12-5-2014

Good Morning All,

       Psalm 9:2; “I will give you thanks, O Lord, with all my heart.   I will tell about all the miracles you have done.”

                                   “I love to tell the story, ’twill be my theme in glory,
                                      To tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love.”

     This is the chorus from an old and familiar hymn.  The hymn is based on a two part poem by Katherine Hankey.  The first part of the poem has the author asking for “the story” because of the sadness and the pain that she feels.  In the longer second part the entire story of the Bible is unfolded; from Adam and Eve all the way through our eternal life in with Jesus.  The poem was written while the author was recovering from an illness. 

     The hymn “I love to tell the Story” is a favorite of many.  Yet it leaves open the question, do we?  Do we love to tell the story?  Do we truly enjoy sharing the story of God’s love with those around us?  Many do but many don’t as well.  Yet the telling of the story is one of our great tasks, and joys, in this life.  Scripture tells us that “faith comes by hearing”; if we are going to hear someone has to tell.  This is the way that God has chosen for his wonderful message of hope and salvation to be spread from one to another.  He wants you to tell someone; just like someone told you.  That is how your faith began.

   Someone told you the story of Jesus and his wonderful love for you.  This story unfolds throughout the entire Bible as God reveals himself to us.  This story is about how God’s mercy unfolds in your life and how God is restoring you and bringing you healing in this broken and sinful world.  These are the miracles that you can share with others.  These are your stories so tell them.  They may not seem as incredible or dramatic as some but God works in your life in many ways usually subtle and quietly.

    Yet the amazing and loving events of your life, the events which we give thanks to God for; these events show us his grace poured out upon us.  We give thanks for those people in our life who love us and care for us.  We give thanks for the guarantee of salvation and the hope and peace which that gives us.  We give thanks for our redemption and return to God’s family.  There are many things to give thanks to God for.

    Yet an important part of thanks is telling others.  Telling others of God’s mercy in our lives; this is part of giving thanks; the expressing of God’s incredible grace which abounds in our life.  I love to tell the story of Jesus and his love.

    Father of all mercy and grace; stir up in us the desire to tell others of your love.  Stir up in us the love of telling those around us of your mercy and grace.  Send your Spirit to move those who hear us to come to faith in you.  This we ask in the precious name of Jesus our risen Savior, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret       

12-4-2014

Good Morning All,

        Matthew 17: 20; “He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

      Last Sunday I had the incredible honor and privilege of baptizing my grandchild.  There is absolutely no greater joy.  I really wanted it to be special and I had a grandma and a great grandma that wanted it to be special.  Now, every preacher born desires that every service, every time the Gospel of Christ is preached is special but this was my first granddaughter and even at one month old she has grandpa wrapped around her little finger so I really wanted it to be special.

    As part of the Baptismal rite, we print out the rite using the candidate’s name where appropriate.  So when her name was to be in the prayers, we insert her name where it belongs.  This is to make this a very personal and special experience.  As I was reading the rite, I turned the page and it was blank.  Oh well, I turned the page and another blank page.  I was pretty sure I remembered seeing the last page as I assembled the book but I didn’t go through it page by page.  I am beginning to sweat; I have been quiet long enough for everyone to notice.  I turn the page, another blank page; time for plan “B” so much for the perfect service.  I knew the part we were on so I just kept speaking and reached for a hymnal and finished the rite, a little kerfuffled. 

    We finished the service, took the pictures so I went back to the book with the rite in it.  I knew I printed it; I was positive, yet, there were blank pages so I looked and there was the first blank page, then the next, then the next, then the page that was supposed to be there.  I only had to turn one more page and everything would have been fine; I only needed to have the faith that I had printed it but I gave up and turned away and made my granddaughter’s Baptism a little less special.

    Faith is a lot like that.  We know God is there; he always is but as we turn the pages of our life sometimes the page looks empty and we panic.  Maybe we go back to God a couple of more times but the pages look empty so now we really panic.  All we really need to do is to keep going to God, to keep faith in his promise; all we need is a little faith but we panic and we seek plan “B.”  Any plan that does not rely entirely on God and his grace is really no plan at all.

    God has promised to take care of us and to comfort us.  Yet even more than that; He has promised to change the hurt to joy, the sorrow to gladness, the cries to laughter.  This process has begun and it began with the birth of Jesus.  We are continually being restored and healed by God’s grace.  Sometimes, sin clouds our view; sometimes sin weakens our faith.  Yet God continually keeps calling us back, bringing us healing and hope.  It only takes a faith to turn the next page.

Father, there are times when I need your help to turn the next page in my life.  Give me the courage and the faith to know that all things are in your hands.  Be with those who are worried and fearful; give them peace and hope.  Heal them Lord.  In Jesus’ precious name, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

12-3-2014

 Good Morning All,

        Matthew 1:21; “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

       As our 2 ½ year old grandson was helping his grandmother decorate for Christmas, he found the Nativity set that we bought for him.  It is a soft cloth one.  He picked up the Christ child from the manger and told his grandma, “I love baby Jeesit.”  "What's in a name? That which we call a rose; By any other name would smell as sweet." This was Juliet’s comment.  So what is in a name?  When the birth of Jesus was announced to Joseph, it was specified that this child would be named Jesus for “he will save his people from their sins.”  His name has meaning.

     Also much more than just meaning; it has power.  It has the power to accomplish the very task.  It is the power by which God has chosen to bring us salvation.  Because of his life, death and resurrection, we have eternal life; we have the comfort and the consolation of God’s Spirit dwelling in us.  We have the knowledge that we are in God’s holy family.  We have the certainty of God’s eternal grace in our life.

    Yet the most wonderful part of this entire process is that God does it all.  Even if we don’t get it all quite right, even if we don’t fully understand how everything works, we have God’s gift of salvation in our heart, in our soul and in our life.  We can think his name is “Jeesit”; we can try to understand why it works and never really understand why God chose to love us enough to save us.  We may never figure out why God chooses to use us to spread his word of grace and truth.  Yet we still possess it.

   So when our life turns upside down and we can’t understand what is happening; we don’t understand the pain or the loss; we seem to spin out of control and life is totally confusing’ we can trust that God will save us.  We only have to cling to his name to the name that saves us; we cling to Jesus.  We cling to Jesus for he is our hope; he is our salvation.  We cling to his promise of hope and redemption.  The pain will subside but God’s love for us will always continue.  His love is poured out upon us as we cling to the most powerful name there is; we cling to the name of Jesus for he saves us from our sins; he redeems us from the pit and lifts us up.

   It is not our wisdom or skill that gives us hope.  It is not our wealth or possessions.  All these are false supports that will fall away and leave us alone.  Yet God will never abandon us; he will always save us from the snares and the attacks of the devil.  He is our salvation and hope; it is by the name of Jesus that we are saved.

Father of grace, you sent your Son to be our Savior.  By his name we are saved.  Keep us safe within your loving arms.  We ask that you especially give your peace to those who are in pain and are struggling with their life at this time.  Give them the courage to withstand the devil’s attacks.  Heal their wounds and give them the certainty of their hope in you.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret      

12-2-2014

Good Morning All,

          1Timothy 2:1; “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people”

      I was visiting with one of the area school superintendents and offering my empathy to him for one of the toughest tasks that he has; deciding whether to cancel school because of the weather, start school late because of the weather or just go as scheduled.  This is one of the “no-win” situations.  Someone will always think the decision you made was wrong.  Of course some of this “wisdom” gets offered after the fact.  They may see that the forecast was wrong and that, later in the afternoon, the decision to call off school, made at 6:00 am, was premature.  I would not want that job.

   I started to think of other jobs that I am not sure I would want.  I remember a local fire chief who said how much he hated accident calls at 8:00 am.  “It is highly possible to be a school kid driving to school and that I will know them.”  He didn’t like those prospects and I don’t know that I would either.  I thought of the young nurse’s aides who work long and thankless hours in our nursing homes and hospitals; I don’t know if I could do that job.  I thought of someone who answers suicide prevention hotlines and the pressure on them to have the right answer at the spur of a moment.

    There are a lot of jobs out there that I don’t think I could handle.  There are some very stressful jobs; jobs that require decisions that can, and often do, impact hundreds to thousands to millions of people.  I don’t think I would enjoy that job.  There are jobs that are very dangerous but very necessary for the general safety of society; we need them but I am thankful I don’t have to do them.  That is what I was thinking when I opened my bible and found this verse.

   “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people.” When you think of those jobs and tasks that need to be done but that you just don’t think you could ever do them; pray for those individuals who do them.  Pray for those people to whom God has given the vocations that you and I would not like to do.  Some are dangerous, some are stressful, some are emotional draining and taxing but all are jobs that I am thankful that I do not have to perform.  I am thankful that God enables someone to do these tasks and we should all pray for them.  We should pray that God will send his Spirit to help them withstand the stress and the strain that these jobs can exert on someone’s life, relationships, health and general wellbeing. 

   I remember was wag saying that he prays for our elected leaders; twice as hard for those he didn’t vote for.  Perhaps, when we see a job or task being performed that we are thankful we aren’t performing; we should say an extra prayer of thanks for the ones who do.

Father, thank you for all those people who do the tasks that I cannot.  Keep them safe, keep them strong under the stress, keep them in your loving arms as they serve as your hands in this world.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

12-1-2014

Good Morning All,

        Romans 8:15; “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

       It is always fascinating how animals are trained.  How do they train those huge elephants?  They start when they are babies and then tie a rope to their leg and then attach the rope to a stake in the ground.  As the baby elephant pulls on the rope, it cannot break the rope or pull away.  It thinks it cannot get away so it quits fighting.  Anytime a rope is tied to its leg, it “thinks” it is still tied to the post and will just stand there.

      The devil does the same thing to us.  He wants us to think we are still tied to him.  The devil wants to keep us as slaves and for us to live in fear.  He does this by taking the events that occur in a broken creation and making us fear what we do not know and what we do not understand.  We can see that throughout our life.  Remember the near hysteria that occurred when we started dealing with the Ebola sickness.  Our fear led us to think and advocate actions which were not useful or helpful.  We reacted in fear.

     Perhaps you have a story that is closer to home.  Perhaps you have faced a time when fear made you feel tied down as a slave of the devil.  The devil loves to sit on our shoulder and talk to us.  He loves to remind you of your failures and sometimes he convinces others that they can build themselves up by reminding you of those failures.  The devil wants you to think that the string he tries to tie to your leg to keep you tied down as his slave.  When we are his slave, he torments us and makes us to live in fear.  It might be an illness in the family; it might be rumors at work; it might be an uneasy feeling in a relationship; it might be anything but the devil whispers to us and tries to make us slaves to sin by pointing out our weaknesses.  Maybe you didn’t live as healthily as you should have, the devil whispers it is your fault that you are sick.  The devil will tell you that you are the weakest employee and you will soon be out.  The devil will tell you that you do not deserve a healthy relationship.  The whispers are designed to make you live in fear.

    It is this fear that Christ came to free us from.  Jesus freed us from sin so that we are no longer slaves to sin.  We are now co-heirs with Jesus in God’s kingdom; we are part of God’s family.  Now, rather than be afraid of God, we can call out “Abba!” “Father!”  We can approach his holy throne as dear children approach their father.  We know God’s love for us by looking at the vacant cross and the empty tomb.  We are free from the devil; we are no longer tied to him; he no longer rules our life.  We are free to live in God’s kingdom knowing God’s love and grace.  We can leave the past behind us and strain forward for what is ahead; eternal life with Christ.

Father, you free us from the devil’s noose because of Jesus.  Give us strength to resist the devil’s lies and to live in your peaceful grace.  Be with those who are especially troubled by Satan’s treachery.  Bring them to know the certainty of your mercy and the end of their terrors.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret