11-12-2018

Good Morning All,

        Proverbs 10:25; “When the storm has swept by, the wicked are gone, but the righteous stand firm forever.”

     We here in the Great Plains may miss some of the horrific weather like hurricanes or typhoons.  We rarely experience earthquakes and never seen a volcano.  But we do have blizzards and we do have tornadoes.  Tornadoes are often more violent storms, short in duration often only a few seconds, but tremendously destructive.  It can be one of the fiercest forces of nature away from the ocean.  Homes, farms, even entire cities have been completely destroyed by these twists of nature.  If viewed from a distance, they are awe inspiring but if viewed up close they are terrifying.  They are unpredictable to the exact path or direction they will travel.  The best we can do is to predict where the likelihood is greatest.  It is when you are in the target zone that you sit up and take notice.  As one area farmer said, “When you see the CNN storm chaser truck sitting at the end of driveway; you take notice.”

    Most people on the Great Plains have some type of shelter for when the storms hit.  It might be the basement of the home.  The warning is to hide under a set of steps or in an interior closet preferably reinforced.  Some folks have a storm cellar which is a reinforced basement-like structure usually made out of concrete.  We watch the weather and when in doubt, we choose safety.

    Our verse is a lot like that.  Notice it says when the storm hits and not if the storm hits.  We know there will be pain and trouble in this world.  It is still a broken and sin-filled creation.  It still suffers the effects of the sin which man introduced.  So there is no such thing as a storm free life; there will be times of trouble and heartache.  We will experience times of loss, sickness, divorce, unemployment, loneliness, depression, hopelessness and fear.  We know the storms will come, so how do we prepare?

    First we need to know who our true storm shelter is; it is Jesus.  He alone can provide for our weathering the frightful.  We read it over and over again in Scriptures; “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe (Proverbs 18:10)” or “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.  Therefore, we will not fear (Psalm 46:1-2a).”  There are many more references to our life being a storm and God being our protector and all point to the same truth; only in God do we have hope.  Those who place their trust in anything else will be disappointed.

    There will be storms and yet our storm cellar is always ready.  Jesus is ready to shelter you in the storms of this life.  Trust in his mercy to bring you through the storm and to see the rainbow of his promise.

Father of all mercy, you protect us in the storms of life.  In you we have our only hope.  Keep us safe in your arms.  Be with those who are in a storm t this time.  Lead them to know that you are their true shelter.  Give them hope and give them peace.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret  

11-11-18

 Good Morning All,

          Hosea 10:12, “Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.”

    Now that harvest is mostly over thoughts turn to next year.  For many, next year cannot come soon enough.  Tough weather, tough prices, strange politics and throw in a few other wild cards like interest rates, aging farmers and mergers merging into bigger mergers and life on the farm will no longer be “kind of laid back”.  

    Our verse for today is definitely one of the “farmer verses”.  It uses farmer language and talks to farmers.  It starts with us sowing righteousness; how do we do that?  Here God is speaking to us after we are converted and reborn as Christians.  Here we are not talking about our righteousness before God; rather we are talking about our righteousness (provided by Christ) before our fellow man.  Sow your righteousness; let your light so shine; Go into all nations preaching the promise of salvation in Jesus; in other words; be about the work of God’s kingdom. 

    When we are about the work of the kingdom, we reap steadfast love.  We reap God’s gifts to us because of his grace and mercy, yet we experience this the most when we give those gifts away.  God enriches us as we live our lives as his children, satisfied with his gifts, sharing with those around us.

     So now it is time to break up your fallow ground.  Think of the places where you go in a day or a week.  Are there places where you avoid witnessing?  Are there places where we are uncomfortable?  This is our fallow ground.  These are the places for us to spread God’s Word.  Break it up and sow God’s Word.  It might be good ground or rocky ground or thorny ground or packed ground; we only plant the seed God is the harvester.

     So why now?  For it is time; it is time to seek the Lord.  Some of you always debate me when we discuss the condition of the world.  Some of you think it is getting worse every day; I think the world has never been good and it is as bad as it always was.  Either way, this world is full of pain and problems; broken lives, broken relationships; just plain broken people.  It is time; it is time to really reach out to those around us who are hurting.  It doesn’t matter if people are in the predicament they are in because of circumstances beyond their control or because they made some bad choices in their lives.  We are all God’s children and in the end; we are all only beggars before God deserving wrath but receiving righteousness because of his mercy.  The age old question remains:  if not you, then who?  If not now, then when?  The Lord has called us to justice; to serve with justice and peace and out of his love; he will rain righteousness upon you.

Gracious Lord, your mercies pour over us like a river.  Move us with your Spirit to do justice and live to serve all your people.  Give us the wisdom and the courage to go forth into our fallow fields and speak your Word of truth to all.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s peace,

Pastor Bret 

11-10-2018

Good Morning All,

        John 8:7; “When they persisted in asking him questions, he straightened up and said, “The person who is sinless should be the first to throw a stone at her.”

     Are you tired?  I’m tired; tired of seeing, hearing about, reading about, listening to or about someone named Kardashian or is a real housewife somewhere or a whole host of others who act and profess to be important but no one knows what they do.  It seems like every time the news ratchets up about one of these; it only goes lower and a little more depraved.  Whenever they come on, I change the channel and think “what are we coming to?”  I look at what people will do, proudly, in public and just shake my head and in the back of my mind comes that other biblical thought “God, I thank you that I am not like other men”.(Luke 18:11)  I am ready to launch into my self-righteous speech of condemnation. I am ready to point out each blatant sin and to pronounce God’s judgement upon the world.  I’ve got my stone in my hand and just picking a target.

    Then this story comes to mind; a woman was caught in adultery and the Pharisees, all men smelled blood in the water and were circling.  They HAD her and in their self-righteous desire to speak judgement; they had the stones in their hands.  They were so sure of their correctness that they wanted to test, to taunt, Jesus.  As they were lambasting this frightened woman, Jesus was bent over writing in the dust with his finger; he stood up and spoke our verse for today then he bent back down and continued writing.  Scriptures does not tell us what he was writing, some speculate he was writing passages from Scriptures that speak of mercy.  Some speculate that Jesus was listing the personal and hidden sins of the Pharisees gathered.  Whatever he wrote, the stones were dropped, from oldest to youngest and soon it was just the woman and Jesus.

    If Jesus stood before us today, as we look at the events on TV, at the events in the courts, at the actions of our neighbors and maybe our family members; what would he write in the sand before you?  When I think about the sins of abortion, homosexuality, when I think of families who seem to find everything more important than the development of their children’s faith life and the strengthening of their personal life, when I think it is time to “let them have it.” I remember the terse words I had for my wife or my children.  I remember judging my neighbor, I remember being quick to pick up stones and I remember that these people all need God’s saving grace through Jesus but no more than I do.

    Yes, Bruce or Caitlyn Jenner needs the forgiveness of Jesus but so do I and so do you.  So pray for those in your life who need Jesus but pray that God will enable you to bring them the grace and mercy of Jesus to them in a loving and productive way.  Our goal, our mission is to reconcile and restore not to attack.

God of all mercy, lead me to drop my stones.  Lead my heart to desire compassion.  Lead my heart to seek to reconcile the world to you.  Guide me to those who are in need of your mercy and help me to speak your loving words of forgiveness to them in order to heal their brokenness.  In the precious name of Jesus, our risen Savior we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret