10-3-2017

 Good Morning All,

      Hebrews 13:12; “So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.” 

  Have you ever felt like you were on the outside looking in?  You know, when there is a group or a crowd and you don’t fit in.  It might be unintentional, like when a group of golfers begin to talk about golf and you don’t golf or when a group of farmers talk “farming” and you don’t farm.  You stand there and listen but if they talk “birdie, eagle and handicap”, what do you say?                                                                               

Maybe you think it is just about the alphabet when it is “FSA, CSP, CRP, PP”, do you just say “XYZ”?

    Sometimes the exclusion is intentional; there is a “members only” effect.  If you don’t have a membership you just can’t be part.  This can be a country club or a dance club or any other form of club. The thing about these clubs is that you can usually join if you pay the dues to belong.  You aren’t really excluded; you just choose not to be part of it.  Some groups are exclusive because they don’t want you to be a member.  They have something that you don’t and they don’t want you to have it.  It used to take the form of slavery or voting rights.  In many ways it still does.

    We are often on the outside looking in.  Sin puts us there.  Our verse refers to the fact that criminals were executed outside of the city walls.  This was to be a statement to those who were enemies and to keep the city clean and to move the criminals away, sort of “out of sight out of mind” idea.  Those that the city deemed “unworthy” were kept outside the gate.  People with contagious diseases, or mental illness, or who were guilty of other crimes were often left outside the gate.  Because of our sin, that is where we were.

    Yet Jesus came to us.  He came to us when we were outside the gate, when we were steeped in sin and unworthy of entering into the city.  By coming outside the gate and taking our punishment, we can now go into the city and enjoy all the benefits of living inside.  We have the safety of the walls, the companionship of the neighbors and the fresh water to drink and food to eat.  It is where we are safe.  This city is God’s kingdom.  We can live here forever.  The devil will try to draw you outside and convince you that you do not deserve the city but you should stay outside.

    Yet Jesus keeps coming back to us, even when we are outside the gates to retrieve us and bring us back inside of the gate where we are safe.  We can live in peace inside the gate; we have rest inside the gate; we have love inside the gate.  Trust in Jesus, no matter if you feel like you are outside the gate; he will bring you back- trust in Him.

Dearest Father, you sent Jesus to bring us inside your holy house, into your family.  Give us the strength to trust in you and to keep our faith alive knowing that all things work to the good for those whom you love.  Give those who feel outside the gate the comfort of knowing that you draw them in.  Be with the family and the injured from the Las Vegas shooting.  Give us peace.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret     

10-2-2017

Good Morning All,

      Luke 10:34; “(He) went to him, and cleaned and bandaged his wounds. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.”

    This verse comes from the parable of the “Good Samaritan”.  This is one of the better known parables in the Bible.  Most know the story, a man is robbed, a priest and a Levite pass by him but a Samaritan stopped and helped the beaten man.  That is when our verse shows up. 

     We spend a lot of time hashing over this and other parables.  That is the interesting thing about parables, as you read them they tell you different things.  You must be careful not to over read them but there is much to be seen.  It is always important to keep the context of the story in mind.  Who is the story told to and what is it about the listener that needs attention?

    The story is told to a lawyer, (you know that will make it interesting).  The lawyer is trying to justify himself for his own salvation.  So Jesus tells him this story.  Most of the time we read this as a moral story of how we should act; we should be the “Good Samaritan.”  But there is a different way to read this.  Remember the lawyer is trying to justify his actions.  He wants to think that there is something he can do to save himself but there isn’t.

    The lawyer, and you and me, are really the man who is beaten up.  Helpless and hopeless in our life.  We are left along the side of the road to die.  False teachings of this world, self-induced lies, the devil’s deceptions, all pass us by when we are beaten down and hurt.  There is no hope; we cannot really help our self.  We are lost and beaten.  We are beaten by the disappointments in our life, by the frustration of relationship struggles, by the overwhelming of one failure after another.  We often times don’t even see the attackers and then they launch on us with a fury that we cannot withstand.  We are left beaten and robbed, robbed of hope.

    Yet Jesus comes along and he cleans us up (Baptismal language) He carries us to a place of safety (the Church) and he feeds us (Communion) and he tells the innkeeper that he will return (Second Coming).  Jesus is the one who saves us.  He is the one to pick us up and to fix us.  All the phony thoughts all the half-baked promises that the world makes always pass by on the other side of the road.  This includes any delusion that you and I have that we can save our self or even justify our actions. 

     Much of the time, we may feel beaten and destroyed.  Yet Jesus comes to us with his healing comfort and picks us up and binds our wounds.  He makes us whole again.  He gives us a place of safety to rest.  Isn’t that what we really need, is rest?  God protects us from all the devil’s lies and his arrows of pain.  He carries us to the inn where we are safe.  It is by his grace that we are made whole.

Dearest Jesus, many times do we feel beaten and robbed in this world.  Yet you pick us up and clean and bind our wounds.  Give us the certainty of hope that we will always be safe with you resting in your loving arms.  In your precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

10-1-2017

 Good Morning All,

             2 Samuel 4:9; “As the Lord lives, who has redeemed my life out of every adversity”

    “I am just not ______ enough!”  I hear that a lot especially from teenagers but not just them; from others as well.  All you have to do is fill in the blank.  I’m not pretty, smart, tall, thin, popular, young, spiritual or any of a hundred other words but all of them say the same thing; I am just not good enough.  I have little, if any, value at all.  Deep down, nobody really likes me; if all the truth was told nobody would miss me if I was gone.

    Have you ever felt like that?  I think most people have at one time or another.  It is most common after some disappointment.  The date with the pretty girl that you hoped for that didn’t happen, the boy from your math class that never called, the job you didn’t get, the group of friends that have fun when you aren’t there, the time someone forgot about you; all work up to feeling not _______ enough.  It is those setbacks that the devil loves to see.  He is there before we can even react and he whispers in our ear, “you really aren’t _____ enough.”

     This is one of the most painful things the devil does to us.  His best tool is always “doubt” and when we doubt it gives him a slight crack in the door to walk in.  If you have ever had the “not ______ enough” run through your mind you know it will quickly run through your mind, then your heart and then your spirit.  It can literally kill you with the pain and separation that it can cause.

     This is why it is so important to always remember who you are.  Remember “who you are” and not “what you are”.  You are a redeemed child of God.  That is who you are and there is nothing above that.  “What you are” is the situation that you are in and that will change frequently throughout our lives.  You might be not old enough now, you will be.  You might be out of s job now but you won’t be forever.  It might be too dry now but it won’t be forever.  Our life changes, sometimes it is not as pleasant as other times but it changes; what doesn’t change is God’s love for you.

    We often don’t think of it but God truly “double” loves you.  First we are loved because he created us.  When we were created God declares us as “very good”.  Then after we sinned, God bought us back again.  There is no doubt of God’s love for us, we are enough for him to love because he loves us entirely.  No matter “what you are” the important thing is “who you are” you are a loved, redeemed child of God and that will never change!

Dearest Father, many times I feel that I am not enough and not worthy of love.  Yet through this all you continually to love and sustain me.  Give the faith to always trust in the certainty of your love.  Your grace and mercy give me the hope for tomorrow.  Reach out to those who particularly feel that they are not enough.  Use me to comfort and console them.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret