2-3-2026

Good Morning!

            Proverbs 12:18; “There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.”

     As children we were all told the old adage “Sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never harm me.” Or maybe your version was “Sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never harm me.”  This tells us that we are not to worry about what someone says about us as simple words cannot harm us.  Well welcome to the 21^st century!

    I think most of us have been there at one time or another.  Our mouth took off long before our brain was engaged and we made some offhand unfair or cruel comment about someone only to see them standing behind us.  I know I have and I felt about two inches tall after I did it.  It’s strange; you don’t know whether to make a big deal about it being a joke or just try and ignore it and hope it goes away.  I can remember some of the times that I coached baseball.  I would watch in horror as some adult (?) would yell and scream at a 10-year-old for striking out or dropping the ball.  I remember the pain in that child’s eye.  Sticks and stones will break your bones but words will kill your spirit.

    This is why I think one of God’s greatest gifts is the gift of the soothing comforter.  There are people who just seem to have a way of gently encouraging people.  They have a way of getting the person to smile, even under some pretty harsh situations.  It can soothe a very hurt and savaged soul just to have kind words spoken to them, especially after words of hurt have been hurled.  And we seem to have more hurled at us each day.

     I read an article about how children today are being “cyber-bullied.”  They are tormented day and night by other kids on the internet through text messages or Instagram.  I listened to a story on the radio about a man whose fiancée was killed by her jealous ex-husband.  One twisted and sick lady began an attack on him on a gossip website.  She had four different avatars or identifications on the site.  She would act like she was carrying on a conversation between the four of them.  He had to leave town; his children were shunned and the parents of his now dead girlfriend refused to speak to him.   It took three years to get it all straightened out.  Words can cause a lot of pain.  Yet the opposite is true as well.

    The right words at the right time can bring about comfort, encouragement, or hope.  The right word can calm fear or engender a desire to strive and to try to do your best.  The right word will bring about healing.  So, as you go about today, do some healing.  Say something kind especially to those who need it like the waitress or the store clerk or the mailman or the young gal with two little ones who looks so frazzled.  Using God’s gift of healing, using the soothing and kind words that He gives us to bring about a smile and some peace.

Gracious Lord, enable us by your Spirit to speak the words of kindness and love that you give to us. Help us to make the world a little less painful for those who battle the pain of unkind words.  Give them your Spirit of comfort and use us to be their hope.  In the name of Jesus our risen Savior, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret     

2-2-2026

Good Morning!

Matthew 26:11; “For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.”

       “Limited time only!”  That phrase seems to make us sit up and pay attention.  If a movie or a band is playing for a limited time only, well we just have to figure out why this is so important.  Sometimes it is just an advertising gimmick, like the store that is continually going out of business.  Yet sometimes, it is a limited or even a once in a lifetime chance.  If you got a chance to visit the President of the United States, that may very well be a once in a lifetime event.  If you witness a celestial event, like Halley’s Comet, that might be a once in a lifetime event. 

    The woman in our story saw Jesus as a once in a lifetime.  This story occurred shortly before Jesus was crucified.  The woman came and poured expensive oil on Jesus’ feet.  Some of the disciples, especially Judas Iscariot, criticized her for “wasting” money and not giving the money to the poor.  Jesus stated that the woman has done a beautiful thing.  “The poor you will always have but I won’t be here long” was the gist of what Jesus told them.

    Initially, we might see this as a contradiction.  Earlier, Jesus told a rich young man to “sell all you have and give it to the poor.”  So now what does this mean?  First, we need to see it for what it is.  This woman is glorifying God with her offering.  What she is doing is bringing honor and worship to Jesus.  She isn’t trying to impress anyone; this is an honest and heartfelt expression of her faith.  This is the exact thing that we should do, have an honest and heartfelt expression of our faith.

    Most people are offended by this, supposed, slight to the poor.  All this statement really means is that as long as there is sin in the world, there will be the poor.  There will also be the orphaned, the widowed, the chronically sick, the emotionally distraught and so on.  As long as sin is in the world there will be troubles and struggles. Yet this doesn’t mean we ignore them or look the other way or think “I can’t help them all so I won’t help any.”  This can paralyze us.  What this passage is encouraging us to do is to have an honest and heartfelt expression of our faith.

    How do we do that?  Well, if you see Jesus, you can pour oil on his feet like the woman did.  Yet if we never have that once in a lifetime event, we can do this by living a life that shows our faith.  We can care for the poor, the orphaned, the widowed, and all those who struggle with the challenges of life.  We can pray; we can worship God in spirit and truth; we can be part of the active body of Christ.  The real issue here isn’t how do you do this (express your faith) but that you do this (express your faith).

Father in heaven, send your Spirit to guide me that I may express my faith in the manner that may bring glory to you.  Help me to focus on your grace that I may boldly confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord.  Help me to live this truth in my life.  In the precious name of Jesus our risen Savior, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

2-1-2026

Good Morning!

          1 Thessalonians 5: 18; “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

       Have you ever had one of “those days?  You know; the kind of day that starts out bad and then seems to go downhill from there.  It might start with the electricity flickering enough to mess up the alarm clock so you oversleep for half an hour.  Then you stub your toe or cut yourself shaving or you spill coffee on your work outfit and now you have to change clothes.  You go to get in the car and it either won’t start or has a flat tire or both.  Sometimes you have one of those days and it is a day like that which often makes it hard to give thanks in all circumstances.

     We have days like this.  It seems that things just begin to pile on top of each other.  While it happens, we can be really frustrated but a few days later; we will often snicker when we think about it.  It might take some time to get the proper perspective on the event but we do.  Yet these little events should help us see that, most of the time, our lives go fairly smoothly.

    Yet there are times when it is very difficult to give thanks.  We look at our lives and wonder how do we give thanks?  We may have health problems or finance problems or relational problems; all these can make it difficult to give thanks.  We look at the world around us, maybe our neighbor’s new car or listen to their tales of wonderful trips and then look at our lives and wonder what is there to give thanks for.  So why would we give thanks in all circumstances?

    The first thing we need to look at and remember is that our circumstances are beyond this earthly life.  Our circumstances involve our heavenly life; for our life has changed dramatically. When Jesus walked out of the tomb everything changed.  We no longer fear death or are we terrorized by the devil.  When Jesus walked out of the tomb; it became a new day, a new life, and a new existence. 

     So, our circumstances are to be viewed differently.  Our circumstances are now being God’s holy and redeemed children.  We are in this circumstance every day and this is why we should be thankful in all circumstances.  Every day, we are living in our new life, freed from sin and the power of the devil.  No matter what he tries to throw at you, it will never stick because you have been washed in the blood of Jesus.  We are cleansed, thoroughly washed.  We are new creatures in God.  We know that our circumstance will not change; we are in God’s care and nothing will ever change that.  Our hope, our future is secure.

    So, if your car doesn’t start or your alarm doesn’t go off; well, you are still living the life of a redeemed child of God.  But at a much deeper level, if your spouse leaves you or you get cancer; you are still a redeemed child of God and we can give thanks for this blessing.

Father of grace, we give you thanks for the mercy that you give to us through Jesus.  Help us to always give thanks to you.  Help us to see that all our problems truly do pale when we see your glory given to us because of Jesus.  Help those who do not experience this certainty and this comfort.  Guide them by your Spirit to know your peace.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

1-31-2026

Good Morning!

       Matthew 7:7; “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”

       There is an old story often told about prayer.  There once was a man who lived his life believing in Jesus and trusting in the promise of his eternal salvation.  Much of his earthly life was a struggle from one incidence to another.  So, when he died and went to heaven, he was greeted by St. Peter and shown the mansion that he was going to spend eternity in.  The man was in awe of the size and scope of God’s blessings for him in eternity.  As they opened the door to look around, the place was filled with boxes, hundreds, and hundreds of boxes.  The man asked St. Peter about the boxes.  St. Peter replied, “These were the blessings that were yours for the asking while you lived on earth.  We will move them soon as you do not need them now.”

     This little piece of fiction is designed to tell us about prayer.  Jesus, repeatedly, asks us, begs us, and pleads with us to pray.  Yet how often do we?  How many times have we faced difficulties or battles and tried to cope with them on our own rather than trusting God and placing our fears in his hands?  How many times do we turn away from God rather than toward him in prayer?  Prayer is a great blessing that God gives to us yet often I hear people say things like, “I have done all I can do; now it is up to God.”  It has always been up to God.  Or maybe, “The only thing left is to pray.”  That is where we should start.

     The problem that most of us have with prayer is that we limit it.  We define a prayer as being answered only if it goes the way we want when we want it.  If we pray for a new job but don’t get it, we think the prayer has failed.  If we pray for rain and don’t get it, then our prayer went unheard.  What we need to see is that through prayer God seeks to change us and our heart.  He seeks to give us the comfort and the solace that we need if only we would ask for the grace to receive it.

   We need to ask God to change our heart and not our situation.  We need contentment more than we need a bigger paycheck.  We need patience more than we need a faster response.  We need to see that we need to change more than that others need to change to suit us.  We need to know that healing is not always physical but is more often spiritual and emotional reconnecting.  We need to see that God answers our needs and not always our wants but when we trust in God to answer our prayers; he will faithfully do so.

    We need to trust that God’s will is the best for us even when in the short term it looks differently.  Trust God and then ask him for his bountiful blessing; he will shower you with them like a gentle spring rain.

Father of all blessings, we are often slow to come to you for the many blessings that you would shower upon us.  We walk away from you and your amazing love.  Guide us to trust in you.  Be with those who struggle and battle on their own and suffer from the loneliness that this causes.  Bring them to the safety of your loving arms.  In the precious name of Jesus, our risen Savior, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret  

1-30-2026

Good Morning!

     Luke 19:10; “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

  I am somewhat of a “trekkie;” that is, I like to watch “Star Trek.”  I like the old TV series with Kirk and Scottie and Sulu.  I like it because the special effects are kind of cheesy but the story line is usually predictable.  One of the shows was about a civilization that was controlled by a computer.  The whole purpose of the civilization was to obey the computer.  So now Kirk has to figure out how to destroy the computer without interfering with the civilization.  A tricky plot indeed.  But in the end, the computer was foiled and the civilization went on to develop as it should and it only took an hour to resolve.

     Unfortunately, we can’t solve most of our problems in an hour.  Most of our struggles can take years to develop.  It may take a few days for them to mushroom into something hugely out of control but they usually fester for years.  It might be the slight cuts of disrespect to our parents or our spouse.  It may be the cold and callous way we act toward others.  Or it might be our dietary and exercise habits over the years that have led to high blood pressure and cholesterol problems.

     We may have been less than friendly at work or maybe put in just enough effort so they wouldn’t fire us.  There are many ways our struggles begin but they will always take a painful twist because of our sin and because the devil really enjoys our pain.  He even takes minor disturbances and makes them seem huge.  Think not?  Have you ever thought of a problem that nagged at you and didn’t let you sleep?  How big did your imagination make that problem?  This is usually how it goes.  The devil loves to take those festering problems, caused by our sins, and make them blow up right in our face.  That is the devil’s sole purpose; to torment you and to drive you from God.

    Yet Jesus came to earth for one sole purpose and that was to buy us back.  He came to save the lost, you and me.  He came to bring us relief from the devil’s taunts and attacks.  He came to save us from sin and the pain that it can cause in our life.  He came to bring us back to God’s family.  Through his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead, he blazed the path for our eternal life and our peace with God.

    The struggles of the world are still here but they do not separate us from God and we can face them knowing that God’s love will always be there for us.  It is his grace that sustains us through our battles, through the eruptions of pain which will occur.  God’s grace will guide us along.  Jesus came to find you; rest in the comfort of the knowledge that he will never lose you.

Father of all mercy, through your wondrous grace we are found.  You have sent Jesus to make us your own dear children.  Guide us by your grace as we battle the devil and the pain which he brings us.  Be with those who still feel lost.  Shine your light of mercy upon them and give them the comfort of your peace.  In the precious name of Jesus our risen savior, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret          

1-29-2026

Good Morning!

     Psalm 90:12; “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.”

       I was visiting with a younger mother the other day.  She and her husband have three children, two boys and a girl.  She has a job, he has a job and the children participate in just about everything.  They have soccer and spring baseball and softball.  They have dance, music in school and one set of piano lessons.  She has everything plugged into her smartphone which is synced to her husband’s phone.  She belongs to a couple of civic groups and is willing to help with the youth at her church.  I got tired listening to her.

    I asked her if they ever had time to eat together as a family.  She replied, “Oh yeah, real often, we go through the drive through on the way to a game somewhere.”  Well, I guess it is family time.  Yet does it really count?  One of the unfortunate side effects of trying to have everything is that when you get it, there is no time.  If you have and do everything, there truly isn’t enough time in the day and there really isn’t time in your life.

   We seem to think that in order to be happy or successful we have to have everything, do everything, and leave nothing for tomorrow.  Yet the one thing that truly suffers is our relationships because these need to be built on people and not on things.  I talked with a counselor one time who was seeing an increase in couples in their mid-40’s through early-50’s who had no idea how to interact or communicate with each other.  They were married in their early to mid-20’s, had a family, chased kids for 15-20 years and when they became empty nesters; they were left empty.

    In our verse, God is telling us to plan wisely.  The most important parts of life here on earth are the relationships that we form.  God gives us the gift of faith.  He gives us the forgiveness of sins.  He gives us the gift of reconciliation.  He wants us to foster out loving relationships with those people who he places in lives.  He gives us the time, the energy, and the wherewithal to make them satisfying relationships.  Yet we can’t keep putting “things” ahead of people.  We can’t keep thinking that having our children in one more event or that our belonging to one more club is the answer.  We have to stop seeing stuff as the answer to the hard work that relationships are.

    Relationships can get messy every so often.  This will happen when sinful people are put in the same room.  Yet God’s love for us is to have solid loving relationships here on earth as a dim reminder of the love that God has for us.  It is also to give us a helpmate here on earth.  It is to give us someone to share the glad and the sad moments with.  Our life should be about each other and not about stuff.

Gracious Lord, we see in you the perfect relationship between Father and Son.  Help us to strive for this type of relationship here in this life.  Give us the wisdom to pick people over things.  Be with those who are struggling with their relationships at this time.  Help those who are lost in the shallowness of possessions and guide them by your Spirit back into your loving arms.  In the precious name of Jesus, our risen Savior, we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

1-28-2026

Good Morning!

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

      His name was William Wilberforce.  I would guess most of us do not know who he is.  He was a leading abolitionist in the United Kingdom.  He lived from 1759-1833.  He was a very influential leader who made it his total and sole ambition to rid the kingdom of slavery.  He was driven by his faith in God.  The truly amazing thing about him is that at the time of his death; his zeal had changed the debate within the kingdom, and the western world forever.

    The debate about helping people, those who were poor and homeless, those who were widows and orphans; that debate went from do we help to how do we help.  The debate was no longer do we, as a society or people, have an obligation to our fellow man.  The true question became the method to deliver this help.  It was truly a watershed time for most of western civilization.  Wilberforce’s compassion and his zeal for aiding the downtrodden moved the greatest kingdom at that time to become a more compassionate kingdom.

    This is exactly what God instructed the Children of Israel to do; to be compassionate.  They were to leave the gleanings (the leftovers from harvest), the edges of the field, and any grapes or olives that they dropped on the ground for the orphans, the widows, and the alien (sojourner) in their land.  They were not only supposed to not hurt them but they were expected to care and show hospitality to them.

    When we read the writings of the prophets later on, when they are laying out the accusations of unfaithfulness that God states to them, it is often that they mistreated the poor and the underprivileged.  This action was the result of their overall unfaithfulness to God.  The sin of cheating others, especially those who were unable to defend themselves, was an outward sign of inner corruption.

    That is how God views our good (or bad) works.  Our works are only the outward sign of what is truly in our heart.  When Jesus told his disciples that in their giving “the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing.”  This is as much a call to have kindness and charity be such a part of life that it is as familiar as breathing.  Our work, before God, is to reconcile with our fellow man and to care for each other and to really mean it.

    God calls us to action and not to lip service.  He calls us to show the love that we receive to those who we have contact with.  We may debate how best to do it but we should never debate whether it is the right thing to do.  Love one another; love your neighbor as yourself.  These are the new commands that Jesus gives us.  Now we need to act.

Father of love, give me a compassionate heart and a willing spirit.  Move me to help my neighbors with true love and not grudgingly.  Guide me to share the bounty of your gracious gifts.  Guide us to those who are in need of your bounty and in need of your grace.  In the precious name of Jesus, our risen Savior, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret      

1-27-2026

Good Morning!

            Deuteronomy 5:15a; “You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.”

      “We are slaves to no one!”  That was a comment made by the Jewish leaders to Jesus when he called them slaves.  The fact that their country was occupied by the Roman Empire at the time was just a matter of perspective, I guess.  As we read that section of Scriptures, we often chuckle at this; how can they possibly say they aren’t slaves?  Now maybe technically they weren’t but they paid onerous taxes to an occupying force and were required to ask for permission of this occupying government to do just about anything.  That sounds like slavery, a time when you do not get to make your own choices.  It is either slavery or prison; take your pick.

     That is the good thing about living in the good ole’ US of A.  We are free; we are slaves to no one; almost.  Unfortunately, we are among the poorest slaves because we are not only slaves but we willingly became one.  We have abandoned God in favor of what we call being tolerant of others.  Now on the surface this sounds good; except it has become the code word for “don’t speak the truth.”  We are slaves to consumerism and think that we have to buy more and more.  It always amazes me how everyone has a smartphone, even kids, why?  Usually the answer is “because everyone else does.”

    We are truly slaves.  We are slaves to sin, to greed, to a pluralistic consumerism that demands that we “buy” into anything.  We believe that our personal wants should supersede the needs of others.  “I want; I want” is enough of a mantra for us to turn our backs on the needs of our fellow man because we are slaves to our own selfish foolishness.  But we don’t need to be that way.

    Just as God freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, so God has freed us from slavery to sin and our own selfish foolishness.  We are free but just like the Israelites often times wanted to go back to Egypt and live in slavery; we too want to go back to slavery to sin.  We want to go back because our sinful nature wants us to believe that this is the best life we can have.  Yet God calls us to a better life.  He calls us to a life of freedom from this want.  We do not have to be slaves to this want; we are free from being slaves to this want.

   God, by his grace, will give us peace and contentment if we trust in him.  He gives us so much to enjoy, the time with family and friends, the beauty of nature and the freshness of his Word.  Jesus stretched out his arms to free you from slavery; don’t go running back.

Gracious Father, in your great love and mercy you have freed me from the slavery to sin.  Give me the wisdom to maintain that freedom.  Help to overcome slavery to wants that only hurt us and separate us from your love.  Grant us the wisdom to seek your peace and your peace alone.  In the precious name of Jesus, our risen Savior, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret  

1-26-2026

Good Morning!

      Galatians 4:5; “to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”

     Do you remember S&H Green stamps? I remember them from many years ago.  You used to get them when you bought stuff.  I remember it mostly from gas stations and a few grocery stores.  I can remember the salesclerk putting her finger in the right number and then spinning the coupon dispenser and you would get a handful of stamps.  Then you would go home, lick the stamps, put them in a book, and then look at a catalog to see what you could get for a certain number of books.  It seemed like it took a million stamps to fill a book.  (No, it wasn’t that much but when you were 5 or 6 and trying to figure out if you could finagle a toy out of the deal it did.) 

    I remember looking at the catalog and wondering how on earth anyone could possibly save that many stamps in order to redeem that many books of stamps and get some of that stuff.  It could take a hundred or more books for some of that stuff.  How on earth could anyone do that?  What did they buy that gave them that many stamps?  Of course, I was uninformed about “double stamp” days and promotions like that but still; that was a lot of stamps.  Yet the basic concept was good.  The retailer gave you stamps as a reward for shopping at their store.  After you had enough stamps, you could trade them in (redeem them) for something you wanted.  It could be a fancy set of steak knives or stainless-steel mixing bowls or a bow and arrow set or any number of things.

    This is what God did for you.  He redeemed you.  He traded Jesus’ life for yours.  He gave up the life of his only Son so that you can live.  Rather amazing if you stop and think about it.  Jesus, the king of kings, the Word Incarnate, the active creative agent of the Father, was traded for you and for me.  Yet this shows us how much the Father loves us.  He traded so much for us; he must value us greatly and he does.

    The great thing about this is that our salvation was complete with that trade.  You and I don’t have to make it work anymore than that salad bowl or fondue set did when the green stamps were exchanged.  It is the value that the redeemer places on the item that matters and when God redeems us, he places an extraordinary value on us.  His desire is to have us live with him in eternal life.  His desire is for you to live in his loving kingdom.  His desire is for you to be his own dear child.  So, he traded the life of Jesus for yours.  He redeemed you from the consequences of sin. He freed you from eternal damnation and he gave you life.  So, you have been traded for, you have been redeemed.

Gracious Father, you sent Jesus to redeem me, a lost and condemned creature.  Through the wonders of your mercy, you chose to save me from my earned punishment.  Give me the strength to live as a redeemed child, trusting only in your grace.  Guide me and keep me safe.  Be with those who do not experience the joy of this redemption.  Bring them to saving knowledge of your love.  In the precious name of Jesus, our risen savior, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret 

1-25-2026

Good Morning!

                Matthew 5:16; “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

      Did you ever see the movie “Mr. Holland’s Opus”?  It was in the mid 1990’s and starred Richard Dreyfuss as Glenn Holland.  He was a musician who became a teacher so he could have time to spend with his new wife and then have time to write the one great musical masterpiece which would give him worldwide acclaim and lots of money.  During the span of his teaching career, he never gets this great musical piece written.  Through all these years though he has an impact on the children of the school and the lives that they lead after graduation.

     As the thirty-year career ends, he is invited into the arena area where dozens of his former students are gathered to play in his band, including the governor of the state.  It is at this time that he realizes that the opus (great work) that he was trying to write was being written in and by the lives of the young people who he touched and influenced.  It is a rather heartwarming movie.

    It also can and should describe our lives as well.  Let your light so shine is not so much about being a blazing searchlight as a gentle flashlight that points the way.  Through our interactions with others, our faith should show through.  We, as Christians, know what is important and what isn’t quite so important.  So, when those around us point the wrong way, we can gently point the right way.

    There are many ways to do this.  The most prevalent is to act as a mentor/coach to a younger person.  It might be the new guy at work or the high school kids down the street.  You do this by coaching or organizing events or just being there to help with homework if you can.  It isn’t very often that we are to be huge, bright spotlights; we are to be gentle flashlights that point the way to a more peaceful and contented life.  So, when those around you seem to be off kilter over some minor event, you can interject some sanity.  We know what is right, true and important.  We know that it is our saving faith in Jesus that gives us the confidence to trust in God’s mercy in our life.  That is what matters, everything else comes in second, maybe even fifth or sixth.

    Let your light shine and let others be drawn to this light.  Let them see the comfort that you have from your faith.  Let them know that the courage you have is not your own but from God.  Let them know that above everything else, you are a redeemed child of God and that trumps everything else.  God’s grace is alive in you, let it out.  Give this grace a place to show and let it show to those most closely around you.  Show it to your family, your friends, your neighbors and your fellow Christians.  Let your light shine, be someone’s opus.

Merciful Father, in you we have forgiveness.  Give us the courage to shine into the light of the world.  Give us the strength to let our light shine.  Help us to change people’s lives by living the life which you have laid out for us.  Help us to show your love so that they may see your glory.  Bring them to faith, dear Lord.  In the precious name of Jesus, our risen Savior, we pray. Amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

1-24-2026

 Good Morning!

        Proverbs 10:20; “The tongue of the righteous is choice silver; the heart of the wicked is of little worth.”

     When you were young, were ever told, “don’t talk like that, here.”  “Don’t use that kind of language, here; someone might hear you.”  “We don’t talk like that here.” It is funny how we choose to think that there are places that we can talk like that and that there are places that we can’t.  Even as we hear these things said, deep down we know that they don’t make sense.  Deep down, we know that words that shouldn’t be spoken or thought in one place are wrong in another.

    Yet we try and do it.  We go to church on Sunday and sing of God’s praises.  We speak of our faith; we raise our prayers.  We say, “amen” and “halleluiah;” we sound so holy but what do we say on Monday or Tuesday?  Do we sound so holy then?  How is it that we can so wonderfully sing God’s praises one day and the next attack and destroy our neighbor?

    How do we go from singing to God to slinging mud?  We finish the “Alleluia” chorus and then go right in to viewing someone as “a lazy, slob who has never worked a real day in their life.”  We take into our mouth the Lord’s Supper only to later spew out venom and disgust at our fellow man.  We look down on those who are hurting, seeing their problems as some innate weakness on their part.  We do this, often without thinking it all the way through.  We often respond in this fashion because we do not listen to our better angels, we listen to our own demons and our selfish pride.

    This is part of what Jesus was referring to when he said, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”  Too often, we speak without thinking.  Too often we let our sinful nature lead when we need to let our faith step forward first.  We need to think before we speak.  It is an adage that your mother probably told you years ago and she was right.  That is what the proverb is about having a righteous tongue that speaks only after thought.  Our first impulse may be sinful, especially if it is in an area where we are easily tempted.  Part of fighting off temptation is recognizing it and fighting it.  Sometimes this is best done with patience and thoughtfulness. 

    Patience and thoughtfulness are not two words which describe the devil, for he is quick to speak and with little concern for those around.  Yet Christ often waited for a little bit before he spoke and his words were kind and gentle.  Which example should we follow?

    So, take your time and think before you speak.  Let your tongue be silver.  Let the words of your mouth be praises to God both on Sunday and the rest of the week.  Let your mouth speak of his love for you and for all.  Let your mouth show God’s mercy.

Father of all goodness, use our mouths to speak your love and mercy.  Guide us by your Spirit to move away from anger and hatred that so often spews out.  Move us to love others as you have loved us.  Guide us to speak mercy to those around and move us to ask forgiveness when we have spoken words which hurt.  In the precious name of Jesus, our risen Savior, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret         

1-23-2026

Good Morning!

         Luke 10:30; “Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.” 

     This is the start of one of the most famous parables, “The Good Samaritan.” This is a very common story but it may go a little different than you think.  We often hear this and think that this guy had some really bad luck. He went to Jericho and was robbed.  Yet didn’t he know that this was a dangerous route?  He should have; he should have known that it was a bad idea to go down that path by himself.  It was dangerous but he went anyway.  After he was robbed and beat up, two people who he should have been able to count on, a Levite and a priest, walked by not even stopping.  His help came from a completely unexpected source. He was only helped by a Samaritan.

    Sometimes, we just make a wrong decision like the man in our story.  We take a course of action that is inadvisable.  We can call that “temptation.”  We know better, we know it will only end badly but we do it anyway.  Once we give into temptation, the devil and his demons fall upon us like thieves in the dark.  He will beat you up, steal all you have and leave for dead.  But you won’t be dead, not yet; he will leave you there to suffer some more.  That is what sin really does to us; it beats us up and leaves us destroyed.

    Now we may think that we can handle it or at least deal with it.  We may even have a couple of ideas of how to deal with the destruction.  We may think we can just handle it, we may think we can lie our way through it, we may think someone (parents or spouse or friend) will just bail us out, we may think that no one will ever know.  Yet when sin hits us with the guilt and the accusations; we cannot hide from what we did, we know and deep down it hurts us, deeply hurts.  It paralyzes us; it leaves us suffering almost dead.

    It leaves us to where we cannot do anything to help ourselves.  There is only one way for us to be saved from the ravages of sin, God himself had to step in and save us.  In our life, Jesus is the only answer.  He is our only hope.  He picks us up, pays for our recovery, and will pay for future “expenses” (sins).  This is our only hope all others will fail.  So, the great news is that we can trust in that hope with the certainty of God’s promised mercy and saving grace in our lives.  Even when we make really bad choices, he comes to save us and to rescue us from sin.

Father, in your mercy, you have sent Jesus to rescue us form sin.  You have rescued us from the devil and his torments.  Keep us safe on our travels.  Keep us free from temptation.  Guard us by your Spirit.  Be with those who are especially hurting at this time.  Be with those who are beaten and left along the side of the road.  Use us as your hands and feet to deliver them by your grace.  Bring them safely home.  In the precious name of Jesus, our risen Savior, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret    

1-22-2026

Good Morning!

               Matthew 18:21; “Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?”

     “Mom, Tommy hit me!”  The mother replies, “Tommy, tell your sister that you are sorry.”  Tommy, “I’m sorry.”  It may or may not be heartfelt.  This usually ends the parental lesson for the day but it shouldn’t.  How come the mother never tells Tommy’s sister to forgive him?  This is an important part of the event.

    In our verse, Peter is being generous.  It was the custom to forgive someone three times; after that you no longer were expected to forgive.  So, Peter was more than doubling the requirement.  He was being twice as generous as needed.  It would be like giving 20% of your income rather than the expected 10%.  It was doing what was required but the problem with doing what was required was that you often had to “keep track” in order to do what is required.  In this fashion, forgiveness is an act of the law and not an act of love.

    So, Jesus told Peter, “not seven times but seventy-seven (or seven times seventy, depending on the translation) times.”  Either of these are a bit of hyperbole as to show that you can’t keep track and that is the point.  Forgiveness is about letting go of the past.  Forgiveness is about the future.

    What occurred in the past cannot be undone.  We cannot undue any action we did yesterday.  We cannot “unhit” our brother or sister, we cannot take back the insults to our spouse, we cannot take back the cruel remarks to our children or co-workers or the gal in the checkout line.  We can apologize to them but we can’t take them back.  The person who received those actions or comments cannot “unexperience” them.  There is only one option; you have to forgive yesterday and move on to today.  You have to forgive, no matter how many times, if you plan on moving forward.  Failing to forgive will only hold you down and only hold you back.

    One way to view this is that forgiveness is about looking out the windshield rather than looking out the rearview mirror. (Pastor Jeske) We need to look out the windshield looking forward rather than looking in the rearview mirror where we only see what was.  It is far better to look ahead and look forward to the wonders and the grace that God has in store for us.  If we look back, too often, we focus on the pain and the sorrow.   If we look ahead, we can look ahead in hope of God’s mercy. 

    Our future is in God’s loving hands.  We should savor that and look forward to that eagerly.  By failing to forgive, we hold ourselves back by keeping the hurt within our heart.  Forgiveness is about letting go of the pain.  It is about ending someone else controlling our happiness.  By forgiving others, our happiness depends solely on God’s grace and not on our sinful desires.  Forgive and look forward.

Father, help us to see that by forgiving others, we heal our hearts.  Help us to see that forgiveness relieves the sinner and those who are sinned against.  Be with those who are struggling to forgive and to look forward to your continued love.  In the name precious of Jesus, our risen Savior, Amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret