11-30-2022

Good Morning All,

      1 Chronicles 16:10; “Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.”

    What do we seek?  Where do we place our deepest desires and our greatest hopes?  For some it is wealth; for some it is fame.  These are two obvious ones, and everyone sees them but what about us?  Most of us do not dream of becoming multi-millionaires or of having to worry if the twitter feed is going to worry about what we wore to the Academy Awards.  Yet sometimes we seek some things that may not be God pleasing.

    Perhaps we spend too much time trying to figure out ways that we can have control in a relationship instead of sharing in one.  Perhaps we spend too much time trying to figure out how to make our so-workers look bad, so we look better.  Perhaps we spend too much time trying to butter up a neighbor to try and get his land before someone else does.  There are lots of ways to seek what is not in God’s favor.

    It might be something as simple as making snide remarks about another person, always cutting them down.  It might even just be a look or a well-placed sigh that conveys that message.  We see it in many ways, and it always comes back to our pride and the desire of our sinful nature to be number one.  It is as old as sin itself, who sits on God’s throne in our life.  Is it God or do we try and take that spot? 

     One of the most interesting facets of human life is that when we engage our sinful nature; it is never satisfied.  Very few people who seek great wealth ever think they have enough.  How else do we explain such incredible greed from people who already have billions of dollars and yet try to cheat people for more?  Those who seek fame, even when it is fleeting, never have enough.  How else do we explain all those “celebrity” reality shows?  Why else do we always seem to easily attack or run-down others?  If we cannot be the top dog of our circle; how can we put our self on the throne of God? 

     So, we run in circles, like a dog that chases its own tail, until we cannot even stand.  We are exhausted and have gained nothing.  When we glory in God’s holy name; when we quit trying to take God’s place in life and receive His blessings and grace, our life becomes much easier.  We trust in God to love us and to care for us.  That he will richly provide for all our bodily needs.  When we trust God, we can rejoice because He has promised to take care of us.

     Some of us may be disappointed as we look at that.  What we need and what we want can be two very different situations.  Do we need a cell phone, or a big screen TV with satellite cable or a computer?  Do we need multiple vehicles or the place at the lake?  Perhaps we do, but perhaps we don’t.  The central thing is to remember that what we do have comes from God’s blessings.  We don’t worship the blessings or think that “we did it all.”  Rather, we give thanks to god for what he has given us and what he will give us tomorrow.  When our faith is in God, when we trust that he will take care of us and deliver us; then our hearts are seeking the Lord and we can rejoice in Him.

Gracious Lord, we are slow to see our deepest sinful desires, help us to see them and to repent of them that we may truly seek after you and that we may have that true peace which only comes from you.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s peace,

Pastor Bret            

11-29-2022

Good Morning All,

    Exodus 24:16-17; “The glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. 
Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel”

    It was a time when it should have been obvious.  The Children of Israel had just witnessed the 10 plagues in Egypt, crossed the Red Sea on dry land, watched Pharaoh’s army drown as the waters returned, been fed manna, drank water from a rock, were led by a pillar of fire and a pillar of cloud, and now were at Mount Sinai and were witnessing the glory of God as it rested on the top of the mountain.  With all those miraculous interventions, there could be no doubt about God.

    Do you ever think, “If I could witness that; I would have absolutely no doubt, I would believe forever.”  Look at all the events that had happened how could you not believe in God?  If God would only do something big; it would change everything.

    The truth is it didn’t even change things then.  While Moses was on the mountain with God, the Israelites were building an idol, a golden calf, to worship.  They probably believed in God but that didn’t stop them from rebelling against God.  Adam and Eve knew God but rebelled against him.  Cain knew God but rebelled and killed his brother.  Knowledge and faith aren’t necessarily the same thing.

    We claim that if God would only visibly show himself, we would believe in him, but would we surrender to him or would we rebel just like the others?  The very crux of our Christian faith is found in the explanation to the second article where Luther writes,” I believe that Jesus Christ… is my LORD.”  That is what it is about; we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  These people saw God as God; they just didn’t want him to be their God.  There are many like that today, people who reject or rebel against God.  They want a God of action.  When the drought was on or the hurricane hit, or wars occur or any one of a number of calamities occur; they wonder, where is God?  Why doesn’t He act?

    The reason is because God has chosen a different way to interact with the world; He does it through the Church.  Jesus gave the Church the authority that he had on earth; the power to forgive sins, the mysteries of the sacraments and his Word, the truth of salvation, and the task of reconciling the world.  When you wonder where God is, where is that awe and majesty; it is in your hands entrusted to you by our Lord Jesus.  We are the living establishment of that majesty here on earth.  That is why Peter called us a peculiar or separate nation, set apart for God’s purpose.

    There are those who would still rebel, but we have God’s grace and mercy, which we see every single day.  The obvious lives in us all the time, God’s Spirit resides in you to set you free, to give you the direction you should go, to give you comfort, peace and ultimately eternal life.  The glory of the Lord was seen on Mount Sinai now it should be seen in you.

Father of all grace, we are often slow to reflect your glory to those around us and we are slow to see that glory as well.  Give us the strength and the wisdom to go forth as your agents of change, your hands of mercy in a world that is so in need of your love.  All this we ask in the precious name of Jesus, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret     

11-28-2022

Good Morning All,

    Psalm 52:8; “But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God.  I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever.”

    The Psalmist speaks of trees.  We, who live in South Dakota, should really appreciate the Psalmist use of trees.  Trees are about as plentiful in the land of Canaan as they are here.  There are a few places where they grow, like along rivers and streams but for the most part, they need to be planted and tended to.  Trees don’t just happen; we need to make them happen.

      The tree listed, an olive tree, is especially a lot of work.  Yet if tended properly it would produce olives for years to come.  If it didn’t, it would be uprooted and burned then replaced by a new tree.  So, notice how the psalmist describes it.

      I am like a green olive tree in the house of God.  This last spring, I planted four new trees here.  With the drought and the wind, it has been a constant battle trying to keep them going.  Right now, I am not sure they will make the winter.  It would be nice to see them green and supple and full of leaves.  They look more like beaten sticks.  In many ways, we are like that.  Without Jesus’ saving grace, we are just beaten-up sticks which will not survive the winter.

    But because of God’s grace, we are green, supple, and healthy trees.  We have the leaves and are producing the fruit, not because of what we are but because of the loving care which the Father gives to us.  He feeds us, He waters us, He weeds around us, and He keeps the soil fresh and mellow.  We are protected from the harsh elements under the protection of his wings, safe in his loving arms.

    We have a haven, a place which we can find safety, solace, and peace.  We can trust in God’s steadfast love (mercy) to save us from all harm by the devil.  When the droughts and cares of this life would want to drain the life from us, we have a Savior who is tending to our every need.  We can grow strong in the safety of his house.  We can grow to produce fruit because of his saving will.  God guards us and provides for us.  We do not have to be like the tree rooted up, rather, we are blessed by God to be kind of tree that the Master wishes to keep. 

     The winds will howl, and the droughts and insects and all the challenges of this life may come our way, but we are safe in God’s loving arms; protected from all that the devil will throw.  Through him we have all good things. In Him we have eternal life and the holy rest. His love for us never ends and His protection never wavers. We can cling to Him in all situations, and He will keep us secure.

Father of mercy, you give to us all that we need to support this body and life.  Keep us mindful of the wondrous gifts which we receive daily.  Keep us watered and nourished by your Word.  Lead us to produce fruit so that we may help to feed others.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret               

11-27-2022

 

Good Morning All,

       Isaiah 9:2; “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.” 

    Have you ever experienced total darkness?  Not many of us have.  Even in the dark that we experience, there is usually some light.  Maybe you have a night light in the hall or in the bathroom or in a child’s room.  Maybe you always have a flashlight handy.  The darkest place I have ever been was a cave.  It was an old prospecting cave in the Black Hills.  It was so narrow and small in places we weren’t sure that we would fit.  After we got in about 50 feet, we turned our flashlights off.  That lasted about 20 seconds before we couldn’t take it.  It felt like the mountain was going to swallow us.  Even though nothing had changed in that 20 second period; it was hard to breathe, and you felt like you were spinning.  I was with three others, and they felt the same thing.  We had another 150 feet of cave to explore but we agreed that we had seen enough.

     The worst part was all those “things” which come out in the dark.  There are things; things that run across your shoes, things that crawl up your arm, things that hang in your face or buzz in your ear, things that we cannot see but we feel and experience them anyway.  Then there are the sounds, sounds that seem to amplify in the dark, things that sound like moans and groans or hideous laughter.  

    That is sort of how the people in the text would have felt.  When sin entered the world, man no longer “saw” God.  Adam and Eve walked with God, but sin veiled their eyes and plugged their ears.  Soon man’s relationship with God just kept deteriorating.  In our blindness, we just kept spinning out of control.  We wandered in the dark and were more lost all the time.  We walked away from God and His light and kept going further and further into the darkness, suffering the whole way.

   “But God beheld our wretched state.”  Out of His unfathomable love God sent Jesus into the world to be that “Light.”  This verse is actually part of a longer section that is a Messianic prophecy.  In this verse, God is promising to send the Light, but we live in that Light.

    Jesus came to live and die and rise again so that we could return to the Light.  God used Jesus’ sacrifice to serve as ours so now we get to have His Light, the Spirit, live within us.  The devil will try to block the light or even use the light to blind us but God, in his grace and mercy, is always there to correct the problem and keep us moving.  Sometimes we wish that the light we have would light up more of our path ahead, but we can trust God to lead us on that path that will lead us to our eternal home.  Then along the way, we are to “let our light shine” for others to see the wondrous blessing of the light and then listen to the call of the Spirit into their hearts as well.

   Father of all Light, we praise you for the gift of the Light which illumines our way.  Keep our light, our faith, burning bright in this dark, cold world that knows only pain and sadness.  Cause our light to shine brightly so that others may come to know You as the one true God.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

11-26-2022

Good Morning All,

Acts 1:10-11; “And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

    Back in my more playful youth, we used to play practical jokes on people, the more gullible the better.  One that worked fairly well was to get three or four people to stand together and stare up into the sky.  The goal was to get some unsuspecting soul to come along and begin to stare with you.  After the unsuspecting person was looking up there were a few variations.  One was to wait until they asked what we were looking at.  Then two or three would point to the sky and say,” that blue thing right there (of course there was nothing).  When the person stated that they couldn’t see it; we would move them around for a better angle or try to get them to tilt their head to the left and down a little and then peer up like that.  Eventually, the person either figured out we were teasing them, or we all started to laugh.  The real funny part was that it didn’t take long for others to figure out what we were doing; so, we might stand there quite a while staring up at the sky and not see anything.  Something like the men in our verse.

    The disciples are still somewhat confused by what is going on.  They went from fear and being totally lost to being excited and happy.  Now they are just confused.  They are standing on a hill with Jesus when He begins to float up and disappear behind the clouds.  They just stand there looking trying to see trying to figure out what just happened.  They were jolted back to reality by two angels standing beside them.  

     We do the same thing.  We will see something and then just vaguely stare at it trying to figure out what we saw.  We usually have a puzzled look as we watch and try and process what we saw.  While we process what we saw paralyzed by our own thoughts, God’s Spirit moves us “to snap out of it.”

     The disciples had a lot of work ahead of them; they didn’t have time to stand there and look around.  God had a plan for them, and it wasn’t standing on a mountain staring into the sky.  God’s plan for his disciples was to build His Church.  God’s plan was to use these disciples to be about the task of reconciling the world back to Himself and of reconciling the world back to itself bringing brothers and neighbors together to live in peaceful harmony. 

     God’s plan for you is the exact same.  God wants to use you to build his Church, to reconcile the world to Himself and to each other.  It is a daunting task, but it is what God wants of us, from us and for us.  We are part of the Body of Christ, a living growing life which provides for us.  We receive the spiritual nourishment to continue our life here until we reach our heavenly goal.

     So don’t just stand there looking up into the sky; find the ways which you can serve God.  If you are an accountant, help mentor people who have trouble with their finances.  If you sew; make clothes for those in need. Help mentor someone who needs help.  Give a ride to your neighbor.  Do what the Lord asks of you; do those things which benefit your neighbor and bring glory to God.

 Father, we often are left looking at the clouds as the needs of your creation go unmet.  Forgive us for our slowness to act.  Give us the wisdom to see the needs of your creation.  Give us the courage to act and bring your salvation and reconciliation to the world.  Lead us in your path of righteousness.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret     

          

 

11-25-2022

Good Morning All,

           Luke 5:16;” But he (Jesus) would withdraw to desolate places and pray.”

     Have you ever noticed how often in the Gospels we are told that Jesus went away, alone, to pray?  He does it frequently; often enough that the disciples noticed and asked him to teach them how to pray.  Jesus would take certain times and go by himself and pray.  We should to.

    While Scriptures tells us to pray constantly; it also tells us to set aside times of the day to pray.  The early Church, drawing on its Jewish background, encouraged believers to pray the Lord’s Prayer three times a day.  Even in the Middle Ages, people would stop what they were doing many times a day to pray.  When most of the activity in a community was within earshot of the church or monastery bell, the bell would ring once an hour to signal the start of the Lord’s Prayer, once after the fourth petition and once at the end to signal it was over and time to go back to work.  Daily prayer was a very important part of the believer’s life. 

     Somewhere along the way, some have lost this habit.  Even though we know that prayer is a powerful tool or force in our lives; too often we let it slide by.  Martin Luther encouraged people to pray three times a day.  You were to pray once when you got up, at the noon meal and then once before you went to bed.  While this was to encourage the habit of praying, he also wanted us to see and feel the benefit of prayer.

     Luther had a simple formula for those he taught.  You are to rise and make the sign of the cross in remembrance of your Baptism.  You were to invoke the Trinity (In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit) say the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer then the Morning Prayer.  Then he added this little note.  “Then go joyfully to your work, singing a hymn.”  We find such contentment from our regular prayer life that we can joyfully go to our work comforted and strengthened by God’s grace.

     Then in the evening, you would follow the same basic formula except you would say the Evening Prayer instead of the Morning Prayer.  Here Luther added that we should, “go to sleep at once and in good cheer.”  The contentment of our regular prayer life gives us the comfort to get a good night sleep.  How many times do we toss and turn and worry the night away because we do not take advantage of one of God’s greatest blessings in life- prayer? 

      We have the tools we need to live this life in peace and contentment, in confidence and in comfort.  We only need to take advantage of what God freely gives us.  Like the hymn tells us, “take it to the Lord in prayer”.

Father of all good things; move us to be closer to you.  Encourage us and lead us to pray to you with all boldness and confidence that you truly do answer prayers.  Give us that due sense of comfort that we receive from calling on your name.  This we ask in Jesus’ precious name, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret       

 

11-24-2022

Good Morning All,

       Job 7:11; “Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.”

    During the time when kings were really kings (1700 and before), the king would often have no one to truly talk to.  He often times didn’t trust anyone.  He wouldn’t trust his brother who may be seeking the throne for his own.  He would rarely trust his royal advisors for they too may be plotting against him.  He rarely trusted his priest for fear that the priest would use any information against him.  So, who did he talk to, who could he confide in with his fears and worries?  It was usually the court jester. 

     The court jester served a unique role within the palace.  He was often the entertainer at royal meals.  He was one of the very few who could speak freely to and about the king; others would lose their heads.  The jester also served another purpose; he was the one person that the king trusted, and the king would speak freely to the jester.  Every so often the king would dispense with one jester and replace him with another, but the jester served his purpose.

     Most of us have a person who we trust and to whom we speak our deepest thoughts to.  It is rarely our spouse as we usually do not want to cause alarm or fear in their lives.  It is usually a co-worker or an old friend we have known for years.  But there is someone to who we spill out all of our fears and worries and dreams to.  There is someone to whom we speak with total confidence, knowing that they will not betray that confidence.

    In our verse for this morning, Job goes to God.  You remember Job; he was the guy who lost his entire family, his entire wealth and was afflicted by boils and open sores.  Most of us would look at Job and figure he had a right to complain.  Job felt the pain of his life, emotionally, spiritually, and physically.  Job has three friends who come to see him, and he complains to them but then he complains to God and God listened and heard him.

    Sometimes, when we feel pain or fear, we act as if God can’t handle our emotions, our pain and our fears.  We think that He is too fragile or too volatile in nature to hear our deepest secrets and thoughts.  Yet nothing could be farther from the truth.  God has big shoulders, and he already knows the pain we feel, and he wants us to bring that pain to him and unload it at the cross.  Jesus experienced all the pain and emotions of this earthly life.  The Book of Hebrews tells us that we have a high priest who has experienced all which we do.  God calls to us through his Word and Sacraments to speak our anguish, to tell of our pain to Him.  We don’t need to carry that burden; God will carry it for us.  We need to only trust in His promises that He made to us at our Baptism for our security, our certainty of hope.  We have hope; something that unbelievers will never have; our hope is Jesus, our Risen Savior, who redeemed us and keeps us in his arms.

Father of all grace, we thank you that you listen to or heart and not just our words.  That you know our needs and our pains and that by sharing them with you; you give us hope.  For this and all other blessings we thank you.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s peace,

Pastor Bret

11-23-2022

Good Morning All,

         Psalm 25: 16-18; “Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.  The troubles of my heart are enlarged; bring me out of my distresses.  Look upon my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins”

    Do you remember a time when you were really frightened?  It doesn’t really matter what your fear was, the physical reactions are pretty constant; a dry mouth, sweating with chills, your arms and legs can feel very heavy, our chest can feel heavy, plus some others as well.  Some of the emotional responses include anxiety and a feeling of loneliness.  We have that sense of impending doom.

    Our verses come from one of David’s Psalms, Psalm 25.  In this psalm, David is in danger, surrounded by enemies, and making very difficult decisions.  David uses the words “way” or “journey” repeated as to describe the fact that this journey he is on has many challenges and trials which he alone cannot succeed at.  David’s plight is very much like ours.

    We may not have physical, earthly enemies who are out to kill us and put us to shame like David did.  We do have a spiritual enemy that is.  The devil and our sinful nature want to do exactly that.  The spiritual warfare causes emotional stress and has physical symptoms.  The devil will use any event in our life and try to scare us to death or at least separation from God. 

    It is those times when we feel like we are all alone and our heart feels like it is enlarged from the fear that the devil is striking.  Danger, loneliness, fear, a sense of regret all play into the devil’s hand.  It can occur when it doesn’t rain, when there is tension in a family, a fear of the future, a loss of control; all these cause us to fear.  Yet the psalmist gives us some hope.

     When your outlook is bleak, that is the best time for an “uplook.”  We need to turn to God for our comfort and reassurance.  God has promised to provide for us all we need do is take advantage of it.  The devil wants us to look at our trials here on earth; which are real, through a funhouse mirror, the kind that distorts the image.  The devil wants to distort our situation so that we fear; we fear that God has abandoned us.  Yet God has promised to always be there for us to wipe away our pain and our fear.  So, while we struggle with certain events in our lives, we do not have to fear for God is always with us, to guard and protect us.  We may have the physical battles, but the spiritual war is won, and we are the victors through the atonement by Jesus and his death and resurrection.  He earned the righteousness for us and freely gives it to us.  Jesus gives us hope and the certainty of our salvation.  He is truly gracious unto us.

Dear Father in heaven, your mercies are new to us every day.  Drive our fear away and keep us close to you.  Give us strength as we face the challenges of life that we may never doubt your loving kindness.  We give you thanks for all we have and all we receive from your generous hand.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

11-22-2022

Good Morning All,

Isaiah 30:21; “And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.”

    A recent study stated the average person makes over 5000 decisions a day.  No wonder you are tired at the end of the day!  You made the decision to get up and what time.  You decided what to eat for breakfast or not eat it at all.  You decided what to wear, when to read this email, whether you watch TV or read the newspaper, whether to go out or stay in, the list goes on.  As you can see most of our decisions aren’t that important, or so we think.

    It is estimated that 40% of the food purchased in the United States is thrown away.  We buy it and don’t like it, we buy too much, we forget we bought it; all decisions which we made.  Some decisions don’t seem that important at the time but can have a big impact down the road.  A cutting remark or a kind word that was left unsaid can cause much pain.  On the other hand, a word of kindness or cheer can lift the day of the person who hears it.

    We often read the Bible or listen to sermons which exhort us to show God’s love to all.  Too often, we have the grandiose visions of working in a soup kitchen or something that we maybe don’t have the time to do.  We think that to do God’s Will requires so much that we only see our failure, our inability to do it.  The devil wants you to believe that, but God tells us something different.

    Jesus told his disciples that He would send “The Comforter” or the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit would “bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”  The Holy Spirit is that voice that you hear saying “This is the way, walk in it.”  This is the right thing to say or do.  It is the Spirit whispering in your ear what to say and do.  Too often we ignore or miss what the Spirit says to us and in doing so we fail to walk in the path of good works which God has created for us to do.  Too often, we think that they are insignificant events, and we never hear the Spirit.

     These are all those little decisions that we think are unimportant but can be the Spirit speaking to us.  So next time, be sure to say thank you to the gal at the check-out counter or to the guy working in the produce aisle.  Say thank you to the nurse or dental assistant.  Speak a kind word to the waitress.  Most of all speak a word of love to your family members.  When the Spirit whispers in your ear to go this way; go that way.

     Doing God’s Will might be working in a soup kitchen, but it is also showing kindness to strangers or even people we know.  Showing them kindness, not because we want something out of them, but because we want to do something for them; something which God wants us to do as His witnesses.

Gracious Father, too often we fail to listen to your Word or to act according to what we hear.  Forgive us in our slowness to love as You have loved us and walking in the paths which You have laid out for us.  Give us the courage and wisdom to hear your Word and to act as Your Will moves us.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen. 

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

11-21-2022

Good Morning All,

            Luke 5: 31-32; “And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

     So, when you read articles in the newspaper or on the internet about health issues and you read where 1 person out of 50 or 100 will be affected, do you think you are the 1 or are you part of the rest?  Most of us usually think we are in “the rest.”  We tend to see ourselves as just fine.  We often think that ignorance is bliss, but we may be missing some important medical answers that, if we fix them now, we can lead a healthier life down the road.  But sometimes that doesn’t happen; sometimes we don’t even know we are sick.

     That was sort of the case in our verses.  During Jesus’ ministry here on earth, he spent his time with the tax collectors, the sick and the lame, the outcasts of the community.  He came to these people for a couple of reasons.  First, they were in desperate need of His saving grace.  Many had been ostracized from their own communities which were made up of their relatives.  They were shunned and shamed and viewed as “throw-aways.”  Even the religious leaders, the ones whom God had called to bring his love to the world and to be a blessing to that world, treated them with contempt, in many ways worse than the rest of the people.

     The other reason was because these outcasts knew that their relationship with God was not good.  They saw themselves as sinners in need of help and forgiveness.  So, when Jesus preached to them; the Holy Spirit moved them to receive the Gospel.  They shared the joy of knowing Jesus as their Savior with everyone, including Jesus.

     However, the Scribes and the Pharisees saw it much differently.  They were always displaying their outward holiness and, if you wanted their acceptance, you had to do the same.  This meant not doing anything which made you “unclean” or unfit to go into the Temple.  They thought they were healthy in their religion, but God sees to the heart and in them He saw only corruption.  They needed a doctor but wouldn’t admit it.

     When it comes to sin, it is not 1 out of 50 who are affected; it is 50 out of 50.  We are all sinners in need of Jesus’ healing touch.  We are all in the same boat.  We are all the lame, the blind, the leper, the cripple, all the same before God.  Just as Luther wrote,” we are all beggars before God.”  We all need his salvation; I do, you do, everyone does.  We are all in this together.  God, in His mercy, showers us with His forgiveness, sending His healing touch for our soul.  He wants us to then turn around and help provide that healing touch for our neighbor’s physical and emotional pains.  God calls all of us to repentance and the unburdening of our souls to Him.  So, visit the Physician (Jesus), especially, if you think you don’t need to and then listen to His Words of forgiveness.  It will heal your soul.

Dear Father of all mercies, your holy grace rains down on us like a flood.  You cleanse us with the blood of Jesus to bring us back to you.  Father we are sick at all times, and we turn to you our heavenly Physician to heal us and to make us whole.  For this we give you eternal praise.  You speak and we are healed.  You move with your Spirit, and we are alive.  Lead us to bring the broken and twisted people to you for your healing touch.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret            

11-20-2022

Good Morning All,

      John 1:14; “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

     Have you ever met someone famous, someone that you were in awe of?  How did you do?  Were you tongue tied, did you stumble and stammer, did you hide or run away?  These are often the responses, especially if the meeting is unexpected.  All of a sudden there they are and now what do you do?  We get that way around famous or even people who we view as powerful.  That might just be the president of the company that you work for or maybe a Lt. Colonel when you are a buck private.  In any event, we tend to tremble and stammer our way through.  These people often seem unapproachable to us, as if they live on a different plane or socio-status level.  We feel unworthy and ill at ease when they are around.

    The Bible has some of the same stories.  In almost every case of an angel visiting a human, they start ever visit with the phrase,” Fear not!” I supposed that helped but an angel showing up would tend to frighten anyone and cause them to fall to the floor in terror.  Seeing god is even more fearsome.  No one who sees God will live.  Even when Moses was on Mount Sinai, God shielded Moses’ eyes when God passed by so Moses only saw God’s backside as he passed.  You couldn’t even be in God’s presence.  When the Ark of the Covenant was being moved, it started to fall; a man caught it and died right there on the spot for touching the Ark.  The Altar of God was hidden by a thick cloth curtain that was only entered by the high priest once a year.

    Yet God changed all that.  God wanted to return man back to the walks in the cool of the morning like God and Adam had before the fall into sin.  In order for this to happen, we have to be sinless. So, God sent Jesus, in the nature and being of a man, to take our place and pay our debt so we could walk with God in the cool of the morning and have that sacred conversation like Adam did.  Jesus became flesh and lived among us.  We saw his face, his hair, and his dirty feet from walking; all this we saw, and it was God whom we saw.  God became approachable and still is today.

    We can come to him anytime of any day with our fears and our joys, our sorrows and our laughter, our burdens, and our delights.  God is our Father who loves us and calls his own. He draws us into his kingdom, his family, his beloved, righteous home. It is here that we find our rest, our comfort, and our hope. We are safe in his name.

 Father, we come to you Abba, seeking your mercy which already overwhelms us.  Keep us safe in your protective arms as we behold your glory through the grace we receive.  Guard us this day so that we may go forth in your name.  In the Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret    

11-19-2022

Good Morning All,

      Philippians 2:11; “and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

     Kaiser Kurios vs. Christos Kurios.  It doesn’t look like it is that different.  You might even look at it and say, “It is Greek to me” (it is).  Yet in that small difference is all the difference in the world.  That difference is why the early Christians were martyred.  That difference was why so many were tortured by the Romans at different times and places in the early years of the Church.  All that the Roman officials wanted was for everyone to say “Kaiser Kurios” and all was fine.  The early Christians refused, and some paid a high price.  The Romans wanted everyone to confess that Caesar is Lord.  That is all the people had to do.  The people could keep their old religion and religious practices as long as it was confessed that Caesar was the highest and greatest Lord.  That is why when we read the Bible and we see where Paul and Peter and Barnabas would go to cities like Ephesus or Corinth and there would be hundreds of temples to different gods with different religions; some we probably have never heard of.  All the practitioners had to do was say Caesar is Lord- Kaiser Kurios and everything was fine.

    The Early Christians wouldn’t say that.  To them, Caesar wasn’t the Lord, but Christ is the Lord.  When asked, their response was always “Christos Kurios.”  The Romans saw this as treason and dealt with it in a very harsh manner; no dictatorship can afford for the people to confess anything but the official government line.  Look at North Korea, China, Iran, Syria; take your pick no deviance from the official line is allowed.  Because the early Christians refused to submit, they paid a heavy price, some the ultimate price.  Christos Kurios.

     What about us?  Do we confess Christos Kurios no matter the cost?  Most of us have never had our life, the life of a loved one or even any sort of physical harm threatened against us for claiming to be a Christian, but do we always confess Christos Kurios?  Or do we get intimidated by our surroundings?  It can be tough; when you are in a conversation with a group of people who say that we were lucky to get some rain or that the fates were with us, for us to say Christos Kurios.  When no one else is witnessing their faith, it can be easy to hide in the background.  If it is just me, I’ll just be quiet.  I don’t want to make a scene or give them any fodder to poke fun at me with after all I just want to fit in.  Yet by our silence, we are not confessing Christos Kurios; Christ I the Lord. 

     We need to remember that without Christ as our Lord, we have no hope.  We have no future.  While we may come up short once in a while, we need to continue to pray for God’s strength and courage to confess Jesus’ name before men.  We need to trust the Spirit to move within our heart and life in order to confess Christos Kurios.  It is not by our will but by the power of the Spirit that we confess that Jesus is Lord.  Trust in the Spirit; trust in God for his mercy and his courage.  It is how the church grows and souls are saved; by the confession of faith: Christos Kurios Christ is the Lord overall.

Dear Father, forgive us when we are slow to confess that Jesus is the Lord most high in our life.  Give us the courage to witness and to speak with the confidence of the faith which you give us.  Keep us in that faith which places our hope in Jesus that we may be saved unto life eternal.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret         

11-18-2022

Good Morning All,

     John 18:38; “Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”

     Our verse today is part of the exchange between Pilate and Jesus during Jesus’ “trial” right before he was crucified.  Pilate was a politician who was wise in the dealings of governmental politics.  He had seen the backstabbing, the double dealing, the feigned friendships, and allegiances.  This was probably a big part of why he was in Jerusalem and not in Rome.  He probably was moved aside from some other job so someone who had bribed or married into the right family. 

    You can almost hear the plaintive request of Pilate.  Jesus had just told him that He had come to “bear witness to the truth.”  You can almost see a somewhat defeated Pilate, knowing that it was jealousy that drove the Scribes and the Pharisees to try and have Jesus crucified.  The Scribes and Pharisees had played their trump ace against Pilate; they challenged his allegiance to Rome if he let Jesus go.  Pilate had played this game before, the truth; that objective distant fact, had nothing to do with this.  This, to Pilate, was politics.  Truth belonged to the team that won, and the winners got to define truth.  It had happened so often that Pilate possibly was really asking Jesus an honest, truthful question; “What is truth?”

    We can, and do, ask that same question today.  It seems like you can’t believe anyone.  It seems that every “fact,” even facts and truths discovered by “scientists,” are and should be questioned.  It seems that every “fact” is paid for by someone who has a stake in the outcome of the debate.  It is not an objective truth that is sought in studies and research but rather a “truth” that fits what I already believe and want to happen.

     What is truth?  One thing is for sure, man does not it possess on his own.  As we watched the political season unfold and we think it is worse than ever; it really isn’t any different than it was 2000 years ago or 5000 years ago or 50 years ago.  All that has changed is the faces and the arguments but the basic human tendency to make the “truth” what I want it to be is as old as sin itself.  Adam and Eve wanted the “truth” to be that they were equal to God. 

     So, what do we do?  Do we hide under a rock and not be part of the society that we live in?  God wants us to be active in this world in order to be a light to this world to be his agents in reconciling man back to God and to each other.  So, what do we do?  Fortunately, Jesus warned his disciples, that’s us, when he tells us to be “wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (Mt. 10:16).  Men will lie and try to twist the truth.  So, when men talk; listen as wisely and as craftily as a serpent but when we act or speak let our message be as innocent as doves.   Make sure that the “truths” we are told match up to Scriptures.  This means to know your Scriptures because just as the devil can quote Scriptures, so can a deceitful man. 

     Above all remember that truth is not a what but a who.  Jesus is truth.  He is always the right answer, showing us His truth which he wants us to live by.  Faithful to his Word and loving to his people; a difficult position to be in; but on the right side of truth in our life and our faith.          

Dear Father in heaven, all truth comes from you.  Give us a discerning heart and the wisdom and courage to use it.  Make us instruments of your truth and lead us to bring truth and reconciliation to all men.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret