1-3-2018

Good Morning All,

Matthew 28: 20b; “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

     Even Elvis asked, “Are you lonesome tonight?”  It is one of the more interesting elements of being a human.  We are social creatures; we tend to seek out companionship.  Yet for many, it is the most elusive part of their life.  Much of the time people feel alone.  There are many “self-help” books and articles that tell you to prepare to be alone, even in a marriage. 

     We see it in pre-teen and in teenagers.  Many times a young person will join a group, even a group they know is a bad influence and decision to be with, rather than be alone.  They seek acceptance by society, or the group; if they don’t get it from one group, they will seek it from whoever will receive them.  This can include groups that tend to misuse them and abuse them just as long as they are accepted into the groups.  They just don’t want to be alone.

     Sin brought about our sense of loneliness.  The first sin broke the relationship between man and God.  Sin separated us God’s grace and it turned us from being compassionate being into self-centered beings.  The next recorded sin proves this; it is the murder of Abel by Cain.  Jealousy, envy, greed among other emotions and desires drove Cain to kill his brother and soon this anger became loneliness.  This is what sin does; it separates us from God and from each other.  We are left lonely.

    This is part of what Jesus came to change.  He came to reconcile us back to God and back to each other.  This is why he teaches his disciples to love one another.  This is the answer to loneliness; God giving us his love and then this love flowing through us to others.  This is one of our greatest gifts; the gift of loving and of being loved.  It is the end of loneliness.

    Yet the devil does all he can to convince us that we are alone.  It is one of his greatest lies.  He wants you to feel that you are isolated and all alone.  Once he has you convinced of this, he can torment you.  This is why we so often feel all alone.  It is the devil trying to entice you to leave God’s gracious and loving arms in order that you might be his target.

    Yet Jesus knows his plans and his ways.  Jesus knows our fear and pain in loneliness.  He has promised that we will never be alone.  He has promised to be with us to do protect us from the devil.  We can live in the certainty of his unending mercy.  We live with his eternal presence in our lives giving us the peace and confidence to face the struggles of this life with courage and certainty that we do not face them alone.  We face them with the certainty of God’s mercy always being present.

Gracious Lord, you are always with me.  You guard and protect me from all that the devil throws at me.  Keep me in your loving arms.  Be with those who are especially feeling alone at this time.  Bring them to the certainty of your grace.  Give to them the wondrous knowledge of your loving protection and peace.  In your name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

1-2-2018

Good Morning All,

         John 18:38; “Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him.” 

      “What is truth?” That was the question that Pilate asked Jesus.  There are many ways to interpret that question.  It would seem that this one is somewhat rhetorical and cynical.  It reminds me of “Reality TV”.  Just where is the reality on these TV shows?  I have only watched a couple of episodes and have never met anyone who spoke or acted like these people do and yet we call it “reality TV”.

    Why do we call it that?  Do we think that there are people who believe that lie is like this?  Do the makers of these shows have strange dreams and then come up with these stories?  Or do they think this is reality?  I suspect the answer is that the makers of the show see reality as whatever makes a profit.  If they can make money, they put it on and smile all the way to the bank.  It is funny how we can distort reality so that it is what they want it to be.  The makers of the show have their motives and then call it reality.

    Pilate does the same thing.  First he asks Jesus what is truth, and then he announces that he finds no guilt in him.  Pilate knows the truth; he knows that Jesus is innocent of all the charges made against him.  Yet he has Jesus beaten and whipped; apparently being innocent had a different meaning to him.  He then allows himself to be bullied into letting Jesus be crucified.  What is truth? Apparently to Pilate it was whatever was convenient at the time.

    How often do we do the same thing?  We take the easy or convenient way out.  Everyone else is gossiping about someone else, so we join in.  Everyone around us is advocating some form of sinful action and we acquiesce.  Everyone around us espouses some form of greedy or selfish stance and we agree, even when we know it goes against our faith and our understanding of Scriptures.  What is truth? The world tells us that truth is whatever works at the time we need it.  “Truth” depends on the situation; it is relative to what is around us.  The world wants you to believe that “reality TV” is truth even when we know it is not.

    This is what Jesus is talking about when he told his followers that “the truth will set you free.”  When you have no truth, only imaginations, you are always tied up in the lies.  You have to figure out why the current “false truth” exists.  Who has the power, who has the influence, who thinks they decide what truth is.  Believers in Christ know the truth.  Jesus came as the truth.  In him, and in him alone, do we have salvation; that is the truth.  God and God alone is truth.  He alone determines the truth.

    In Christ we have the truth of God’s love.  In Christ we have the certainty of God’s mercy in our life.  In Christ we have the truth of our salvation.  In Christ we know truth. 

Father, you sent Jesus to be our truth.  Give us the courage to cling to you and to your truth.  Be with those who are being led astray by the world’s twisting of truth.  Bring them home to your eternal truth and love.  In the precious name of Jesus, our Risen Savior, we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret   

1-1-2018

 Good Morning All,

        Hebrews 13:6; “So we can confidently say, "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?"

       There used to be a sports clothing line called “No Fear.”  It made and sold t-shirts, sweat pants and tops, hats, and other sports clothing.  It even had a deal with Pepsi to sell an energy drink.  It clothing was popular among the high school age group and with those who were into extreme sports.  It became a motto for those who were willing to do just about anything for a thrill or in order to win a competition. 

     Many coaches would use this phrase in order to motivate their young charges.  It worked some of the time but when you challenge a young man to knock over a guy that is 6 inches taller and 100 pounds heavier; well even having “no fear” is usually “no success”.  The problem is that next time, the young man has fear.  Part of that is plain old common sense.  If at first you don’t succeed, you probably won’t the next time either.   This can often cause a certain amount of trepidation and fear.  So what does that smaller young man do?  He gets some bigger help.

    That is the real reason a 90 pound freshman can have no fear on a football team.  He has a bunch of 250 pound team mates.  Then he has nothing to fear.  Yet his strength does not come from his own size but rather from the size and strength of his team mates.  The same is true for us; we just have a stronger team mate.

     We can never face up to God’s wrath on our own.  We would wither and die in no time.  We might think we are tough but when faced with the awful truth; we would crumble into wretched fear.  We also cannot face the onslaught of the devil on our own either.  The devil has ways to taunt us, to haunt us, to cause us pain and misery all the day long.  He would have us quivering in fear in no time.  We would be huddled in the corner of our life, empty and alone.

    Yet we have the greatest champion of all time on our side as our team mate.  It is Jesus who overcomes the fear of punishment and the fear of the devil’s torment.  We only stand beside as our punishment is taken and the devil’s attacks are deflected.  We can stand tall and strong, we have no fear because we have Christ as our defender and protector.  The greatness of this is that it is never our strength that we stand on and as I get older I know my strength is waning away.  But I stand on the strength of Christ which never fails.  I stand on his righteousness alone.

    This is how I can avoid God’s wrath.  This is why the barbs that the devil throws, although they might sting, can do no harm.  We stand with Christ and we stand in Christ and in him alone.  It is by his wonderful grace that we have nothing to fear for we are always in his loving arms.

Father, too often I am tempted to fear the devil and his ways.  Give me the courage to stand always at the side of Jesus.  Lead me to have no fear.  Be with those who struggle with all that the devil throws.  Be with those who still live in the shadow of fear of you.  Be with all those who only know fear.  Free them from this bondage and give to them the certainty of your grace and peace of living in no fear.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret