8-3-2018

Good Morning All,

              Psalm 6:2; “Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing; heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled.”

      Psalm 6 is generally viewed as the first of the seven penitential psalms.  It was written by King David.  We are not really sure what the circumstances surrounding the psalm were; it may have been associated with the rebellion of David’s son Absalom but no one is certain.  There is one thing that most everyone agrees with and that is that David is dealing with a mental and emotional torment that is causing him to experience doubt and despair.  This is as ugly a pair of emotions to deal with as there is.  Many people experience this sense of despair and doubt. 

    I was recently talking with a young man who has made a few bad decisions over the past few months.  He is trying to crawl back up but he is experiencing the old “two steps forward and then one back” mode of life.  He tries to get a job but he has some things in his past that make it difficult to get a job.  He can get some day laborer work but those are few and hard to get sometimes.  He has lost a home, a vehicle, a couple of apartments and a lot of self-respect.  He experiences doubt and despair.

    I visited with parents who have seen their children get in trouble with the law and now the parents can only sit and watch as the judicial system moves forward.  They have at times experienced despair and doubt.  So have parents whose children no longer come to church.  They are unsure how to proceed so they sit and feel forlorn, filled with despair and doubt.

   People, who lose a job, lose a farm, have health issues, have family members with health issues; pretty much everyone has at one time or another experienced this type of pain.  Sometimes it lasts just a little while and sometimes it lasts for days and days and for some it seems to last a lot longer.

     The pain of life in a sinful world can come crashing down on us at any time.  We need to always remember that doubt and despair are powerful on their own but immensely more potent when combined.  Both are the result of losing sight of God and of not hearing his Words.  God loves us and he tells us this over and over.  He showed us this love by sending Jesus to remove our sins and to destroy our past failures so that they can no longer pull us down.  God empowers us to look up and to see his love and our future with him.  It is the certainty of that promise that lets us live forward and not backwards.

    If your despair or doubts last longer than a few days; be sure to talk to someone, a friend, a pastor or some other professional.  The devil can cause a lot of pain if we let it run wildly in our heart or mind.  God loves you and he wants you to live a life that is full of peace and contentment.

Father, at times I feel lost.  Help me by keeping me focused on what I know for certain, and that is your love for me.  The love you pour over me because of Jesus washes away my fear.  Be with those who are struggling with doubt and despair.  Send them your healing.  Give them the comfort they need and the peace to give them rest.  In the name of Jesus we pray, amen 

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret  

8-2-2018

 Good Morning All,

           Genesis 2:15; “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.”

      We are in the midst of gardening time in our corner of paradise.  Great expectations and intense hope and deep desire born in the early spring are now abounding in all gardeners young and old, novice and experienced.  Some gardens are big, like my neighbor’s; some gardens are not so big, like mine.  Some gardens are for food, like mine; some are for beauty, like my wife’s.   Yet all gardens have one thing in common, you have to work and keep them in order for them to produce.

    This was and is the primary purpose that man was created.  We are to take care of creation.  This includes the planet, the plants and animals, the people; everything that is in all creation.  Every single thing which God created; man is supposed to “keep it” to take care of it.  Sadly, sin changed man’s desire.  Our desire went from caring for the beautiful creation that God gave us to a desire to exploit, use, abuse and discard.

     We see that everywhere we look.  We see man exploiting the land and destroying it in the name of selfish gain.  We see man abuse and misuse each other for the same selfishness.  We see greed and a callous eye to those who are in need.  We see where most of the pain that humans experience is caused by their fellow man.  Man has turned his back on his fellow man, on the health of the rest of creation and on God his creator and sustainer.

    This is why Jesus had to come to this world, humble himself and redeem mankind.  He came to reclaim creation, all of creation, from sin and its destructive nature.  He came to reclaim one sinner at a time bringing God’s forgiveness and his Spirit which brings about our renewed original created desire- to take care of the creation.

     God moves us to want to care.  God moves us to see the needs of our fellow man and to desire to aid him.  We may wonder about how to aid but we desire to aid.  God’s Spirit moves us in that direction and desires that we continue in that direction.  God’s desire is that we return to wanting to “keep the garden” that is to care for his creation.  We can care for it just as Adam did.  God placed Adam in the garden and God has placed you where you are in order to care for his creation where you are.  It might be your neighbors down the street or across the road but God has given you a place in his garden and a task to perform out of love for him.

Father in heaven, you created us and sustain us.  You sent Jesus to redeem us so that we might be your people.  Keep us steadfast in our faith.  Keep us in your loving arms.  Guide us to be the caretakers of your creation, spreading your mercy throughout the entire existence.  Be with those who are in pain or suffer.  Send them your healing touch.  In the precious name of Jesus our risen Savior we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret       

8-1-2018

Good Morning All,

           Psalm 139: 23; “Search me, O God, and know my heart!  Try me and know my thoughts!”

     We speak the words almost every Sunday but do we pay attention.  “I, a poor, miserable sinner confess all my sins and iniquities.”  I wonder how many of us think “yada, yada, yada, let’s get this thing moving.”  I almost wonder if it is Freudian when we are supposed to say “heartily sorry for them” do we really say “hardly sorry for them”?  There is just something about the confession of our sins that we just don’t like.  We would probably prefer to avoid it; it seems so self-abasing.

    One of the greatest struggles we have with confession is that we have to admit that we are truly sinful.  We can’t say, “I’m not that bad” because we are “that bad.”   We tend to like to look around and wonder who really needs to make this confession of sins; we might even offer a guess or two but the truth is that three out of three people need to make the true and honest confession of faith.  So next time look to your left and count one then look to your right and count one and remember you are number three. 

     The real reason we need to make a true confession is that we cannot begin to fix what is wrong in our life if we do not recognize what is wrong.  That is why David wrote this psalm.  He is asking God to study him to study his heart and lay open all the festering sin so that it might be cleansed.  Know my heart; do we ever really say this?  Do we really want God to search our thoughts and our attitudes?  Do we really want God to know what my words and my actions really are?  Do we want to confess the things that I shouldn’t have done?  Do we want to look at what we neglected to do?  Do we confess the times that we ignored God’s Spirit prompting us to act according to his will?

    Until we truly go before God and confess our true sins, we will never be fully rid of them.  We may even deny that they really are sins or if they are sins then maybe they are “not so bad” and that that we are “hardly sorry for them.”  As long as we avoid true confess, we miss out on the fullness of God’s grace.  We miss out on some of the joy and the freedom that knowing that we are truly repentant and asking God to help me to change from my sinful ways, from the ways that are harming our relationship with God.  Only through true confession, which leads to true repentance can we heal our faults and correct our failures and bring new life to our existence.

Father, search me; search my heart that all the sin and the evil may be removed.  Give me a clean heart, Oh Lord and renew a right spirit within me.  Guide me to your throne.  Bathe me with your Spirit and lift me up as your righteous child.  Lead me to do your will. In the precious name of Jesus, our risen Savior we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret