s situation and think “Well, they had it coming”; “That is what happens with bad choices”; “You reap what you sow”.  We never truly know why someone is in the situation that they are in; what we do know is that God wants us, his Church, to reach out to each other and help to heal.  We are to share with each other, the physical needs of food and water and shelter as well as the emotional need of caring and comforting as well as the spiritual need for the comforting word of forgiveness and salvation from God and his Word. 

    This is love, to forgive and to leave judging to God.  By this everyone will know we are disciples of Jesus by how we love one another.

Dear Father, teach us to love as you love us.  Show us that this leads us through the path of life which you desire us to live.  Help us to reach out to those who are most in need of your grace.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

Saturday, October 26, 2019

10-26-2019


Good Morning All, 

        Psalm 35:22; “You have seen, O Lord; be not silent!  O Lord, be not far from me!”  

    For as much as we claim to crave silence, it is difficult to experience.  Silence can make us very uncomfortable.  If you have ever heard a sermon where the preacher just stops and says nothing for a minute, it can seem like an eternity.  When I took our classes from the seminary, there is one guy who cannot stand for it to be silent.  After the instructor would ask a question, then silently wait for an answer; he would always offer an answer not matter what or how far afield his comments were.  The rest of us just waited him out.

    Silence can be a very painful thing to experience.  If you have ever had a medical test and waited for the results, you know what that is.  If you have ever been in a hospital bed waiting for the doctor to come speak to you, you know the excruciating silence of the wait.  If you have ever gone to the emergency room, you know what that is like.  You can sit there and watch the clock as it slowly ticks and nothing happens.  We know that the time isn’t standing still and we know that everyone is doing the best that they can do but the silence seems to destroy us.  Where is the answer?  What is going on?

    For some of us, we have sat and poured out our heart, relayed all of our fears to God and then listened and heard nothing.  We cry to God and then listen and it is silent.  Why do I have cancer?  Why did I lose my job?  Why did my partner have to leave me?  Why did my child die?  Those are some painful questions and often, as we ask them, there is only silence.  We call to God and experience only deafening silence and our pain continues to grow.

    Yet God is never far from us and even though we don’t hear; he continues to speak to us.  Often times it is because we are too busy speaking that we do not really listen.  We do not hear his words of comfort.  We do not hear his words of hope.  Yet he speaks them.

     Sometimes we don’t hear God because we don’t want to hear what he is saying.  We pray to God; we cry out to God but it is not a prayer to him it is a list of demands for him.  We want these things to happen; we will not be happy unless these occur, so we don’t hear.  We experience self-imposed silence.  God speaks to us but we don’t hear his words of comfort because we don’t want them.  We have our desires and God had better provide for them. 

     Yet through all of this God is always near us.  He never leaves us and always speaks to us with his voice of hope, his voice of comfort, his voice of consolation.  He is our only shelter in this broken world.  He gives us that hope that no one else can.  He is our salvation.

Father of all mercies, we cry and cry and we find only silence.  Give us the understanding and the wisdom to see that we are only not listening.  Give us the faith that we may trust to hear you in all of the grace that pours out from you.  Guide us as we live the life that you give us by your mercy.  Be with those who have sat in silence for too long.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret        

Friday, October 25, 2019

10-25-2019


Good Morning All, 

    Mark 14:37; “And he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour?” 

     Gentlemen, have you ever noticed how when your mother, then your wife, get upset with you that your name gets longer?  For example, if your name is William Robert Smith, everyone will call you Bill or Will or Smitty.  But leave the toilet seat up once and you will hear WILLIAM ROBERT what did you do?  It happens every time.

     Our verse has an element of that.  Peter starts out as Simon; actually, he is Simon bar-jonah.  This means Simon the son of Jonah.  Now if you look at Scriptures there are a lot of Simons.  There is another disciple who is Simon.  There was a Simon who was a leper, Simon of Cyrene carried the cross, there is a Simon the magician.  There are lots of Simon.  But after a profession of faith, Jesus begins to call Simon Peter.  Sometimes he is Peter, sometimes he is Simon and sometimes he is Simon Peter.  What gives?

     The name Simon is used when they speak of his secular life like his fishing business or his house.  He is called Peter when he is professing faith in Jesus most elegantly.  Then there are times when we aren’t quite sure which Peter is there so he is called Simon Peter.  So, it would appear that when Peter is faithful and living his life according to God’s will, he is called Peter.  When he lapses back into his sinful, pre-disciple nature, he is called Simon.  When he is kind of both, he is Simon Peter.  Notice in our verse he starts as Peter but when Jesus rebukes him it is as Simon.

    The thing about Peter is that despite his stature in the Bible as the leader of the church for most of the early years, despite the fact that he is among the closest of Jesus’ disciples, he stills falls back every once and a while and reverts to Simon.  Just like you and I do.  That is one thing I hope you see as you read the Bible, even the “heroes” of the bible are human; they still fall into sin.  They still have their “Simon” moments.  In fact, all of us are really the “Simon Peter” we are sinners and yet the same time we are justified saints. 

    God calls us to be Peter to boldly proclaim Jesus’ death and resurrection and the saving grace we receive because of it.  Sometimes we do a decent job but sometimes we fail.  Sometimes we fall flat on our face.  There have been times in our lives when we have failed miserably yet God calls us back just like he did Peter.  God continually calls us back by his grace.  Even as we slip back into our “Simon” mode from time to time, we are still God’s children; he still holds us as Peter.  He still holds as his beloved.

Gracious Father, we continually fall back into our old sinful nature yet through your grace you call us back into your family.  Give us the strength to remain faithful to you.  Lead us to boldly proclaim your message of forgiveness and reconciliation to a broken world.  This we ask in Jesus’ precious name, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret          

Thursday, October 24, 2019

10-24-2019


Good Morning All, 

    Matthew 6:33; “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you”.

    Do you remember the movie “City Slickers”? It starred Billy Crystal and Jack Palance among other and came out in 1991. I really liked the movie; the interaction between Billy Crystal’s character (Mitch) and Jack Palance’s character (Curly) was great.  (Mitch to Curly: Hi Curly, kill anyone today? Curly answers: Day ain’t over yet.) The movie was about some men going through life crises so they go on a two-week vacation to a working ranch.  They learn about life while learning about some real work.

    One of the best parts is when Mitch and Curly are talking about life in general.  Curly tells Mitch that there is only one thing that is important everything else is garbage (my word not his).  Mitch asks him what is that one thing and Curly tells him that is what you have to find out.  So, what is that one thing?  What is the “one thing” that is important in your life?

    For many in this world, there is no one thing.  It is about having all things and when we fail at that, we have nothing.  Some think it is money or fame or power or notoriety.  Some think it is having others look to you as smart or wise or funny.  Some think knowledge is the answer some think it is just plain working hard.  Sometimes we fool ourselves by thinking that everything will fall apart if we don’t do it.  So we stress about everything and soon it all comes tumbling down around us.  So, what do we do?  Jesus addresses this in our verse for today.

    Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.  That is our number one thing.  So how do we seek it?  First, we must realize that God has already given it to us through Jesus.  Yet too often we live like he hasn’t.  God gives us the power through the Gospel of forgiveness to seek him out.  Through Jesus’ redeeming sacrifice, God is recreating us into the creatures that he created us to be.  We were created to live in his holy presence with thanksgiving and praise, we are to care for each other and we are to take care of God’s creation.  That is God’s kingdom.  So, through his grace, we should seek it.

    Take the time to be part of God’s holy rhythm for us, the listening to God’s Word and the speaking to God in prayer.  This leads us into the living in praise and thanksgiving part of the kingdom.  Show God’s love to your family, your brothers and sisters in Christ, your neighbors and all those around you; that is the next part. Finally enjoy the world that God has given to you.  Don’t spoil it or waste it or foul it but enjoy it and share it with others; that is the last part. 

    God is a relational being.  He created us to be in a worshipful relationship with him, in a caring and loving relationship with each other and a caretaking relationship with the rest of creation.  This is the kingdom of God.  We are given the freedom form sin so that we can seek this out.  Everything else will work itself out.  Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

Gracious Father, too often we are focused on the wrong thing.  Direct us to your holy will and to seek out you and your righteousness.  Bless us as we serve you in your kingdom.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray.  Amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

10-23-2019


Good Morning All,

           Matthew 11: 28-30; “Come to me, all who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest.  Place my yoke over your shoulders, and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble. Then you will find rest for yourselves because my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

     I have always been interested by how a team of oxen work together.  They wear a heavy wooden yoke that hooks them together as they pull the weight.  The interesting thing is that one of the oxen actually does most of the work.  This one is called the lead ox.  The other one is just sort of there, kind of an ox in training.  This one is often referred to as the “oft ox.”  The lead ox was usually named while the oft ox usually wasn’t.  It was the primary job of the lead ox to follow the furrow, going straight, and to keep the oft ox pulling the same direction.

    This is what Jesus is referring to with the phrase “place my yoke over your shoulders, learn from me.  Because my yoke is easy and my burden is light.  The yoke belongs to Jesus and he does all the heavy lifting; all the work.  The “work” is the job of obtaining our salvation.  Christ’s death on the cross was the “work”; the fact that he gives this to us freely makes the yoke “light and easy.”  So why do we so often feel like that yoke is weighing us down?  If the yoke is light and easy life should be a breeze, why isn’t it?

    The problem is that we are the “oft ox.”  The oft ox tends to stray from the path and try to go a different direction.  The oft ox tries to go on its own path and doesn’t care if it is right or not.  When the oft ox heads in its own direction, it strains against the yoke and tries to pull away.  This is when the yoke gets heavy.  This is when the yoke stops being easy and it begins to be hard; it begins to chafe and causes us to stumble.  But it is not the yoke that makes us stumble; it is our desire to follow our own path. 

     Now many may think that many decisions in life cause us angst and make the yoke heavy.  How do I know if this is the right path?  The answer is in the question, does the path you choose go against Scripture and faith?  If it does, it’s the wrong path.  So as a young person, you can choose to be a teacher or a banker or a farmer.  But if you desire to be a crooked banker or a cheating farmer or a lying teacher, the yoke will be heavy.  You can choose to marry whomever you love but if you desire to be selfish and only concerned with your own happiness and pleasure, the yoke will not be light.

    The yoke is light when we follow the path of faith that God lays out before us, when we live according to his will.  This gives us the hope for salvation but also a life of contentment that God desires us to have.  The yoke can be light but only if we follow the lead of Jesus and live in his grace.

Dearest Father, you place our yoke upon Jesus and give to us peace and rest.  Give us the faith to trust in your grace to lead us in your path.  Guard us, guide us to the path of your holy contentment.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret   

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

10-22-2019


Good Morning All,

       1 Corinthians 1:18; “The message about the cross is nonsense to those who are being destroyed, but it is God’s power to us who are being saved.”

     Do you ever fall for those jokes that have an obvious answer but you miss them?  For example, if an airplane crashes exactly on the border between the United States and Mexico, exactly dead center on the border line, where do you bury the survivors? (You don’t bury survivors!) Or if an EEG is an electroencephalogram and an EKG is an electrocardiogram, then what is an EGG? (Breakfast!)

   These kinds of jokes are infuriating because they are really simple if you pay attention.  Yet we don’t pay as close attention as we should so it slips by us. It is so obvious that we miss it.  Even when we see how ridiculously obvious the answer it, we feel it is almost nonsense.  Something so simple that when you overthink it, you miss it.

     God does the same thing with faith.  God took the most heinous symbol of torture and punishment, the cross, and made it the symbol of hope.  Then he took that hope and gave it to us as a gift.  Then he entrusted the delivery of this message of hope to you and to me.  Talk about a plan that is as foolish as it gets, this isn’t a business plan to take to your bank for a loan on!  But that is the point; there is no humanly way that this will work.  This plan requires that you and I trust God fully to work.

     That is why God does it this way.  There is absolutely no doubt that for this plan to work God has to make it work.  We are only the conduit that He chooses to use to make it work.  That is the beauty of God’s plan; it doesn’t rely on us.  Nothing we do makes our salvation work, only God makes it work.

     The beauty of this is that we don’t have to look at our life and try to make it so that we are earning brownie points with God.  God loves us as we are, warts and all.  There is no sin that we committed that God has not or will not forgive.  God’s grace outweighs our sin!  His amazing love moves everything for us to be his child.  His plan is simple enough that it won’t fail us.  All we do is cling to his promise.  All we do is hold on tight.  No amount of works on our part matter.  So we can never be beyond help.  We are never so bad that things are hopeless; we always have hope because everything depends on God and not on us.  His promise, as simple as it is, is all we need.

Gracious Father, in you we have hope, in you we have salvation.  You make it simple so that we may receive from you our promise of eternal life.  Give us the courage to trust and the strength to hold onto your promise.  Move in our lives that we may come to those who are hurting and in need of your grace especially at this time.  Use us to bring your kingdom to those who are desperate and in pain.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret       

Monday, October 21, 2019

10-21-2019


Good Morning All,

         Mark 16:15; “Then Jesus said to them, “So wherever you go in the world, tell everyone the Good News.”

    238 minutes, almost 4 full hours.  That is how long the movie “Gone With the Wind” is.  Even “The Birth of a Nation” isn’t that long.  The movie “Gone With the Wind” is an epic.  It goes into great detail as it tells the story of Scarlett O’Hara and her tumultuous life around the time of the Civil War. 

    I remember the first time I watched it.  I thought it was dragging along.  Then it came to the part where Scarlett says, “I’ll never go hungry again” and everything went dark on the screen; I thought that this was a strange way for a movie, especially one so highly acclaimed, would end like this.  Then the screen said “intermission”.  Two hours, longer than most other movies, and it is only intermission??  Wow, I had to make more popcorn; good thing it was a video so I could stop it for a bathroom break.  At a time when I expected it to be over, it was only half over and really, a major part of the story was still to be told!

    We often have expectations of when something is over.  There have been more than a few times when I quit listening to or watching a ballgame only to find out it ended completely different that when I stopped listening.  Our life is a lot like that. At times when we think the end is in sight; it may really only be the intermission.  We might spend weeks, months, even years trying to witness to a neighbor or a friend.  We think that it is over and they aren’t listening when they ask to hear more about Jesus.  It was only the intermission!

    Sometimes we feel we are at our wit’s end and ready to give up but we always need to remember that it is God who is truly in control.  So, if we struggle with life, we know that this is only part of the whole story.  We need to remember that God’s whole story for us is all about his amazing love for us.  Before the story is over, we will experience it in its fullness.  But until we do, we continue on in faith.  Faith in the certainty of his love and grace.  At times, it will be tough; it might be the toughest thing we do but it is only part of the story not the whole story.

    The whole story is about how the sacrifice of Jesus has paid our debt and gave to us eternal life and the hope for tomorrow and the comfort and the consolation for today.  The problem is that we are always in the middle of the story when we think it is over but God knows how and when the story ends; we know how it ends just not when.  So, we continue, each day, going about our life, witnessing to those around us.  We go about following the path that God has laid out for us.  Your story isn’t over until the final credits run; live the life that God gives you secure in the knowledge of your salvation.

Dearest Father, you know the path that lays ahead of us.  Give us the faith to trust you to keep us in your loving arms and to know for certain that we are safe with you.  Be with those who are especially feeling lost and hurt.  Guard them with you love.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret      

Sunday, October 20, 2019

10-20-2019


Good Morning All,

     John 16:33; “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

     Do you remember the song by Bobby McFerrin?  It was a catchy little tune that was somewhat infectious.  It was “Don’t Worry, Be Happy!”  (Do Doot Doot doo da doo) Everyone was humming or singing along as it played on the radio.  It was one of those songs that played in your mind and was usually on your tongue.  It was an inane song.  It said nothing of any value.  The whole song was “Don’t Worry, Be Happy!”

     The really strange thing is that there were people who thought this was an answer to life’s problems; don’t worry just be happy.  The thing about this little song is that it never tells you how to be happy or how to “don’t worry”.  It can be real easy to tell someone this when that person isn’t the one who has anything to worry about.  That is what many think when they listen to the Christians speak of “not worrying”; they think that a comfortable Christian has no business telling me to be happy.  To a certain extent this is true but what needs to be explained is where we get this confidence.  It doesn’t come from a silly thought but from a certain confidence.

    The one thing about this verse that has always intrigued me is that Jesus speaks these words just a few hours before his crucifixion.  He is about to die and he tells his disciples, “don’t be troubled” or “don’t worry”.  How does he do this?

    As we look at this we need to remember two things.  First, Jesus is about to die a horrific death but he has the confidence that there is a greater good to be attained.  This good is our salvation and with that; we receive the promise and the same certainty that Jesus has.  So, we may face some earthly pain.  We may face our own mortality or that of a spouse or other loved one.  We may face a time of failing health.  We may face a job that goes away or moves 500 miles away.  We may face a painful time but we know that through it all God is with us.  We always have the certainty of the promise of our salvation.  We will face trouble; we will face failures, pain, and ultimately death but we face them with the confidence that our salvation is secure and we do not have to face these battles alone.

    That is what Jesus’ promise of being “with us always” means.  That is why this promise is so valuable to us.  We are never alone.  We can turn away but God stays with us giving us the hope for our salvation and the words to remember his love for us as a comfort when times are hard.  God’s grace will always be there for us.  No matter what the battle is, we face it with God’s everlasting promise of his love for us and the promise of our salvation being secure.

Gracious Father, you are ever with us and with that promise we can face life with no fear; we do not have to worry.  You comfort us, you sustain us and you give us hope.  Guide us by your mercy to be the arms and ears for those who are battling life at this time.  Help us to bring them the hope that you give to us.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret