6-3-2014

      Good Morning All,

      Genesis 18:32; “Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.”

     “If you change your mind, I’m the first in line; honey I’m still free; take a chance on me.”  Alright, I admit it, I know songs by ABBA; not a proud moment but a moment anyway.  We like the idea of change.  We like it when others change for us.  “Change the channel, please, my show is on now.”  “Let’s change seats so I can see better.”  “Instead of going out for supper, let’s cook a pizza.”  We like it when people change their mind, alter their actions or plans to fit our desires, but what about God?  Can we change his mind?

     Our text is part of the story of Abraham praying to God that he spare the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.  Abraham starts out by asking God if he would spare the city if there were 50 righteous people, then 45, then 40 all the way down to 10.  At each request, God tells him that he will not destroy the city if there were that many righteous.  In the end, Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed.  Yet how do we match the idea that God is perfect and immutable (changeless) and then he changes his mind?  If God does not change, why pray?  Why ask God for something if it is already decided?

    The most important part about prayer is that while it does not change God; it completely changes you.  In our story, Abraham knew, without a doubt, that these two cities did not even have 10 righteous people in them.  When you and I pray, God uses prayer to change us.  For most of us, praying helps us to identify our fears and worries.  Once we identify what we are afraid of or what we are worrying about; it tends to “shrink the problem.”  The devil loves it when we live in nebulous fear, when we are just afraid.  Yet, if we put a name to that fear, such as, I am afraid of losing my job, God, through the Spirit, will send you comfort.  It might be in the form of helping you realize that there are other jobs or opportunities for you.  It might be from other friends or family members.  God works in many ways, but he works.

    The most important part of prayer is that we come to God and lay our fears, our worries and our burdens at his feet.  Then we trust God to keep his promise to provide for us.  If we do this right from the start, we will begin to have comfort right from the start.  If we trust from the start, then even if our prayers are not answered in the fashion that we thought was best, we know that God will make all things work for good for those whom are called according to his purpose.  So we pray and God heals us; in his way and in his time, but he does heal us.

Father, we come before your throne of mercy seeking your blessings upon the families of the land.  Many families are under attack.  We pray for reconciliation; we pray for peace within our own lives, within the lives of those whom we love, and within the lives of all those who are hurting.  Send your Spirit of peace to your people.  In the precious name of Jesus, our risen Savior, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret          

6-2-2014

Good Morning All,

      1 Samuel 22:2; “And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul, gathered to him. And he became commander over them.”

     As I have told you before, I am a fan of movies.  The other day I was watching one of the Robin Hood movies and I tried to figure out how many different versions that I had seen.  There is the “real” one with Errol Flynn.  There was one with Sean Connery, one with Kevin Costner, the newest one with Russell Crowe, Disney made two, one animated and one with real actors and my favorite; “Robin Hood: Men in Tights.”  These are the ones I thought of, there are probably others. 

    The basic premise was that a group of people were suffering under a great injustice and eventually, a nobleman who lost his estate became their leader.  They “robbed from the rich and gave to the poor.”  Eventually they are vindicated when the proper king returns and all is right with the world.  A wonderful little tale and like many wonderful little tales; it would seem that it has its origin in the Bible.  The biblical story is based on David.  He, essentially, became an outlaw as King Saul tried to kill him and kill anyone who helped David.  Thus men who had been beaten or punished by the king turned to David and he became their leader, their commander.

    In many ways, these two stories, similar as they are, are somewhat representative of our relationship with Jesus.  You and I, as sinners, live under the rule of a cruel ruler, the devil.  The devil wants you to live in distress.  He wants you to suffer the pain of sorrow and sadness.  He wants you to feel the worry of paying the bills tomorrow or facing the doctor, alone, or trying to deal with the uncertainty of life.  He wants you in debt, so you have more to worry about.  He tempts us with tantalizing gadgets and things; that everyone else seems to have and we just “need” in order to live.  Yet above all, the devil wants you to be bitter in soul.  He wants you to go through life feeling passed over, forgotten, unlovable, leave-able; someone not worth worrying about or worth wanting.

   Into this life, Jesus comes to claim those whom the devil attacks.  He is there to comfort you in your distress.  He is there to give you hope beyond debt and above all; he is there to relieve the bitterness in your soul.  He is there to take the bitterness of loneliness, and despondency and to restore you to someone whom He completely loves.  He will never forget you, never find you unlovable, he will never leave you.  You are always someone whom Jesus finds worthy of wanting.  He wants you to be loved by Him and to live with him in eternal paradise.  He will show you the way to live in harmony with God.  He has shown us the path to eternal life.  His love for us endures forever, especially for the distressed, the indebted and those who are bitter in soul.

Gracious Lord, you came to bring us out of distress and to sweeten our bitter souls.  Continue to strengthen our faith and to lead us to that life which you give us, one to prosper us.  Be with those who feel the bitterness of life.  Show them your mercy.  In your precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

6-1-2014

Good Morning All,

        1 Corinthians 6: 19b-20: “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

     “It’s a free country!”  “I have my rights and I will exercise them as I choose!”  We hear phrases like this often, especially in the United States.  It is all about my freedom to do as I please.  The interesting thing is that we are now seeing what happens when my freedom meets your freedom.  So how do we as Christians supposed to act?  We have freedom; Christ freed us from sin and the devil.  We are free, right?

    We need to see this carefully.  Christ has freed us.  He has freed us from the tyranny of the devil.  We are freed from the guilt of sin.  We are freed the fear of being separate from God.  We are freed.  Yet this freedom has never meant that we can choose whatever we want.  We are no longer under the reign of the devil; now we are under the reign of God.  We are God’s children.  We were bought with a great price; we were bought with the blood of Jesus.

    So now we belong to God, we are free of the devil but our allegiance is now to God.  Our allegiance is not to our own personal freedom, our allegiance is not to our own selfish desires; that places us back in the reign of the devil.  Being in God’s kingdom means to desire the “higher things”; we desire those qualities which Jesus displayed.  We desire to serve God and fulfill his will.  We seek to live as God desires us to live.

    This can be a challenge.  There are many times when the world will do everything it can to convince us that we are wrong.  Just remember that even the devil quoted Scriptures when he tempted Jesus in the desert; it can be the same with us.  Yet the world always twists Scriptures just enough to make them wrong.  We know that God loves us and loves all people but God hates sin because it separates us from God’s grace.

    God hates sin because it removes us from his love and from his grace.  God hates sin because it harms us; it harms our relationship with Him.  God’s hatred of sin is probably easiest understood if we think how you and I hate cancer.  We see what cancer does to the body and we see what cancer does to our relationship with the person who has it.  Cancer can destroy the body and kill the person who has it.  We lose that loved one to a disease so we hate cancer.

    Sin is a cancer and because it is, God hates sin.  God does not hate you or anyone else but sin will separate us from Him.  So in order to redeem you, God had Jesus come into the world to pay your debt, to buy you back from the devil.  So we should live our lives for Him.  We should thank and praise, serve and obey Him with complete joy. 

    Father of grace, you sent Jesus to buy us back from the devil.  Let us never forget that we are yours.  Let us never forget that by your grace, we are forever in your mercy.  Help us to live in your holy kingdom.  Keep us from seeing freedom as the desire to follow our selfish desires.  Help us to see that freedom gives us the power to live in your will.  Be with those who struggle with freedom.  Give them the wisdom to know and to do your will.  In the precious name of Jesus, our risen Savior, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret