7-25-2022

Good Morning!    

         John 17:3; “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.”

    It was always an interesting time.  The first day of classes in college were always interesting.  The instructor would come into the class and then proceed to tell you what class it was and who he was.  Then he would pause and about 6-10 people would get up and leave; they were in the wrong class.  They didn’t belong.  It happens; you look at the room number and misread it. 

     A few years ago (pre-covid), I stopped at the hospital to visit a member.  I asked the desk for his room number and then went to that room.  As I entered, a lady was sitting on the chair.  She said,” he is in the bathroom and will be right out.”  The member was an unmarried man, so I thought this was a sister I hadn’t met.  We chatted until he came out of the bathroom, and I looked at him and had no clue who he was.  We introduced ourselves and talked for a few minutes and then went on my way to find my member.

    When you go to the hospital, the nurses are the ones who really know what is what so I asked one of them where my parishioner was.  He had been dismissed and someone else checked into his room.  Most of us have found our self in the wrong room or at the wrong time and we were out of place.  We are usually a little embarrassed but that is about it.  Yet we like to be in the right place.  We like to belong to the right group, whether it is a classroom or a hospital visit, or a church; we like to fit in and belong to the group.

    That is one thing that the devil tries to do; he tries to convince you that you are not part of the group.  The devil wants you to believe that you are in the wrong place.  He wants you to get up and leave God’s presence and grace.  That is really the only way he can get us; he has to separate us from God.  He can only accomplish this if you leave; God will never leave you out of his group.

    Notice how our verse goes, Jesus is praying for his disciples.  They were God’s and God gave them to Jesus.  Now they belong to Jesus.  We are the disciples that belong to Jesus.  He is our source of comfort, hope and belonging.  We are safe in his family; we are at home with him. 

    The devil will do everything he can to try and separate you from God and the love that is Jesus.  That is his goal; to torment you in any way that he can.  He takes ordinary and random events and tries to get you to see them as acts designed to punish you or to have you feel excluded from God’s grace.  The devil wants you to feel like you don’t belong.  But we do belong to Jesus.  He has purchased us back from our sin and given to us his gift of salvation. 

Gracious Lord, we belong to you.  Keep us secure in that knowledge.  Give us the certainty of your Word and the complete fulfillment of our hope in you.  Be with those who feel lost and as if they do not belong.  Comfort them by your Spirit.  Bring them to the full knowledge of your saving truth.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret