10-3-2018

Good Morning All,

           2 Corinthians 1:3-4 ^“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God”

    This past week we had the opportunity to babysit our 16-month old granddaughter for a couple of days.  She is usually a good-natured and good-spirited little girl who loves to play and rarely gets fussy; except when she doesn’t feel well or is teething.  She usually likes to just go and not sit on your lap for any length of time.  So, when she came up to me, with her runny nose and red eyes and feeling a little warm; she wanted up in my lap and she laid her head on my shoulder and I stroked her hair as gently as I could and hummed quietly in her ear and tried to comfort her.  She laid there about 10 minutes (an eternity for her) and then she got up and grandma gave her some Tylenol and she went down for a nap.

    That is probably as good an example as there is of what prayer really is.  It is crawling up into our heavenly Father’s lap and having Him comfort us.  He whispers into our ear those comforting words of hope, mercy, grace, hope and comfort.  Even though our physical experience may not change, we know that our heavenly Father will not abandon us and this current situation or event does not define us in our Father’s eyes.  We are always His beloved children and He will never abandon us.  We have eternal life and salvation with Him.

    The reason we often struggle with prayer is because we pray for “things.”  We pray for good health, good spouse, a good job; we pray for rain or for it to not rain, we pray for our country, etc.  Now these are not bad things to pray for but they do set us up.  If I pray for rain and it doesn’t; it is easy to think prayer doesn’t work.  How we should view prayer is as a relational moment with our loving God.

    I didn’t change anything in my granddaughter’s life.  I didn’t take the fever away, I didn’t take the sore mouth away, I didn’t even wipe her nose.  I just held her and comforted her so she could rest and have some comfort.  Sometimes, that is what God does as well.  Even though I prayed hard; my loved one was not healed, my relationship was still fractured, my health is still deteriorating; my earthly lot has not changed but God will always be there to comfort you, to hear your cries and still them; to hold you in His loving arms whispering into your ears the wonder of His grace, the joy of your salvation and the greatness of your eternal glory with Him.

    The brokenness of this sinful world will not end until Christ returns.  Until that happens, the comfort and love of the Father may be the extent of this life’s existence.  Yet the Father’s love gives us an eternity of love with Him.  His healing is real, His promise is sure and His grace is never ending.

Father of all comfort, we pray for those who know no comfort in this world.  Bring them into your arms and give them comfort, give them hope.  Lift their hearts to know that they are not abandoned nor left alone.  Strengthen their faith and revive their hope.  In the precious name of Jesus, our rock and our hope, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret       

10-2-2018

Good Morning All,

               Matthew 9:13; “Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

     “You have to learn what it means!”  I don’t know how many times in my athletic career, playing and coaching, that this phrase was used.  In either instance, it meant that the learning process was the old-fashioned way, some called it the school of hard knocks.  Sometimes you just have to experience an event to learn what it means.  It is hard to explain how it feels to come up to bat in the bottom of the last inning with your team behind by one run, a runner on third and you are batting.  You have to learn it.  Some things can only be learned by experience.  Riding a bull is something that can only be learned by riding a bull no amount of “book learning” will ever replace riding the bull.

     So how do we learn what it means “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice”?  Well the best, and perhaps only way, is by experience and we have had a lot of experience.  We have received mercy from God over and over.  Jesus came into the world to die for sinners, you and me.  He came while you and I were still enemies of God.  We were seeking after our own selfish and self-centered desires.  Because of this selfish desire, we were lost from God.  We were adrift in a broken world that the devil tormented.  We were tormented as well and we deserved it.  Yet God had mercy.  He showed us love that we did not deserve.  He shows us love we do not deserve.  He will show us love that we will not deserve.  Yet without that love, we would not be completely lost.

    So Jesus tells us to share that mercy.  We live entirely before God because of his mercy.  There is nothing we can do to earn that love; there is no amount of sacrifices that we can perform to earn it.  So Jesus tells us to live the same way; to show mercy to others as we have had mercy shown to us.  We are not to expect others to live up to a standard that we fail to meet.  This only serves to reinforce that failure.

    So we see that, in order to reconcile with others, the only way is through mercy.  We are reconciled to God because of his mercy on us.  We reconcile with our brother through our mercy as well.  It also takes our brother’s mercy on us as well.  We can never build a relationship with each other by keeping score.  A relationship is not about winning or losing; it is not about control or dominance.  A relationship requires love; it requires mercy.  Without mercy, relationships shrivel up and die.  Sometimes, we learn that the hard way but we have the example and the experience of our own life with God.  We have received nothing but mercy from God in order to be part of his kingdom, a member of his family.  Mercy is how love works.

Gracious Father, in your mercy we find hope.  In your mercy, you spared us from the torment of the devil and from eternal condemnation.  Protect us by your grace.  Guide us by your Spirit to have mercy on those whom we meet, with those whom we love.  Be with those who are struggling showing mercy.  Help them to see that through you mercy has been shown to them.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret             

10-1-2018

Good Morning All,

       Genesis 3:1; “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.  He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?”

     “You talkin’ to me?”  If you are a movie buff, you know that line.  Robert De Niro in “Taxi Driver” utters one of those lines that live far beyond and completely beyond the movie.  It gets used often, it is parodied often; it is one of the lines that gets quoted often.  I wonder, why Eve didn’t say this to the serpent?  Probably because the serpent was more crafty than any other beast. 

    The serpent was crafty, he was slick as could be.  He could slither his way up to Eve and begin a conversation with her that she didn’t want to have.  So he asked and she pondered.  He asked and she questioned.  He asked and she doubted God’s Word.  He asked and she sinned.  He asked and she lost her faith.  So what happens when he asks you?

    The devil asks this same question to you every day.  “Did God actually say…?”  Did God actually say that you would have eternal life?  Did God actually say that ALL your sins are forgiven?  Did God actually promise to be with you?  “Did God actually say…?”  He slithers up to us when we are most vulnerable.  Maybe we are stressed about a doctor’s test or worse, when the doctor says “I don’t know what is wrong.”  Did God actually say, my strength is made perfect in your weakness?”  Maybe you and your spouse had a fight and you feel unwanted and unloved; “Did God actually say, I love you?”

    Maybe you fail to see what is ahead and all you see is pain and confusion, “Did God actually say, I know the plans I have for you?”  Maybe you feel all alone; did God really say, I won’t abandon you?  So when the devil asks us this question, how do we answer?  It is always interesting to me that Eve went into a long description.  When we get asked these questions, our answers are easy, we say “yes.”  We say, Yes God said this and more than that God promised.  So we can see that faith tells us the answer is “yes.”  Faith is saying that “yes” God said these things and means them.  I trust God’s Word.  God said it was so.  “Did God actually say…?”  “Yes, he did.”  Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 1:20; “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory”.  Jesus is the reason for our “yes!”  We can shout it from the mountain top or we can quietly cling to it while waiting in the doctor’s office.  It is what will calm our fears when faced with the unknown.  God said “yes” so we can say “yes.”  Did God actually say, come into my kingdom?  Yes he does!

Father in heaven, in you we find “yes”.  You give to us eternal life.  You give to us the answer to the devil’s question.  Give us the faith to respond with a resounding “yes!”  Be with those who are battling the slithers of the devil; those who doubt the answer to the devil’s challenge.  Help them to know the certainty of your “yes” so that they can find theirs.  In the precious name of Jesus, our Risen Savior, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret