6-30-2021

 Good Morning All!

       Romans 5:1, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 

    We have been justified by faith.  That is truly an amazing and radical action.  God chose to forgive us, chose to love us, and chose to redeem us.  We sometimes call this the happy exchange.  We give Jesus our sins and he gives us his righteousness.  But what does this mean; that we have faith.

    Faith is more than just knowledge, even the devil knows that Jesus exists.  For too many people, faith is simply the existence of knowledge of Jesus.  He was a real person who lived a long time ago and taught some good moral values.  These are the people that the Bible says will be lost but will say to Jesus “Lord, Lord” but Jesus will dismiss.  Faith is more than just knowledge.  Faith changes you.

     “Faith is a divine work in us which changes us and makes us to be born anew of God.  Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so sure and certain that the believer would stake life on it a thousand times” (Martin Luther).  The Word of God in the hearts of men changes lives; it cannot be helped.  Faith moves us to do good works which God creates for us to do.

    One way to look at this is to think of a Christian as an apple tree.  The tree grows from the ground and is nourished by the ground.  It produces apples.  The tree does not think about producing apples; it does not debate between apples and pears; it just produces apples.  But who benefits from the apples?  The tree does not, and the ground does not.  The people who eat apples benefit.  The birds and the squirrels benefit but the tree and the ground really do not benefit.  Sometimes, if the apple tree is prolific; we might say that it is in really good ground.

    We are the same way.  Our faith grows out of God.  God nourishes our faith with his sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion.  We produce the good works which he gives to us.  The works do not benefit us.  This means that our good works do not make us any better or more important before God.  Nothing we do will impress God or make him love us any more than he already does.  The works we do benefit those around us; our family, friends, strangers; all those who God calls “our neighbor”. 

    God does not need our works any more than the ground needs the apples.  But God can and should receive the glory for our works.  This is how we as Lutherans define good works.  We define good works as acts of love which we do for the glory of God and for the benefit of our neighbor.  If we all do good works, just think about how happy everyone would be.

    Yet our old sinful nature still clouds our life.  This nature continues to harass and cloud our faith.  Here we might make the cry to God, “I believe; help my unbelief!”  We need to continually pray for God’s strength and hear his Words of forgiveness when we fail.  We need to trust in him with faith and dare to live in the confidence of His grace.

Dear Father, we fall short of your will far more than we keep it.  Forgive us when we fail to do what we should.  Forgive us for not loving our neighbor as ourselves.  Strengthen our faith that we may serve you in your kingdom.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray.  Amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

6-29-2021

 Good Morning All!

              1 John 1:9; “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

    Yom Kippur is the most important holiday/festival in the Jewish calendar.  More Jews attend Temple or synagogue services on that day than any other day.  It is a day when they celebrate God’s forgiveness of their sin.  The current theory of Jewish thought is that on this day you remember all your sins, confess all your sins, and make amends for all your sins.  They either have real good memories or feel they do not sin much.  How can you do that in one day?

    We teach that you should do this daily.  Luther writes about daily drowning the old Adam.  Yet the idea of confessing our sins is as old as the wilderness wanderings of the Jews with Moses.  The original Day of Atonement was a bloody day with animal sacrifices and blood thrown on the altar and the people and a confession of the nation to its sins against God.

       Today is a little different; the emphasis is on personal repentance for sins against others.  We too, should be penitent in our lives.  We sometimes get this confused.  We think we must repent in order to earn God’s forgiveness but that is not true.  God is faithful to forgive us even before we confess.  The Psalmist writes “I will remember their sin no more”.  Then why do we confess?

     Confessing our sins, repentance, is good for us and good for our soul.  Confessing is acknowledging those sins which we have committed.  We no longer try to hide them from God and others.  By recognizing our sins, we can receive and experience God’s forgiveness of sins, my sins.  This then should cause within us a desire to make amends for our sins.  Zacchaeus went and paid back four times what he cheated others out of.  We can begin by speaking to the person that we sinned against.  The unflattering remark we made, the unwillingness to help when we should, the envy we felt, the wrench we kept, the attempt to thwart their success, all these and many more are sins against our neighbor we should confess.

     We confess to get rid of sins because when we keep those sins the devil reminds us of our sins every day and rubs a little more salt in that wound trying to convince us that God cannot and will not forgive that sin.  By holding on to sin, we only make our journey more difficult and more painful.  But if we confess, God will forgive us and lead us to receive that forgiveness and then to finally forgive ourselves which can be the hardest part.  God’s love is beyond our comprehension, yet it is in our grasp.  God never lets go of us, we need only cling to him for salvation and hope.  Confession is good for the soul and not just one day of the year but every day of the year.

Dear Father, your mercies are new and boundless every day.  Forgive us our sins and lead us to confess our sins to our brothers and sisters that we may receive their forgiveness as well. Lead us to forgive those who sin against us and keep us all in harmony with you in your holy family.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

6-28-2021

      Good Morning All!

             Proverbs 17:17; “A friend loves at all times,”

     We certainly place a lot of emphasis on friends.  Part of this is because we have some choice about our friends.  The old maxim “you choose your friends not your relatives” plays to this note.  If you watch television at all you know how important friendship is.  There was the TV show “Friends”; the theme of the Golden Girls was “Thank you for being a Friend”; it seems that most of the truly successful and popular shows revolved around friendship.  Think of “I Love Lucy”, “The Honeymooners”, “MASH”, “Cheers” among many others.

    Friendship is valuable and it is more valuable for you to be a friend than to make friends.  When you make friends, it may simply involve being pleasant to others, maybe having things in common, or just the fact that you are in the same proximity with someone else.  However, to be a friend means so much more.  To be a friend takes commitment and serious effort.  If someone calls you and says,” I just lost my job!”  They need your support.  If someone calls and says,” My mother died!”  They need your comfort.  Can you help; you can almost feel their pain.  We have compassion for our friends.  Compassion comes from a Greek word that literally means to “lose your guts.” It is that pit that forms when you see your friend in pain and you want to stop it or ease it or slow it down.

    There are many types of friendships.  In one you are a disciple type person.  A disciple is a learner or a student.  This usually involves becoming friends with someone older who can share some wisdom and insights into life.  The next type is the other end of this relationship, where you are a mentor.  A mentor is usually older and offers the advice and wisdom but also shares in the joys of the younger persons successes.  When I think of these types of relationships, I think of all the movies which use this as a subplot like in “The Karate Kid” or “Star Wars” or the baseball movie “Bull Durham” to think of a few.

      Yet there is one more type of friend to be and that is to be a true neighbor.  When asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus answered,” Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”  The second greatest commandment is “to love your neighbor as yourself.”  Loving our neighbor is about far more than loaning them tools or equipment.  It is about caring.  It is about loving.  It is about taking the time to share in the important things in life and giving them your support, your love, your comfort.  When we are this type of friend, God is using us as his agent as his mask to touch the lives of others.  God uses us to reconcile the world back to himself through the works of His redeemed children.

      Friendship is truly a gift of God, part family part of our own choosing.  God saw that it was not good for man to be alone, so he gave him a wife but in that gift; friendship was also born.  So, share your love with your friends today; even if it is just an email telling them that you are thinking about them.  Thank them for being a friend.  Thank God for the friendships that you have and the blessings that you receive from them.

 Dear Father, you saw that man was a lonely creature, so you gave us family and friends.  Keep us mindful of the wonders of this gift and never take it for granted.  Keep old friends close and bring new friends into our life that we may be a witness for you.  All this we ask in Jesus’ precious name, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret   

 

6-27-2021

 Good Morning All!

       2 Corinthians 7:10; “For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. “

     How many times in a day do you say, “I’m sorry”?  For some of us, it might not be that many but for some it might be quite a lot.  If we are in a crowded area, or if we are having trouble understanding what is being said or meant, you might say it often.  If you forget you were going to pick up your spouse after work, you might say it real often.  If the planned outcome of an event fails miserably, you might say it often.  We can say the words, “I’m sorry” but do we mean it?

    For a lot of people, when it comes to confessing their sins, they say I’m sorry.  In one of our confession of sins we even use the phrase that we are “heartily sorry for them (our sins)”.  Yet is that enough? 

    It is a start.  To be sorry means to feel bad, to have a pain in our heart, something that causes us to squirm a little.  We feel in our stomach that something is amiss.  However, being sorry is usually a temporary condition.  We might feel guilty for quite a while, but we may not feel sorry.  Sorry involves some empathy for the one who we sinned against.  Guilt is an internal emotion. 

    The thing to remember is that Jesus suffered and died for you.  He did not die so that you would feel sorry; he died that you might live a new life.  He died that you would be changed, made a new creation.  He died that you might change from the sinful creature that you were into the redeemed child that you are.  Part of this is being sorry for your sins, truly sorry; but the other part is being penitent, knowing that we need the Spirit to change us.  To be penitent means to “turn away from” or “turn around”.  When we sin, we have our backs to God.  When we are penitent, we turn back toward God and away from our sins. 

    This change frees us from our guilt; it frees us from the devil’s snide comments designed to make us feel bad.  As our verse says, godly grief, the kind of grief which we experience when are truly sorry for our sins, leads us to repentance.  Repentance is the turning away from sin by receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit in our life in our heart.  We are changed by faith and have the gift of salvation. 

     For we receive God’s forgiveness because he loves us.  When we repent, we receive and experience that forgiveness in our hearts and lives.  This godly repentance shows us the way to salvation, which we have because of Jesus’ atoning sacrifice.

 Dear Father in heaven, often our hearts are heavy with sorrow, but we lack true repentance.  Lead us into a life where we are penitent and longing to return to you.  Keep us in your arms and in your watchful eye.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

6-26-2021

 Good Morning All!

       2 Timothy 4:3; “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,” 

      It is always interesting listening to some of the people who claim to be great thinkers.  It is strange how someone who has a gift to make you laugh or cry think they have all the answers to the world’s problems.  We see actors and actresses who seem to feel that their opinion is somehow superior to ours.  The amazing thing is that everyone trots out his or her “authority” to back up their opinion.

     Several years ago, a famous politician told the person that he was debating with,” you can have your own set of opinions, but you cannot have your own set of facts.”  Facts or truths are not subjective; they stand on their own merit.  We may not like the facts, but facts are outside of our influence, what is or what was a fact is a static thing.  The problem we see is that too many people like to have their own set of facts.

     We see this often today because in the world we live in; most people believe that all truths are relative and what you believe is fact may be different from what I believe is fact.  If you listen to the political ads, you will hear that over and over.  One side claims this is fact while the other side claims that something else is the fact.  They never try to see which one is the fact; they simply prefer their own.

      This is what Paul is warning young Timothy about in our verse.  People will have “itching ears” finding their own set of facts to live with and to suit their own passion.  This is even an accepted psychological truth.  After we have formed an opinion, we tend to accept and create evidence which supports or strengthens our view, and we tend to discard or ignore the evidence which goes contrary to our belief.  For example, if you were to come to my house at 10:30 in the morning and wake me up.  Someone who likes me would perceive that I had been up late comforting or consoling someone.  Someone who does not like me might assume I was just lazy.  How you perceive awakening me at 10:30 is based on your “facts” about me.

     Our world today seems to ignore facts and truths, mostly because our truths come from God and are immutable (unchangeable).  God’s Word is what we are to live by.  When that seems uncomfortable to some, God’s Word is ignored, or it is “explained” as to what God “really meant.”  There are not many truths which God is not very clear about.  We might try to cloud the issue but God’s Word, His sound teachings, are solid.

      Yet our human nature will always have itching ears.  Our own strength will always fail us.  We need to trust in God, through faith in Jesus, to keep us in the true faith.  God’s Spirit guides us and guards us into his marvelous light.  It is in these sound teachings which we find comfort teachings like Jesus’ atoning sacrifice for our sins or our justification by grace alone for eternal life.  These are just two of the many truths which we can trust God to give us.  His promise is certain.

 Dear Father in heaven, your mercies are new to us every day.  We give you thanks for the certainty of our salvation because of Jesus.  Protect us from itching ears and keep us close to you.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret 

6-25-2021

 Good Morning All!

Mark 8:27-29; “And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” 
And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ!” 

    Who is that?  That is a question that we often ask.  We see someone and we remember them, but we are unsure of who they are; is it Bob or Bill, I do not remember.  Sometimes we ask that question when we see something amazing.  If you watch a sporting event and you see someone who is faster than anyone else; you may wonder who that is.  We might even ask,” who was that masked man?”    We wonder who people are and how they fit in to our life.

     Sometimes we wonder how we fit into others’ lives as well.  That is when we end up asking the kind of question that Jesus asks in our verse; “who do people say that I am?”  Most of us have this question in mind after the first time we meet the parents of our prospective spouse.  Did they like me?  Was I nice enough?  Did I make a fool of myself?  We can be very curious about how others perceive us and how they deal with us especially when we are not there. 

     That is not the reason that Jesus asked this question.  First, he did not really care how the people saw him; he already knew.  Second, this question is not really about others; it is about the disciples.  Jesus uses this question to begin the conversation with his disciples and to get them thinking along the lines he wanted them to think.  “Who do the people say that I am?”  The disciples would have been out and about in the villages and the countryside; they would have heard the people’s comments and known what they were saying.  “Some say you are Elijah; some say you are John the Baptist; some say you are Jeremiah.”

    The point of this question leads to the next question, “who do you say that I am?”  That was the real question.  Peter answered for the whole of the disciples,” you are the Christ” The disciples were kind of getting it.  Jesus is the promised Messiah.  It did not matter what others thought; it mattered what the disciples thought.

    In the other Gospels, Jesus tells Peter that this is not of man but of the Holy Spirit.  Peter did not figure it out; the Holy Spirit revealed it to him, but Peter responded out of faith. Peter confessed that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God.

    The crucial part of this is that Jesus asks each of us that exact same question,” who do you say that I am?”  Each of us must belief, and confess, on our own, what we believe.  We might think we can dodge it or hide from it, but our lives show it, and our lives confess it.  When you say Jesus is Lord, you live your life in His Presence, in worship and praise to him and in service to your neighbor.  Who do you say that Jesus is?  Is he a wise teacher, a noted prophet, the leader of a doomed religious sect?  Or do you answer with Peter, “You are the Christ” “You are the Savior of the world” “You are my Lord”; how do you answer that question,” Who do you say that I am?”  May God give you the faith to answer,” You are the Christ!”

Dear heavenly Father, by your grace we are given the power to proclaim Jesus is our Lord, but we often fail to do so.  Forgive us our slowness to speak and our unwillingness to live our lives in your Presence and service.  Lead us back to you through your Spirit and give us the courage to love others as you have loved us.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

6-24-2021

 Good Morning All!

        Ezekiel 36:26; “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”

    On Dec. 3, 1967, the world’s first human heart transplant occurred.  Dr. Christiaan Barnard performed the procedure in South Africa on a grocer who had chronic heart disease.  He lived 18 days with the new heart before he died of pneumonia.  That was an amazing feat some 45 years ago; today some 3500 transplants and performed yearly with the average survival time of 15 years.

    A new heart, it was an incredible feat at the time.  The nightly news programs counted each day that the patient survived.  Many people wondered if this were the end of dying (it was not) but all saw it as a definite change in the way we all would live our life.

     In our verse, God promises his people a new heart and a new spirit.  The interesting thing about this verse is how God refers to removing the heart of stone and giving you a heart of flesh.  When God created man, he placed man in the garden to tend it and to live in harmony with his companion and to live quietly and joyfully in the presence of God.  This is what we were supposed to be, but sin entered the world and it hardened man’s heart turning it to stone.

     Some may wonder at this idea but look at the nature of the sinful world.  How else can we explain the brutality that man will cause to another human being?  We see the indiscriminate destruction, the willful refusal to come to the aid and comfort of people in distress.  Starvation and rape are viewed as “legitimate” methods of war.  Violence is common and hatred is the norm.  We must have a heart of stone to act this way.

     As God reveals the truth to us, we see our abysmal failure in any attempt to live a God-pleasing life.  Man simply could not overcome the sinful desires which he had.  His heart was so hardened and so closed to what we were supposed to be that he no longer had a human heart rather he had a heart of stone.  So, God performed a heart transplant.

     As we read this, we see it as baptismal language or talk.  Remember that through Baptism we receive the Spirit of God, and we drown the old Adam and become new creations.  Through Jesus’ atoning death, Baptism now saves us.  Because of the work of Christ, we receive this new heart and new spirit.  God is restoring us to our original intent; to be human; to live in his glorious presence and to live together with God’s true gift of love and peace.  We see this promise given to us through Baptism.  We see God removing the stone heart and replacing it with a human heart filled with his Holy Spirit.  It is through this gift that we can now live as God designed us.  We no longer need to fear the devil, but we can look for ways to live our life in harmony with each other in the presence of God and in his mercy.  We receive many gifts from God through his grace but receiving a new heart, which actually does end dying, may be one of the greatest.

Gracious Father, your mercies are new to us every day.  We thank you for the gift of a new heart and our new life.  Move us to live our life in service to our neighbor as we live in peace before you.  This we ask in Jesus precious name, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret      

6-23-2021

 Good Morning All!

          Hebrews 10:23-25;” Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.  And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

    “Hang in there”, “Don’t give up”, “Keep trying”; how many times have we offered these words to our children and grandchildren when they are trying a new venture.  Whether they were trying to play a band instrument or try a new sport or maybe a new class at school or a more challenging 4-H project, we encourage our children to keep trying.

     Perhaps you have offered these words to someone who is experiencing a personal tough time.  It may be a family relationship issue; it may be job related; it may be health related; it could be any of several things.  We tell them to hang in there.  We may have no idea what we mean by that, but we do not know what else to say.

     The author of Hebrews offers us this same exhortation; except he gives us a little more background and support.  In the previous portions of Hebrews, we read where the atoning sacrifice of Jesus is all sufficient for our salvation.  We no longer have to offer animal sacrifices or pay the priest for his sacrifices; Jesus’ sacrifice is complete.  So, what do we do now?

      We hold onto that promise; the promise that we are redeemed and washed clean by the blood of the Lamb.  We hold on tight to the confession of our hope and that hope is based on the certainty of the promise of eternal life.  Since our salvation is secure, now what?  What do we do with all the time we spent doing sacrifices and making offerings to God for our sins? 

    We have to figure out how to stir each other up so that we show love for one another by doing good works.  We remember that a “good work” is anything that glorifies God and benefits our neighbor.  It might be going to some far-off place as a missionary; it might be sitting down and listening to a neighbor who is lonesome and has little company.  Our salvation is secure now let us live a life that is free form the worry of salvation and live a life of joy as God designed us to do; loving one another.

     Yet we need to keep gathering with our fellow believers.  This is where we hear God’s Word spoken to us.  This is where we hear God’s Words of redemption.  This is where we join for the soul nourishing meal.  We join for the same reason any family joins together; to show the love and affection to our brothers and sisters, our uncles and aunts, our parents, and grandparents.  We join for those times when we need comfort and consoling as well.  We look to our family for support when we need it and to offer it when others do.  God made man to be a communal creature not a loner; we join to meet this need and to receive this blessing.  So, hang in there; hold fast to the confession of our hope.  God has promised us eternal life because of Jesus.  We have that as a certainty.

Lord Jesus, you are our hope and our confession.  Thank you for the gift of salvation which you give to us freely.  Use us as your hands and mouth to proclaim your love to those who are most in need of it.  In your precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret  

6-22-2021

 Good Morning All!

      Proverbs 18:24; “A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” 

    One of the fascinating side impacts of the coronavirus pandemic was the rise in tele-working or communicating.  We use Facebook to show our worship services and we use a website called “Zoom” to teach classes or even have counseling sessions and meetings.  Zoom is a two-way visual communication through the internet.  If you remember the TV-telephone from the “Jetsons” that is pretty much what it is.  It is amazing how we can stay in contact with each other anymore.

    I think back to when I was in high school and college; if you wanted to be in contact you either wrote a letter or made a long-distanced phone call, which was expense.  If you mailed a letter, you waited until the other person got it and then waited for them to write back.  It was difficult to keep in touch and we often felt as if the friendship or the family was drifting apart a little.  You felt like you were farther away than you wanted to be.

     Sometimes, we feel that way about God.  Sometimes, it feels like He is a long way away and not answering his mail very fast (or his phone battery is dead).  Most of us know those times.  A family member is lying there close to death, we have a lot we want to say but do not know how.  We wonder where God is; is he listening at all?  We are finally getting things to feel like they are going smoothly; then the car dies and how do we afford a different one.  We finally find the perfect job and our spouse gets transferred to a different town, now what, God are you listening at all?  The neighbor kid who went off to join the army just came home without any legs, how can this happen? 

     Sometimes it seems that we are all alone and the weight of the whole world is on our shoulders.  It can even seem like all our friends are no longer around to even care let alone help us.  Even though it does not seem like it, God is still there holding us close, closer than anyone.  We still live in a sinful world; bad things happen even to God’s children.  The difference is that we know that God is still there to comfort us and to console us and to give us courage to give us hope.  We live with the hope of the resurrection.  We live with the hope of eternal life.  We live with the certainty that we will be re-united with our loved ones and all the faithful who will gather at the throne of grace to celebrate the feast that will never end.

      Along with that promise, God has given us a family that will love us and comfort us with hugs and shared tears.  We still grieve at death, but we grieve as one who knows that soon we will all gather together in heaven.  God may feel like he is far away but he really is not that is just our sinful nature trying to drive us away from God so the devil can torment us.  Yet God is holding us close standing with us closer than any friend or brother ever can.

      We can, and are, always in contact with God.  He is as close as your Bible and your prayers.  We can read what God reveals to us and he will listen to your prayers.  The Spirit will bring you peace, the kind of peace that only God can bring.   

 Dear Father, we rest in your loving arms.  In your mercy we find rest.  Protect us from the devil and his ways and give us that sense of hope and comfort that we can only receive from you.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen,

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret       

6-21-2021

 Good Morning All!

1 John 4: 12; “No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”

     His love is made complete in us.  How we read and understand this has a great bearing on our life.  How we understand the word “complete” affects our understanding.  There are two ways to look at this.  The first is the more common way of looking at it.  If you go to a movie when the credits run; it is over or completed.  If you run a race, when you cross the finish line, you have completed the race.  It is done and over. When you have combined the last acre, harvest is complete; it is finished.  This is how we usually use the word complete.

     Yet the word complete can also mean something a little different.  Think for a moment about baking some cookies.  We mix the ingredients, turn on the oven, bake the cookies for the allotted time and then take them out of the oven.  We have completed baking the cookies but then what?  Well in our household, we eat them!!  Completion here is not an end but the next step in a process.  Here a better analogy would be to be eating the cookies while you are baking them.  Just as soon as you can pick one up, find that cold glass of milk and have at it.  His love is made complete is like when we are made disciples.  This is a process that will take our whole life to finish.

     This is why we do not wait for his love to be finished before we enjoy it.  As each little cookie comes out of the oven, eat it, and enjoy.  God’s love is continually poured into, onto, and throughout our life and body.  Because of God’s great love and promised mercies, we are able to love others as God loves us.  As we love others, we experience the joy of God’s love in our own life.  We do not earn God’s love, we experience it.  We can relish in the process of being made complete. 

     Most of us have made cookies with a small child, either a son or a daughter or a grandson or granddaughter.  For that child, at that moment, knows only joy and excitement.  They have this loving anticipation of something wondrous being given to them.  We have that same experience.  God’s love, his undeserved grace and mercy, is something we can experience, we can anticipate the wondrous gift we have, and we live with that loving anticipation of something amazing about to be given to us.  The only thing more enjoyable than baking cookies with a child is when they are encouraged to share them with someone else, someone special in their lives.  The wide eye joy that they have as they share this gift of cookies that they were part of because of the love of a parent or grandparent, is a marvel unto itself.  We too, have that same joy.  God’s love is being completed in us as we love one another. 

 Dear Father in heaven, as your love is completed in us, keep us active in your service by showing your love, given to us, to all those that we see.  Help us Father to share that gift of your love especially to those who are in most need of you love and care.  Make our hearts to ache for those who suffer and cause us to use your love to reach to them.  In Jesus precious name we pray, amen.   

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

6-20-2021

      Good Morning All!

        John 20:30; “but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

    People don’t write letters like they used to.  This is unfortunate for many reasons.  One reason is that we are losing our ability to express ourselves with the written language.  Now we twit on twitter and use ridiculous shorthand words which are ruining our language.  We no longer take the time to craft a letter which conveys our deepest thoughts and feelings to be shared with someone whom we love or trust.

    The second reason that it is a sad event is that personal letters and diaries are among the best resources for historians to determine what life was like.  Oh, there are many official documents but those are written by people who have a stake in what others believe.  The king will always want his subjects to hear how brave and wise he is.  Yet it is in the personal letters and diaries that we find the true thoughts of people at the time.  An example is “The Private Diary of Dr. Samuel Pepys”.  This is one of the primary sources about 17^th century England.  He gives first-hand account of the Great Plague of London and the Great Fire of London.  Much of our knowledge of the Revolutionary War and the Civil War comes from the letters that soldiers wrote home to their loved ones.   Yet today we do not often write so we often do not give a clear explanation of what we are trying to communicate.  In our feeble attempts we fail.  That is not the case in our verse for today.

    The Apostle John is very specific about why he wrote his Gospel and epistles.  The Holy Spirit is telling us the whole purpose, not only of John’s Gospel, but the entire Bible.  Why are we told some things but not others?  Why are there apparent “blanks” in Scriptures?  Why don’t we hear about Jesus between the ages of 13 and 30?  What about all the people who appear briefly in the narratives but then just as quickly disappear?  The answer to these questions is in our verse “these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” 

     The Bible is God’s way of revealing to us how we are saved.  It is not designed to be the entire historical compendium; rather it contains the information about our salvation and the source of hope.  From Adam and Eve and the fall into sin through Jesus’ glorious return in the Revelation of John, the central message is the Gospel of Jesus.  As we look at each book of the Bible, we can see the Gospel of Jesus and his atoning sacrifice.  Sometimes it is foreshadowed like with Abraham going to sacrifice Isaac (his only son) or flat out prophesied, “he was wounded for our transgressions” but it always points to our need for a Savior and who that Savior is.  God reveals this plan to us in the Bible.  There are many things about God which are not revealed to us; things we accept by faith.  Yet our salvation is clearly explained so that we may believe and by believing have eternal life.

 Dear Father, your grace is wondrously poured out on us daily.  Without it we are lost.  Give us the power of your Spirit and the faith to hold onto our hope of salvation.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret  

6-19-2021

 Good Morning All!

        1 Corinthians 13:13, “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

   This is the last verse of, probably, one of the read passages of Scriptures.  Psalm 23, Luke 2, John 14, then probably 1 Cor. 13 would be the top to me.  This passage is most often read at weddings, and it has a very airy and a feel-good quality.  This is one of the passages that scoffers and unbelievers look to when a Christian dare speaks of God’s law.  “I thought you guys were all love and that stuff; what you are saying doesn’t sound like love to me.” (sigh) 

    The sad thing is that when we lift this passage out of its context; we change the meaning that Paul has for it.  But we will trust the Holy Spirit to speak what needs to be heard and look at it from the perspective that many of us read this, as a definition of love.

    We use the word love very loosely.  I love my wife; I love picking apples; I love Canadian bacon and black olive pizza; but do I really equate these three as the same?  Some do.  What we need to do is to look at how we define love and how God defines love.  We look at this passage as the definition of love.  What we see is that love, true godly love, is focused outward.  It is about me giving to you because I love you.  God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son; this is love.  True love is not focused on me but on thee.  We actually can look at like this.  Love is one thing; the other is lust.

    Lust in this situation is not just how we look at an opposite gender individual.  Lust is about satisfying me.  When we speak love words they are “you” or “them”; lust words are “me, myself and I”.  If you listen to couples who are seeking a divorce, you hear phrases like, “I fell out of love” or “I need my space” or “I feel the need to explore me”; all the focus is inward on my wants, my desires, and my satisfaction.  Love is about others.  So, in many ways, chapter 13 does help us to define love.  It is patient, kind, bears all things, endures all things, and never ends.  Lust does not.

    Unfortunately, many in the world see love as conditional.  Conditional love is lust; it is about meeting my wants first and foremost.  What is sad is that so many see this as love.  I will love you if you love me.  I will give you gifts if you give me some.  I will stay with you if you keep me interested.  I will love you forever if someone better does not come along.  True love is not a two-way street; true love is me loving you with no strings or requirements.  That is love; anything else is lust.

    Can you love like that?   I know I can’t.  Yet this is the kind of love which God wants us to have; the same love He has for us.  Fortunately, God’s love is this way for me; even when I sin (which is often) God still loves me.  He calls me back with his forgiveness and his love.  He continues to mold me and shape me to try and show this love to others.  When I deal with others, like the line at the elevator, or the checkout clerk at Wal-Mart and I remember how God treats me, I try a little harder to be patient and kind.  I do not do this because it earns me anything it simply brings me closer to Jesus.  The same is true for all of us.  These three remain; faith, hope and love; but the greatest of these is love.

Holy Father, your love is demonstrated in our lives at every turn.  Too often we miss it by rushing other directions or ignoring the signs.  Forgive us for being slow to love as we are loved.  Guard us and guide us by your faithful hand to love as you continue to shape us and mold us into your holy image.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret       

6-18-2021

 Good Morning All!

          Jonah 4:11, “And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left?”

   This is the somewhat haunting end to the book of Jonah.  Most of us have a very minute knowledge of Jonah.  He was the guy swallowed by a great fish.  What we do not often realize is that Jonah is the Old Testament version of the “Prodigal Son.” The Prodigal Son took his inheritance, squandered it, and then came home to his father who then threw a huge party for him.  The older brother, who stayed home and worked hard for the father, was jealous and would not celebrate with his younger brother.  The older brother was not happy that his younger brother had returned and was back in the family.  He wanted the brother to be “dead” to the family.  Jonah wanted God to destroy Nineveh because it was a powerful enemy of Israel.  He too, wanted them dead but literally.

     Jonah, like the older brother, was jealous to the point that he hated Nineveh and wanted God to destroy it.  He just could not handle the fact that the Ninevites had repented, and God had spared them.  In the last chapter, Jonah is complaining to God about saving them and God asks this question of Jonah to which no answer is given.  “And should not I pity Nineveh?”

    Jonah hated Nineveh and all that it stood for.  As far as he was concerned, they were the worst people ever and should be wiped of the face of the earth; at least that is what he (Jonah) would do if he were God.  So, the question is who is your “Nineveh?”  Who is it that, if you were God, you would give the holy zap to and be gone with them?  There are many candidates.  On the large level, we have the terrorists and the rogue governments that are causing so much havoc in the world.  If we bring it in a little closer, maybe it is the opposing political party or its candidates and some of the incredible things they say.  If we bring it even closer, is it the guy that you work with who knows when to work when the boss sees him but slacks all the time, or the neighbor who always claims to have a little better yield, maybe it is your mother or father in law who always knows how to do it “right” and just wants to make it easier for you, maybe it is the team that you just can’t quite beat and they remind you of that.  We all have a “Nineveh.”

    But God calls us to go to Nineveh and preach the Gospel to them, can we, do it?  Jesus told his disciples to pray for your enemies.  We should too.  First, we should ask for forgiveness for our thoughts and maybe our words and deeds.  Then we should pray for them; pray that God would change their heart as He changes ours.  Then as we pray that God will do something; we need to listen as he tells us to “go do something” to reach out in love and begin to rebuild the relationship to reconcile with our neighbor.  It may take several tries, but God calls us to keep trying.

    God looked at you and at me and had pity on us for we were sinners.  He had such great pity that he sent Jesus to die for us.  As we ponder on that great blessing, we hear the question of Jonah; “and should not I pity Nineveh?” 

Dear Father in heaven, your mercies roll over us like a great river.  Forgive us that we are slow to forgive and slow to reach out to those whom we view as Nineveh.  Give us the courage, patience, and loving heart to reconcile with those who we struggle with.  Help to love those that you bless and seek out.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret