9-3-2017

 Good Morning All,

           Matthew 6:26; “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”

      If you were walking down the street and you saw a penny on the sidewalk; would you stop and pick it up?  Most probably wouldn’t but at what amount would you, a dime, a quarter or does it have to be paper money before you even look?  As I thought about this; I realized how much my actions depend on the circumstances.  If I am in a hurry, I probably wouldn’t even see the penny.  When I am in a hurry, I tend to be in my own little world in my own little mind.  I am sure that I have walked right past friends and family and never even saw them.

    If I am not in a hurry, it would depend on the crowd.  If it was crowded, I probably wouldn’t stop to pick it up.  It would make a scene as people would have to divert around me and what would they think, a grown adult stopping to pick up a penny.  I would just keep moving; it is just a penny.  I would probably justify my action by thinking of some anecdote like how the military doesn’t ship pennies to their bases because it costs more to ship them than they are worth.  After all, it is just a penny and I am too busy and too important to be bothered by them.  I even usually leave them at the counter when I buy something; who really wants to bother with them anyway?

    There are times when I feel like that penny on the sidewalk.  Nobody bothers to pick me up.  Sometimes I get stepped on or worse.  I just lay there not worth the effort to bother with.  My fate as a penny is probably just to be swept into the storm drain during one of the sweeping scenarios that occur in a city.  I feel that way when it feels like I am alone.  There is so much to do and it feels like more just keeps getting piled on.  I feel the weight of the world and I am left alone; the penny that no one will pick up.  Maybe if I was a quarter, I would be more important and someone, anyone, would pick me up.  Maybe if I was shiny and new I could catch someone’s eye but I am old and dull and a little beat up by the way I have been used through the years.  There are times when I feel like that penny; perhaps you do as well.

     The cares of the world, the weight thrown upon us can be unbearable.  Maybe someone has abandoned you, a parent, a spouse or some other loved one.  You just weren’t worth the effort to them; you were only a penny that they wouldn’t pick up.  Maybe your job decided that you weren’t worth keeping.  Maybe it feels like the world has left you behind.  The technology is past you and you can’t afford it anyway.  Your friends speak of trips to the Bahamas or Mexico and you can’t begin to afford that.  You feel like a penny, left on the sidewalk, waiting to be swept into the sewers.

    God sees you and knows that you are worth picking up.  God sent Jesus to rescue you, from the streets, even from the very sewer where you ended up.  Jesus reached down and picked you up and claimed you as his.  He claimed you as his own because he values you.  He was not too busy or too embarrassed to pick you up.  You have great value to him and you always will.  You have enough value that he sent his Son to die for you.  He will never abandon you or leave you to bear the pain of this world by yourself.  His love for you lifts you up and gives you peace.  He gives you hope.

Father, you sent Jesus to pick me up from the sorrows and pain of the sewers that was my fate but now I wait for his return so that I may have eternal life with him forever.  Guard me until that day.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.  

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

9-2-2017

Good Morning All,

       John 11: 25-26; “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

    “KISS”.  This is the mantra of every single speech teacher I have ever dealt with at any level of learning.  My first English teacher in high school who taught us “Speech I” emphasized the “KISS” method.  She reiterated it in “Speech II.”  When I got to college it was again reinforced as the preferred method of public speaking “KISS”.  Even when I took “Sermon I” and “Sermon II” it was “KISS.” “KISS”; Keep It Short and Simple.  This is how the current thought in public speaking is going.  The average attention span is shrinking to just a few seconds and then you need to change something; like the pitch or tempo of your voice, move around, use video or audio but do something different or you will lose your listener.  “KISS” 

    When Lazarus died and Jesus was coming to the family, Martha met him on the road.  Jesus spoke to her in a very simple fashion, simple and direct.  He made the statement of faith to Martha and then asked her the simple question, “Do you believe this?”  The statement of belief is short and simple; “if you believe you will live”.  This is pretty straight forward and simple enough for anyone to understand.

    Many of the different religions around the world and throughout time require long and drawn out rituals and rites.  Some are deadly, like human sacrifices, some are painful, some are expensive, some take years to accomplish.  Manmade teachings are always complicated and confusing; God keeps it simple; “Do you believe?”  Do you believe that when Jesus died on the cross; his death paid for your sins?  Do you trust God when he says that this payment is enough?  Do you believe?  Do you believe that you are forgiven?

    These are easy questions but the devil does his best to complicate them.  He wants you to think through and try to make God’s way to fit into your logic and your motives.  Our old sinful nature gets in the way and always wants there to be something harder.  This seems too easy; there must be a catch; nothing is ever freely given; somewhere there is a price to pay.  Well there is a price but Jesus paid it.  He paid our debt and then turned around and gave it to you because he loves you.  “Do you believe?”  Because when we believe, we trust.  Because when we believe, we grab hold of God’s promise and cling tightly to them.  We can find our comfort in the certainty of his love for us.  Faith can give us a refuge from the sorrows of this life and a hope for a better tomorrow; do you believe?

Father, I believe.  I believe that Jesus died and rose again and that this is sufficient to pay for my sins.  Keep me strong in this faith.  Father, I believe that you Holy Spirit is with me to go with me and walk with me on my journey in this life.  Father, I believe that Jesus will come again to complete what he has started and end all the pain and sorrows of this world.  Father, I believe in your love.  In the precious name of Jesus our risen and living savior I pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret     

9-1-2017

Good Morning All,

                       Psalm 32:5; “I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.”

    Many of you speak “those words” most Sundays.  You know “those words”; “I a poor, miserable sinner”.  Are you?  Are you a “poor, miserable sinner?”  I remember listening to a lady on the radio one time just go off on this phrase.  She was emphatic; she was “no poor, miserable sinner” She was loved by God and she was not miserable, she was good stuff.  This may be but I think she misses the point.

    First, we need to take a look at the word “miserable.”  One way we use the word has a negative connation as in, the movie was “miserable”.  The second has a more positive connation as in, I feel “miserable.”  God does not look at you and think, “boy is that guy miserable”.  It is not used in a derogatory way towards the sinner.  It is used to describe the way we feel when we look at our sin and our ability to deal with it.

    A “poor, miserable sinner” is the person who, when he takes stock of his life, realizes that he has failed to live according to God’s will.  He recognizes that he has no hope, no chance of salvation, on his own.  A “poor, miserable sinner” recognizes that he desperately needs God’s help; he needs Jesus.

    A person who is not poor as in “poor in spirit” and not miserable when you take stock of your sinful condition and nature oftentimes downplays their sin.  They are “mistakes” or “slips” or “lapses” and “not that bad”.  There is a tendency to mitigate the sin.  Everyone else is worse than I am; I am not that bad; I am pretty good on the balance of things.  This is a person with a haughty spirit.  This is a person who does not think they really need a savior.  This is a person who is lost.

    One of our struggles today is that many people’s consciences are calloused over.  They do not feel the pain or sorrow of their sin.  This callousing in conjunction with a current prevalent thought to reduce sin or to gloss it over makes it easy to do.  Yet this callousing separates us from God’s love because we turn away from it thinking it is unnecessary.

    So I encourage you to be the “poor, miserable sinner” who knows that you need a savior who will rescue you from your fate as a broken, defeated sinner.  Then take joy, not in your goodness but in God’s love and goodness.  Take joy and comfort in God’s grace and know with confidence that you are saved because of his grace and his grace alone.

Father, too often I see myself as good and wonderful.  Keep me mindful of my need for a Savior.  Keep me mindful of the emptiness that is in my life without you.  Keep me humble and looking only to you for my hope.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret